40 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»a S. VII. Jan. 8. '59. 



brary of the manor of Beaumont. The Valenciennes MS., 

 apparently copied in the midst of the fifteenth century, 

 gives a more servile r£sumS of Jean le Bel's chronicle than 

 can be found in any other transcript of Froissart's works. 

 The Amiens MS., " I'un des plus pr^cieux que nous posse- 

 dions," seems to have been done for the Count de Chimay, 

 who died in 1472. M. de Lettenhove is inclined to con- 

 sider it as the original text of the first book, such as Frois- 

 sart presented it to Guy de Blois. 



The second part of M. Kervyn de Lettenhove's book, 

 entitled Froissart Chroniqueur, contains a very complete 

 and correct appreciation of our annalist as an historian ; 

 and also merely from the literary point of view. It is 

 rj^ther singular to notice that the birth of Froissart took 

 place in the country of all Europe the most" renowned for 

 its chivalrous spirit. "II est notoire," we find in the 

 chronicle of Jacques de Lalaing, " que jadis au pays de 

 ^ainaut estoit la fleur de chevalerie." It occurred also 

 at the very time when chivalry was at its zenith. " Je 

 suis venu au monde," said Froissart himself; " avec les 

 faits et les avenues." . . . . " Puis le temps du bon roy 

 Charlemagne," continues he, "n'avinrent si grandes aven- 

 tures de guerre." Let the reader imagine him coming 

 either sixty years sooner and obliged to relate the in- 

 trigues of Plassian and Nogaret, or a century later, and 

 finding for the heroes of his story such men as Olivier le 

 Daim and Tristan I'Hermite ! Froissart was the lit me- 

 morialist of the generation in which he lived, and that is 

 just why he has left behind him a masterpiece unrivalled 

 in the whole records of literature. 



After tracing with great talent the progress and gradual 

 decline of chivalry, and the result this decline had on the 

 writings of mediaeval historians, M. de Lettenhove de- 

 votes a chapter to the peculiarities of Froissart. First of 

 all our author understood rightly that even scribes who 

 sit down for the purpose of recording the events they 

 have witnessed, should have a due sense of their mission. 

 They write " pour tous nobles coeurs encourager, et eux 

 montrer exemple en matifere d'honneur." But this is not 

 enough; and Froissart wisely expects in a chronicler 

 what he himself possessed in the highest degree : " sens, 

 memoire et bonne souvenance de toute les choses pass^es, 

 engin clair et aigu pour concevoir tous les faits dont je 

 pourrois estre informe, age, corps et membres pour souffrir 

 paine." 



The impartialitj' of Froissart, however, has often been 

 questioned, and several facts are adduced to prove that he 

 was deficient in what should be the fundamental quality 

 of every historian. M. Kervyn de Lettenhove completely 

 refutes, as it seems to us, this unfair accusation, especially 

 in its relation to his supposed preference of England over 

 France. We must not forget that the chronicler judges 

 everything by the standard, not of nationality but of chi- 

 valry ; and besides, if he says of the companions of the 

 Black Prince, " ils sont sur tous courtois, traitables et ac- 



cointables rien n'egale leur gen^rosite dans les 



combats .. 1 ..." he is quite as loud in his praise of 

 France. 



We need scarcely say that in Froissart imagination is a 

 prominent quality, but it by no means precludes learning. 

 His language, moi"e particularly in the third book, is 

 clear, and full of the richest imagery ; he revels in de- 

 scriptions of military pageantry, where banners, pennons, 

 and standards are rustling in the breeze and glittering in 

 the sun. 



We must, however, hasten on to the third and last divi- 

 sions of M. de Lettenhove's work : Froissart Poete. Many 

 persons who are thoroughly acquainted with the Chroni- 

 cles have never suspected that the gossiping historian 

 was also a poej;, a composer of allegorical tales, such as 

 the Roman de la Hose and of pastourelles which were the 

 delight of his fwr contemporaries. M. de Lettenhove 



gives a full account of these works, and the copious ex- 

 tracts he subjoins will be found quite sufficient to furnish 

 a correct idea of the whole. The MS. containing the 

 poems originally belonged to Thomas Beauchamp, Earl 

 of Warwick. After his death it came into the possession 

 of his son, as we find from the following memorandum 

 written on the last leaf: " Ce livre est a Richard le feaula 

 Conte de Warrewyck." How subsequently it occupied a 

 place in the library of Francis I. at Fontainebleau is still 

 a matter of doubt ; it is supposed to have been brought 

 over from England by the Princess Marj', when she be- 

 came the wife of Louis XII. In addition to the pieces 

 contained in this volume, Froissart composed several other 

 poems now lost. We know, for instance, that he is the 

 author of two tales in rhyme, Meliadus and Meliador. 

 Finally, amongst the MS. collections of the Imperial Li- 

 brary at Paris are two unpublished works of Froissart ; 

 the first is called La Court de May, the second Le Tresor 

 Amoureux. Neither of these poems bears the name of 

 Froissart, but the internal evidence furnished by the or- 

 thography, the grammatical peculiarities, etc. is conclu- 

 sive as to the real authorship. M. Kervyn de Lettenhove 

 has carefully discussed this point, and also enriched his 

 work with a number of choice quotations which are par- 

 ticularly valuable, as, without a journey to Paris, it is of 

 course impossible to consult the original MSS. 



In conclusion, we think that M. de Lettenhove's mono- 

 graphy is an excellent contribution to the history of me- 

 diaeval literature, and that the reward bestowed upon it 

 by the Acadinde Frangoise was only an act of justice. 



GUSTAVE MaSSON. 



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