A Short History of French Literature Part 12

[Sidenote: General Character. Varieties.]

The principle underlying all these forms is the same, that is to say, the subst.i.tution for the half-articulate refrain of the early Romances, of a refrain forming part of the sense, and repeated with strict regularity at the end or in the middle of stanzas rigidly corresponding in length and const.i.tution. In at least two cases, the _lai_ and the _pastourelle_, the names of earlier and less rigidly exact forms were borrowed for the newer schemes; but the more famous and prevailing models[110], the Ballade, with its modification the Chant Royal, and the Rondel, with its modifications the Rondeau and the Triolet, are new.

It has been customary to see in the adoption of these forms a sign of decadence; but this can hardly be sustained in face of the fact that, in Charles d'Orleans and Villon respectively, the Rondel and the Ballade were the occasion of poetry far surpa.s.sing in vigour and in grace all preceding work of the kind, and also in presence of the service which the sonnet--a form almost if not quite as artificial--has notoriously done to poetry. It may be admitted, however, that the pract.i.tioners of the Ballade and the Rondeau soon fell into puerile and inartistic over-refinements. The forms of Ballade known as equivoquee, Fratrisee, Couronnee, etc., culminating in the preposterous Emperiere, are monuments of tasteless ingenuity which cannot be surpa.s.sed in their kind, and they have accordingly perished. But both in France and in England the Ballade itself and a few other forms have retained popularity at intervals, and have at the present day broken out into fresh and vigorous life.

[Sidenote: Jehannot de Lescurel.]

[Sidenote: Guillaume de Machault.]

[Sidenote: Eustache Deschamps]

The chief authors of these pieces during the period we are discussing were Jehannot de Lescurel, Guillaume de Machault, Eustache Deschamps, Jean Froissart, Christine de Pisan, Alain Chartier, and Charles d'Orleans. Besides these there were many others, though the epoch of the Hundred Years' War was not altogether fertile in lighter poetry or poetry of any kind. Jehannot de Lescurel[111] is one of those poets of whom absolutely nothing is known. His very name has only survived in the general syllabus of contents of the ma.n.u.script which contains his works, and which is in this part incomplete. The thirty-three poems--sixteen Ballades, fifteen Rondeaus[112], and two nondescript pieces--which exist are of singular grace, lightness, and elegance. They cannot be later and are probably earlier than the middle of the fourteenth century, and thus they are anterior to most of the work of the school. Guillaume de Machault was a person sufficiently before the world, and his work is very voluminous. As usual with all these poets, it contains many details of its author's life, and enables us to a certain extent to construct that life out of these indications. Machault was probably born about 1284, and may not have died till 1377. A native of Champagne and of n.o.ble birth, he early entered, like most of the lesser n.o.bility of the period, the service of great feudal lords. He was chamberlain to Philip the Fair, and at his death became the secretary of John of Luxembourg, the well-known king of Bohemia. After the death of this prince at Cressy, he returned to the service of the court of France and served John and Charles V., finally, as it appears, becoming in some way connected with Pierre de Lusignan, king of Cyprus. His works were very numerous, amounting in all to some 80,000 lines, of which until recently nothing but a few extracts was in print. In the last few years, however, _La Prise d'Alexandrie_[113], a rhymed chronicle of the exploits of Lusignan, and the _Voir Dit_[114], a curious love poem in the style of the age, have been printed. Besides these his works include numerous ballades, etc., and several long poems in the style of those of Froissart, shortly to be described. On the other hand, the works of Eustache Deschamps, which are even more voluminous than those of Machault, his friend and master, are almost wholly composed of short pieces, with one notable exception, the _Miroir de Mariage_, a poem of 13,000 lines[115]. Deschamps has left no less than 1175 ballades, and as the ballade usually contains twenty-four lines at least, and frequently thirty-four, this of itself gives a formidable total. Rondeaus, virelais, etc., also proceeded in great numbers from his pen; and he wrote an important 'Art of Poetry,' a treatise rendered at once necessary and popular by the fas.h.i.+on of artificial rhyming. The life of Deschamps was less varied than that of Machault, whose inferior he was in point of birth, but he held some important offices in his native province, Champagne. Both Deschamps and Machault exhibit strongly the characteristics of the time. Their ballades are for the most part either moral or occasional in subject, and rarely display signs of much attention to elegance of phraseology or to weight and value of thought.

In the enormous volume of their works, amounting in all to nearly 200,000 lines, and as yet mostly unpublished, there is to be found much that is of interest indirectly, but less of intrinsic poetical worth.

