Manual of the history of French literature

Front matter

AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

84009

B83mEd

Preface To The English Edition

IT would doubtless be impossible for me to find a better or surer means of inviting the indulgence of English readers for the present Manual, than to offer it them for what it is : an application of the doctrine of Evolution to the history of a great literature. In this way the work is placed, as it were, under the auspices of the great name of Charles Darwin, and while it is not for me to decide whether the illustrious author of the " Origin of Species " ranks, as has been maintained, but little below or perhaps on a level with Sir Isaac Newton in the history of modern European ideas, it is certain that for some forty years past his influence is everywhere to be traced. I shall be happy if English readers see it to be at work in the present volume.

It is not, indeed, that I wholly accept the doctrine in question, and still less the consequences that have been deduced from it in

xiii

XIV PEEFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION

England itself, in Germany or in France. So far as I am in a position to judge, and I am not a man of science, Evolution is only an hypothesis ; the variability of natural species, however probable it may be, is not what is called proven ; and admitting selection to be one of its modes of operation or factors, there are assuredly many others. Still, as I myself have more than once remarked, the very serious objections that may be urged, it is said, against the hypothesis in the domain of natural history, lose much of their weight when the doctrine is applied to the history of literature or art, where it is a method as well as a doctrine. Even supposing that species do not vary, it would be an advantage to natural history to study them as if they did; and of all the classifications that have been suggested with a view to bringing home to us, I do not say the spectacle merely, but the movement of nature, the genealogical classification is by far the most convenient, the most probable, and above all the most in conformity with the greatest number of facts.

It is from the genealogical standpoint, then, that I have endeavoured to study in the history of French literature the perpetually changing succession of ideas, authors and works ; and if there be any novelty in this Manual it is constituted by this attitude.

I am aware that serious objection is taken to

Preface To The English Edition XV

the employment of this method in history. To reply to many of the objections made would doubtless be beyond the scope of this short Preface, but among them is one graver, or apparently graver, than the others, and I must not pass it over entirely. What, it is said, is most interesting, or solely interesting perhaps, in the history of literature or art is the individual, Shakespeare or Moliere, Milton or Bossuet, Pope or Boileau, Swift or Voltaire, Burke or Mirabeau, Tennyson or Lamartine, George Eliot or Honore de Balzac ; and I wholly share this opinion. Whether we study these writers in their works, or whether in their works it be they themselves that excite our preference, what interests us in them is what distinguishes them from all other writers, or what in them is irreducible and incommensurable. In their own line they resemble themselves alone, a characteristic that is the cause of their glory or renown. But is not this precisely the characteristic that no method is capable of dealing with ? and if we treat the writers who possess it in conformity with the laws of the evolutionary hypothesis, is it not at the expense of the very originality that is their pre-eminent quality ? Do we not rob them of their individuality by resolving it into its elements, and make away with their singularity when we decompose it ? At first sight it seems that such

XVI PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION

is the case, but Darwin had answered this objection in advance, while inasmuch as it can scarcely be said that he had the exigencies of the history of literature or art in view when framing his reply, we have the more right to regard it as convincing.

What, according to Darwin, is Natural Selection, and what are the conditions under which it operates ? He has told us explicitly, and indeed it is the definition of this power that his disciples, in spite of his express declarations, have so often taken to be a psychological Entity. In a given species, among all of whose representatives the observer had hitherto detected none but almost insignificant differences, it is inevitable that there should at length appear a specimen better endowed than its fellows — a bull, for instance, with exceptional horns, or a horse of exceptional swiftness. Until this better endowed individual has appeared there is no variation, and in consequence no ground or adequate reason for the action of natural selection. Neither "need" as Lamarck believed, nor " environment " as Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire supposed, is sufficient. Something more is indispensable, and this something, for which Darwin expressly states he cannot account, is the apparition of the profitable or useful variety ; and it is precisely the fixation or consolidation of this variety that constitutes the principle of Evolution.

