A Short History of French Literature

il ne voudroient ja trover nul home sanz aucun mehaing. maint oingnement font e maint baing ou il n'a ne senz ne raison, cil eschape d'orde prison qui de lor mains puet eschaper. qui bien set mentir et guiler et faire noble contenance, tout ont trove fors la creance que les genz ont lor fait a bien. tiex mil se font fisicien qui n'en sevent voir nes que gie. li plus maistre sont mont changie de grant ennui, n'il n'est mestiers dont il soit tant de mencongiers. il ocient mont de la gent: ja n'ont ne ami ne parent que il volsissent trover sain; de ce resont il trop vilain. mont a d'ordure en ces liens. qui en main a fisiciens, se met par els. il m'ont eu entre lor mains: onques ne fu, ce cuit, nule plus orde vie. je n'aim mie lor compaignie, si m'ait dex, qant je sui sains: honiz est qui chiet en lor mains. par foi, qant je malades fui, moi covint soffrir lor ennui. _Testaments_ of the satirical kind, chiefly noteworthy for the brilliant use which Villon made of the tradition of composing them, _resveries_ and _fatrasies_ (nonsense poems with a more or less satirical drift), parodies of the offices of the Church, of its sermons, of the miracle plays, are the chief remaining divisions of the poetry which, under a light and scoffing envelope, conceals a serious purpose. [Sidenote: Didactic verse. Philippe de Thaun.] Such things have at all times been composed in verse, and the reason is sufficiently obvious. In the first place, the intention of the writers is to a certain extent masked, and in the second, the reader's attention is attracted. But the middle ages by no means confined the use of verse to such cases. Downright instruction was, as often as not, the object of the verse writer in those days. The earliest, and as such the most curious of didactic poems, are those of Philippe de Thaun, an Englishman of Norman extraction, who wrote in the first quarter of the twelfth century. His two works are a _Comput_, or Chronological Treatise, dedicated to an uncle of his, who was chaplain to Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, and a _Bestiary_, or Zoological Catalogue, dedicated to Adela of Louvain, the wife of Henry the First. Written before the vogue of the versified Arthurian Romances had consecrated the octosyllable, these poems are in couplets of six syllables. Their great age, and to a certain extent their literary merit, deserve an extract:-- Monosceros est beste, un corn ad en la teste, pur ceo ad si a nun. de buc ele ad facun. par pucele eat prise, or oez en quel guise, quant hom le volt cacer et prendre et enginner, si vent horn al orest u sis repaires est; la met une pucele hors de sein sa mamele, e par odurement monosceros la sent; dune vent a la pucele, si baiset sa mamele, en sun devant se dort, issi vent a sa mort; li hom survent atant, ki l'ocit en dormant, u trestut vif le prent, si fait puis sun talent. grant chose signefie, ne larei nel vus die. Monosceros griu est, en franceis un-corn est: beste de tel baillie Jhesu Crist signefie; un deu est e serat e fud e parmaindrat; en la virgine se mist, e pur hom charn i prist, e pur virginited, pur mustrer casteed, a virgine se parut e virgine le conceut. virgine est e serat e tuz jurz parmaindrat. ores oez brefment le signefiement. Ceste beste en verte nus signefie de; la virgine signefie, sacez, sancte Marie; par sa mamele entent sancte eglise ensement; e puis par le baiser ceo deit signefier, que hom quant il se dort en semblance est de mort: des cum home dormi, ki en cruiz mort sufri, ert sa destructiun nostre redemptiun, e sun traveillement nostre reposement. si deceut des diable par semblant cuvenable; anme e cors sunt un, issi fud des et hum, e iceo signefie beste de tel baillie. _Bestiaries_ and _Computs_ (the French title of the Chronologies) were for some time the favourites with didactic verse writers, but before long the whole encyclopaedia, as it was then understood, was turned into verse. Astrology, hunting, geography, law, medicine, history, the art of war, all had their treatises; and latterly _Tresors_, or complete popular educators, as they would be called nowadays, were composed, the best-known of which is that of Walter of Metz in 1245. [Sidenote: Moral and Theological verse.] All, or almost all, these works, written as they were in an age sincerely pious, if somewhat grotesque in its piety, and theoretically moral, if somewhat loose in its practice, contained not only abundant moralising, but also more or less theology of the mystical kind. It would therefore have been strange if ethics and theology themselves had wanted special exponents in verse. Before the middle of the twelfth century Samson of Nanteuil (again an Englishman by residence) had versified the Proverbs of Solomon, and in the latter half of the same century vernacular lives of the saints begin to be numerous. Perhaps the most popular of these was the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat, of which the fullest poetical form has been left us by an English trouvere of the thirteenth century named Chardry, by whom we have also a verse rendering of the 'Seven Sleepers,' and some other poems[84]. Somewhat earlier, Hermann of Valenciennes was a fertile author of this sort of work, composing a great _Bible de Sapience_ or versification of the Old Testament, and a large number of lives of saints. Of books of Eastern origin, one of the most important was the _Castoiement d'un Pere a son Fils_, which comes from the _Panchatantra_, though not directly. The translated work had great vogue, and set the example of other _Castoiements_ or warnings. The monk Helinand at the end of the twelfth century