482 MEDIAEVAL LITERATURE. 



manuscript is no longer in existence; but the copy, as he had it 

 made in England, is in the collections of the British Museum. 

 (16 E. viii.) 



Unfortuately his scribe had a very imperfect knowledge of 

 French, and so he fitted the poem out in the garment of his own 

 Anglo-Norman tongue. Moreover, this copy is defaced by 

 numerous gaps, mistakes, and inaccuracies, which have given con- 

 siderable trouble to the editors whom these blemishes compelled to 

 all sorts of guesses and conjectures, which, though ingenious, here 

 and there, will have to remain guesses and conjectures. However, 

 as not a single specimen of the original French pcem is extant this 

 manuscript, faulty and imperfect as it is, is nevertheless of the 

 greatest value. 



The poem of Charles' pilgrimage is a genuine product of 

 French national soil and exactly the kind of tale to be recited 

 before an animated and merry popular crowd. The antithesis 

 between the dazzling luxury and wealth of the East and the 

 nimble-witted, sparkling chaff of the Western visitors, hallmark 

 the poem as being purely French. The mixture of respect and 

 familiarity with which the author treats his hero is equally 

 national. He pictures him as if he were a god, enthroned on the 

 sacred seat of the lord, and makes him stand awkward and per- 

 plexed like a naughty urchin, before the Emperor Hugo. He 

 hails him as the worthy bearer of miracle-working relics, and glori- 

 fies him as the boon companion of a company of merry topers. He 

 allows him the honour of an angel's visit, and makes the envoy of 

 heaven begin his message with a scolding. In short, he is abso- 

 lutely infatuated with his hero and at the same time pokes fun at 

 him and laughs at him. Such infatuation, knit up with irrever- 

 ence, such familiar intercourse, which does not do the slightest 

 harm to true regard, although it sometimes may impair its gravity, 

 is another characteristic of French mentality. In France itself 

 this popular theme has undergone all kinds of refacimenti. When, 

 later on, the exploits of Galien, the son of King Hugo's unfor- 

 tunate daughter Jacqueline and her faithless lover, Olivier, were 

 recorded in more recent epics, the tale of Charles' pilgrimage to 

 Jerusalem and Constantinopel was recast and connected with them. 

 As a matter of course, the "gabs" remained the favourite episode 

 of the poem, but the golden plough was not forgotten either. It 

 lasted long, indeed, before the popularity of Charles' pilgrimage 

 and Olivier 's love became exhausted. Even in the last quarter of 

 the Eighteenth Century we find an echo of these two old beloved 

 themes. First La Chaussee devoted his efforts to a poetical version 

 of the ancient but not yet worn-out subject ; and soon after, Marie 

 Joseph Chenier, the famous Andre's brother, attempted the same. 

 La Chaussee's verses are ncne of the best, and Olivier's adventure 

 with Jacqueline constitutes the bulk of the work (L,e Roy Huyon, 

 Conte). Chenier's decasyllabic lines treat with much gracefulness 

 and delicacy the scene of the "gabs." He represents King Hugo as 

 a Mohamedan, and makes Jacqueline's conversion to Christianity 

 the price of Olivier's exploit. (Les Miracles, Conte.) 



