66 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Snd s. No 108., Jan. 2S. '58. 



plete, and his introduction on the history of French 

 satire, tliough somewhat too concise, is also a 

 valuable morceau. 



10. MM. Emile Chasles and P. A. Cap have 

 had the good fortune of discovering and publish- 

 ing for M. Jannet's collection some MS. poems 

 and letters of Senece, a Bourguignon writer of 

 the age of Louis XIV. A reference to the volume 

 containing the ceuvres clioisies* will enable the 

 reader to ascertain for himself Senece's merits as 

 a poet, and a careful perusal of the CEuvres Post- 

 humes f can only serve to raise his opinion of their 

 merits still higher. 



" S^nec^," says the preface, " avait aussi bien que per- 

 sonne le secret des vers pleins et sonores ; h, ne considerer 

 que la langue, il fut digne de son dpoque, et en eut le 

 grand caractfere. Mais son titre veritable c'est le conle ou 

 I'epitre. Le modcste rang qu'il occupe dans notre litt^- 

 rature, il le doit Ji la physionomie, a part de son talent de 

 conteur, b, la grace partlculifere qu'il repandit sur tout ce 

 qu'il mania." 



11. Jehannot de Lescurcl is a new personage 

 in the history of mediajval literature.J The few 

 poems which bear his signature were discovered 

 by M. de Montaiglon three years ago, in a MS. 

 copy of the romance of Fauvel at the Imperial 

 Libraryin Paris (large fo. No. 6812.) The fol- 

 lowing indication supplied by the MS. is the only 

 clue we have to the name of the author : " Item 

 balades, rondeaux et diz entez sur refroiz de ron- 

 deaux, lesquiex fist Jehannot de Lescurel, dont les 

 commencemens s'ensuivent." Lescurel reminds 

 us very much, by his style, of Charles Duke of 

 Orleans, and appears to have lived during the 

 fourteenth century. 



12. The poems of Coquillart belong to a later 

 period.§ They are extremely curious, from the 

 numerous historical allusions they contain, and 

 also because they are a striking proof of that 

 quizzical and frondeur spirit which has always 

 been characteristic of the French bourgeoisie. 

 The long poem S'ensuyvent les nouveaulx droitz 

 Is full of excellent touches of satire, but unfor- 

 tunately, as M. d'Hericault remarks, it is spoilt 

 by the influence of the fashionable heaviness 

 ■which Alain Chartier, Jehan Le Fevre, and 

 others had rendered so popular. Coquillart died 

 in 1510. 



13. For copiousness of notes and bibliographical 

 and literary completeness, M. Jannet's edition of 



* "CEuvres choisiesde Senece, revues sur les diverses 

 Editions et sur les manuscrits originaux, par M. E. Chasles 

 et P. A. Cap. 1 vol. 



t " CEuvres posthumes de S(5nec(^, publiees d'aprJjs les 

 manuscrits autographed, par M . Emile Chasles et P. A. 

 Cap. 1 vol. 



X "Chansons, ballades et rondeaux de Jehannot de 

 Lescurel, pofete francjois du XIV" sifecle, publics d'aprfes le 

 manuscrit unique par M.A. de Montaiglon. 1 vol." 



§ " Poe'sies de Guillaume Coquillart, revues et anno- 

 t(?es par M. Charles d'Hericault. Vol. 1." 



the Roman Comique stands unrivalled.*" M. Vic- 

 tor Fournel has published not only Scarron's 

 work, but the continuation, for which we are in- 

 debted to the pen of A. Offray ; and in his intro- 

 duction he has given us a complete history of Le 

 Roman comique, satirique et bourgeois in France 

 during the seventeenth century. We quite sub- 

 scribe to M. Fournel's opinion, that " Scarron a 

 meritc par son Roman comique d'etre compte 

 parmi ceux qui ont le mieux vu et le mieux peint 

 un coin de la societe d'alors." 



14. I shall finish this cursory notice by men- 

 tioning one of the most entertaining volumes of the 

 whole Elzevirian collection. Under the title Nou- 

 velles Franqoises du XIII° sieclef, MM, Moland 

 and d'Hericault have put together five choice 

 specimens of medifeval imaginative literature, and 

 by the simple though exact philological indica- 

 tions supplied both in the notes and in the ex- 

 cellent historical introduction, they have brought 

 within the reach of almost every reader what was 

 hitherto considered as the exclusive property of 

 savants and antiquaries. The tales selected by the 

 editors for this reprint are the following : Li 

 Contes dou Roi Coustant F Empereur, lA Amitiez 

 de Amis et Amile, Li Contes dou Roi Flore et de 

 la Belle Jehane, Istoire d^Outremer, C'est d'Au' 

 casin et de Nicolete. • Gustavjb Masson. 



Harrow-on- the-Hill. 



TAUBMAN S rOYAI. SONGS. 



I have before me a publication of the city poet 

 laureat, Mathew Taubman, not mentioned by 

 Lowndes, and, I believe, of considerable rarity. 

 It is a thin folio of twenty-eight pages, with the 

 following title ; — 



" An Heroick Poem to His Royal Highness the Duke 

 of York, on his Return from Scotland. With some choice 

 Songs and Medleyes on the Times. By Mat. Taubman, 

 Gent. London : printed for John Smith in Russel- street, 

 Covent Garden, 1682." 



Next, an address from — 



" The Publisher to the Reader. 

 " Courteous Reader, 



" The Author of these Songs, being much solicited for 

 Copies, and not able to oblige all his friends, was pre- 

 vail'd upon (for the ease of both) to allow them to be 

 printed with the [musical] notes, which all gentlemen 

 that are desirous maj' have at Mr. John Smith, Book- 

 seller, his Shop in Russell -street, Covent Garden, to- 

 gether with the Basses, at reasonable rates." 



Then follows a table of " Contents," and the 

 poem, " To the Duke upon his Return from Scot" 

 land;" the latter occupying four pages. The 



* " Le Roman comique, par Scarron, revu et annot^ par 

 M. Victor Fournel. 2 vol." 



+ "Nouvelles fran(;oises en prose, du XIII" sifeole, avec 

 Notices et notes par MM. Moland et Ch. d'Hericault. 

 1 vol." 



