Donald Bain. In the War of the Standard, most of David's men-at-arms are expressly stated to have been Normans; and the royal charters, as well as the names of our peerage and baronage, attest the Norman descent of most of our principal families. But these foreigners, though they brought with them talents, civil and military, which recommended them to the favour and protection of the Scot tish monarchs, and though they obtained large possessions and extensive privileges, were neither so numerous nor so powerful as to produce a change in the language of the country, even among persons of their own eminent rank. Accordingly, although French was doubtless understood at the court of Scotland, it seems never to have been adopted there; the Inglis remaining the ordinary language. But the succeeding influx of Norman barons, although they could not change the language of Scotland, introduced into it a variety of alien vocables, and gave it probably the same tinge of French which it acquired in England at a later period. Thus the language, now called English, was formed under very different circumstances in England and Scotland; and, in the latter country, the Teutonic, its principal component part, was never banished from court, or confined to the use of the vulgar, as was unquestionably the case in the former. It may be thought that the British spoken, as we have seen, by the tribes of Cumbria and Strath Clwyd, as well as by the proper Scots, ought to have entered into the composition of the new language. But, although possessing beauties of its own, the Celtic has everywhere been found incapable of being amalgamated with the Gothic dialects, from which it is radically and totally distinct. The Scottish kings appear soon to have disused it, although, while the recollection of their original descent and language continued, a Celtic bard, or sennachie, was sometimes heard to deliver a rhapsody in honour of the royal descent, like the Duan composed by the court-bard of Malcolm III. But as their language became unintelligible, the respect paid to them was diminished, and at length, though still admitted upon great festivals, their Earse genealogies became the object rather of derision than admiration. Such a bard is well described in the Houlat, a poem written during the reign of James II., and containing some curious traits of manners. At length, by statute, 1457, ch. 79, the wandering Celtic bards are ranked with sornares, (persons taking victuals by force,) masterful beggars, and feigned fools, all to be imprisoned, or banished the country. Meanwhile, the minstrels, who used the English language, and had, in fact, founded many of their tales upon the traditions of the neglected and oppressed bards, were ranked with knights and heralds, and permitted to wear silk robes, a dress limited to persons who could spend a hundred pounds of land rent. From this short statement its follows, that, while the kings and nobles of England were amused by tales of chivalry, composed in the French or Romance language, those which were chanted in the court of Scotland must have been written originally in Inglis. The English did not begin to translate these French poems till about 1300, nor to compose original romances in their own language until near a century later. But Thomas of Erceldoune, Kendal, (whose name seems to infer a Cumbrian descent,) Hutcheson of the Awle Royal, and probably many other poets, whose names and works have now perished, had already flourished in the court of Scotland. Besides Sir Tristrem, there still exist at least two Scottish romances, which, in all probability were composed long before the conclusion of the 13th century. These are entitled Gawen and Gologras, and Galoran of Galoway. This opinion is not founded merely upon their extreme rudeness and unintelligibility; for that may be in some degree owing to the superabundant use of alliteration, which required many words to be used in a remote and oblique sense, if indeed they were not invented "for the nonce." But the comparative absence of French words, and French phraseology, so fashionable in Scotland after the time of Robert Bruce, when the intercourse of the countries became more intimate, and, above all, evident allusions to the possession of part of Scotland by the British tribes, seem to indicate sufficiently their remote antiquity. Even the alliteration is a proof of the country in which they were composed. Chaucer tells us, that the composition of gestes, or romances, and the use of alliteration, were, in his time, peculiar attributes of the northern poets. His Personne says, "But trusteth wel, I am a sotherne man, I cannot geste, rem, ram, ruf, by my letter, In these romances there does not appear the least trace of a French original; and it seems probable, that, like Sir Tristrem, they were compiled by Scottish authors from the Celtic traditions, which still