The artificial forms in which they for the most part write specially invite elegance of expression, point, and definiteness of thought, qualities in which both, but especially Deschamps, are too often deficient. When, for instance, we find the poet in his anxiety to discourage swearing, filling, in imitation of two bad poets of his time, one, if not two ballades[116] with a list of the chief oaths in use, it is difficult not to lament the lack of critical spirit displayed.

[Sidenote: Froissart.]

Froissart, though inferior to Lescurel, and though far less remarkable as a poet than as a prose writer, can fairly hold his own with Deschamps and Machault, while he has the advantage of being easily accessible[117]. The later part of his life having been given up to history, he is not quite so voluminous in verse as his two predecessors.

Yet, if the attribution to him of the _Cour d' Amour_ and the _Tresor Amoureux_ be correct, he has left some 40,000 or 50,000 lines. The bulk of his work consists of long poems in the allegorical courts.h.i.+p of the time, interspersed with shorter lyrical pieces in the prevailing forms.

One of these poems, the _Buisson de Jonece_, is interesting because of its autobiographical details; and some shorter pieces approaching more nearly to the _Fabliau_ style, _Le Dit du Florin_, _Le Debat du Cheval et du Levrier_, etc., are sprightly and agreeable enough. For the most part, however, Froissart's poems, like almost all the poems of the period, suffer from the disproportion of their length to their matter.

If the romances of the time, which are certainly not dest.i.tute of incident, be tedious from the superabundance of prolix description, much more tedious are these recitals of hyperbolical pa.s.sion tricked out with all the already stale allegorical imagery of the _Roman de la Rose_ and with inappropriate erudition of the fas.h.i.+on which Jean de Meung had confirmed, if he did not set it.

[Sidenote: Christine de Pisan.]

Christine de Pisan, who was born in 1363, was a pupil of Deschamps, as Deschamps had been a pupil of Machault. She was an industrious writer, a learned person, and a good patriot, but not by any means a great poetess. So at least it would appear, though here again judgment has to be formed on fragments, a complete edition of Christine never having been published, and even her separate poems being unprinted for the most part, or printed only in extract. Besides a collection of Ballades, Rondeaux, and so forth, she wrote several _Dits_ (the _Dit de la Pastoure_, the _Dit de Poissy_, the _Dittie de Jeanne d'Arc_, and some _Dits Moraux_), besides a _Mutation de Fortune_, a _Livre des Cent Histoires de Troie_, etc., etc.

[Sidenote: Alain Chartier.]

Alain Chartier, who was born in or about 1390, and who died in 1458, is best known by the famous story of Margaret of Scotland, queen of France, herself an industrious poetess, stooping to kiss his poetical lips as he lay asleep. He also awaits a modern editor. Like Froissart, he devoted himself to allegorical and controversial love poems, and like Christine to moral verse. In the former he attained to considerable skill, and a ballade, which will presently be given, will show his command of dignified expression. On the whole he may be said to be the most complete example of the scholarliness which tended more and more to characterise French poetry at this time, and which too often degenerated into pedantry. Chartier is the first considerable writer of original work who Latinises much; and his practice in this respect was eagerly followed by the _rhetoriqueur_ school both in prose and verse. He himself observed due measure in it; but in the hands of his successors it degraded French to an almost Macaronic jargon.

In all the earlier work of this school not a little grace and elegance is discoverable, and this quality manifests itself most strongly in the poet who may be regarded as closing the strictly mediaeval series, Charles d'Orleans[118]. The life of this poet has been frequently told.

As far as we are concerned it falls into three divisions. In the first, when after his father's death he held the position of a great feudal prince almost independent of royal control, it is not recorded that he produced any literary work. His long captivity in England was more fruitful, and during it he wrote both in French and in English. But the last five-and-twenty years of his life, when he lived quietly and kept court at Blois (bringing about him the literary men of the time from Bouciqualt to Villon, and engaging with them in poetical tournaments), were the most productive. His undoubted work is not large, but the pieces which compose it are among the best of their kind. He is fond, in the allegorical language of the time, of alluding to his having 'put his house in the government of Nonchaloir,' and chosen that personage for his master and protector. There is thus little fervency of pa.s.sion about him, but rather a graceful and somewhat indolent dallying with the subjects he treats. Few early French poets are better known than Charles d'Orleans, and few deserve their popularity better. His Rondeaux on the approach of spring, on the coming of summer and such-like subjects, deserve the very highest praise for delicate fancy and formal skill.

Of poets of less importance, or whose names have not been preserved, the amount of this formal poetry which remains to us is considerable. The best-known collection of such work is the _Livre des Cent Ballades_[119], believed, on tolerably satisfactory evidence, to have been composed by the famous knight-errant Bouciqualt and his companions on their way to the fatal battle of Nicopolis. Before, however, the fifteenth century was far advanced, poetry of this formal kind fell into the hands of professional authors in the strictest sense, _Grands Rhetoriqueurs_ as they were called, who, as a later critic said of almost the last of them, 'lost all the grace and elegance of the composition' in their elaborate rules and the pedantic language which they employed. The complete decadence of poetry in which this resulted will be treated partly in the summary following the present book, partly in the first chapter of the book which succeeds it.

