The Teaching and Cultivation of the French Language in England Part 4

Et quaunt il court en graunt age Mettez ly apprendre langage.

And when he runs in great age[84]

Put him to learn language.

En fraunceys a luy vous devez dire Comez il doit soun corps discrire.

In French to him ye shall say How first he shall his body describe.

Et pur ordre garder de moun et ma, Toun et ta, son et sa, masculino et feminino.

And for order to kepe of mon and ma, Toun and ta, soun and sa, for ma souneth.

Quia ma sonat feminino moun masculino.

To femynyn gender and moun to masculyn.

Cy que en parle soit bien apris, Et de nule homme escharnis.

So that in speach he be well learned, And of no man scorned.

At the end is a 'calendar,' or table of words arranged alphabetically in three parallel columns. The first gives the orthography of the word, the second the p.r.o.nunciation, and the third the explanation of its meaning and construction, which usually takes the form of an English equivalent.

In the meanwhile the grammatical study of French was not neglected.

There are still extant numerous small treatises[85] dealing with different aspects of French grammar, chiefly the flexions, and belonging to the end of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The conjugation of verbs receives special attention, and there are several ma.n.u.scripts providing paradigms and lists of the chief parts of speech--often very incorrect, and of more value as showing the interest taken in French in England than as ill.u.s.trating any development in the history of the conjugations of French verbs. The usual verbs described in these fragmentary works[86] are _amo_, _habeo_, _sum_, _volo_, _facio_, and the French paradigms are generally accompanied by Latin ones, on which they are naturally based, and which were intended to help the student to understand the French ("c.u.m expositione earundem in Latinis"). The two most considerable of these works known add many verbs to the list mentioned above. Of these the first, the _Liber Donati_,[87] gives examples of law French rather than literary French;[88] but the other, written in French, endeavours to teach "douce francois de Paris"--_cy comence le Donait soloum douce franceis de Paris_.[89] The _Donait_ belongs to the fifteenth century, and is the work of one R. Dove, who also wrote some _Regulae de Orthographia Gallica_ in Latin,[90] which show considerable resemblance to those of the earlier _Orthographia Gallica_. The same is true of some of the rules devoted to orthography in the _Liber Donati_, which also owes something to the work of 'T. H., Student of Paris,' either in the original form, or, more probably, in the recast, due to Canon Coyfurelly. In this respect, Coyfurelly continues the efforts of the earlier writer to purify English spelling of French--efforts which at this time would meet with more success than was the case earlier.[91]

Another topic touched on in the _Regulae_ of R. Dove is the formation of the plural of nouns, and of the feminine of adjectives. The substance of one of these rules may be quoted, as an example of the failure of these early writers to grasp general principles. All nouns ending in _ge_, like _lange_, says the grammarian, take _s_ in the plural, as _langes_; all nouns ending in _urc_, as _bourc_, have _z_ or _s_ in the plural and drop the _c_, as _bours_; all nouns ending in _nyn_, as _conyn_, take _s_ in the plural, as _chemyns_; all nouns ending in _eyn_, as _peyn_, form their plural by adding _s_, as _peyns_. Such is the rule for the formation of the plural of nouns, and that for the feminine of adjectives, which follows, is on the same lines. p.r.o.nouns also received some attention from these early grammarians. The _Liber Donati_[92]

contains a few remarks on the personal, demonstrative and possessive p.r.o.nouns, giving the different forms for the singular and plural and the various cases; thus it tells us that _jeo_ and sometimes _moy_ are used for _I_ (_ego_) in the nominative case, and in other cases _moy_ or _me_ in the singular, while _nous_ is used for the plural in all cases, and so forth.

We thus see that the verbs, nouns and p.r.o.nouns received consideration, varying in degree, at the hands of these pioneers in French grammar.

Neither were the indeclinable parts of speech neglected; at the end of the _Liber Donati_ there is a list of some of these as well as of the ordinal and cardinal numbers in both Latin and French, while the _Donait_ gives the numbers only. Some ma.n.u.scripts contain lists of adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions in Latin and French.[93] Others give lists of the cardinal and ordinal numbers in French, and one adds to these a nomenclature of the different colours.[94] The names of the days, months, and feast-days were another favourite subject.