floated among their countrymen. To this list, we might perhaps be authorized in adding the History of Sir Edgar and Sir Grime; for, although only a modernized copy is now known to exist, the language is unquestionably Scottish, and the scene is laid in Carrick, in Ayrshire. The very early and well-known romance of Hornchild seems also to be of Border origin; nay, there is some room to conjecture, that it may have been the composition of Thomas of Erceldoune himself. The French MS. of the romance, in the Museum, begins thus: “Seignurs ei avez le vers del parchemin, The famous charter of David I., addressed Omnibus fidelibus suis totius regni sui, Francis, et Anglicis, et Scottis, et Galwinnibus, attests the variety of tribes who inhabited his domisions. "The Ruke, callet the Bard. Sa come the Ruke, with a rerde and a rane-roch, Set hir doun, gif hir drink; quhat deill ayles ye? The Chenachy, the Clarschach, Scho kennis them ilk ane."" The Bard, for troubling the company with this dissonant jargon, is at length rolled in the mire by two buffoons.-PINKERTON'S Scottish Poems, vol. iii. In the conclusion, mention is made of a certain Gilimot, a son of the narrator, on whom he devolves the task to tell, in rhyme, the adventures of Hodcremod, son to Horn and Regmenil, who conquered Alfriche, and avenged all his relations upon the Pagans : Cum cil purat mustrer qui la storle saurat, thor of a tale, the scene of which is laid in Northumberland, and in which every name, whether of place or person, attests an origin purely Saxon, there seems no reason why he may not be identified with Thomas of Erceldoune, a celebrated Border poet to whom every tradition respecting Deiria and Bernicia must have been infimately familiar. If the apparent antiquity of the language of the French King Horn be alleged against this opinion, we may oppose the difficulty and apparent impossibility of ascertaining the chronology of French poetry, considering how widely it was extended, and into how many dialects it must necessarily have been divided. Even in our own literature, did we not know the age of Gawain Douglas, we should certainly esteem his language older than that of Chaucer, when, in fact, it is nearly two centuries later. It is impossible, when other evidence fails, to distinguish, from the circumstance of style alone, that which is provincial, from that which is really ancient. But whatever may be thought of Thomas of Erceldoune's claim to be held the author of this romance, it does not appear less certain, that it has originally been written in or near the country, which is described with so much accuracy. It is not sufficient to answer, with a late ingenious antiquary, that the names and references are all northern, because the story is predicted of the Saxons and Danes in England and Ireland. We know how totally indifferent the minstrels and their hearers were to every thing allied to costume, which their ignorance would have disabled them from preserving, had their carelessness permitted them to strive after such an excellence. When, therefore, we find a romance, like that of Horn, without the least allusion to Norman names and manners, we may, I think, safely conclude, that, although it exists in both languages, it must have been originally composed in that of the country where the scene is laid, and from which the actors are brought. See Reliques of Ancient Poetry, vol. i. p. lxxviii. § 2. It may finally be remarked, that although the more modern romance of Hornchild in the Auchinleck MSS. has some phrases, as " in boke we read," "in rime, as we are told," generally supposed to imply a translation from the French,3 yet nothing of the kind occurs in the older tale, published by Mr. Ritson, which bears every mark of originality. The romance of Wade, twice alluded to by Chaucer, but now lost, was probably a Border composition. The castle of this hero stood near the Koman Wall, which he is supposed to have surmounted; and it was long inhabited by his real or fancied descendants. It is absurd to suppose, that Norman minstrels came into these remote corners of the kingdom to collect or celebrate the obscure traditions of their inhabitants; although, finding them already versified, they might readily translate them into their own language. These general observations on the progress of romantic fiction in the Border counties, lead us to consider the evidence given by Robert de Brunne, concerning the poetry of Thomas of Erceldoune, which is thus expressed in the Introduction to his Annals: "Als thai 4 haf wryten and sayd I made noght for no disours, I made it not for to be praysed, That couthe not have coppled a kowe. Sum suld haf ben fordon : So that fele men that it herde "If men it sayd as made Thomas; For luf of the lewed man." This passage requires some commentary, as the sense has been generally mistaken. Robert de Brunne does not mean, Ki la