A Literary History of the English People Part 19

In t.i.tulo caudae Francorum rex Ludovicus Non tibi praecellit pontificesve sui.

(Vol. i. p. 17.)

[260]

Cantemus, socii! festum celebremus aselli!

Vocibus et votis organa nostra sonent.

Exultent asini, laeti modulentur aselli, Laude sonent celebri tympana, sistra, chori!

(p. 48.)

[261]

Jam pertransierat Burnellus tempora multa Et prope completus septimus annus erat, c.u.m nihil ex toto quodcunque docente magistro Aut socio potuit discere praeter ya.

Quod natura dedit, quod sec.u.m detulit illuc, Hoc habet, hoc illo nemo tulisse potest ...

Semper ya repet.i.t.

(p. 64)

[262] "Galfridi de Vinosalvo Ars Poetica," ed. Leyser, Helmstadt, 1724, 8vo. He wrote other works; an "Itinerarium regis Anglorum Richardi I."

(text in the "Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores" of Gale, 1684 ff., fol., vol.

ii.) has been attributed to him, but there are grave doubts; see Haureau, "Notices et Extraits des Ma.n.u.scrits," vol. xxix. pp. 321 ff.

According to Stubbs ("Itinerarium peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi,"

1864, Rolls), the real author is Richard, canon of the Holy Trinity, London.

[263]

Papa stupor mundi, si dixero Papa _Nocenti_: Acephalum nomen tribuam tibi; si caput addam, Hostis erit metri, &c.

[264]

Nec Deus es nec h.o.m.o, quasi neuter es inter utrumque, Quem Deus elegit socium. Socialiter egit Tec.u.m, partibus mundum. Sed noluit unus Omnia. Sed voluit tibi terras et sibi coelum.

Quid potuit melius? quid majus? cui meliori?

(p. 95.)

[265]

Tota peris ex morte sua. Mors non fuit ejus, Sed tua. Non una, sed publica, mortis origo.

O Veneris lacrimosa dies! o sydus amarum!

Illa dies tua nox fuit et Venus illa venenum; Illa dedit vulnus ...

O dolor! o plus quam dolor! o mors! o truculenta Mors! Esses utinam mors mortua! quid meministi Ausa nefas tantum? Placuit tibi tollere solem Et tenebris tenebrare solum.

(p. 18.)

[266]

Contra ridiculos si vis insurgere plene Surge sub hac forma. Lauda, sed ridiculose.

Argue, sed lepide, &c.

(p. 21.)

[267]

Nox, fera nox, vere nox noxia, turbida, tristis, Insidiosa, ferox, &c.

("De Bello Trojano," book vi. l. 760.)

[268] "c.u.m in hyemis intemperie post cenam noctu familia divitis ad foc.u.m, ut potentibus moris est, recensendis antiquis gestis operam daret...." "Gesta Romanorum," version compiled in England, ed. Hermann Oesterley, Berlin, 1872, 8vo, chap. clv.

[269] Such is the conclusion come to by Oesterley. The original version, according to him, was written in England; on the Continent, where it was received with great favour, it underwent considerable alterations, and many stories were added. The "Gesta" have been wrongly attributed to Pierre Bercheur. Translations into English prose were made in the fifteenth century: "The early English version of the Gesta Romanorum,"

ed. S. J. H. Herrtage, Early English Text Society, 1879, 8vo.

[270] Seven kilos, 200 gr. "Doctissimi viri fratris Johannis de Bromyard ... Summ[a] praedicantium," Nurenberg, 1485, fol. The subjects are arranged in alphabetical order: Ebrietas, Luxuria, Maria, &c.

[271] Such is the case in several of the stories collected by Th.

Wright: "A Selection of Latin Stories from MSS, of the XIIIth and XIVth Centuries, a contribution to the History of Fiction," London, Percy Society, 1842, 8vo. In No. XXII., "De Muliere et Sortilega," the incantations are in English verse; in No. x.x.xIV. occurs a praise of England, "terra pacis et just.i.tiae"; in No. XCVII. the hermit who got drunk repents and says "anglice":

Whil that I was sobre sinne ne dede I nowht, But in drunkeschipe I dede ye werste that mihten be thowte.

[272] That one in verse, with a mixture of English words. Ha! says the peasant:

Ha thu mi swete bird, ego te comedam.