Preface To The English Edition Xv11

Let us now apply this theory to the history of literature or art. A given variety of literature, for instance, the English drama of the sixteenth century, or the French comedy of the seventeenth century, or the English novel of the eighteenth century is in process of development, slowly organising itself under the double influence of the interior and exterior " environment." The movement is slow and the differentiation almost insensible. Suddenly, and without its being possible to give the reason, a Shakespeare, a Moliere, or a Richardson appears, and forthwith not only is the variety modified, but new species have come into being : psychological drama, the comedy of character, the novel of manners. The superior adaptability and power of survival of the new species are at once recognised and proved, indeed, in practice. It is in vain that the older species attempt to struggle : their fate is sealed in advance. The successors of Richardson, Moliere, and Shakespeare copy these unattainable models until, their fecundity being exhausted — and by their fecundity I mean their aptitude for struggling with kindred and rival species — the imitation is changed into a routine which becomes a source of weakness, impoverishment and death for the species. I shall not easily be persuaded that this manner of considering the history of literature or art is calculated to detract from the originality

XV111 PEEFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION

of great artists or great writers. On the contrary, as is doubtless perceived, it is precisely their individuality that is responsible for the constitution of new species, and in consequence for the evolution of literature and art.

Such, in my eyes, is the chief advantage of the application of the evolutionary doctrine or method to the history of literature or art. Other advantages could be enumerated, but this is the principal : the combination or conciliation of " hero worship," as understood by Emerson or Carlyle, with the doctrine of slowly operating influences and the action of contemporary circumstances.

This is the task I have attempted in the present Manual, in which those who are interested in the history of French literature will find, I trust, useful information, but the true object and primary intention of which has been to try what results are to be obtained in criticism from a method that has renewed all around us in the course of the last forty years. It will be for the reader to decide whethe* I have been successful. But if I should have failed, it is not the method but I myself, and I only, that is to blame ; moreover, in laying down the principle, I shall have given the reader the means of checking and rectifying my work. " Neither Nature nor even God, it has been said, produce all their great works at a

Preface To The English Edition XIX

stroke : a plan must be made before building is commenced, you must draw before you can paint," and that this is the case is in absolute conformity with the very spirit of the evolutionary method. It is not in a day, nor even in a hundred years, or a thousand years, that one given species transforms or changes itself into another. Darwin was well aware of this truth, which he has repeated often enough ! Similarly in history or criticism, time, a great deal of time, is necessary for a method to render all the services that may rightly be expected of it ; while one of the worst errors it is possible to commit is to make the method responsible for the shortcomings of the author.

F. B.

Book I

I. The Formation of the French Language, p. 1 ;— II. The Evolution of the Epopee, p. 4; — III. The Song Writers, p. 13;— IV. The Fabliaux, p. 17; — V. Allegorical Literature, p. 19; — VI. The Farce de Pathelin, p. 27 ;— VII. Francois Villon, p. 29;— VIII. The Mysteries, p. 32 ; — IX. Philippe de Commynes, p. 37.

Book II The Classic Age 1498-1801

CHAPTEE I

Pages 40-107. xxi

XX11 TABLE OF CONTENTS

FIRST PERIOD From Villon to Ronsard

1498-1550

I. Clement Marot, p. 40;^II. Marguerite de Valois, p. 42;— III. Francois Rabelais, p. 44; — IV. The Amadis, p. 50 ;— V. The Lyons School, p. 51.

SECOND PERIOD The Teachings of Antiquity

1550-1580

The Renaissance of Poetry. — I. The Formation of the Pleiad, p. 54 ; — II. Joachim du Bellay, p. 56 ;— III. Pierre de Ronsard, p. 58 ;— IV. Jean-Antoine de Baif, p. 62.

Scholars and Translators.— V. Henri Estienne, p. 63;— VI. Jacques Amyot, p. 66 ;— VII. Jean Bodin, p. 69.