rime, apres mei, bien controverat, It is uncertain whether this Gilimot be the son of the author Thomas, or of the French rimeur, who, according to the hypothesis of the text, is only the translator of the story. I incline to the latter opinion, because these unnecessary continuations were seldom composed by the author of the original work. If the Vers del Parchemin, and the history of the Baron Aaluf, be ever discovered, it may throw some light upon the subject. The Editor's opinion is only stated hypothetically; nor will he be surprised at any one faciining to believe that the Thomas of the French HornChild is, in fact, the rimeur himself, and not the Bard of Erceidoune but he cannot allow that such Anglo-Norman Thomas, supposing him to exist, (which, after all, is matter of supposition,) shall be identified with the Thomas in the Fragments of Sir Tristrem. In that point, the ground taken in these remarks seems much stronger; for we know certainly the existence of Thomas of Erceldoune, who did write a remance of Sir Tristrem, highly esteemed by his contemporaries; we have also seen reasons why his authority should be referred to by a French rimeur, who, at the same time, and probably for the same reasons, quotes that of an Armorican minstrel. But, granting the French rimeur, Thomas, to have existed, we can see no natural connexion betwixt him and the tale of Sir Tristrem, and no reason why, supposing him to have written such a tale, (which, again, is a matter of gratuitous supposition,) bis authority should have been referred to as irrefragable by posterior narrators of the same bistory. In one view of the case, we have indisputabie fact; in the other, mere hypothesis. Above all, the reference seems conclusive to the correspondence betwist the poems. * Dissertation on Romance, prefixed to Ritson`s Metrical Romances, p. xcix. 3 Even this circumstance by no means decidedly infers reference to a French original. Barbour calls his own poem a romance, though it never existed in French. 4 His Latin and French authorities. 5 [ Warton's Editor (Mr. Price) observes that this line is wrongly quoted -it ought to stand "That non were suilk as they;" and be interprets "pride and nobleye, " diguity and loftiness of expression.'' -ED.] 66 as has been supposed, that the minstrels, who repeated | subject, will find that this system, if confirmed upon more Thomas's romance of Sir Tristrem, disguised the meaning, by putting it into "quaint Inglis;" but, on the contrary, that Kendal and Thomas of Erceldoune did themselves use such "quaint 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 diseurs to recollect the poem; and of Sir Tristrem, in particular, he avers, that he never heard a perfect recital, because of some one 46 copple, or stanza, a part was always omitted. Hence he argues, at great 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 chosing 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, but hard in verse to stand." While he arrogates praise to himself for his choice, he excuses Thomas of Erceldoune, and Kendal, for using a more ambitious and ornate kind of poetry. "They wrote for pride [fame] and for nobles, not such as these my ignorant hearers." Thus, the testimony of this ancient historian, who was a contemporary of Thomas of Erceldoune, establishes at once the high reputation of his work, and the particular circumstances under which it was written. While the English minstrels had hardly ventured on the drudgery of translating the French romances, or, if they did so, were only listened to by the lowest of the people, our northern poets were writing original gests "for pride and nobleye," in a high style and complicated stanza, which the southern harpers marred in repeating, and which their plebeian audience were unable to comprehend. In one word, the early romances of England were written in French, those of Scotland were written in English. If the Editor has been successful in his statement, two points have been established: 1st, That the minstrels of the south of Scotland, living in or near the British districts of Reged and Strathelwyd, became the natural depositaries of the treasures of Celtic tradition, esteemed so precious in the middle ages; 2dly, That, from the peculiar circumstances under which the English language was formed in the Lowlands of Scotland, and north of England, it probably was more early fitted for the use of the poet in that country, than in the more southern parts of the sister kingdom, where it was so long confined to the use of the populace. Whoever shall be tempted to pursue this curious minute investigation, may account for many anomalous peculiarities in the history of English romance and minstrelsy. In particular, it will show why the Northumbrians cultivated a species of music not known to the rest of England,' and why the harpers and minstrels of the "North Countree" are universally