"Early Mysteries and other Latin poems of the XIIth and XIIIth Centuries," ed. Th. Wright, London, 1838, 8vo, p. 97. _Cf._ G. Paris, "Lai de l'Oiselet," Paris, 1884.

[273] These series of drawings in the margins are like tales without words; several among the most celebrated of the fabliaux are thus represented; among others: the Sacristan and the wife of the Knight; the Hermit who got drunk; a story recalling the adventures of Lazarillo de Tormes (unnoticed by the historians of Spanish fiction), &c. Some drawings of this sort from MS. 10 E iv. in the British Museum are reproduced in "English Wayfaring Life," pp. 21, 28, 405, &c.

[274] "Redi, misera, ad monasterium, quia ego, sub tua specie usque modo officium tuum adimplevi." Wright's "Latin Stories," p. 95. Same story in Barbazan and Meon, "Nouveau Recueil," vol. ii. p. 154: "De la Segretaine qui devint fole au monde."

[275] "Latin Stories," p. 97; French text in Barbazan and Meon, vol. ii.

p. 443: "Du larron qui se commandoit a Nostre Dame toutes les fois qu'il aloit embler."

[276] "Latin Stories," p. 114, from the version of the "Gesta Romanorum," compiled in England: "De milite conventionem faciente c.u.m mercatore."

[277] "Ait miles, 'o carissima domina, mihi prae omnibus praedilecta hodie fere vitam amsi; sed c.u.m ad mortem judicari debuissem, intravit subito quidam miles formosus valde, bene militem tam formosum nunquam antea vidi, et me per prudentiam suam non tantum a morte salvavit, sed etiam me ab omni solutione pecuniae liberavit.' Ait puella: 'Ergo ingratus fuisti quod militem ad prandium, quia vitam tuam taliter salvavit, non invitasti.' Ait miles: 'Subito intravit et subito exivit.' Ait puella: 'Si c.u.m jam videres, haberes not.i.tiam ejus?' At ille 'Etiam optime.'"

_Ibid._

[278] Born ab. 1120. To him it was that Pope Adrian IV. (Nicholas Breakspeare) delivered the famous bull "Laudabiliter," which gave Ireland to Henry II. Adrian had great friendship for John: "Fatebatur etiam," John wrote somewhat conceitedly, "publice et secreto quod me prae omnibus mortalibus diligebat.... Et quum Roma.n.u.s pontifex esset, me in propria mensa gaudebat habere convivum, et eundem scyphum et disc.u.m sibi et mihi volebat, et faciebat, me renitente, esse communem"

("Metalogicus," in the "Opera Omnia," ed. Giles, vol. v. p. 205). John of Salisbury died in 1180, being then bishop of Chartres, a dignity to which he had been raised, he said, "divina dignatione et meritis Sancti Thomae" (Demimuid, "Jean de Salisbury," 1873, p. 275). The very fine copy of John's "Policraticus," which belonged to Richard de Bury, is now in the British Museum: MS. 13 D iv.

[279] From [Greek: polis] and [Greek: chratein].

[280] "Joannis Saresberiensis ... Opera omnia," ed. Giles, Oxford, 1848, 5 vols. 8vo, "Patres Ecclesiae Anglicanae."

[281] "Ipsum quoque cultum religionis incestat, quod ante conspectum Domini, in ipsis penetralibus sanctuarii, lascivientis vocis luxu, quadam ostentatione sui, muliebribus modis notularum articulorumque caesuris stupentes animulas emollire nituntur. Quum praecinentium et succinentium, canentium et decinentium, praemolles modulationes audieris, Sirenarum concentus credas esse, non hominum, et de voc.u.m facilitate miraberis quibus philomena vel psitaccus, aut si quid sonorius est, modos suos nequeunt coaequare." "Opera," vol. iii. p. 38 (see on this same subject, below, p. 446).

[282] "Quae autem de curialibus nugis dicta sunt, in nullo eorum, sed forte in me aut mei similibus deprehendi; et plane nimis arcta lege constringor, si meipsum et amicos castigare et emendare non licet."

"Opera," vol. iv. p. 379 (Maupa.s.sant used to put forth in conversation exactly the same plea as an apology for "Bel-Ami.")