The Origin of the Classic Drama.— VIII. The First Period of the Classic Drama, p. 71 ;— IX. Robert G-arnier, p. 73 ;— X. The Beginnings of Comedy, p. 75 ;— XI. The Work of the Pleiad, p. 77.

THIRD PERIOD

From the Publication of Montaigne's " Essays " to the Publication of the " Astree "

1580-1610

Bernard Palissy, p. 80;— II. Francois de la Noue, p. 82;— III. Guillaume du Bartas, p. 84 ;— IV. Michel de Montaigne, p. 86 \^- V. The Satire Menippee, p. 92 ;— VI. Pierre Charron, p. 93 ;— VII. Guillaume du Vair, p. 96 ;— VIII. Francois de Sales, p. 98 ;— IX Mathurin Regnier, p. 102 ;— X. Honore d'Urfe, p. 103.

TABLE OF CONTENTS XX111

CHAPTEE II

FOURTH PERIOD

From the Formation of the "Precious" Society to the First Representation of the " Precieuses Ridicules "

1610-1659

I. The Hotel Rambouillet, p. 107 ;— II. Irregulars and Libertines, p. 113;— III. Alexandre Hardy, p. 116; — IV. Francois de Malherbe, p. 118 ;— ^L Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac, p. 121 ;— VI. Claude Favre de Vaugelas, p. 125; — VII. Pierre Corneille, p. 127^VIII. The Foundation of the French Academy, p. 134 \*- IX. The Origin of Jansenism, p. 137^-^X. Rene Descartes, p. 139 ;— XI. Port-Royal and the Arnaulds, p. 143 ;— XII. The Novel since the " Astree," p. 145; — XIII. The Heroic Poem, p. 150;— XIV. Comedy from 1640 to 1658, p. 154;— XV. Burlesque, p. 157 ;— XVI. Blaise Pascal, p. 159.

FIFTH PERIOD

From the First Performance of the " Precieuses Ridicules" to the Quarrel between the Ancients and Moderns

1659-1687

I

Francois due de la Rochefoucauld

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin de Moliere

XXIV TABLE OF CONTENTS

IV Jacques-Benigne Bossuet Pages 191-202

V

Jean Racine

Pages 203-210. J VI

Louis Bourdaloue

Pages 210-214.

VII

Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux

SIXTH PERIOD

From the Cabal Organised against " Phedre " to the issue of the "Lettres Persanes"

1677-1722

I. The Beginnings of French Opera, p. 220 ;,— II. Nicolas Malebranche, p. 222 ;— III. Pierre Bayle, p. 225;— IV. Fontenelle, p. 231 ; — V. The Reorganisation of the Academy of Sciences, p. 236 ;— VI. Charles Perrault, p. 238 ;— VII. Jean de la Bruyere, p. 241 ;— VIII. Fenelon, p. 247 ;— JX. The Quarrel between the Ancients and Moderns, p. 255/— X. Jean-Baptiste Massillon, p. 259 ;— XI. French Tragedy from 1680-1715, p. 261/j— XII. Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, p. 265 ; — XIII. Comedy from the time of Moliere to that of Destouches, p. 267 ;— XIV. Alain-Rene Le Sage, p. 272 ; — XV. Mme de Lambert's Salon, p. 277.

TABLE OF CONTENTS XXV

CHAPTEE III

SEVENTH PERIOD

From the " Lettres Persanes " to the Publication of the " Encyclopedia "

1722-1750

I. Montesquieu, p. 281 ;— II. Marivaux, p. 287 ;— III. The Abbe Prevost, p. 292 ;— IV. Pierre-Claude Nivelle de la Chaussee, p. 295 ;— V. The First Period of Voltaire's Life, px>207 ;— VI. Jean- Baptiste Gresset, p. 305 ; — VII. Vauvenargues, p. 307 ; — VIII. Charles Pineau Duclos, p. 309.