Meanwhile this frail but graceful poetry may be ill.u.s.trated by an irregular _Ballade_ from Lescurel, a _Chanson Balladee_ from Machault, a _Virelai_ from Deschamps, a _Ballade_ from Chartier, and a _Rondel_ from Charles d'Orleans.

JEHANNOT DE LESCUREL.

Amour, voules-vous acorder Que je muire pour bien amer?

Vo vouloir m'esteut agreer; Mourir ne puis plus doucement; Vraiement, Amours, faciez voustre talent.

Trop de mauvais portent endurer Pour celi que j'aim sanz fausser N'est pas par li, au voir parler, Ains est par mauparliere gent.

Loiaument, Amours, faciez voustre talent.

Dous amis, plus ne puis durer Quant ne puis ne n'os regarder Vostre doue vis, riant et cler.

Mort, alegez mon grief torment; Ou, briefment, Amours, faciez voustre talent.

GUILLAUME DE MACHAULT.

Onques si bonne journee Ne fu adjournee, Com quant je me departi De ma dame desiree A qui j'ay donnee M'amour, & le cuer de mi.

Car la manne descendi Et douceur aussi, Par quoi m'ame saoulee Fu dou fruit de Dous ottri, Que Pite cueilli En sa face coulouree.

La fu bien l'onnour gardee De la renommee De son cointe corps joli; Qu'onques villeine pensee Ne fu engendree Ne nee entre moy & li.

Onques si bonne journee, &c.

Souffisance m'enrichi Et Plaisance si, Qu'onques creature nee N'ot le cuer si a.s.sevi, N'a mains de sousci, Ne joie si affinee.

Car la deesse honnouree Qui fait l'a.s.semblee D'amours, d'amie & d'ami, Coppa le chief de s'espee Qui est bien tempree, A Dangier, mon anemi.

Onques si bonne journee, &c.

Ma dame l'enseveli Et Amours, par fi Que sa mort fust tost plouree.

N'onques Honneur ne souffri (Dont je l'en merci) Que messe li fu chantee.

Sa charongne trainee Fu sans demouree En un lieu dont on dit: fi!

S'en fu ma joie doublee, Quant Honneur l'entree Ot dou tresor de merci.

Onques si bonne journee, &c.

EUSTACHE DESCHAMPS.

Sui-je, sui-je, sui-je belle?

Il me semble, a mon avis, Que j'ay beau front et doulz viz, Et la bouche vermeilette; Dictes moy se je sui belle.

J'ay vers yeulx, pet.i.t sourcis, Le chief blont, le nez traitis, Ront menton, blanche gorgette; Sui-je, sui-je, sui-je belle, etc.

J'ay dur sain et hault a.s.sis, Lons bras, gresles doys aussis, Et, par le faulx, sui greslette; Dictes moy se je sui belle.

J'ay piez rondes et petiz, Bien chaussans, et biaux habis, Je sui gaye et foliette; Dictes moy se je sui belle.

J'ay mantiaux fourrez de gris, J'ay chapiaux, j'ay biaux proffis, Et d'argent mainte espinglette; Sui-je, sui-je, sui-je belle?

J'ay draps de soye, et tabis, J'ay draps d'or, et blanc et bis, J'ay mainte bonne chosette; Dictes moy se je sui belle.

Que quinze ans n'ay, je vous dis; Moult est mes tresors jolys, S'en garderay la clavette; Sui-je, sui-je, sui-je belle?

Bien devra estre hardis Cilz, qui sera mes amis, Qui ora tel damoiselle; Dictes moy se je sui belle?

Et par dieu, je li plevis, Que tres loyal, se je vis, Li seray, si ne chancelle; Sui-je, sui-je, sui-je belle?

Se courtois est et gentilz, Vaillains, apers, bien apris, Il gaignera sa querelle; Dictes moy se je sui belle.

C'est uns mondains paradiz Que d'avoir dame toudiz, Ainsi fresche, ainsi nouvelle; Sui-je, sui-je, sui-je belle?

Entre vous, acouardiz, Pensez a ce que je diz; Cy fine ma chansonnelle; Sui-je, sui-je, sui-je belle?

ALAIN CHARTIER.

O folz des folz, et les folz mortelz hommes, Qui vous fiez tant es biens de fortune En celle terre, es pays ou nous sommes, Y avez-vous de chose propre aucune?