been the first to devise the elaborate rules of construction of the ballade, which have been in force ever since. He was guard of the Oriflamme in 1883, and died in 1398; but Deschamps is more often credited with the honour. That he cultivated the form we know, besides writing an Art of making Chansons, Ballades, Virelais, and Rondels," which is a valuable relic of his time. Jehannot de Lescurel, "of whom absolutely nothing is known, has left sixteen ballades, fifteen rondeaus (not in regular form), and other pieces, said to be of singular grace, lightness, and elegance.' Guillaume de Machault (1284-1377) was also a voluminous writer. One of his poems, a chanson balladée, is printed in Mr. Saintsbury's Short History of French Literature, which contains also a Ballade by Alain Chartier (1390-1458), the hero of the famous story of the kiss of Queen Margaret of Scotland, and other specimens of this period, in a succinct and trustworthy account of the growth of French poetry, surpassed by no book in our own language. Charles d'Orléans (1391-1466), noticed among the English writers, is specially honoured as the master of the iondel; while François Villon (1431-1485) stands out as the "prince of all ballade-makers." For brief, but splendid sketches of these two, Mr. R. L. Stevenson's Familiar Studies of Men and Books should be consulted, while for more prosaic description there is no lack of data. Since the revival of interest in Villon, France has done tardy but unstinted honour to her most famous poet, as it is the fashion just now to style him, but there is a doubt whether the praise given is not in danger of being exaggerated. Yet, making all allowances, there is vital humanity in his wondrous writings, that now, after four hundred years, read as living and modern in their presentation of life, as though they were by a realist of our own day. In Villon, student, poet, house breaker, we find the forerunner of the Zola of to-day-one who, in so eminently an artificial form as the ballade, cast aside all conventional restraints, and sang of what he saw and knew. It is much to be regretted that space forbids more translations of his poems to be included in this collection. For those who wish to tackle him in his old, and by no means easy, French, a good edition is published for a franc, in the Collection Jannet-Picard (Paris). Mr. Payne has translated the whole of his authentic works into English in a volume, at present out of print, which contains also a very graphic and full biography of this remarkable man. Space forbids insertion of the sketch of his life prepared for this chapter. Born in 1431, student 1448, B.A. in 1452, writing his Lesser Testament in 1446, his Greater Testament in 1461; in those few years he contrived to win more fame, and, to speak truly, more infamy, than a whole generation of lesser poets. He was condemned to die-he wrote his marvellous Ballade of the Gibbet while lying under sentence of death-but escaped. Where he died is unknown, the date of his Greater Testament being the last record of Master François Villon of Paris. 66 In 1493 appeared L'art et science de rhéthorique pour faire rigmes et ballades, by Henry de Croï-an invaluable treatise on French Poetics. The works of Pierre Gringoire (1478-1544) must be named, if only for the fact of De Banville's splendid ballade in his comedy Gringoire," founded on an incident in the poet's life. By Mr. Lang's permission a translation is quoted in the body of this volume. Mr. John Payne also englished it, in the Dublin University Magazine, 1879. The works of Clement Marot (1497-1544) demand special note, since his ballades and chants royaux are now accepted as the ideal models for imitation. In his Art Poitique, 1555, Thomas Sibilet reviews many of the former writers, and gives the rules of the poetry then in force. Immediately after this date came another change; with the famous school of Ronsard (1524-1585) and the Pléiade, as they are styled, one of whom, however, Du Bellay, was eager to abolish the ballade and chant royal in favour of the sonnet. The members of this group produced some notable work in strict formis. Among the Ronsardists we find Grévin the dramatist, who wrote some graceful poeins which he called Villanesques—a modified form of the Villanelle-and Jean Passerat (1534-1602) who is specially noteworthy, since in his hand the Villanelle crystallised into its present shape, Joseph Boulmier, in the last revival, making this form his special study, and writing all his verses alter Passerat's model given elsewhere in this volume. The rondeau was revived in great splendour in the middle of the seventeenth century. Foremost among the brilliant group is Voiture (1598-1648), the acknowledged master of this form. Only thirty of his rondeaus are left, but each one of these is a masterpiece, and may be studied for all the subtle devices and dainty inventions that the form has yet yielded. Benserade (1612-1691) and Sarrasin were also famous for rondeau-making, the former translating the whole of Ovid's Metamorphoses into rondeaus, which were sumptuously printed at the King's Press at a cost of 10,000 francs. When Voiture died in 1648, it is curious to note that Sarrasin wrote a 66 'pompous funereal poem-possibly the most funny serious elegy ever composed-in which, among other strange mourners, he makes the 'poor little triolet,' all in tears, trot by the side of the dead poet,' who, according to Mr. Gosse, from whom the above paragraph is quoted, had never written one in his life. Sarrasin also left a curious specimen of the Glose, written on the famous Sonnet "de IOB" by Benserade. In 1649 Gérard de Saint Amant wrote a volume of sixtyfour triolets. From the seventeenth to the nineteenth century no important examples occur. About thirty years ago De Banville revived these old shapes, and initiated a movement that Daudet, Glatigny, Boulmier, and a host of others have helped forward, so that now modern French literature is flooded with examples of the forms the ballade, rondeau, and triolet being the most widely used. Having imperfectly followed the growth of the forms in France, it will be interesting to give a few notes of the various attempts made to acclimatise some in England. Although no effort previous to 1873 warrants us in claiming an English pedigree for them, yet it is curious to see how often the attempt was made to write them in our own tongue. The sonnet gradually grew into use, until it became as little an exotic as the potato, to employ an uncouth simile; the ballade and rondeau-hardly more formal in their rules, and with susceptibilities of infinite grace and beauty-failed to be even residents amongst us, much less naturalised subjects, sharing the rights and duties of citizens. Chaucer is believed to have used these forms, as in "The Legend of Good Women" he says, speaking of himself "Many a himpne for your holy daies That highten balades, roundels, virelaies." His "Balade de Vilage sauns Peynture," however, does not correspond with the accepted form. Mr. Gosse says that the Chaucer of 1651 contains a number of poems attributed to himself and Lydgate which are merely pieces in rhyme-royal, so arranged as to imitate the French ballade: without its severity of form." The following is a roundel attributed to Chaucer : I.-BURDEN. So hath your beauty fro your hertè chased II. Giltles my deth thus have ye purchased, III. Alas, that Nature hath in you compassed This is given in Furnival's Trial-Forewords to Chaucer's Minor Poems, and is especially interesting in connection with the history of the forms in English use. Of his immediate followers, Lydgate, a monk of Bury, author of London Lyckpenny, is said by Guest to have written a "roundle," and one by Thomas Occleve is printed in Morley's Shorter English Poems. John Gower (1340-1408), author of Confessio Amantis, at the coronation of Henry IV. presented the king with a collection of fifty Ballades, written in the Provençal manner, "to entertain his noble court." The thin oblong MS., on vellum, which contains them is still extant in the Marquis of Stafford's library at Trentham, and in 1818 it was printed for the Roxburghe Club; but as the poems are unfortunately written in French, they do not assist in supporting a claim for the early use of the form in England. Professor Henry Morley has translated one for his English Writers; it follows the rhymes accurately, but has a somewhat trite subject. A critic has well said of it, that the poets of Gowers's day were not burdened with solving the riddle of † Sterve. * Dominion, power. |