celebrated, by our ancient ballads, as of unrivalled excellence. If English, or a mixture of Saxon, Pictish, and Norman, became early the language of the Scottish court, to which great part of Northumberland was subjected, the minstrels, who crowded their camps, must have used it in their songs. Thus, when the language began to gain ground in England, the northern minstrels, by whom it had already been long cultivated, were the best rehearsers of the poems already written, and the most apt and ready composers of new tales and songs. It is probably owing to this circumstance, that almost all the ancient English minstrel ballads3 bear marks of a northern origin, and are, in general, common to the Borders of both kingdoms. By this system we may also account for the superiority of the early Scottish over the early English poets, excepting always the unrivalled Chaucer. And, finally, to this we may ascribe the flow of romantic and poetical tradition, which has distinguished the Borders of Scotland almost down to the present day. See PERCY'S Reliques, vol. i. p. 118. Complaynt of Scotland, p. 271. Border Minstrelsy, passim. It is time to return from this digression to the particular history of the romance of Sir Tristrem, which, as narrated by Thomas of Erceldoune, seems to have gained such distinguished celebrity. In France, as appears from the author of the French Fragments, and from the evidence of Gotfried of Strasburgh, it was in the mouth of every minstrel, and told by each, according to his own particular fancy.4 But an often-told tale becomes disgusting and tedious; and accordingly, the languor of Sir Tristrem became at length proverbial among the diseurs of France and Normandy.5 In the meantime, a great change was operated on the shape of romantic fiction. The art of reading had become comparatively general towards the end of the thirteenth century; the monks, also, had pursued the paths of literature opened by their earlier brethren. To them, chiefly, are to be ascribed the voluminous prose romances, which began, about this period, to supersede the metrical tales of the minstrel. These works generally set out with disowning and discrediting the sources, from which, in reality, they drew their sole information. As every romance was supposed to be a real history, the compilers of those in prose would have forfeited all credit, had they announced themselves as mere copyists of the minstrels. On the contrary, they usually state, that, as the popular poems upon the matter in question contain many "lesings," they had been induced to "In borealibus quoque majoris Britanniæ partibus, trans Humberum Eboracique finibus, Angiorum populi, qui partes illas inhabitant, simul canendo symphoniaca utuntur harmonia; binis tamen solummodo tonorum differentiis, et vocum modulando varietatibus, una inferius, submurmurante, altera vero superne, demulcente pariter et delectante. Nec arte tantum, sed usu longævo, et quasi in naturam mora diutina jam converso, hæc vel illa sibi gens hanc specialitatem comparavit. Qui adeo apud utramque invaluit, et altas jam radices posuit, ut bibil hic simpliciter, sed multipliciter, ut apud priores, vel saltem dupliciter, ut apud sequentes, mellite proferri consueverit: pueris etiam, quod magis admirandum, et fere infantibus (cum primum a fletibus in cantum erumpunt) eandem modulationem observantibus." GERALD. CAMBREN. Cambria Descriptio, cap. xiii. The author adds, that, because the custom of singing in parts was peculiar to the northern English, he supposes it to be derived from the Danes or Scandinavians. But it is easily accounted for, if the Border counties were in fact the cradle of English minstrelsy. * Vide ALRED de Bello Standardi, ap. x. scrip. pp. 341, 342. 3 That of John Dory (Ritson's Ancient Songs) is perhaps a solitary exception to the general rule. Martin Swart and his Men, if it could be recovered, might be another. Most of the ballads of Robin Hood are very modern. The more ancient, as the Lytell Geste, seem to be written north of the Humber. 4 There is a report, but highly improbable, that a metrical copy of the French Tristrem was printed at Paris, without a date. Very few French rhyming romances have come under the press; and the copies of all, but L: Roman de la Rose, are of the last degree of rarity. Dissertation prefixed to Ritson's Metrical Romances, p. liii. 5 See the Fabliau of Sir Hain and Dame Anieuse, where the following lines occur: "Anieuse, fet-il, bel suer, Tu es el paradis Bertran translate the real and true history of such-or-such a knight | et peut-être même quelques lecteurs s'intéresseront-ils au from the original Latin or Greek, or from the ancient British or Armorican authorities, which authorities existed only in their own assertion. The favourite tale of Tristrem was soon transposed, and seemingly more than once. In the King's library is a large MS. folio, entitled Le Romanz