EIGHTH PERIOD The Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedists

1750-1765

I. The Early Phases of the Undertaking, p. 314 ;— II. Jean Le Rond d'Alembert, p. 316 ;— III. Denis Diderot, p. 317 ;— IV. The First Difficulties Encountered by the Encyclopedia, p. 319 ; — V. The Second Period of Voltaire's Life, p. 320 ;— VI. After the Suppression of the Encyclopedia, p. 325 ; — VII. Claude-Adrien Helvetius, p. 327 ;— VIII. Frederic-Melchior Grimm, p. 328 ;— IX. The Encyclopedic Propaganda, p. 329.

NINTH PERIOD

From the " Encyclopedia " to the " Genie du Christianisme "

1765-1800

I. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, p. 333;— II. Michel-Jean Sedaine, p. 349 ;— III. The Last Period of Voltaire's Life, p. 351 ;— IV. The

XXVI TABLE OF CONTENTS

Economists, p. 361 ; — V. Pierre- Augustine Caron de Beaumarchais, p. 365 ;— VI. The End of Tragedy, p. 368 ;— VII. Andre- Marie de Chenier, p. 372 ;— VIII. Buffon, p. 377 ;— IX. Condorcet, p. 385 ;— X. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, p. 388.

Book III 1801-1875

FIRST PERIOD

From the Publication of the " Genie du Christianisme " to the First Performance of the " Burgraves "

J

1802-1843

I. Chateaubriand, p. 394;— II. Mme de Stae'l, p. 401;— III. The Ideologists, p. 405; — IV. M. de Bonald, p. 407;— V. Joseph de Maistre, p. 408 ;— VI. Paul-Louis Courier, p. 412 ; — VII. Beranger, p. 414 ;— VIII. Lamennais, p. 419 ;— IX. Stendhal, p. 424 ;— X. Lamartine, p. 428 ; — XI. The Sorbonne Triumvirate, p. 434 ; — XII. Augustin Thierry, p. 437 ;— XIII. Romantic Drama, p. 438;— XIV. Alfred de Musset, p. 441;— XV. Prosper Merimee, p. 444 ;— XVI. Alexis de Tocqueville, p. 446.

SECOND PEEIOD

From the Performance of the " Burgraves " to the Publication of the "Legende des Siecles"

1843-1859

I

Honore de Balzac

TABLE OF CONTENTS XXV11

II

Michelet

Pages 460-465.

Ill

Victor Hugo

IV George Sand

V

Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve

THIBD PERIOD Naturalism

I. Alfred de Vigny, p. 489;— II. Theophile Gautier, p. 493;— III. Emile Augier, p. 497 ;— IV. Octave Feuillet, p. 501 ;— V. Leconte de Lisle, p. 504 ;— VI. English Influence, p. 507 ;— VII. Gustave Flaubert, p. 509 ;— VIII. Taine, p. 513 ;— IX. Ernest Renan, p. 517 ;— X. Charles Baudelaire, p. 525 ;— XI. German Influence, p. 524 ;— XII. Alexandre Dumas fils, p. 525.

OF

Book I The Middle Ages I

" I have had occasion — a philosophic historian has somewhere said — to study the political institutions of the Middle Ages in France, England, and Germany ;

THE AUTHORS AND THEIE WORKS I.— The Formation of the French Language.

1. THK SOURCES. — Amedee Thierry, Histoire des Gaulois, and Histoire (le la Gaule sous la domination romainc; — Roger de Belloguet, Ethnologic gauloise, Paris, 1861-1868 ; — Fustel de Coulanges, Histoire des Institutions politiques de I'ancienne France, vol. i., 2nd edition, Paris, 1887.

