ART. I. Choix des Poésies Originales des Troubadours, &c.; i.e. Selections from the Original Poems of the Troubadours. By M. RAYNOUARD, Member of the Royal Institute of France, &c. 8vo. 6 Vols. Paris. THE HE scholars and critics of France have been frequently reproached with having neglected one of the most interesting periods of their literary history; the works of the Troubadours, who for three centuries exerted so powerful an influence over the poetry and manners not only of their own countrymen but of the neighboring nations of Europe, having long been suffered to moulder unnoticed on the shelves of the learned. For a very considerable period, no effort whatever had been made to redeem these neglected bards from the obscurity into which they were fast hastening, whe., in 1575, Nostradamus published his Lives of the Provençal Poets; a work which, imperfect as it might be, served at least to keep alive the memory of the Troubadours. M.de la Curne de St. Palaye, however, the ingenious author of Mémoires sur l'ancienne Chevalerie, was the first of the French literati who seriously applied himself to the study of the poets of former days. Finding that the King's library possessed only four MSS., he resolved to visit Italy, where many of the works of the Troubadours were preserved; and here he collected upwards of four thousand poems, with many pieces of biography. The APP. REV. VOL. C. G g labor labor of making himself acquainted with the antiquated Provençal dialect still remained. Few persons understood it, and Redi and Crescembeni, in the extracts which they gave, had frequently mistaken the meaning of the original. M. de St. Palaye, therefore, was compelled to form a dictionary for his own use; an exercise which must have rendered him intimately acquainted with the spirit and character of the language. It is much to be regretted that he never presented to the world the result of his laborious and able researches: but ho left at his death twenty-three unpublished folio volumes, fifteen of which are filled with various Provençal poems, while the remainder contain extracts, partly translated, and placed in the alphabetical order of the names of the authors.* From these valuable materials, about 50 years ago, the Abbé Millot compiled his Histoire Littéraire des Troubadours: but he brought no previous knowlege to the investigation of this subject, and did nothing more than select and arrange from the extensive collections of M. de St. Palaye. He does not even appear to have been acquainted with the Provençal language, and consequently made use of his predecessor's translations, as he remarks with great complacency," en donnant au style une tournure plus libre et plus variée." Of the specimens chosen by him, he has in no instance given the originals; so that the reader, in perusing his volumes, is compelled to form his judgment of poems, the excellence of which consists chiefly in the singular felicity of their versification, from versions into French prose. In this respect, indeed, the Abbé has only followed the example of all the French critics; who, in treating of foreign poetry, are restrained by the unhappy genius of their language from attempting any thing like a metrical imitation. As M. Millot's knowlege of his subject was by no means profound, and as his critical powers were not of the highest order, his publication was not calculated to throw any very considerable light on the obscurity in which the literature of Provence was enveloped. + It is to be added, however, that the poetry of the Troubadours has incidentally attracted the attention of many of the * We should also mention, on this subject, M. Barbazan's Fables and Tales of the French Poets in the 11th-15th Centuries, and M. Roquefort's Glossary of the Romanse Language: of both which we gave a report in our Appendix to vol. lxxiii. N.S. p. 486-501. +"The Literary History of the Troubadours," by Mrs. Dobson, is an abridgment from Millot's "Histoire Littéraire." We have still to lament that we do not possess a more perfect and critical work on a subject so interesting in itself, and so closely connected with the early history of our own poetry. French French literati. M. Ginguené, in his excellent History of Italian Literature, has devoted some portion of that book to an examination of the merits of the Provençals; and M. de Sismondi, in his Literary History of the South of Europe, has entered more at large into the same question. Still, the observations of the former are chiefly confined to the influence of the Provençal poetry on the Italian; and the latter has done little more than extract from Millot such information as suited his purpose; which he has accomplished in an agreeable and popular style, but without adding to our previous knowlege on the subject. About three years after the publication of the first edition of the Littérature du Midi, the first volume of the present work made its appearance, on which M. de Sismondi, in his second edition, has made the following judicious observations: "A publication like this can alone enable the literary world to form a judgment of this language and of its poets, which are at present rather matter of conjecture than