de Tristran, containing the adventures of our hero, in a long prose narrative. A work of similar labour, and which, voluminous as it is, has never been concluded, was in the library of the late John, duke of Roxburghe. But the most noted of these prose editions of Sir Tristrem (if, indeed, the others be aught but various and enlarged copies of it) is thus described by Montfaucon; "Le Roman de Tristan et Iseult, traduit de Latin en Françios, par Lucas, chevalier, sieur de chastel de Gast pres de Salisbiri, Anglois. Cod. 6776. Another copy of the same romance is mentioned, cod. 6956; and some books of Gyron le Courtois occur, as translated into French by "Huc, seigneur du chateau de Gat." Cod. 6796. These MSS. are in the national library at Paris; but the book has been printed; and by a perusal of the printed copy the following remarks have been suggested. The Luc, or Huc, lord of the castle of Gast, near Salisbury, who translated the romance of Sir Tristrem from the Latin of Rusticien de Puise, seems to be as fabulous as his castle of Gast, or his Latin original. Why should a Latin history of Sir Tristrem have been written during the thirteenth century? Or to whom was it calculated to convey either amusement or information? The pretended author, as well as the pretended translator, must rank with Robert de Borron, author of Lancelot du Lac; with Desrains, the lineal descendant of Joseph of Arimathea, author of the St. Greal; or, if the reader pleases, with the sage Cid Hamet Benengeli, who recorded the adventures of Don Quixote de la Mancha. The merit of the prose Tristan, by whomsoever written, is very considerable. Every French antiquary considers it as the best, as well as about the most ancient specimen of their prose romance. The Editor begs permission to use the words of the most interesting of their number. "Le roman de Tristan, et celui de Lancelot du Lac, eurent la plus grande réputation dès leur naissance; leur touche est forte, les sentiments en sont élevés, les héros sont aussi galants qu'ils sont braves. Les héroïnes sont charmantes: nous n'osons trop réfléchir sur leurs aventures: mais leurs foiblesses sont soutenues par un si grand caractère de courage, d'amour et de constance -le bon Rusticien a si bien l'art de leur prêter des excuses recevables-qu'il faudroit être bien sévère, pour les leur reprocher. La fidèle Brangien, dans Tristan, est le plus parfait modèle des amies: on s'attendrira pour elle, en voyant jusqu'à quel point elle porte l'héroïsme, pour servir la belle Yseult. Personne ne sera tenté de plaindre le Roi Marc; sort du brave Tristan et de la charmante Yseult, en lisant l'histoire de leurs amours et de leurs malheurs."—Extraits des Romans, t. i. f. 4. Such being the merits of the French prose work, it remains to notice the particulars in which it differs from the metrical romance now published. Being changed from a short and simple tale into the subject of a large folio, the unity and simplicity of the story has suffered very much. We often lose sight both of Tristrem and Yseult, to assist at the exploits of the Varlet de la cotte mal taillée, and other champions, whose deeds have little reference to the main story. The author, finding it difficult, perhaps, to invent an entire dramatis persona, or willing to avail himself of prejudices already deeply founded in the mind of his readers, has associated his champion with the chivalry of the Round Table; so that the history of King Arthur, and all his knights, became a legitimate accessary to that of Tristrem.3 The incidents narrated by Thomas of Erceldoune, with all the dilation of which they have been found susceptible, occupy only in the proportion of 60 folios to about 220 of the prose volume. The discrepancies betwix the poem, and even the relative part of the prose narration, are occasionally pointed out in the Notes. What is lost in simplicity is, however, gained in art. The character of Palamedes, the unfortunate and despairing adorer of Yseult, is admirably contrasted with that of Tristrem, his successful rival; nor is there a truer picture of the human mind than in the struggles betwixt the hatred of rivalship, and the chivalrous dictates of knightly generosity, which alternately sway both the warriors. The character of Dinadam, brave and gallant, but weak in person, unfortunate in his undertakings, but supporting his mischances with admirable humour, and often contriving a witty and well-managed retort on his persecutors, is imagined with considerable art. The friendship of Tristrem and Lancelot, and of their two mistresses, with a thousand details which display great knowledge of human nature, render Tristan interesting in the present day, in spite of those eternal combats, to which, perhaps, the work owed its original popularity. This work was printed at Rouen so early as 1489, under the title of Le Roman du noble et vaillant Chevalier