Of these small treatises that which nearest approaches the form of a comprehensive grammar is the _Liber Donati_, which includes observations on the orthography and p.r.o.nunciation, on verbs and p.r.o.nouns, and lists of adverbs, conjunctions, and numerals. But there appeared at the beginning of the fifteenth century, before 1409, a more comprehensive treatise of some real value--the _Donait francois pur briefment entroduyr les Anglois en la droit langue du Paris et de pais la d'entour_,[95] a work which but for its very many anglicisms might be placed on a level with some of the similar grammars of the sixteenth century.[96] The origin of this _Donait_ is interesting. A certain Englishman, John Barton, born and bred in the county of Cheshire, but a student of Paris, and a pa.s.sionate lover of the French language, engaged some good clerks to compose the _Donait_, at his own great cost and trouble, for the benefit of the English, who are so eager ("embrasez") to learn French.[97] Judging from the lines with which Barton closes his short but communicative preface, the work was intended mainly for the use of young people--the "chers enfants" and "tres douces pucelles,"

'hungering' to learn French: "Pur ce, mes chiers enfantz et tresdoulcez puselles," he writes, "que avez fam d'apprendre cest Donait scachez qu'il est divise en belcoup de chapiters si come il apperera cy avale."

Barton then retires to make way for his 'clerks,' whose remarks are entirely confined to grammatical teaching and who, like Barton, write in French.

Most of the early treatises on French grammar which appeared in England are written in Latin. Latin appears to have been the medium through which French was learnt and explained to a large extent, although in the case of the riming vocabularies English was used for teaching the young children for whom these nomenclatures were chiefly written. But grammar, probably intended to be learnt by older students, was usually studied in Latin, which was also found to be a help in learning French. Students are told to base French orthography on that of Latin, and there are constant references from French words to their Latin originals. The _Donait soloum douce franceis de Paris_ is apparently the only work of any importance written in French before that of Barton. English was not used for this purpose before the sixteenth century, when it was almost invariably employed, even by Frenchmen. A grammar such as Barton's would, no doubt, be read and translated with the help of a tutor; and it is highly probable that the children for whom it was intended would have previously acquired some practical knowledge of French from some such elementary treatise as Bibbesworth's vocabulary. Moreover, French was so generally in use in the higher cla.s.ses of society, and had been for so long a kind of semi-national tongue, that it would hardly be approached as an entirely foreign language, as in later times. In writing a French grammar in French, Barton and those who followed the same course merely adopted for the teaching of French a method in common use in the teaching of Latin. The advisability of writing French grammars in French was a question, as we shall see, much discussed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as well as in much more recent times.

The clerks employed by Barton made free use of the observations on French grammar which had appeared previously. But their work had an additional value; the rules are stated with considerable clearness and are usually correct.[98] The opening chapters deal with the letters and their p.r.o.nunciation, set forth, like the rest of the grammar, in a series of questions and answers:

Quantez letters est il? Vint. Quellez? Cinq voielx et quinse consonantez. Quelx sont les voielx et ou seroit ils sonnes? Le premier vouyel est _a_ et serra sonne en la poetrine, la seconde est _e_ et serra sonne en la gorge, le tiers est _i_ et serra sonne entre les joues, le quart est _o_ et serra sonne du palat de la bouche, le quint est _u_ et serra sonne entre les levres.

To these observations on the vowels are added a few on the consonants, and "belcoup de bones rieules" (six in all) treating the avoidance of hiatus between two consonants and the effects of certain vowels and consonants on each other's p.r.o.nunciation. Next come a few observations on the parts of speech; for "apres le Chapitre des lettres il nous fault dire des accidens." Instead of giving a number of isolated instances as rules for the formation of the plural, the general rule for the addition of _s_ to the singular is evolved and emphasized by this advice: "Pour ceo gardez vous que vous ne mettez pas le singuler pour le pulier (pluriel) ne a contraire, si come font les sots." Further, we must avoid imitating the 'sottez gens,' to whom frequent reference is made, in using one person of a tense for another, and saying _je ferra_ for _je ferray_.[99] In this section of the work the rules follow each other without any orderly arrangement.[100]

At about the same time an English poet is said to have written a French grammar, as another poet, Alexander Barclay, actually did later. An early bibliographer[101] includes in his list of Lydgate's works one ent.i.tled _Praeceptiones Linguae Gallicae_, in one book, of which no further trace remains to-day. Lydgate, however, was well acquainted with French; he made the customary foreign tour, besides visiting Paris again on a later occasion in attendance on n.o.ble patrons, and put his knowledge of the language to the test by translating or adapting several works from the French, like most contemporary writers.[102] The same early authority informs us that, as soon as Lydgate returned from his travels, he opened a school for the sons of n.o.blemen, possibly at Bury St. Edmunds. Probably Lydgate wrote a French grammar for the use of these young n.o.blemen, who would certainly have to learn the language; and, after serving their immediate purpose, these rules, we may surmise, were lost and soon forgotten.