of study. At the same time, it must throw much light on the literature and manners of antient France." M. RAYNOUARD's first volume, which appeared (as we have above stated) in the year 1816, was soon followed by the second and third volumes: but the last three, which complete the design, have but recently been imported into this country. The first contains Historical Proofs of the Antiquity of the Romanse Language; Inquiries into its Origin and Formation; the Elements of its Grammar before the Year 1000; and a Grammar of the Language of the Troubadours. Hence an idea may be formed of the importance of this portion of the undertaking, which is highly creditable to the author's talents both as an antiquary and as a scholar. The Grammar is copious, and illustrated by citations from the original Provençal; to which are added literal translations into modern French. The second volume contains Dissertations on the Troubadours, and on the Courts of Love, &c.; Monuments of the Romanse Language, up to the Period of those Poets; and an Inquiry into the various Species of their Composition. In order to illustrate the poetry of the Troubadours, the ́author has given at the commencement of this volume such extracts as display, in the strongest light, the prominent features of their character; and he thus explains his designs with regard to this part of his work: I shall attempt to exhibit the tender and affectionate feelings of these passionate but timid lovers; the wishes, the fears, the hopes, the submission, and the gratitude of love. It cannot but be a pleasing task to listen to the lively and faithful tenderness of these poets, to their delicate frankness, to their touching resigna Gg 2 tion, tion, and in short to those peculiar beauties which distinguish the character of a chivalric passion. I shall then translate some passages which throw a light on the manners of the time, and more especially explain the part which the Troubadours took in public affairs. We cannot refrain from admiring the ardent and daring spirit that led them by turns to blame and to celebrate the actions which they witnessed; while their courage in denouncing the wrongs and injustice of kings and princes, the disorders of the nobles, the excesses of the ignorant and fanatical clergy, and the vices of the people, cannot be denied. Sometimes, listening only to the voice of religious zeal, they exhorted nations and kings to arm themselves for the delivery of the Holy Sepulchre, and to avenge the profanations of the Infidels. Sometimes, marching themselves in the ranks of the Crusaders, they passed into Syria or Palestine; and there, soldiers in the day of danger, they afterward celebrated in their heroic songs the victories and the triumphs of the Christians. The masculine and sometimes severe freedom, in which the Troubadours indulged, was exhibited frequently on occasion of the religious wars: but, to the honor of the poetical cavaliers, they generally took the part of the oppressed. They attacked with their pen those who by persecutions, in which all charity and reason was abandoned, gave their wise and courageous contemporaries the melancholy privilege of accusing them of the evil which they had done to religion, and of announcing by anticipation the just reproaches of posterity.' We should have been much better pleased if the author, in translating these specimens, had adhered to the same strict rules by which he governed himself in rendering into modern French the citations in his grammar. Had he given us metrical versions, a considerable latitude might have been allowed: but we cannot coincide with him in his opinion that such translations, when made into prose merely, should have a 'facile liberté;' or that the writer should enjoy le privilège d'y joindre les couleurs nécessaires pour donner à la copie une parti de l'éclat de l'original. In this part of his work, it must be remembered that M. RAYNOUARD has selected only detached stanzas, as illustrative of some characteristic sentiments. We shall copy a few of the originals, and subjoin a metrical translation, with no pretensions but those of endeavoring to preserve something of the Provençal air. The following extracts are intended to convey an idea of the devotion of the Troubadours to their mistresses: "Amors a tans de bos mestiers, Qu'en Qu'en luec bos pretz no s'abria Leu, si non ve per amia; Pueis dizon tug, quant hom fai falhimen, Love will ne'er fail in numerous sweet contrivances, Whom with some rich reward he did not bless; And should he fail, each tongue would o'er and o'er "Aissi cum es bella sil de cui chan' E belhs son nom, sa terra e son castelh, Cum ilh val mais que neguna del mon.” (GUILLAUME DE ST. DIDIER.) She whom I sing, how bright she is and fair! No race of lovers were ever more submissive than the Troubadours, who made nothing of "kneeling whole ages at a beauty's feet." Witness the following humble lines of the fierce Sordello: "Sitot amor mi turmenta, Ni m'auci, non planc re pus genta Ja per nulh maltrag qu'ieu senta Non auzira clam de me." Though love my heart with torments gall, No murmurs from me spring; And though I die beneath his thrall, 'Tis sweet, thus suffering. Gg 3 Oh |