Tristan, fils du noble Roi Meliadus de Leonnoys, compilé par Luce, chevalier, seigneur du Chateau de Gast, one volume folio, black letter. The book was reprinted at Paris, by Antoine Verard, without date, in two volumes folio; and a subsequent edition was published in two parts by Denys Janot, Paris, 1533, also in black letter. The same Denys Janot had already published what seems to have been intended as a first part to the history of Sir Tristrem, being Le Roman de Meliadus de Leonnoys, Thus, in a French prose romance of Charlemagne, the author says, that he translated the work from the Latin, at the command of Baldwin, Count of Hainauit, and adds, "Maintes gens en ont ouy conter et chanter, mais n'est ce mensonge non ce qu'ils en disent et chantent cil conteur ne cil jugleor. Nuz contes rymez n'en est vrai; tot mensonge ce qu'ils disent." WARTON, vol. i. p. 135. 4to edit. In like manner, the author of La vraye Histoire de Troye thus concludes: "Jay ains mené a fin la vraye histoire de Troye, en la maniere qu'elle fut trouvée escripte en la main de Saint Pierre, en Gregois language, et du Gregois fut mise en Latin; et je l'ay translatee en François, non pas par rimes ni par vers, ou il convient, par fine force, maintes mensonge; comme font les menestrels, de leur langues pompus, plaire, maintef is aux rois et aux contez." In the museum, there is a French version of Turpin, by a translator, who throws the same opprobrious imputation upon the romances in rhyme. "Et pour ces que estoire rimee semble mensunge, est ceste mis en prose." * In general, they ascribe to it an absurd antiquity, because they confound it with the metrical tales on the same subject. "Le roman de Tris tan Leonis, l'un des plus beaux et des mieux faits qui aient jamais été publié, parut en 1490. C'est le plus ancien de nos romans en prose." La COMBE, Dictionnaire, preface, p. xxvi. M. de la Ravaillere also fails into this mistake, misled by the quotations of Chretien de Troyes and the King of Navarre, which he took for granted alluded to the prose Tristan. Tressan has followed his predecessors into the same error. Romans de Chevalerie, tom. i. f. 1. Fauchet led the way into this blunder. 3 In this, as we have seen, he is supported by the Welsh authorities. But oral tradition is always apt to lose sight of chronology, and to associate the distinguished personages whose memory it preserves. The tale of Thomas of Erceldoune, that of Raoul de Beauvais, if he was indeed the author of Mr. Douce's Fragments, and that of Mademoiselle Marie, are silent concerning the supposed connexion between Tristrem and Arthur. In the romance of Gawain and Gologras, however, Brengwain, the confidante of Ysoude, is mentioned as a person well known to Queen Guenever: Quene was I somewhile, brighter of browes misrepresents the adventures, and traduces the character, of Sir Gawain, and other renowned Knights of the Round Table. It is, however, a work of great interest, and cu high tone of chivalry. Of late years, the romance of Sir Tristrem has been beautifully abridged, from the prose folio, by the late Monsieur le Comte de Tressan, and forms the first article in his Corps d'extraits de Romans de Chevalerie. To this elegont abridgement all readers are referred, who may still wish for farther information, and are too indolent, or fastidious, to seek it in the original romance. It is now time to speak of the present publication. Chevalier de la Table Ronde, ou sont contenues, avec les faits d'armes, plusieurs proësses de chevalerie faites par le bon Roi Artus, Palamedes, et autres chevaliers, estant au tems du dit Roi Meliadus: translaté du Latin du Rus-riously written in excellent old English, and breathing a ticien de Pise, et remis depuis en nouveau language, Paris, 1532, in folio, black letter. This romance is by no means void of merit; indeed, from many circumstances, we may conjecture it to have been written by the author of the prose Tristrem. The translator pretends to have received two castles from King Henry (the first of the name seems to be intimated) for his labours in compiling the St. Greal, and other books of chivalry, from original and authentic materials. The stories of the father and son have little connexion with each other, and the History of Meliadus is only one instance, among many, of the custom of the romancers to avail themselves of the renown of any favourite work, by hooking upon it introductions and continuations without mercy or end. Another instance of the same nature is the History of Ysaie le Triste, a son whom Ysoude is supposed to have borne in secret to her lover. This work was published at Paris, by Gallyot de Pre, in 1522, and is entitled, Le Roman du vaillant Chevalier Ysaie le Triste, fils de Tristan de Leonnoys, Chevalier de la Table Ronde, et de la Princesse Yseulte, Royne de Cornouaille; avec les nobles proësses de l'Exille fils du dit