indicating the source of many stories which the echoes of tradition have repeated from age to age. As an editor, however, M. BARBAZAN displayed perhaps more judgment than industry; and if he selected with propriety, he was contented to copy with negligence. His successor, M. Méon, has not merely reprinted the former collection: he has re-compared the text with the manuscripts whence it was derived, has corrected it by a collation of the parallel copies accumulated in the Louvre, and has often substituted the reading of a more authentic manuscript for that which had been adopted. He has moreover added nearly a whole volume of analogous materials, valuable for their genuine antiquity, and curious for their popular favour. It is true, however, that the best of these tales have been already re-told by M. Legrand, in modern French prose; which collection has passed into our language and is well known. The present publication contains many of his originals, and preserves in their pristine aukwardness, and antique garrulity, the narrations which he has rendered so graceful and so compact. The antiquary will delight to look back on the Gothic monuments, thus chipped into a tasteful simplicity; and he may perhaps prefer their grotesque carvings, parasitical foliage, and branchy fretwork, to the neat and trim undress of modern elegance. A preliminary dissertation on the Origin of the French Tongue opens the first volume. It states that the Latin language, universally spred over Gaul by the colonists, schools, and judicial institutions, of the Romans, gradually took among the common people a form tending to the vernacular French. The Christian clergy first employed this provincial Roman, this rustic dialect, in public and solemn oratory; and from the pulpit it passed into books of piety, and next into tales, metrical romances, and popular songs. The Council of Tours, held in 813, commanded the bishops to get the Homilies translated into the rustic Roman tongue; and the coronation-oath was taken in it by the son of Charlemagne. Sermons are preserved of Saint Bernard, preached in 1137, which may be considered as forming the first literary trophies of the French language. The earliest translation, except of certain prayers and portions of Scripture, is that of Cato's Distichs, by Adam du Suel, which was made at the beginning of the twelfth century. In 1290, Jacquemart Gielée wrote or imported the Roman du Renars; which, under the name of Renard the Fox, became a popular tale, or fable, both in English and in German. The dissertation concludes by pointing out the necessity of a glossary*; and by endeavouring to obtain the regret of living authors in behalf * See the preceding Article. of certain obsolete usages of the old French tongue. One of these is the practice of describing the Greek phi by a modern f, as in filosofie. Etymological investigations conclude an agreeable but desultory disquisition. The first poem is intitled L'Ordene de Chevalerie, and is ascribed to Hugh of Tiberias, who accompanied Godfrey of Bouillon into the Holy Land, was taken prisoner by Saladin, very handsomely treated, and set at liberty for conferring on the sultan the order of knighthood. A prose account follows of the same transaction. Thirdly occurs the legend of a knight, more pious than courageous, who chose to attend mass, and to linger there, while he was expected at the tournament. When he rejoined the martial party, he found that he had won the prize; the holy Virgin having appeared in his stead in a suit of armour, and gained it for him. IV. A fisherman, in rescuing from the waves a drowning man, puts out his eye: the ungrateful wretch brings an action for damages against his benefactor; and the Judge orders him to be thrown into the sea at the same spot, whenever he claims the damages awarded. V. A Legend of Saint Martin of Tours. VI. A Story of a Mulberry-stealer. VII. An Illustration of the Proverb, the biter bitten. VIII. The Congées of Arras. These poems are three in number; and several English names occur in them, such as (p. 130.) Simon Waggon, and (p.133.) John Wasket, and (p. 137.) Robert Werry; so that the poet seems to have been much at home on both sides of the