composed a poem on 'Death,' and a vast number of similar poems might be mentioned. The commonest perhaps of all is a dialogue _Des trois Morts et des trois Vifs_, which exists in an astonishing number of variants. Gradually the tone of all this work becomes more and more allegorical. _Dreams, Mirrors, Castles_, such as the 'Castle of Seven Flowers,' a poem on the virtues, make their appearance. [Sidenote: Allegorical verse.] [Sidenote: The Roman de la Rose.] The question of the origin of this habit of allegorising and personification is one which has been often incidentally discussed by literary historians, but which has never been exhaustively treated. It is certain that, at a very early period in the middle ages, it makes its appearance, though it is not in full flourishing until the thirteenth century. It seems to have been a reflection in light literature of the same attitude of mind which led to the development of the scholastic philosophy, and, as in the case of that philosophy, Byzantine and Eastern influences may have been at work. Certain it is that in some of the later Greek romances[85], something very like the imagery of the _Roman de la Rose_ is discoverable. Perhaps, however, we need not look further than to the natural result of leisure, mental activity, and literary skill, working upon a very small stock of positive knowledge, and restrained by circumstances within a very narrow range of employment. However this may be, the allegorising habit manifests itself recognisably enough in French literature towards the close of the twelfth century. In the _Meraugis de Portlesguez_ of Raoul de Houdenc, the passion for arguing out abstract questions of lovelore is exemplified, and in the _Roman des Eles_ of the same author the knightly virtues are definitely personified, or at least allegorised. At the same time some at all events of the Troubadours, especially Peire Wilhem, carried the practice yet further. _Merci_, _Pudeur_, _Loyaute_, are introduced by that poet as persons whom he met as he rode on his travels. In Thibaut de Champagne a still further advance was made. The representative poem of this allegorical literature, and moreover one of the most remarkable compositions furnished by the mediaeval period in France, is the _Roman de la Rose_[86]. It is doubtful whether any other poem of such a length has ever attained a popularity so wide and so enduring. The _Roman de la Rose_ extends to more than twenty thousand lines, and is written in a very peculiar style; yet it maintained its vogue, not merely in France but throughout Europe, for nearly three hundred years from the date of its commencement, and for more than two hundred from that of its conclusion. The history of the composition of the poem is singular. It was begun by William of Lorris, of whom little or nothing is known, but whose work must, so far as it is easy to make out, have been done before 1240, and is sometimes fixed at 1237. This portion extends to 4670 lines, and ends quite abruptly. About forty years later, Jean de Meung, or Clopinel, afterwards one of Philippe le Bel's paid men of letters, continued it without preface, taking up William of Lorris' cue, and extended it to 22,817 verses, preserving the metre and some of the personages, but entirely altering the spirit of the treatment. The importance of the poem requires that such brief analysis as space will allow shall be given here. Its general import is sufficiently indicated by the heading,-- Ci est le Rommant de la Rose Ou l'art d'amors est tote enclose; though the rage for allegory induced its readers to moralise even its allegorical character, and to indulge in various far-fetched explanations of it. In the twentieth year of his age, the author says, he fell asleep and dreamed a dream. He had left the city on a fair May morning, and walked abroad till he came to a garden fenced in with a high wall. On the wall were portrayed figures, Hatred, _Felonnie_, _Villonie_, Covetousness, Avarice, Envy, Sadness, Old Age, _Papelardie_ (Hypocrisy), Poverty--all of which are described at length. He strives to enter in, and at last finds a barred wicket at which he is admitted by Dame Oiseuse (Leisure), who tells him that Deduit (Delight) and his company are within. He finds the company dancing and singing, Dame Liesse (Enjoyment) being the chief songstress, while Courtesy greets him and invites him to take part in the festival. The god of love himself is then described, with many of his suite--Beauty, Riches, etc. A further description of the garden leads to the fountain of Narcissus, whose story is told at length. By this the author, who is thenceforth called the lover, sees and covets a rosebud. But thorns and thistles bar his way to it, and the god of love pierces him with his arrows. He does homage to the god, who accepts his service, and addresses a long discourse to him on his future duties and conduct. The prospect somewhat alarms him, when a new personage, Bel Acueil (Gracious Reception), comes up and tenders his services to the lover, the god having disappeared. Almost immediately, however, Dangier[87] makes his appearance, and drives both the lover and Bel Acueil out of the garden. As the former is bewailing his fate, Reason appears and remonstrates with him. He persists in his desire, and parleys with Dangier, both directly and by ambassadors, so that in the end he is brought back by Bel Acueil into the garden and allowed to see but not to touch the rose. Venus comes to his aid, and he is further allowed to kiss it. At this, however, Shame, Jealousy, and other evil agents reproach Dangier. Bel Acueil is immured in a tower, and the lover is once more driven forth.