Ysaie; reduit du vieil languige au languige François, folio, black letter. This is a romance of faërie. Ysaie is under the protection of certain powerful fays, who have assigned him, for his attendant, Tronc le Nain, a dwarf, whose deformity is only equalled by his wit and fidelity. This page of Ysaie le Triste is subjected to a law of extreme, and, it would appear, very unjust severity. Whenever his master was fickle in his amours, and he by no means copied the fidelity of his father Tristrem, the dwarf was unmercifully beaten by the fairies, his sovereigns. Upon the whole, the romance is very inferior to that of Sir Tristrem. In 1528, was published, at Seville, Libro del esforçado Don Tristan de Leonys y de sus grandes hechos in armas, folio. At Venice, in 1552 and 1555, appeared Delle opere magnanime de i due Tristan Cavalieri invitti della Tavola Rotonda, two volumes, in 8vo. III. THE PRESENT EDITION of the Romance of Sir Tristrem is published from the Auchinleck MS., a large and curious collection of such pieces, of which the reader will find an account in the appendix to these observations (No. IV). The date of the MS. cannot possibly be earlier, and does not seem to be much later, than 1330, at least eighty years after the romance of Sir Tristrem had been composed. The immediate narrator does not assume the person of Thomas of Erceldoune, but only pretends to tell the tale upon his authority. "I was at Erceldoune : With Tomas spak Y thare; Who Tristrem gat and bare," ete. "Tomas telles in toun, This auentours as thai ware." The late eminent antiquary, Mr. Ritson, suggested, that Thomas of Erceldoune might himself assume the character of a third person, to add a greater appearance of weight to his own authority: it must be owned, however, that this finesse is hardly suitable to the period in which he lived. It seems more reasonable to conclude, that some minstrel, having access to the person of Thomas the Rhymer, had learned, as nearly as he could, the history of Sir Tristrem, and, from his recitation, or perhaps after it had passed through several hands, the compiler of the Auchinleck MS. committed it to writing. As Thomas certainly survived 1284, betwixt thirty and forty years will, in the supposed case, have elapsed betwixt the time, when the minstrel might have learned the romance, and the date of its being committed to writing; a long interval, doubtless, and in which many corruptions must have been introduced, as well as a material change in the style, which, in poetry preserved by oral tradition, always fluctuates, in some degree, with the alterations in language. Accordingly, those who examine attentively the style of Sir Tristrem, as now The History of Tristrem was not, so far as I know, published, will not find that it differs essentially from that translated into English as a separate work; but his adven- of Barbour, who wrote a century after the Rhymer, altures make a part of the collection called the Morte Ar- though some traces of antiquity may still be observed, parthur, containing great part of the history of the Round ticularly in the absence of words of French derivation. On Table, extracted at hazard, and without much art or com- the other hand, if this romance be really the production of bination, from the various French prose folios on that fa- Thomas of Erceldoune, we must expect to distinguish the vourite topic. This work was compiled by Sir Thomas peculiarities pointed out by Robert de Brunne; that quaint Malory, or Maleore, in the ninth year of the reign of English, which was difficult to compose; and that peculiaEdward IV., and printed by Caxton. It has since under-rity of stanza, which no minstrel could recite without omitgone several editions, and is in the hands of most antiqua- | ting some part of the couplet: For, although we may allow ries and collectors. Those unaccustomed to the study of romance, should beware of trusting to this work, which The prose romance of Tristrem was modernized by Jean Maugin dit l'Angevin, and published, at Paris, in 1554, folio. It is far inferior to the original work. Allegory was then the prevailing taste, and, though it seems hard to wring a moral meaning out of the illicit amours of Tristrem and Yseult, Jean Maugin has done his best. Sir Tristrem is the emblem of the Christian perfection of chivalry, his fair paramour of heaven knows what! for the introduction of more modern words, and for corruptions introduced by frequent recitation, these general cha * Meaning, I suppose, the father and son. * Mr. Price, however, while impugning Sir Walter Scott's theory as to the authorship of Sir Tristrem, affords evidence which would, no doubt, have been highly acceptable to him, of the oblique and prudish mode in which the authors of ancient romances sometimes chose to announce themselves. Thus Alexandre de Bernay says: "Alexandre nous dit qui de Bernay fu nez."-ED.] |