356 



' LANGUAGES. 



them. It must, however, be said that as yet there was no such a thing as 

 grammar ; every one spoke and wrote at his fancy, according to his instinct 

 or tendencies, and the language was clear or obscure, heavy or light, accord- 

 ing to the person that employed it. Even the spelling of words varied almost 

 ad infinitum, and it did not occur to anybody to establish a regular system of 

 orthography. 



The great romances of chivalry imported to the Oil language a sort of 

 nobility, grandeur, and force very suitable to the epic style. But other 

 trouveres, of humble origin no doubt, and, as such, more satiric and facetious 

 than the poets who wrote the chansons de gestc, invented the Fabliau, the Conic, 



Fig. 298. Conflagration of the Bel-Accueil Prison. Fig. 299. Narcissus at the Fountain. 



Miniatures from the " Romance of the Rose." Manuscript of the Fourteenth Century. 

 In the Library of M. Ambroise Firmin-Didot, Paris. 



and the Dif, which abounded in comedy and sarcasm. The vices, the defects, 

 the passions, and the foibles of society, from the villein to the king, were hit 

 off in popular poetry, much to the amusement of the persons portrayed. The 

 language must have become richer and more supple for it to have been made 

 the medium of such satire as this, which was couched in the familiar and 

 even trite expressions in use amongst the common people both of town and 

 country. As time went on it became more vivid, more pointed, more incisive, 

 and more sprightly. Its best types are the various fabliaux, and also the 

 " Romance of the Rose " (Figs. 298 and 299), begun by William de Lorris 



