K O M A K C E. 





Similarity 

 << its history 

 in different 

 stations and 

 countries. 



homely truth to the wildest of nil possible imaginations 

 than an oidmurv author can throw over Ilia desn iptii-m 

 of the tamest incidents in a story of every duy lilr. 



. mg this, at least lor the present, we find no 

 difficulty as to the origin of the term romance. The 

 fictitious, narratives in which our uncestors of the mid- 

 dle flges delighted weie originally COtBjNMedf or at 

 It-a^t first ganu-d rcneral notice and favour, in dialects 

 lornied out of tin- Uoman language, by the admixture, 

 in greater or less proportion*, t/f the idioms and voca- 

 bles of the Teutonic tribes, which overthrew the em- 

 pire of Home and took possession of her province*. 

 The French language, the Italian, the Sp.mMi, were 

 all equally styfttl romance dialects, in contradistinction 

 to the Latin on the one haiwl, and the native dialects 

 o! the Githic nations on the other. Even the English 

 tongue was sometimes distinguished by the .same. 

 name;* and indeed at one period, hovering as that 

 language did between the two rival sets of elements 

 which are now so equally and to inextricably blended 

 in it, and difficult as the scholars of the time must have 

 found it to decide what its future fate might be, it is 

 no wonder that a Welsh vr an Anglo-Saxon antiquary 

 should have adopted such phraseology. The name 

 was easily transferred from these mixed dialects, to the 

 most popular productions composed during several 

 centuries in them ; and has ended in being applied all 

 < VIT Europe not to those compositions only, but to 

 various classes of fictitious narrative whicn have sue- 

 cessively filled their place among the nations of Europe; 

 and all of which, it may be added, are essentially the 

 descendants of that original species of composition 

 whose name they have inherited. 



As all fiction aims at being mistaken (in a certain 

 sense) for truth, so all fictitious narrative is originally 

 formed or founded on historical materials. The more 

 we become acquainted with the literatures of nations 

 the most remote from us in local situation, and in ap- 

 parent manners, the more complete becomes our con- 

 viction that literature has always followed the same 

 general march. The first efforts of literature have al- 

 ways been to embalm the memories and magnify the 

 deeds of the departed heroes of the tribe or nation 

 among which that literature springs into existence. 

 The first Greek poets celebrated those Greek heroes, 

 who afterwards became the gods and demi-gods of the 

 Greek mythology. The first Scandinavian poets cele- 

 brated the chiefs who conducted their early emigra- 

 tions from Asia into the north of Europe. Homer 

 sung the war of Troy. The first minstrels of modern 

 Europe celebrated tha Gothic, Prankish, and Burgun- 

 dian heroes who flourished during the period of the 

 great no. them emigrations. 



It was always either for the excitement or for the 

 amusement of warriors that the earliest poets of every 

 nation exerted their art ; and it is wonderful what 

 similarity is perceptible among all the various relics 

 and monuments that have come down to us of their 

 efforts. The song which the old bard Demodocus 

 sung at the feast in the Odyssey, is essentially of the 

 very same character with the amorous Fabliaux, which 

 enlivened the halls of the Breton and Norman barons 

 in the young days of modern Europe : nor is it easy 

 to discover much difference between the services of 

 Tyrta-m among the old Spartans, and those of Taillefer 

 the Norman, w-ho at the battle of Hastings 



Among the Gothic ancestor* of the modern Europe* :i 

 nation*, however, it i* <j 'in that the warlike*-' 



song formed a ttni\lttnt prelude t> the joining of the 

 coi.il c(. T.cit speaks of this as the universal cus- 

 tom among his Germans. The prophetess Veledj 

 mxrched singing before the rank* of the Batavi, when 

 they, after long following the K<i.na:i banners, at Ul 

 took up arms in assertion of their freedom ; and to 

 much a mutter of course was thin, that long afterward* 

 v e find in u nar n,ng, used by Lewi, King of the Eait 

 Franks (a singular relic of antiquity which has n >*r 

 survived nine centuries), the btrain begin wit . 



war gemngcn 

 Schlacht war begUnnen. 

 that is, 



Nw the song was done, 

 And the battle begun. 



Thus each succeeding generation marched to th* 

 conflict, inspired by the minstrelsy which celebrate I 

 thtir forefathers ; and listened afterwards during th* 

 hours of ease and revelry to strains calculated either 

 to flitter the same military propensities, or to shed the 

 colouring-: of fancy over the recreations most natural in 

 such states of society. The great German romance of 

 the Nibelungen-lied the most perfect, perhaps, of all 

 that the Gothic nations possess begins in words which 

 might with equal propriety be prefixed either to the 

 Iliad, or to the OJyssey, to the Arabic romance of 

 Antar, or the Spanish Poema del Cid 



" Von Freaden und festes zeiten, von weinen, und von kla^en, 



Von kuhner helden streiten, mogtihr nun wuuder horen ugen." 

 which may be rendered : 



I sing of loves and wassaillings, if you will lend your ears, 

 Strange tales of bold men's combaiings, and gentle ladies' tears ; 



In other words, prepare to listen to an Huijii.ul IL- 



' Dcvant le Ducalloit chantant 

 DC Karlemagne et dc Kulant.'' 



There can now be no doubt that every step made in 

 historical, and in perhaps its surest department, philo- 

 logical research, is a step towards the immutable con- 

 firmation of the fact, that all the nations of the world 

 are descended from one common ancestry. One posi- Original 

 tion has already been established beyond all reach of identity 

 cavil, viz. that the Greek nation was only a somewhat ^ 

 earlier off-set of the same race from which our own ' 

 Gothic ancestors were derived. This, indeed, cannot 

 any longer be made the subject of a doubt, since it has 

 been proved, that of the 3000 roots now existing in the 

 German language, at least one-half are common to it 

 and the ancient Greek. Such being the case, nothing 

 could be more interesting than a lengthened and 

 leisurely research into the really essential distinctions 

 to be found between the progress and descent of the 

 fictitious narrative (originally, of course heroic and his- 

 torical) -in old Greece on the one hand, and the forms 

 and shapes through which materials, originally of the 

 same character, have passed in the hands of the kind- 

 red nations and tribes of that great family, which, for 

 distinction's sake, we must still be contented to speak 

 of under the name of Gothic. This, however, would 

 obviously open a field by far too wide for our present 

 means and opportunities. \\ e must therefore be sa- 

 tisfied with alluding very briefly to a few of the 

 main differences only, that are perceptible to . 

 one who compares these two great branches ot 

 ture. Of the Romans we need s:iy nothing as to these 

 matters, for they never had any imaginative literature 

 but what was directly inspired by, and founded on 

 Greek models. 



* n< 



By Geraldus Cambrensis. 



