New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-03-17
ENGLISH LITERATURE.
M. JUssERAND'S HISTORY AND MR.. Poll
LARD'S CHACCER

A LITERARY HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH
PEOPLE From the Origins to ne f'ena y pt
mans Sons.
CHAvCER's CANTERBURY TALES Edited with
notes and an INTRODUCTION by Alfred w Pol
Vol. H. PIP. AS. Macmillan X co.
NJ Jusserand stands in opposition to those who
seek to minimize the Norman French influence
in the evolution Of the English race and Of En-
glish literature. It will be SAID that this is
natural, because he is a Frenchman. Eui, what
is better. he makes out good cass The discus
sion Of the term "Anglo-Saxon' IL merely acct
dental to his narrative. ana so 1t is brought In
literally by accident. But II is Of primary i'm
portance TO his argument. His remarks on the
subject have almost TO be turned end for end to
obtain their real force and emphasis. He OBJ
serves that there has Of late been not little
dispute on the propriety Of the phrase. and adds
in the semi-obscurty Of a footnote that one
thing in its favor is the difficulty Of finding
anything to take its place To those who extend
the name "Old English" to cover the whole of
the period Of Teutonic supremacy from the time
OF William the COnqueror back to that or Hen
gst he replies by citing Il particularly clumsy
phrase OF Freeman's about men of old Englsh
birth" He cites number of passages in winch
the people of England, before the advent OF the
Normans. called themselves by the united names
Of the Angels and the SaXons. Thus Alfred de-
scribed himself as. by the grace Of God, rex
Angel Saxonum. while Ethestan spoke of him
self as rex Angu- Such expressions
seem to indicate clearly two things-a definite
consciousness of the dual origin Of the dominant
race in England, ana an anticipation already
partially realized Of a complete fusion of the two
sections into one. This fusion not completed
IN the times of the Anglo-SaXon kings. The
tendency Of those times was toward separa-
ton ostensbly in geographical divisions. but
really into tribes. 1t YVES only pressure from
without the difficulty Of dealing with the CPlts
or of repelling the Mortimer, that led TO the
union OF these local bodies into a kingdom, and
1t was only a man of exceptional ability IKE
Alfred who could be really said to reign over
a realm that WAS always the point Of d.Sn-
tegration. That the people who called them
selves Anglo-SaxOns also called themselves
English only shows that they felt unity which
they were as yet unable 70 realize in practice
Their language. while it remained the same In
its vital characteristics after the Conquest. was
still, in NJ. Jusserand's opinion. marked by
changes even greater than those which distn
guish Italian from Latin. and he wonders how
it would sound for the present population Of
Italy to speak Of the language Of their ancestors
as old Italian 1t is by this process Of reasoning
he deems most important in the evolution OF
English nationality and literature. To the minds
of the generation that witnessed the coming OF
William and of those other generations who
were ruled by his immediate successors, the
Norman supremacy was no small matter Their
lamentations were overwhelmed by it, The bat
tie of Hastings became to them the Battle, and
the abbey raised the field was never known
by the name of ST. Martin Of Tours, To whom
it was dedicated. but il figured long IN the MS
tory of the country as Battle Abhey-ahd d!
his name its picturesque ruins are sui des'rlpeo
The author wishes in fact not to underrate any
of the influences that went to the making Of Eng
lish literature. He will not tolerate the pehei'
once held by many and still maintained by some
that the TeutOnc invaders destroyed the carrier
inhabitants os the island. The very fact tha'
certain cases of wholesale slaughter are men
toned by the annalists proves for him tha' 'hese
must have been exceptional II they had Leen
merely instances Of an nvariable rule they
would not have appealed as they did to the mem
orv and imagination Of the narrators. Above all,
tho invaders as the history Of the tribes when
,hev left behind on the Continent shows. be-
longed TO a race energetic and powerful, but des-
tined TO slow development. Men are still living
/ who might have seen Goethe. the poet VINO
stands to Germany as Shakespeare stdi1dS 10
England At a time when Northern Europe Was
still illiterate and heathenish the Teuton:c race
in England had created considerable literature
in its own language and in Latin, and was not
wholly ignorant Of Greek Il furnished mis-
sionaries II bring over its relatives on the Con-
tinent TO Christianity. and later sent teachers TO
carry out Charlemagne's plans Of education II
Anglo-SaxOn culture had been an independent
growth this could not have happened. But the
oh undo
care and imbued with Roman ideas, survived 10
become the servants Of their rude conquerors'
and to awaken in them taste for art and learn
ing and the pursuits Of peace. 1t was their IN
fuence which FASTENED the progress of the leu
ton in England and prepared the way for the
rand advance witnessed after the coming of
nreachers and teachers from Rome. Probably
this influence was exercised unconsciously by
the Celts They were not the sort OF persons 10
civilize others by direct intentional, deliberate
effort Bede's complaint against the BRUSH
Christians that they showed no desire to convert
the people of another race reveals character
istic trait The Celts were quicker 10 take I'M
pressions than to give them, to receive ioeas
than to teach. Lively, imaginative, witty, they
were modified by the conditions of their Iife in
stead Of moulding these TO their purpose. tx
cept In Wales and Cornwall, they became LABOR
ers for foreign master. In those remote west
ern parts Of the island they kept up their own
LANGUAGE and their own traditions. I'm these
distant retreats. at the foot of Snowdon' IN the
valley Of St David's beneath the trees OF
Caerleon popular singers accompany on theH
harms the old national poems But IN those
regions where the hand OF the conqueror was
heavy. the subject race forgot ITS own identity
II acquired the national feeling OF us masters
and came also TO believe itself Teutonic, just as
In an earlier time it had taken PRIDE IN l's
Roman affiliations" 1t had learned Latin; no"
this was forgotten gradually as Celtic mad peen
forgotten. and the Britons learned a new IAN
guage 1T was of their national glfts'
precious and a fatal one; they were swift 10