In the fifteenth century, instruction in French epistolary style of all degrees continued to be supplied in collections of model letters; and at the end of the fourteenth century a new kind of book for teaching French appeared--the _Maniere de Langage_ or model conversation book, intended for the use of travellers, merchants, and others desiring a conversational and practical rather than a thorough and grammatical knowledge of French. Contrary to the custom, prevalent at this later period, of providing English translations, the earliest of these contain no English gloss, but simply the French text without any attempt at even the slight grammatical instruction provided in the vocabularies. Their sole purpose was to give the traveller or wayfarer a supply of phrases and expressions on the customary topics; grammatical instruction could be sought elsewhere.

The earliest of these[103] is the first work for teaching French to which a definite date can be a.s.signed. A sort of dedication at the end is dated from Bury St. Edmunds, "la veille du Pentecote, 1396." We have not the same definite information as to the author.[104] The anglicisms make it clear that he was an Englishman, while the references to Orleans and its university, and the trouble there between the students and the townspeople in 1389, suggest that he was a student of that university, then much frequented by the English and other foreigners, especially law students. He may have been Canon M. T. Coyfurelly, Doctor of Law of Orleans,[105] and author of the contemporary recasting of T. H.'s treatise on French orthography. The author tells us he undertook his task at the request of a "tres honore et tres gentil sire"; that he had learnt French "es parties la mere," and that he wrote according to the knowledge he acquired there, which, he admits, may not be perfect.

Indeed his French is full of anglicisms; _que homme_ is written for 'that man'; _oeuvrer_ for 'worker'; _que_ for 'why,' and so on; there are also many grammatical mistakes such as wrong genders, _au homme_, _de les_ for _des_, _de le_ for _du_. This "maniere" must have enjoyed a very considerable popularity, judging from the number of ma.n.u.scripts, of various dates, still in existence. And, in modern times, it presents a greater interest to the reader than any of the treatises mentioned before, partly from the navete and quaintness of its style, partly owing to the vivid picture it gives us of the life of the time at which it was written.

It opens in a religious strain, with a prayer that the students of the book may have "sens naturel" to learn to speak, p.r.o.nounce, and write "doulz francois":

A noster commencement nous dirons ainsi: en nom du pere, filz et Saint Esperit, amen. Ci comence la Maniere de Language qui t'enseignera bien a droit parler et escrire doulz francois selon l'usage et la coustume de France. Primiers, au commencement de nostre fait et besogne nous prierons Dieu devoutement et nostre Dame la benoite vierge Marie sa tres douce mere, et toute la glorieuse compaigne du Saint reaume de Paradis celeste, ou Dieux mette ses amis et ses eslus, de quoi vient toute science, sapience, grace et entendement et tous manieres vertuz, qu'il luy plaist de sa grande misericorde et grace tous les escoliers estudianz en cest livre ainsi abruver et enluminer de la rousee de sa haute sapience et entendement, qu'ils pouront avoir sens naturel d'aprendre a parler, bien soner et a droit escrire doulz francois.

Then, because man is the n.o.blest of all created things, the author proceeds to give a list of the parts of his body, which recalls the old riming vocabularies. This, however, is the only portion in which conversation is sacrificed to vocabulary. In the rest of the work, though the vocabulary is increased by alternative phrases wherever possible, it is never allowed to encroach too much on the conversation.

The second chapter presents a scene between a lord and his page, in which the page receives minute instructions for commissions to the draper, the mercer, and upholsterer--an excellent opportunity of introducing a large choice of words. Conversation for travellers is the subject of the third chapter, the most important, and certainly the most interesting in the whole book. It tells, "Coment un homme chivalchant ou cheminant se doit contenir et parler sur son chemin qui voult aler bien loin hors de son pais." After witnessing the preparations for the journey, the reader accompanies the lord and his page through an imaginary journey in France. Dialogue and narrative alternate, and the lord talks with his page Janyn or whiles away the time with songs:

Et quant il aura achevee sa chanson il comencera a parler a son escuier ou a ses escuiers, ainsi disant: "Mes amys, il est bien pres de nuyt," vel sic: "Il sera par temps nuyt." Doncques respont Janyn au son signeur bien gentilment en cest maniere: "Vrayement mon seigneur, vous ditez verite"; vel sic: "vous ditez voir"; vel sic: "vous dites vray"--"Je panse bien qu'il feroit mieux pour nous d'arester en ce ville que d'aller plus avant maishuy. Coment vous est avis?"--"Ainsi comme vous vuillez, mon seigneur." "Janyn!"--"Mon signeur?"--"Va devant et prennez nostre hostel par temps."--"Si ferai-je, mon seigneur." Et s'en vait tout droit en sa voie, et quant il sera venu a l'ostel il dira tout courtois.e.m.e.nt en cest maniere. "Hosteler, hosteler," etc.

