LANGUAGES. 



359 



who half a century later narrated the Crusades of St. Louis, did not, perhaps, 

 equal him, though he could command the use of a vocabulary much richer 

 and more supple. The reign of Louis saw the formation of a polite society, 

 in which the language, while becoming more variegated, more incisive, and 

 more abundant, preserved its early simplicity and grace. The Sire de Join- 

 ville's sly good-humour makes him the pleasantest and most attractive tale- 

 teller of the Middle Ages. 



The French language, which was spoken all over Europe, and even in the 

 East, during the thirteenth century, but which was more especially the 



Fig. 301. The Three Virtues (Reason, Uprightness, and Justice) urge Christina de Pisan to write 

 a Book of Ethics for the Instruction of Ladies. Miniature from the " Livre dos Vertus," 

 unpublished Manuscript, dating from 1405. In the Library of M. Amhroise Firmin-Didot, 

 Paris. 



privileged language of the courts, could not avoid declining in the following 

 century, even though that century possessed such a distinguished writer aa 

 Jean Froissart. This chronicler, in the opinion of M. Francis Wey, who is, 

 perhaps, a little severe upon him, was endowed with the instinct of his art, 

 was clever without elevation of thought and without discernment, seeking for 

 effect rather than to excite emotion, narrating trifles with tedious prolixity, 