Raynouard, Lexique roman, Paris, 1838-1844 ; — Edelestand du Meril : Exsai philosophique sur la formation de la langue fran-

2 i and as I advanced with this work, I was filled with astonishment on noting the prodigious similarity that is to be met with in all these laws; and I admired the fact, that peoples so different and communicating so little with each other should have been able to assure themselves laws so alike." [Tocqueville, L'Ancien Regime et la Revolution, book i., chap, iv.] The same admiration or the same astonishment is inspired by an attentive study of the European literature of the Middle Ages. Nothing is so similar to a Chanson de geste as another Chanson de geste, while as much may be said of the likeness of one Romance of the Bound Table to another Romance of the Round Table, of one Tale to another Tale, or finally, of one Mystery Play to another Mystery Play ; and two drops of water are not more alike, or, to use a better comparison, two classic tragedies or two naturalistic novels. At a first examination one may fancy he

caise, Paris, 1852 ; — F. Diaz : Grammaire des langues romanes, translated into French by Gaston Paris and Morel-Fatio, 3rd edition, Paris, 1874-1876 ; — W. Meyer-Liibke, Grammaire des langues romanes, translated by Rabiet and Doutrepont, Paris, 1890-1895 ; — the Historical Grammars of Darmesteter, Brunot, Etienne, Schwan, and Behrens ; — the Etymological Dictionaries of Diez, Scheler, Korting ; — and the Historical Dictionaries of Forcellini for Classical Latin ; du Cange for Low Latin ; La Curne Sainte-Palaye and F. Godefroy for Old French.

2. THE SUCCESSIVE ELEMENTS OF THE FRENCH LANGUAGE.

A. The Celtic element ; — and of the difficulty of determining its nature at the present day ; — especially if the Celtic languages and the Latin language are themselves sister languages. [Cf. Thurneysen, Kelto-BomaniscJies ; and Zeuss, Grammatica celtica.~\ — That if the influence of the Celtic element is to be traced in French, this would seem to be less the case in the vocabulary than in the syntax ; — and perhaps still less in the syntax than in the pronunciation.— Considerations on this subject ; and of the influence of the conformation of the organs or of the nature of the water, atmosphere, and locality upon pronunciation. — That though the detects differences, but when it comes to endeavouring to point them out with precision, they disappear, and the uniformity is complete. It would seem, in consequence, that in the Middle Ages, a common mode of thinking and feeling, enforced throughout Europe by the triple authority of religion, the feudal system, and scholasticism, kept under and indeed destroyed in literature all distinctions of origin, race, and individuality.

Quis primus / . . . What is the origin of the Chansons de geste ; and of our Romans de la Table-Eonde ? Is their fountain-head Romance or Germanic ? or Celtic, perhaps, unless it is to be held, like that of our Fabliaux, to be Arab or Hindoo? The truth is, we are wholly in the dark on the subject. This literature is without documents establishing its identity. [Cf . Pio Eajna, Le Origini delV Epopea francese, Florence, 1884.] To say this, moreover, does not suffice, and even when we know that

Celtic influence be ill-defined, still it cannot be explained away ; — and in its absence it would be impossible to explain the differentiation of French, Spanish, and Italian.

B. The Latin element. — Literary Latin and vulgar Latin ; — conquest and " Bomanisation " of Gaul; — futility of "patriotic" arguments in this connection. [Cf. Granier de Cassagnac, Les Origincs de la langue francaise.] — The hypothesis of Baynouard as to the formation of a "Romance language" intermediary between Low Latin or vulgar Latin and the New Latin languages ; — to what extent it can be upheld ; — and, in any case, of the convenience it offers. — Deformation or transformation of vulgar Latin by local accents ; — and by the sole effect of time. — Provincial linguistic peculiarities : dialects and patois.