Channel: he calls himself Jehan Bodel. IX. The Battle of the Wines. A dispute arises between Messieurs Mozelle, Champagne, Burgundy, &c. about their relative merit. • Li prestres Engloise estoit Qui volontiers les engorgeoit,' says the poet; and it is to the English clergy that he intrusts the office of being umpires. X. The Tooth. This seems to be the rhimed advertisement of a dentist named Archevesques. XI. The Palfrey. - XII. The Knight of the Barrel.XIII. The Monk in Love. - XIV. Saint Leocada of Toledo. We suspect this poem to be of Provençal original: it includes (p. 333.) a long list of heroes of romance not known in Norman literature: Rabelais alludes to it. XV. A Miracle of our Lady. XVI. Cortois of Arras. This poem exhibits the singularity of repeated variations of metre. Composed habitually in fourAPP. REV. VOL. LXXIII. Kk feet feet iambic verses, it occasionally adopts quatrains of alex andrines. XVII. Ancassin and Nicolette is the last and the best tale in the volume; it is drawn up in prose, with intervals of verse set to music, as if the story-tellers of yore occasionally passed from conversation to song. The substance of the narration is well known from Way's Fabliaux, a work noticed by us in Vol. xxiii. p. 174. A glossary terminates the volume. The second volume offers a greater if not a more interesting variety. It is ushered in by three dissertations, on the provincial dialects of France which have a Cimbric origin, such as the Bas-breton; on the provincial dialects of France which have a Celtic origin, such as the Helvetic; and on certain questionable etymologies. Only the first of these has any extent, or merits much attention. The stories are, 1. Advice of a Father to his Son. 2. The Knight with two Friends. 3. The Two Loyal Friends. 4. Scaldhead and Hunch-back; 5. The Man and the Serpent; 6. Epilogue these three form a connected whole. 7. The Two Clerks. 8. The Bad Woman. 9. The Fabler. 10. The Old Woman and the Good Lady. 11. The Woman imprisoned in a Tower. 12. The Deposit denied. 13. The Oil adjudged. 14. Why prefer the High Road? 15. The Two Burghers and the Countryman. 16. The Tailor and Serjeant. 17. The Two Lechers. 18. The Father's Advice. 19. The Countryman and the Bird. 20. The Countryman and the Wolf. 21. The Thief and the Moon. 22. Marien. 23. The Merchant who went to see his Brother. 24. The Father and the Son. 25. Maimon the Lazy. 26. Alexander. 27. The Thief and the Treasure. 28. The Philosopher in the Church-yard. 29. How to provide for one's Soul. 30. The Ladies' Punishment. 31. Saint Magloire. 32. The Streets of Paris. 33. The Cries of Paris. This poem is worth reading, as it throws great light on the manners, diet, and customs, of the close of the thirteenth century, at which time flourished the author, Guillaume de Villeneuve. Warm baths form one of the cries. Sea-fish, and sea-fowl of various kinds, occasion others; so that Paris seems to have been better supplied formerly than latterly from the coast. Oatmeal is cried by the name Gruel, a word which has been retained in our language. Walnut-oil occurs. At line 77. we have Pain par Dieu, signifying, probably, wafers for consecration. We observe also fresh rushes, to strew in apartments: cotton-candles, in contradistinction to rush-lights: substitutes for the militia: chesnuts of Lombardy: figs of Malta, here called figues de -Melites and soap from abroad, savon d'outremer; so that it was was not yet made in France. To announce à death, the bellman is employed to approach the doors of neighbours and friends, to ring his bell, and bid them pray for the soul of the departed. Pie-boys occur, who toss up with their customers, and who are called at the supper-hour into the lodgings of bachelors: this became an abuse which the police had occasion to suppress. 34. The Ministers of Paris. 35. The Monastic orders of Paris. 36. The Song of the Friars. 37. The Ditty of the Fair. 38. The Bible of Guiot, which contains much satirical matter against physicians. 39. The Bible of Berze. 40. The Varlet married at Notre-dame. 41. Miracle of the Virgin. 42. Judgment of Solomon. 