Evening star., 1928-04-01


And doth wake and fostered BE-,
And allie thing distroieth he.
v
The Rise Of Modern Literature.
This extract from what was once sup
posed to be Chaucer's translation from
the French may stand as evidence of
the rapid development of the new Ian
guageS Of Europe into literary instru-
nientS. The old Gothic dialects had
slowly developed into the powerful
German which We shall see In the mouth
Of Luther; the mingling of the Angles.
Saxons, Danes and Norman French in
the making Of England was producing
an English which Chaucer would i'm
mortalizs while in the Latin countries
the old Roman tongue had been broken
down and sofs@ned into the romance
languages, which were soon to express
tf7 g"nius of Dante and Petrarch. Ger
vanses and Calderon. Montaigne and
Esbe'ais
Already In the time of Charlem 3ngne
the speech Of the people of France had
grown 50 different from the Latin of
tfle scholars that the Emperor had or
oered the priests TO preach in the
"In gar" Il. e.. common) tongue. lest
their sweetness be wasted on tn. desert
s.T, Petrarch and Dante, both living
In country whose language was still
e'"sa 10 that OF imperial Rome. fesi-
tated between Latin and italian:
Petrarch gave nearly all Of his time to
ca1scal scholarship. and smiled sipe-
rfoTity a. those italian sonnets which
LIE carried his name and Laura's name
down IN us. and set for so MANY c,n-
turies the sennst form; Dante wrote two
sgniacant treaties in Latin Ode Mon
aychia" and de Vu!gari Eioduentia"-
On the Speech Of the Peopie): but wf1en
the time came for his masterpiece he
chose his native tongue. and gave TO
the world form OF beauty which IL had
peer had before.
The old and the new tongues rivaied
one another IN both poetry and prose
The Venerable Beds wrote. In. the
eighth century. Latin history OF the
enareh In England. which Is quite for
gotten; various saints wrote great Latin
a ms. like the Dies Irae" and the Sta
DAT Mater" which are kept alive only by
ritual Of music. But Froisssrt wrote
chronicles In English. and De J0.n-
Wis wrote them In French. Petfarch
sang songs In Italian. and Walter Won
Der Wogelwide sang them in German:
LnanceF wrote tales In English. and
Boccsccio told them in Italian: and ali
these men are living geniukes, whom
any alert mind could enjoy today.
petFarch vas the son Of q Fiorentine
Nsso had been exiled with Dante he wRs
born al AFezz0 IN 1904. and became a
poet bfcaase ne Ha6 made 70 study iaM
agAlnsf hls win. He developed a pas
sion Tor collecting ancient and medieval
manuscripts. and spent his fortune on
them. Has love for Laura Was but a
passing incident ia his life. ne ha6
lAkeF orders and could not marry
hef. else We shouid not have had son.
net& from him: IL is inaccessible charms
ffsA4 turn desire into poetry. fsetraFeh't
scta&ai passion xza not for usissresses
but for manuscripts. He had u fair
Tor collecting them 9e, manuscripts
tH1 peHt bis own ard his father
modem man 10 collect Libraries ard
esnaosl ne FIRST ~ call for the rsstofa,
tAsss ~ classical literature 10 tsas hlglafsF
pssns ~ education,
HIS Italian love poems gase him fsnlf
among tns pe9pls and had enormous
anf4eDts Ia every language and helped
i@ secure for him tEf crown placed apDu
has head ~ Rome IN i5ti ss The 81
pteh9e Italian poet 0f the generation
after Dante. But strange 10 cay, his
heart was sot In these songs ~ nasiei
h& Ia the libraries and In tbs guest for
paDyf3 that would open further " him
he Na& almost the FIRST To get glimpse
Ia tsaBaksDec Europe +FoF him, =
ssys ssymotads THE authors of tas
Jrfek ana Latin world were living men
Ee cWell with them on terms u!
s9npathetle intimacy" He died among
ttf DSgkk ~ his great library ia 1914
s'lil dreaming Of the revival ef Latin
fn9 Dot kn0Sj9g that be Tss one Of the
fstnefs II modern literature. sn overture
h. fge ftfnstssSBnf.
Jlle world kT1owE his friend sIl0 fol
Ips~F. Isoccaecto, far bsttsr than hlBl-
tsf tof there IL no such OPEN kfsesnae
~ tame ~ reputation for immortality
II ooef noi know him for his learned
Latin sofks nor for his scholarly de-
Softop ~ lhe discovery snc preserve
tloal ~ classical manuscripts II fefneu9
Defs only the stories with which he
fHei4sef. his leisure, and ths world fl
IGnt
Se WAS PetrSFcAs junior by seven
years. snd oDtiiyed biB9 by one He
too. Nas destined for the law but van
ity pftyeo stronger than goid, and iuTeo
him into literature Like PetFafeI he
tiongiat 10 find immortality Ia fesuT-
~ ing ancient works and days, he
Gpept years ~ compiling "0enes0iogy
ef Pagan Coos, sLd tried 10 rival Piu-
1ATcB IN writing the lives Of iIlustri0tif
Romans end Greeks h0t until he WA
- did lsA write the DecameE0H, or ''Teg
Days Tales A great plague had
stricken Florence IN 1913, and had dirty,
sen from the city all VINO could AFFORD u
Issye IT. EocGaeei0 represents a gTouE
~ aTistocTatie men and women Iyine
10 while away their exile from holne b.
telling stories, very much sE Ghsneeri
pilgrims would mitigate the gesTtnesi
of travel with their merry tales Boo
eseclo seldom invented ths stories b.
xTote down some u them we're 81 ol