C. The Germanic element ; — and in the first place the conditions under which the " barbaric invasions " took place. [Cf. Fustel de Coulanges, Histoire des Institutions, etc.] — How and why it was that the " Germanisation " of Gaul could not follow its " Bomanisation,"

Of certain categories of ideas and words that seem to have passed a particular Tale or Mystery saw the light for the first time in France or in Italy, it is in vain that we endeavour to recognise in it the marks of its origin, a local impress, in a word, one of those "racial" characteristics to the psychological or aesthetic determination of which the attempt has too often been made in our time to reduce the whole history of literature. In the same way there is nothing more French about a Gothic cathedral — opus francigenum — in Paris than in Cologne, or more German about one in Cologne than about one in Canterbury. And, in truth, the " races " of modern Europe merely represent historical formations, whose literatures are less their expression than one of their multiple " factors." Whether we be Germans or Frenchmen, Italians, Spaniards or Englishmen, in literature and art as in history and politics, we have all been nations prior to developing into " races." But before being nations we

from the German tongues into French [Cf. Gaston Paris, Litterature francaise au Moyen Age] ; — terms relating to warfare, — architectural terms, — maritime terms, etc. — Whether the conclusion can be drawn from these indications, that the Germanic element has left a deep impression on the French language ?

3. THE EARLIEST SPECIMENS OF THE LANGUAGE. — The Gloses de Reichenau, seventh and eighth centuries ; — The Serments de Strasbourg, 842 ; — the Prose -de Saintc Eulalic, c. 880 ; — the Homelie sur Jonas, first half of the tenth century ; — the Passion and the Vie de saint Leger, second half of the tenth century ; — the Vie de saint Alexis, c. 1040.

II.— The Evolution of the Epopee.

1. THE SOURCES.' — Christoforo Nyrop, Storia delV Epopea francese nel media evo, translated from the Danish by Egidio Gorra, Florence, 1886 ; — Pio Eajna, Le origini dell' Epopea francese, Florence, 1884 ; — Leon Gautier, Les Epopees francaises, Paris, 2nd

1 As in the notes to this first chapter, we do not follow — and for obvious reasons — the chronological order, but rather a systematic order, we shall follow this order as well in the enumeration of the Sources, and we are less concerned with the date of publication of the works than with the nature of their contents.

all formed but one homogeneous, indivisible, and, if the term be permissible, inarticulate Europe — feudal Europe, the Europe of the Crusades ; — and this is why the primary characteristic of the French literature of the Middle Ages is its uniformity.

Being uniform, it is also impersonal. By this is to be understood that at no period has a writer put less of his individuality into his work. It may be said that almost all our Chansons might be by the same poet and all our Metrical Tales by the same narrator. Even when we know the authors, the works are none the less always anonymous, after the manner, let us say, of the tragedies of La Harpe — which might be by Marmontel, and vice versa. Is it that prevented from emancipating himself from his social rank by the pressure, the number, and the enduring constraint of the obligations that bind him down to it, "the individual," serf or lord, clerk or layman,

edition, 1878-1894 ; — Paulin Paris, Les Chansons de Geste, in I'Histoire litteraire de la France, especially vols. xxii. and xxv. ; — Godefroi Kurth, Histoire poetique des Merovingiens, Brussels, 1893 ; — Gaston Paris, Histoire poetique de Charlemagne, Paris, 1865; — Ambroise- Firmin Didot, Essai de classification des romans de chevalerie, Paris, 1870.

Leopold Constans, Le roman de Thebes, Paris, 1890 ; — Joly, Benoit de Sainte-More et le roman de Troie, Paris, 1870; — Paul Meyer, Alexandre le Grand dans la litterature du Moyendge, Paris, 1886 ; — Arturo Graf, Roma nella memoria e nelle immaginazioni del •inedio evo, Turin, 1882.

Paulin Paris, Les Romans de la Table-Ronde, Paris, 1868-1877 ; — Birch-Hirschfeld, Die Sage vom Gral, Leipsic, 1877 ; — Alfred Nutt, Study on the Legend of tlie Holy Grail, London, 1888 ; — Gaston Paris, Les Romans de la Table-Ronde, in the Histoire litteraire de la France, vol. xxx. ; — J. Bedier, Les Lais de Marie de France, in the Revue des Deux Mondes, October 15, 1891.