The page then proceeds to make hasty preparations for the coming of his master to the inn, and we next a.s.sist at the arrival of the lord and his evening meal and diversions--another opportunity for the introduction of songs--and his departure in the morning towards etampes and Orleans.

More humble characters appear in the next chapter: "Un autre maniere de parler de pietalle, comme des labourers et oeuvrers de mestiers." Here we have conversations between members of the working cla.s.ses. A gardener and a ditcher discuss their respective earnings, describe their work, and finally go and dine together; a baker talks with his servant, and so gives us the names of the chief things used in his trade, just as the gardener gave a list of flowers and fruits. A merchant scolds his apprentice for various misdemeanours, and then sends him off to market:

Doncques l'apprentiz s'en vait au marchie pour vendre les danrees de son maistre et la vienment grant cop des gens de divers pais de les achater: et apprentiz leur dit tout courtois.e.m.e.nt en cest maniere,--'Mes amis venez vous ciens et je vous monstrerai de aussi bon drap comme vous trouverez en tout ce ville, et vous en aurez de aussi bon marche comme nul autre. Ore regardez, biau sire, comment vous est avis; vel sic: comment vous plaist il;

and after some bargaining he sells his goods.

In the next "maniere de parler" a servant brings a torn doublet to a mender of old clothes, and enlists his services. A chapter of more interest and importance is that dealing with greetings and salutations to be used at different times of the day to members of the various ranks of society:

Quant un homme encontrera aucun au matinee il luy dira tout courtois.e.m.e.nt ainsi: "Mon signour Dieux vous donne boun matin et bonne aventure," vel sic: "Sire Dieux vous doint boun matin et bonne estraine, Mon amy, Dieux vous doint bon jour et bonne encontre." Et a midi vous parlerez en cest maniere: "Monsieur Dieux vous donne bon jour et bonnes heures"; vel sic: "Sire, Dieu vous beneit et la compaignie!" A peitaille vous direz ainsi: "Dieux vous gart!" ...

Et as oeuvrers et labourers vous direz ainsi: "Dieux vous ait, mon amy,"

and so on. One traveller asks another whence he comes and where he was born, and the other says he comes from Orleans, where there is a fierce quarrel between the students and the townspeople; and was born in Hainaut, where they love the English well, and there is a saying that "qui tient un Henner (Hennuyer) par la main, tient un Englois par le cuer." We are next taught how to speak to children: "Quant vous verez un enfant plorer et gemir, vous direz ainsi: Qu'as tu, mon enfant," and comfort him, and when a poor man asks you for alms, you shall answer, "Mon amy, se je pourroi je vous aida.s.se tres volantiers... ."

From this we return to subjects more suited to merchants and wayfarers--how to inquire the road, and to go on a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Thomas-a-Becket. The work closes with a gathering of companions in an inn, which, like the rest of the chapters, is full of life and interest. Last of all, a sort of supplement is added in the form of a short poem on the drawbacks of poverty:

Il est hony qui pouveres est,

and a _fatrasie_ in prose.

Another treatise of the same kind, written about three years later, was intended chiefly for the use of children, _Un pet.i.t livre pour enseigner les enfantz de leur entreparler comun francois_.[106] It was not the first of its kind. The metrical vocabularies of Bibbesworth and his successors were chiefly intended for the use of children. There is also some evidence to show that the grammatical treatises were used by children; the commentary was added to the _Orthographica Gallica_ because the rules were somewhat obscure "pour jeosne gentz," and Barton, in his introduction, mentions the "chiers enfantz" and "tresdoulez puselles," as those whom his grammar particularly concerns.

