1828.] [ 369 ]. 



LE ROMAN DE ROSE.* 



THOUGH an elaborate review of the above work has just appeared in 

 a respectable periodical which has, in consequence, the indisputed 

 honour of first introducing the author of the Roman de Rose to the Eng- 

 lish reader yet so far is the subject from being exhausted, that it still 

 retains sufficient of novelty to recommend it. As the writer of that 

 article has not been able to carry away the abundant harvest which 

 he found, but has left something, perhaps much, to be gleaned by suc- 

 ceeding labourers, we also have ventured to enter the field. After the 

 general view which has been taken of that subject, we have no wish to 

 examine it in detail : we can do little more than advert to such pictures 

 of the work as remain unnoticed ; and such, if we are not greatly mistaken, 

 will not be esteemed less interesting than those already before the 

 public. 



The Roman de Rose is, beyond comparison, the most curious document 

 now existing of the languages, history, opinions, and manners of the 

 Normans, from the ninth to the twelfth century. It is a metrical his- 

 tory, in the romance, or ancient vernacular dialect of Normandy, of the 

 dukes of that province, from Rou, or Rollo, to our Henry I. It com- 

 mences, indeed, at an earlier period with the irruption of Hastings 

 and his royal pupil, Biorn (the son, as is commonly supposed, of the 

 famous Danish king, RegnerLadbrog), who, in the ninth century, commit- 

 ted such dreadful excesses in France. It is a very copious chronicle, con- 

 taining more than sixteen thousand verses. Its merits as an historical 

 record, however, are not of the highest order : the greater portion of it 

 has little claim to originality. From Hastings to Richard II. it is little 

 more than a translation of Dudo, dean of St. Quentin ; and of William, 

 a monk of Jumieges, from that duke to the Norman conqueror. Still it 

 contains many important particulars omitted, or but imperfectly noticed, 

 by the preceding writers ; it exhibits a more faithful picture than either 

 of the then existing state of society in Normandy ; and it is entirely 

 original from the Conqueror to A. D. 1106. It was undertaken at the 

 instance of our Henry II., who, at the same time, prevailed on a monk 

 of St. Maur to compile, in the same dialect a metrical history of his pre- 

 decessors, from the foundation of the duchy. The chronicle of the 

 latter is nearly three times as copious as the Roman de Rose : it still 

 remains in MS. ; nor can we reasonably hope for its publication, when 

 we consider the nature of our current literature, and the very few per- 

 sons who are able to read, still less to edit, it. 



Of Robert Nace little is known. He was born in the island of Jersey, 

 A. D. 1124; and he died in England in the sixtieth year of his age. 

 He was educated at Caen in Normandy, and, on arriving at the age fixed 

 by the canons, he took holy orders. In 1160 he finished his arduous 

 undertaking, which, at a time when the true principles of poetry were 

 either not understood or disregarded, procured him a high reputation. 



* Le Roman de Rose, et des Dues de Normandie, par Robert Nace, Poe'te Normand du 

 Xlle siecle ; public pour la premiere fois d'apres les Manuscrits de France et d'Angleterre ; 

 avcc des Notes pour servir a 1' Intelligence du Texte. Par Frederic Plugnet, Membre de 

 la 8ocictc' des Antiquaires de France, etc. 2 torn. 8vo. Rouen ; 1827. 



M.M. New Scries. Vob.V. No. 28. 3 B 