2. EVOLUTION OF THE EPOPEE.

A. The Heroic Epopee. — Various forms of the epopee : — the Mahabahrata ; the Homeric Epopee ; the Virgilian Epopee ; the Niebe-

6 MANUAL OF THE HISTOKY OP FRENCH LITERATURE

monk or baron, does not belong to himself ? is the representative of his order or his class before being himself ? lacks at once the liberty, the leisure, and the stimulus he would need to venture to distinguish himself from others? The man who desires to be distinct from his fellows can only effect his purpose by isolating himself as a first step ; and the man of the Middle Ages does not seem to have thought or even to have felt except as it were corporately, as the member of a group or a mass. It is doubtless to this cause that is to be attributed the poverty of the lyrical vein during the Middle Ages. Herein, too, lies in particular the explanation of that total absence of all artistic preoccupation, which has been disguised under the specious terms " spontaneity " or " naivete." "The men of this period," it has been said, " are less given to reflection than we are ; they do not observe themselves, they live naively like children." [Cf. Gaston Paris, La

lungen ; the Epopee of Dante ; the French Epopee ; the Gerusalemme liberata. — That at its origin the essence of the epopee seems to be : — 1, the having an historical foundation, or a foundation believed to be historical ; — 2, the poetising of a conflict not merely between " nationalities," but between " races " ; — 3, and the personification of the triumph of one of these races over the other in an " eponymous " hero. — That these characteristics once admitted, there can scarcely be question of a Merovingian epopee ; — and that a knowledge of what were the " cantilenes " or vulgaria carmina that are supposed to have preceded the national epopee becomes almost a matter of indifference. — Further, there is no occasion to examine whether the French epopee is of " Romance " or " Germanic " origin; — and still less, to make the question one of patriotism. — The precise moment of the birth of the French epopee is that of the encounter or shock of the East and West, of Islamism and Christianity, of the Arab and the Frank; — it is personified to begin with in Charles Martel, who was confounded at a later period with his grandson Charlemagne;— and that in this way it can even be said "where" our Chansons de geste came into existence : it was on the battle-field of Poitiers.

Poesie du Moyen-Age] . And this remark is justified ! At the same time, like children, they only experienced very general or "typical" sentiments, whose expression is as general as are the sentiments themselves ; and art is precisely an individual matter. What distinguishes one painter from another is the different light in which each of them sees the same model. The Middle Ages, for their part, scarcely went further at first than noting what was similar or identical in the model. In their view all men resembled each other, much as in our eyes all negroes or Chinamen are alike. And in reality what is it diversifies human countenances, and by diversifying them individualises them, unless it be the reflection on them of an inward complexity, of a richness or of an intensity of life unknown to the men of the Middle Ages '? Their literature in consequence is very general, is wanting in individual significance and also in

How from these characteristics of the epopee proper it is possible to divide off its history. — This history must have begun with the songs of the Cycle of the King, with those, that is, of which Charlemagne is the hero [Ex. the Chanson de Roland] ; — to which succeeded the songs of the Cycle de Garin de Montglane [Ex. the Chanson <!' AUscans] , whose heroes continue the struggle between the great Emperor and the Saracen ; — next came the songs of the Feudal Cycle [Ex. Renaud de Montauban] the heroes of which are the barons in revolt against a royal authority that has ceased to fulfil its office. — It is to be noted that the songs of this last cj-cle coincided with the waning of the fortunes of Islam. — To the same period should also belong the songs that show us the different nationalities struggling with one another [Ex. the Chanson de Garin le Loherain} ; — and the genealogical poems [Ex. Les Enfances Guillaumc\ , whose object is to give the heroes a birth and beginnings, whose marvels shall befit the greatness of their exploits. — A comparison between the poems of this order and the cyclic poems of Greek poetry; — and the Semitic " genealogies." — That the later of our Chansons de geste are already, in the true sense of the word, literary epopees ; — not less artificial than at another period, a Henriade or a Petreide ; —