In the _Pet.i.t livre_, however, the teaching is of the simplest kind, and specially suited to children. The dialogue lacks the interest of the earlier 'maniere,' and inclines, in places, to become a list of phrases pure and simple. The work opens abruptly with the words: "Pour ce sachez premierement que le an est divise en deux, c'est a.s.scavoir le yver et la este. Le yver a six mois et la este atant, que vallent douse," and so on to the other divisions of the year and time. The children are then taught the numbers in French, the names of the coins, and those of the persons and things with which they come into daily contact. Then follow appropriate terms for addressing and greeting different persons, and the author even goes so far as to provide the child with a stock of insulting terms for use in quarrels. The rest of the treatise does not appear to be intended for children. There are conversations in a tavern, lists of salutations, familiar talk for the wayside and for buying and selling, all of which has little special interest, and is designed apparently to meet the needs of merchants more than any other cla.s.s. In the chatter on the events of the day there occurs a pa.s.sage which enables us to date the work. The traveller tells the hostess of the captivity of Richard II. as a recent event:

"Dieu, dame, j'ay ouy dire que le roy d'Angleterre est oste."--"Quoy desioie!"--"Par ma alme voir."--"Et les Anglois n'ont ils point de roy donques?"--"Marie, ouy, et que celuy que fust duc de Lancastre, que est nepveu a celluy que est oste."--"Voire?"--"Voire vraiement."--"Et le roygne que fera elle?"--"Par dieu dame, je ne scay, je n'ay pas este en conceille."--"Et le roy d'Angleterre ou fust il coronne?"--"A Westmynstre."--"Fustez vous la donques?"--"Marie, oy, il y avoit tant de presse que par un pou que ne mouru quar a paine je eschapey a vie."--"Et ou serra il a nouvel?"--"Par ma foy je ne scay, mais l'en dit qu'il serra en Escoce."

The authorship is not so easy to ascertain. The manual may be due to Canon T. Coyfurelly, probable author of the earlier and better-known work also.[107] The many mistakes and anglicisms, such as _quoy_ for _quelle_ ('what') and the exclamatory 'Marie' in the quotation just given, show it to be the work of an Englishman.

Another book of conversation appeared in 1415,[108] as may be gathered from its first two chapters, in which a person fresh from the wars in France tells of the siege of Harfleur and the battle of Agincourt, and announces the return of the victorious English army. The rest of the dialogues are represented as taking place in and about Oxford. There is the usual tavern scene. Travellers from Tetsworth arrive at an Oxford inn, and are present at the evening meal and diversions. The hostess describes the fair at Woodstock and the articles bought and sold there; her son, a boy of twelve years, wants to be apprenticed in London; he goes to the school of Will Kyngesmylle, where writing, counting, and French are taught. One of the merchants calls the lad and questions him as to his knowledge of French: "Et que savez vous en fraunceys dire?--Sir je say moun noun et moun corps bien descrire.--Ditez moy qu'avez a noun.--J'ay a noun Johan, bon enfant, beal et sage et bien parlant engleys, fraunceys et bon normand, beneyt soit la verge que chastie l'enfant et le bon maistre qui me prist taunt! Je pri a Dieu tout puissant nous graunte le joye tous diz durant!" The lad then proceeds to give proof of his knowledge by naming the parts of his body and his clothing, always, it appears, the first things learnt.

This reference to the teaching of French in the school of an Oxford pedagogue shows that, though French had at this time lost all standing in the Grammar Schools, it was still taught in private establishments.[109] It seems highly probable that Will Kyngesmylle was the author of this work, and that he used his text-book as a means of self-advertis.e.m.e.nt, a method very common among later teachers of French.

At the close comes a chapter belonging to another work of the same type, which is only preserved in this fragment; no doubt other such works existed and have been entirely lost.

It is likely that in the fifteenth century these conversational manuals supplanted, to a considerable extent, the earlier type of practical manual for teaching French--the metrical vocabulary--with which they had something in common. At any rate, there is no copy of such nomenclatures extant after _Femina_ (1415). The 'manieres' provided in their dialogues much of the material found in the vocabularies, giving, wherever possible, groups of words on the same topics--the body, its clothing, houses, and men's occupations. Further, the vocabularies, which had never departed from the type inst.i.tuted by Bibbesworth in the thirteenth century, dealt more with the feudal and agricultural life of the Middle Ages, and so had fallen behind the times. The 'Manieres de Langage' were more in keeping with the new conditions. Towards the end of the century (and perhaps at the beginning of the sixteenth century) we come to a manual,[110] which, while resembling the 'manieres' in most points, reproduces some of the distinctive external marks of the vocabularies.

For instance, the French is arranged in short lines, which, however, do not rime, and vary considerably in the number of syllables they contain; and these are followed by a full interlinear English gloss, as in the later vocabularies. The subject matter, however, is similar to that of the early conversation books. First comes gossip at taverns and by the wayside:

Ditez puisse ie savement aler?

Saie may I saufly goo?

Ye sir le chemyn est sure a.s.sez.

Yes sir the wey is sure inough.

Mes il convent que vous hastez.

But it behoveth to spede you.