The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-03-18
Froissn art.

| Boston: Small, Maynard & Co. s1.5O.)
| Froissnrt.
| The abridgement of medieval chronicles
| which Henry Newbolt has given TO the
| public is one of the compilations which
really have an excuse for being. It is
evident that the author OF that stirring
ballad, "Admirals ALL" has a taste and
discernment which stand him in good
| stead, even outside of ballad making. The
most notable feature of this new blazonry
in which the Herodotus of a barbarous
| age" has been tricked out, is a certain
| aspect of modernity which may seem
| strange indeed when We think Of the SOC
years which have elapsed since Froissar:
| penned his last line. Mr.. Newbolt, in his
admirable introduction, says:
In those stories from .Froissart will be
| found not only history, tragedy. comedy.
/ fairy tale, and romance, in delightful med
! ley, but many curious parallels between our
! own and other times, and some passages still
! more suggestive. bearing problems which he
| long To the life Of man. and DO not really change
with the passing OF centuries. From the begin
ming we shall he struck with the evident persist
cnce OF national types of character; the GOODNESS
Of the AnsloSlNon in fight was not more nor les.
conspicuous down among the vines at PoltiCri
than in the square at Mdtc,loa: CrcsSy. where
the archcrs forced horde Of yelling enemies and
stirred not for all that the very counter
part OF omdiIrman; and the Engiishmen who
shot 50 wholly together" at Aljub9Tota were the
true forefathcrs Of the gtnners at Santiago and
Manila Bay, before whom the spaniards were one
more for all their pride and hcrceness ''discom-
fitted without recovery
This persistence of national types"
cannot fail to be interesting when We read
from the text of Frossart himself of the
.h,- - R,,yI
Charles VI of France, and then turn to
the current news from Paris and learn
Of the French naval programme for a war
in 1900. When His Gallo Majesty togetf-
er with his uncles, arrived at Sluys, in
Flanders. Ito the intent to pass into Eng
land the knights and 'squires who we're
in the train exclaimed with true French
fervor, Now let us go on these cursed
Englishmen, who have done so many evils
and prosecutions in France" How well
the hereditary antagonism has been pre-
served may be gathered from an article
in a recent nunlpe of the Revue des
Deux Mondes,' in which General de Ia
ROGUE minimizes the Importance Of his
country's navy, and declares that it will
be chiefly useful for the purpose of con-
voying transports on which will be en-
barked half million French soldiers,
comprising an army of invasion which is
to strike the vulnerable points on the
shores of the British Isles" How far
these types" persist may be gathered
again from the fact that when King Don
John of CASTLE besieged His Portuguese
Majesty before Lisbon the strength OF
France was soon found on the side Of the
Castilian sovereign, and the Britons came
to the aid of Portugal. The sympathy for
the Spanish cause during our recent con-
fict was only too odipusly manifested on
the part of France. while Portugal's re-
fusal to obstTuct English operations in
South Africa are matters of common re-
port. Thus We see that during six CEN
turtles the same national alignments have
been maintained and, over all, the antip
athy of Jean Crapaud to anything that
savors of John Bull is still dominant.
The text which Mr.. Newbolt has adopted
in his compilation is hardly in keeping
with this modern spirit. 1t is the trans
lation of Froissart which Lord Berniers
made at the request of Henry VIII. 1t
preserves the idioms and obsolete words
and phrases which marked the original,
but is not so satisfactory to the average
reader as the more modern. though some
what more diffuse, translation of Thomas
Johnes.
Sidney Lanier has made a modernized
version of Froissart. but II Is colfessedly
for the benefit of children. and does not
pretend TO give anything more than the
substance of the Chimay canon's stories.
The voluminous Chronicles" which con-
sist of nearly 500 chapters. make it prae-
tically impossible for the reader TO famil-
iarize himself with the rich original, where
the Walter Scott of the Middle Ages"
the Balzac OF history, the knight -errant
of annals, has photographed the infinite
details OF the foundation period which lay
between the sluggish years following the
iall OF Rome and the revival Of civiliza-
ton. II is, therefore, 4 fortunate circum-
stance that this opulent treasury Of the
manners and customs of the times when
the creed of chivalTy-not yet laughed
away" by Cervantes-was 10 love God
and the ladies'-should he given to the
public in a form which preserves with
rare fidelity the spirit of the original. and
brings out the enmity which has existed
for many centuries between the Iescen-
dants and followers of Charles of France
and the followers and descendants of Rich-
ard II of England. (New York: The Mac
milan Company. $1.50.l