36 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»* S. IX. Jan. 14. '60. 



du douzieme siecle ; publie'e et pre'ce'de'e d'une Introduc- 

 tion, par C. Hippeau, Professeur a. la Faculte' des Lettres 

 de Caen. 8vo. Paris, A. Aubry. 



The history of the quarrel between Thomas a Becket 

 and King Henry II. is one which has been the source of 

 many controversies. Some writers still exist who, for- 

 getting what the position of the Church was during the 

 middle-ages, would fain represent the Archbishop as 

 merely an ambitious, intolerant, and domineering prelate, 

 anxious to secure his own power, whilst pretending to 

 uphold the authority of the Church; M. Augustin 

 Thierry, as most of our readers know, bent upon seeing 

 throughout the whole range of English history a perpe- 

 tual conflict of races between the Saxons and the Nor- 

 mans, and to consider the life of Thomas k Becket as an 

 episode in this struggle, and to represent the Constitution 

 of Clarendon and the subsequent tragedy as a further act 

 of tyranny exercised by the invaders over the conquered 

 English. M. Hippeau," in his most interesting and in- 

 structive Preface, does not go so far ; and, instead of 

 seeing in this transaction a question of nationalities, he 

 explains it altogether as the natural issue of that contest 

 which has always been going on between the temporal and 

 the spiritual powers — the Church and the State. "The 

 quarrel," says M. Hippeau, "n'est autre chose qu'une 

 question de competence judiciaire. Mais quand le droit de 

 juger et de punir est un objet de contestation entre deux 

 puissances aussi considerables que l'e'taient au douzieme 

 siecle, d'un cote l'Eglise stipulant en quelque sorte pour 

 les peuples, et de l'autre la Royaute', soutenue dans ses 

 pretentions par les chefs de l'aristocratie militaire, elle ne 

 pouvait que prendre des proportions immenses." 



Amongst the numerous writers who have left us bio- 

 graphies and memoirs of Thomas k Becket, one of the 

 most important is Gamier de Pont Saint Maxence, whose 

 Chronicle is now for the first time published in an entire 

 form. The Abbe' De la Rue {Bardes et Trouveres, vol. iii.) 

 had already given an account, though short and insuf- 

 ficient, of that annalist. M. Immanuel Bekker had edited 

 (Memoires de FAcademie de Berlin, vols, for 1838 and 

 1846) a few fragments from his Chronicle, and Dr. Giles, 

 alluding to him in his history of the prelate, does not 

 consider the details he supplies as deserving much atten- 

 tion. We are quite inclined to think with M. Hippeau 

 that Garnier de Pont Saint Maxence is on the contrary 

 one of the best authorities concerning the eventful life of 

 Thomas k Becket, and that he is indeed, "sur tous les 

 points essentiels, d'une exactitude scrupuleuse." 



The curious reader, by referring to vol. xxiii. of the 

 Sistoire Littiraire de la France will find, from the pen of 

 M. V. Leclerc, an able notice of our rhymester ; we shall 

 therefore merely state here that Garnier was in England 

 during the year 1172, that is to say, two years after the 

 murder of the prelate, and that he spent four in the com- 

 position of his Chronicle. 



" Guarnier li clercs di Punt flne-ci sun sermun 

 Del martir Saint Thomas et de sa passiun ; 

 Et meinte fez li list a la tumbe al barun. 

 L'an secund ke li sainz fu en l'eglise ocis 

 Comenchai cest roman et mult m'en entremis. 

 Des privez Saint Thomas la ve'rite' apris." 



A first narrative, which he wrote under the exclusive 

 impression of his own feelings and of his partiality for 

 Thomas a Becket, appears to have been less satisfactory ; — 



" Primes treitai de joie et sovent i menti ; 

 A' Chantorbire alai ; la verite" o'i ; 

 Des amis Saint Thomas la ve'rite cuilli 

 Et de eels ki l'aveient des s'enfance servi." 



