slays an evil being called Grendel, who, except in his being subject to death, seems a creature of a supernatural description. But the literature of the Saxons was destroyed by the success of William the Conqueror, and the Norman knights and barons, among whom England was in a great measure divided, sought amusement, not in the lays of the vanquished, but in those composed in their own language. In this point of view, England, as a country, may lay claim to many of the French Romances, which were written, indeed, in that language, but for the benefit of the court and nobles of England, by whom French was still spoken. When the two languages began to assimilate together, and to form the mixed dialect termed the Anglo-Norman, we have good authority for saying that it was easily applied to the purpose of romantic fiction, and recited in the presence of the nobility.

Robert de la Brunne, who composed his History of England about this time, has this remarkable passage, which we give, along with the commentary of the Editor of Sir Tristrem, as it is peculiarly illustrative of the subject we are enquiring into.

Als thai haf wryten and sayd
Haf I alle in myn Inglis layd,
In simple speche as I couthe,
That is lightest in manne's mouthe.

I made noght for no disours,
Ne for no seggours, no harpours,
Bot for the luf of symple men,

That strange Inglis cannot ken;

The English public are now made more fully acquainted with this ancient process, by the ample and more interesting analysis, furnished by Mr Conny beare

For many it ere that strange Inglis,
In ryme wate never what it is;
And bot thai wist what it mente,
Ellis methought it were alle schente.
I made it not for to be praysed,
Bot at the lewed men were aysed.
If it were made in ryme couwee,
Or in strangere, or enterlacé,
That rede Inglis it ere inowe

That couthe not have coppled a kowe.
That onther in cowee or in baston,
Sum suld haf ben fordon;

So that fele men that it herde
Suld not witte howe that it ferde.
I see in song, in sedgeying tale,
Of Erceldoune and of Kendale,
Non thaim sayis as thai thaim wroght,
And in ther saying it semes noght,
That may thou here in Sir Tristrem,
Over gestes it has the steem,
Over all that is or was,

If men it sayd as made Thomas;
Bot I here it no man so say,
That of some copple som is away.
So thare fayre saying here beforne,
Is thare travaile nere forlorne;
Thai sayd it for pride and nobleye,
That were not suylke as thei.'
And alle that thai willed overwhere,
Alle that ilke will now forfare.
Thai sayd it in so quaint Inglis,
That many wate not what it is.
Therfore heuyed wele the more
In strange ryme to travayle sore;
And my wit was oure thynne
So strange speche to travayle in;
And forsoth I couth noght
So strange Inglis as thai wroght,

And men besoght me many a tyme

To turne it bot in light ryme.

Thai seyd if I in strange ryme it turn,
To here it many on suld skorne;

For in it ere names fulle selcouthe,

That ere not used now in mouthe.

1 [The editor of Warton's History of English Poetry (Mr Price) observes that this line is wrongly quoted: It ought to stand

"That non were suilk as they;"

and he interprets "pride and nobleye," dignity and loftiness of expression.]

And therfore, for the commonalté,
That blythely wald listen to me,
On light lange I it began,
For luf of the lewed man

"This passage requires some commentary, as the sense has been generally mistaken. Robert de Brunne does not mean, as has been supposed, that the minstrels who repeated Thomas's Romance of Sir Tristrem, disguised the meaning by putting it into 'quainte Inglis ;' but, on the contrary, that Kendal and Thomas of Erceldoune did themselves use such 'quainte Inglis,' that those who repeated the story were unable to understand it, or to make it intelligible to their hearers. Above all, he complains, that by writing an intricate and complicated stanza, as 'ryme cowee, strangere,' or 'entrelacé,' it was difficult for the disours to recollect the poem; and of Sir Tristrem, in particular, he avers, that he never heard a perfect recital, because of some one copple' or stanza, a part was always omitted. Hence he argues at length, that he himself, writing not for the minstrel or harper, nor to acquire personal fame, but solely to instruct the ignorant in the history of their country, does well in choosing a simple structure of verse, which they can retain correctly on their memory, and a style which is popular and easily understood. Besides which, he hints at the ridicule he might draw on his poem, should he introduce the uncouth names of his personages into a courtly or refined strain of verse. They were

"Great names,

6

but hard in verse to stand.'

6

While he arrogates praise to himself for his choice, he excuses Thomas of Erceldoune and Kendale for using a more ambitious and ornate kind of poetry. They wrote,' he says, 'for pride (fame) and for nobles, not such as these my ignorant hearers."" i

If the editor of Sir Tristrem be correct in his commentary, there existed in the time of Thomas de Brunne minstrels or poets who composed English poetry to be recited in the presence of the great,

1 Sir Tristrem, Introduction, pp. 63 to 66. [See Editor's prefatory notice, new edition of Sir Walter Scott's Poetical Works, vol. v.]

and who, for that purpose, used a singularly difficult stanza, which was very apt to be mutilated in recitation. Sir Tristrem, even as it now exists, shows likewise that considerable art was resorted to in constructing the stanza, and has, from beginning to end, a concise, quaint, abstract turn of expression, more like the Saxon poetry than the simple, bald, and diffuse details of the French minstrel. Besides Sir Tristrem, there remain, we conceive, at least two other examples of "gestes written in quainte Inglis," composed, namely, according to fixed and complicated rules of verse, and with much attention to the language, though the effect produced is far from pleasing. They are both of Scottish origin, which may be explained, by recollecting that in the Saxon provinces of Scotland, as well as at the court, Norman was never generally used; and therefore it is probable that the English language was more cultivated in that country at an early period than in England itself, where, among the higher classes, it was for a long time superseded by that of the French conquerors. These Romances, entitled Sir Gawain, and Sir Gologras, and Sir Galeran of Galloway, have all the appearance of being original compositions, and display considerable poetical effort. But the uncouth use of words dragged in for the sake of alliteration, and used in secondary and oblique meanings, renders them extremely harsh in construction, as well as obscure in meaning.

In England it would seem that the difficulties pointed out by De la Brunne early threw out of fashion this ornate kind of composition; and the

English minstrels had no readier resource than translating from the French, who supplied their language at the same time with the phrases of chivalry which did not exist in English. These compositions presented many facilities to the minstrel. He could, if possessed of the slightest invention, add to them at pleasure, and they might as easily be abridged, when memory failed, or occasion required. Accordingly, translations from the French fill up the list of English Romance. They are generally written in short lines rhyming together; though often, by way of variety, the third and sixth lines are made to rhyme together, and the poem is thus divided into stanzas of three couplets each. In almost all of these legends, reference is made to "the Romance," that is, some composition in the French language, as to the original authority. Nay, which is very singular, tales where the subjects appear to be of English growth, seem to have yet existed in French ere they were translated into the language of the country to which the heroes belonged. This seems to have been the case with Hornchild, with Guy of Warwick, with Bevis of Hampton, all of which appear to belong originally to England; yet are their earliest histories found in the French language, or at least the vernacular versions refer to such for their authority. Even the Romance of Richard, England's own Cœur de Lion, has perpetual references to the French original from which it was translated. It must naturally be supposed that these translations were inferior to the originals; and whether it was owing to this cause, or that the composition of these rhymes