43. The Priest reciting the Passion. This volume again terminates with a glossary, which is inconveniently imperfect, and does not suffice to explain the words occurring in the prefixed text. Volume iii. is introduced by a good preface, including a dissertation on the prosody of the early poets. The author, M. BARBAZAN, appears in the progress of his task to have learned something of his trade; and, after having completed two volumes of selections from the antient writers, to have at length acquired a respectable knowlege of their relative age, of their linguacious peculiarities, and of their instructive contents. 8. The Purse full 10. The Ass and the The stories are, 1. The Boor dubbed Physician. 2. The Priest crucified. 3. The poor Mercer. 4. The Cow and the Priest. 5. The Knights and the Clerks. 6. The Lady in the Minster. 7. Fabliau de la Merde. of sense. 9. The Wolf and the Ass. Dog. 11. The Woman of a Hundred. 13. Testament of the Ass. the Jew. 16. The Cooler. 18. The Lay of the little Bird. 19. The Court of Paradise. 20. The Valet of Twelve. 21. The Truant old Woman. 22. The Burgess of Orleans. 23. The Cordelier. 24. The Ditty of the Partridges. 25. The Provost. 26. The Priest 12. The Air-bag. 14. Friar Denis. 15. Charlot 17. The Lay of Aristotle. with Two Mothers. 27. The Two Horses. 28. False Shame. 29. A second Copy of the same in other Metre. 30. The Child in the Sun. 31. The Three Ladies who found a Ring. 32. The Knight Confessor to his Wife. 33. Gombert. 34. The Three Hunch-backs. 35. The Two Changers. 36. The Buffet. 37. The Knight in Red. 38. Saint Peter. and the Juggler. 39. Constant Duhamel. 40. The Fable of Aloul. 41. Boivin of Provence. 42. The Castellan of Saint Giles. 43. Sir Hain and Lady Anieuse. 44. Estula. 45. The Three Blind Men. 46. The title of this story cannot be translated Kk 2 translated decently; it describes a knight gifted by the fairies with a power of inflicting on ladies a compulsory sort of ventriloquism, which lays open a diverting confessional. Diderot has derived hence the basis of his Bijoux Indiscrets. It is moreover remarkable for borrowing its exordium from the Bahar-danush; so that Guerins, the reputed author, had probably visited the Holy Land, and there acquired a tincture of oriental reading. The knight by chance discovers three Peries bathing, steals their robes, and obtains for restoring them a talismanic gift. 47. The Magic Ring. 48. Gauteron and Marion. 49. Melampygus. 50. The Flemish Lady. 51. The Modest Girl. 52. The Widow. 53. The Judgment of Paris. 54. The Fisherman. To this volume again is appended its glossary. In the fourth volume, we have six poems of the former edition, and thirty-six hitherto inedited. The stories are, 1. The Butcher of Abbeville. He is returning from a fair, and compelled to remain all night in a village which has no inn. Applying to the clergyman for a lodging, he is refused; and, as he is going away, he meets sheep belonging to his reverence, kills one of them, and offers a part of it as the price of hospitality. The priest now relents, orders for him a mutton-chop, and gives him a bed. With the other half of the sheep, the butcher gains the good graces of his host's favourite maid-servant; leaving him in the morning to find out that his own sheep had paid for all. 2. The Long Night. 3. The Lay of Graelent. This relates the story of a knight with whom the Queen of Brittany falls in love. He persista in observing his duty to the King; on which she accuses him of an adulterous attempt, and he is condemned to death: but, on the point of execution, he is saved. This poem is written by Marie de France. 4. The Battle of Carnival and Lent. 5. The Usurer's Paternoster. 6. The Usurer's Creed. 7. The Pleader saved. 8. The Sexton and the Knight's Lady. 9. Narcissus. 10. Coquaigne. This celebrated poem describes a libertine's paradise. Not only the rivers are of wine, and the geese swim about ready roasted, asking to be eaten, but tailors and shoemakers give away the most fashionable small clothes and boots; the ladies are as complaisant as the houries of Mohammed; and a fountain of youth repairs the charms and vigor of them and their admirers. Whoever falls asleep in this happy country is rewarded at the rate of sixpence for the forenoon: Cil qui dort jusqu'à midi 11. The |