Garnier's poem consists of 5,872 lines in the Alexandrine 

 measure, divided by the rhyme into stanzas of five lines 



each ; it forms a complete biography of the Archbishop, 

 and has been published trom a manuscript in the Impe- 

 rial Library at Paris (No. 6236, Suppl. Francais) manu- 

 script which formerly belonged to Richard Heber. ' The 

 British Museum possesses also two manuscripts of this 

 metrical Chronicle {Hurl. No. 270, and Cotton, Domilian, 

 xi.), but both are incomplete. The Wolfenbuttel manu- 

 script, edited by M. Bekker (Leben des H. Thomas von 

 Canterbury, alt Franzbsischen, Berlin, 1838), is better 

 than the English texts, though inferior to the French 

 one ; it has furnished M. Hippeau with a supplemental 

 fragment describing the public penance which the King 

 of England had to undergo in Canterbury cathedral. 

 The Introduction, extending to nearly sixty pages, not 

 only gives the history of the poem, and all the bibliogra- 

 phical details connected with it, but also discusses very 

 fully the life and character of Thomas k Becket. We 

 shall not examine any further this portion of the work, 

 except in order to remark that M. Hippeau discards as 

 entirely fictitious the famous story respecting Mathilda 

 and Gilbert, first recorded by an anonymous compiler in 

 the Quadrilogus of 1495, and subsequently adopted by 

 M. Augustin Thierry and Dr. Giles, merely on such 

 doubtful authority. Not one of Becket's contemporaries 

 alludes to the romantic intercourse between the Saracen, 

 maiden and Gilbert a Becket, whilst Gamier de Pont 

 Saint Maxence, and many other writers of the same 

 epoch, mention the Archbishop's parents as being both 

 of Norman extraction. 



We recommend, in conclusion, M. Hippeau's book 

 most especially to the English reader, who cannot but be 

 interested by the fresh light it throws upon a momentous 

 episode in the history of this country. The name of the 

 publisher, M. Aubry, is enough to guarantee the beauty 

 and correctness of the volume as a specimen of French 

 typography. Gustave Masson. 



Harrow-on-the-Hill. 



#flttce3 to CDomrfpontenW. 



Among other Papers of interest which will appear in our next Kumber, 

 will be Burghead, Clavie and Durie; English Comedians in Germany) 

 Prohibition of Prophecies ; General Literary Index. &c. 



The Index to Volume Eioht will be issued with " N. & Q." of Satur- 

 day, January 1\. 



Chelseoa. The Carol called Joy's Seven is well known, and printed 

 in Sandys' Christmas Carols, p. 157. 



R. W. The oft quoted, 



" Well of English undeflled," 

 is from Spenser's Faerie Queen, Book IV. Canto 2. St. 32. 



Exol's Anagram, " Quid est Veritas? Vir est <mi adest," has already 

 appeared in " N. & Q., 2nd S. vii. 114. 



X. A. X. Only Part I. of Edward h-ving's Missionary Oration was 



publisiicd. 



Zeta. Ballard, in kis British Ladies, says, " What use Elizabeth 

 Legge made of her learning, or whether she. wrote or translated ami thing, 



J know not. The following works are not in the British Museum, 



Jephtha's Daughter, 1821 ; Revenge Defeated and sell-Punished, 1818; 



Darwett's Poetical Works, 1794 Anne Flinders's Naboth the Jez- 



reeiite, 1844, is a dramatic poem, Edward Lewis was of St. John's 



College, Cambridge, A.M. 1726 Edward Stanley, author q/Elmira, 



1790, does not appear in Romilly's Catalogue. 



L. R. P. " Sending to Coventry" has been noticed in our let S. vi. 318. 

 589. 



F. K. The Speeches on the Equalisation of the Weights and Mea- 

 sures, 1790, were by Sir John Riggs Miller, Bart, as stated o» the title- 

 page of the pamphlet. 



Errata. — 2nd S. viii. p. 497. col. i. line 13. from bottom for " Ann 

 Countess of Harington," r<ad "Lady Harington, the widow of John 

 Baron Harington above mentioned:" 2ud S. ix. p. 6. col. ii. 1.9. for 

 " Thirteenth," read" Seventeenth; " p. 12. col. ii. last line but 2. for 

 9 Sitherland," read" Litherland." 



" Notes and Queries" is published at noon on Friday, and is also 

 issued in Monthly Parts. The subscription for Stamped Copies for 

 Six Months forwarded direct from the Publishers Uncluding the Half- 

 yearly Index) is lis. id., which may be paid by Post Office Order in 

 favour of Messrs. Beix and Dai.dv ,18ti. Fleet Strut, E.C.i to whom 

 all Communications for the Editor should be addressed. 



