PROVENCE PROVERBS. 



727 



was called the Rotnana, as it was derived principally 

 from the Latin. These poets were likewise called 

 Troubadours (q. v. ; in Italian, Trovatori), while 

 the Norman-French poets of a somewhat later 

 period, who wrote in French the nonsensical, con- 

 ceited and absurd romances (the first of which was 

 the tedious, but then popular, Roman de la Rose), 

 heroic poems (of the twelve peers of Charlemagne, 

 of the knights of the round table, and of the Ama- 

 disses), Contes and Fabliaux, and who were parti- 

 cularly favoured by Charles VI., were called Trou- 

 veres, or Trouveurs. (See France, Literature of, 

 division Poetry.) 



The oldest Troubadour, whose name and poems 

 are known to us, is William, count of Poitiers and 

 (iiiienne (born 1071), who sang the adventures of 

 his crusade, although there must have been others 

 who sang before him. Raynouard discovered a 

 Provengal poem of the year 1000, in rhyme. The 

 flourishing period of this school of poetry extends 

 from 1090 to 1290, and its popularity was at its 

 height about 1140, and at the time when Beren- 

 garius III. received the investiture of Provence 

 from the emperor Frederic I. Not only the nobles 

 and many ladies in Provence, but many celebrated 

 foreign princes (e. g. Richard the Lion-hearted), 

 and the Italian nobles, partook of the enthusiasm 

 in its favour. The charms of the Prbvengal poetry 

 and language were more early widely felt in Italy 

 (where Folchetto was the first knosvn poet of this 

 school), and in Spain (the country of the Limousin 

 Provengal poets), where many princes were poets 

 (Alphonso II., Peter III. and IV.), and later in 

 Sicily. The history of Romeo de Villeneuve (the 

 Pilgrim), who was minister of the tenth count of 

 Provence, Raymond Berengarius (from 1206 to 

 1244), and who is praised by Dante, deals in the 

 marvellous, and was considered by Baudrier (1635) 

 as a romance. These materials have been worked 

 up in a new form in the Peregrinazioni ed Avaniure 

 del nobile Romeo da Provenza (Turin, 1824). The 

 decline of the Provengal poetry began in the four- 

 teenth century, in the first half of which, prizes 

 were offered (at Toulouse golden violets, afterwards 

 silver marigolds and roses), for the encouragement 

 of poets. The last whom Millot, the author of the 

 principal work on this subject, Hist. Litteraire des 

 Troubadours (Paris, 1774, 3 vols.), cites is Jean 

 Esteve de Blesieres (about 1286). At length this 

 amusement became wearisome, the understanding 

 took the place of fancy, the nobility lost their 

 splendor, the princely patrons of poetry became 

 extinct, the French line of kings who succeeded, 

 favoured the French language instead of the Pro- 

 vengal, and materials failed when the adventures of 

 chivalry ceased to exist ; no powerful Petrarch 

 arose among the Provengals, and instead of the 

 singers, who, if they really were Troubadours, were 

 called minstrels, succeeded actors and jugglers, who 

 disgraced the name of Troubadours, and whose 

 meanness soon caused the earlier and better poets 

 to be forgotten. We have still much of the Pro- 

 vengal poetry left. Some of the pieces are religious 

 romances. See Raynouard's Chcix des Poesies 

 originales des Troubadours (Paris, 1816 21, 6 

 vols.), to which collection is prefixed a Grummaire 

 Romane ; see also A. W. Schlegel's Observations 

 sur la Litterature Provenzale (Paris, 1818). 



PROVENCE; one of the old provinces of France, 

 lying in the south-eastern part of the country, on 

 the Mediterranean, bounded on the north by Dau- 

 phiny, and on the west by Languedoc. Its natural 

 boundaries were the sea, the Rhone, the Var and 

 the Alps. The capital was Aix, and the province 

 was divided into Upper and Lower Provence. The 



departments of the Mouths of the Rhone, the Lower 

 Alps and the Var, with a part of that of Vaucluse, 

 have been formed from it. Greek colonies were 

 founded here at an early period (see Marseilles') ; 

 and the Romans, having conquered the country 

 (B. C. 124), gave it the name of Provincia (the 

 province), whence its later name was derived. Af- 

 ter the division of the empire of Louis le Debonn- 

 aire, it fell to Lothaire, and was afterwards a sepa- 

 rate kingdom, under the name of the kingdom of 

 Aries. In 1246, it passed to the house of Anjou by 

 marriage; and, in 1481, on the extinction of the 

 male line of that house, Louis XI. united it to the 

 dominions of the French crown. (For its language 

 and literature, see France, division Language, and 

 the article Provencal Poets.) 



PROVERBS are the flower of popular wit and 

 the treasures of popular wisdom; they give the 

 result of experience in a form made impressive by 

 rhyme, alliteration, parallelism, a pointed turn, or 

 a comparison drawn from the most ordinary scenes 

 and occurrences of life, which, by the force of as- 

 sociation, makes their effect strong and permanent. 

 Proverbs may be unassuming, lively, grave, or even 

 sublime ; their general character is naivelS. The 

 habit of men, at the present day, to communicate 

 so much with each other by writing, which, excit- 

 ing the feelings less than conversation, leads to a 

 less animated mode of expression, and the disposi- 

 tion to avoid what is common, springing from the 

 pride of intellectual cultivation incident to an ad- 

 vanced stage of society, and various causes con- 

 nected with the progress of civilization, make pro- 

 verbs every day more unfashionable with the most 

 civilized European nations, particularly in this coun- 

 try, where the use of a proverb (except it be one 

 of a foreign nation) is considered almost vulgar; 

 and the same contempt for these jewels of the 

 multitude has spread to America. Another reason 

 for proverbs going out of fashion may be, that the 

 better a proverb is, the more trite it becomes ; and 

 what is trite is vulgar, and what is vulgar is inele- 

 gant. Thus a public speaker could not use the 

 proverb, " 'Twixt cup and lip is many a slip," at 

 least, not without some apology for its triteness, al- 

 though the very triteness in this, as in most other 

 cases (such as often quoted verses), proves merit ; 

 and even this homely proverb undoubtedly has often 

 led to care and thoughtfulness. Proverbs often save 

 long explanations by presenting a striking image ; 

 and many a lecture has probably been superseded 

 by the French adage, " One spoonful of honey at- 

 tracts more flies than a hundred barrels of vinegar." 

 So they may be often used with effect to point the 

 conclusion of a discourse. A period on the failure 

 of men who strive beyond their capacity, might be 

 well closed by the Arabian saying which Burck- 

 hardt mentions, "If God purposes the destruction 

 of an ant, he gives her wings ;" and the vanity of 

 human resolutions could hardly be set in a stronger 

 light than by the Portuguese proverb, " Hell is 

 paved with good intentions" a proverb which, 

 until it has become familiar, is awfully impressive. 

 It requires skill to apply proverbs elegantly and 

 judiciously in common life. As to the general 

 worth of proverbs, we would say, with one of their 

 number, Vox populi, vox Dei. Yet there are many 

 directly opposed to others, and they must always be 

 received cum grano salis ; they are general views 

 of things, and " no rule without an exception." 

 Proverbs are plain spoken. In their view, as in 

 the eye of the law, all equal. They take cognizance 

 of the virtues, and vices, and follies, of all classes, 

 without respect of persons. They pierce the object 

 at which they aim ; and this, in fact, gives (hem 



