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brings to all his inquiries. He advances nothing without the proofs in his hand. He goes back always to the sources: he knows them all.

The songs of the Troubadours are often composed with a very studied artifice: in a style exceedingly concise, purposely enigmatical and filled with allusions to unknown facts, and to manners which to us are foreign, The turn of thought itself, the expression of sentiments, bear in them the colours and the costume of a distant age, to which we have to transport ourselves in imagination. And to facilitate the intelligence of such poems, the scanty remains of a language which has ceased to be cultivated for so many ages, we had, till now, neither grammar nor dictionary of this language: the only help, was the analogy of other dialects derived from the Latin; an analagy often deceitful: for, although the Roman language was, so to speak, the eldest daughter of the Latin tongue, and though it has strong features of resemblance to its younger sisters, the French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish languages, especially to the last, it has also much of idioms of its own, and the Latin words are often diverted from their primitive sense in a peculiar manner.

"On engaging in the study of this language, I speak from my own experience, one despairs of laying hold on a clue to guide one through its labyrinths: One is tempted to lay the blame of one's own imperfect knowledge on the language itself, and to believe that it is capricious, irregular, rebellious to all analogy. This is, how ever, a very erroneous opinion. M. Raynouard has very clearly demonstrated the contrary. He has carried a clear light into the midst of this darkness: he has disentangled, by his sagacity, an apparent confusion and, hereafter, they who have done no more than followed attentively in his steps, will already have surmounted the greater part of their difficulties.

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"A certain dryness is inseparable from grammatical discussions; but M. Raynouard has avoided it as much as possible, by the spirit of philosophy which he introduces into his analysis, and by the elevation of his point of view. To judge from the space it occupies, one might think his grammar diffuse; it is, on the contrary, drawn up with most perfect conciseness. greater part of his pages is filled with criticisms of original texts, which serve at once for examples and proofs of his grammatical rules. M. Raynouard thus affords his readers the means of examining for themselves, and convincing themselves of the truth of his observations. These numerous fragments of provençal poetry, accompanied by literal translations, familiarise the student with the constructions of the language, and prepare him to read the Troubadours themselves. With the help of the grammar, and the glossary which M. Raynouard proposes

to give, the greater part of their songs, especially their amatory pieces, will need no farther explanation. Many poems, those, for instance, containing historical allusions, cannot do without it; and others still, such as some pieces of Arnaud Daniel, and of Marcabrus, will perhaps remain forever undeciphered, even to scholars as conversant in the Roman tongue, and as accomplished in the art of philosophical criticism, as M. Raynouard.

"But to what purpose, it will perhaps be said, is all this apparatus of a difficult and unattracting erudition. Might one not translate freely into prose, the best pieces of the Troubadours, give extracts of some others, and consign all the remainder to oblivion, from tenderness to the memory of our honourable ancestors?-The experiment has been tried, and with lamentable result. There are, no doubt, works of poetry, which, without sustaining any considerable injury, may be transferred into other languages, provided the translation be at least elegantly versified. The more any work is the production of an ambitious, but sterile imitation, of an art become mechanical, the more it revolves in a circle of magnificent common places, and a phraseology learnedly artificial, the less it risks in translation; for the equivalent of things of this sort is found abundantly in every cultivated literature. But the original impress, not only of the consummate works of genius, but even of early art, is difficult to preserve in translation. I think it would be impossible to imitate, with a happy fidelity, the provençal poetry, as much, perhaps, from its almost fantastic originality, as its simplicity of native grace. One cannot consider the songs of the Troubadours, as the spon. taneous effusions of a nature still altogether savage. There is art, often indeed a very ingenious art; especially a complicated system of versification, a variety and a copiousness in the use of rhymes, which have not been equalled in any modern tongue. The Troubadours themselves called this combination of poetry and music, in which they exerted their talents, a science, but the guy science. It was not drawn from the source of books, nor of models reputed classical; it was inspired to them solely by their poetic instincts, and by the desire to please their generation. The age in which they lived, was not learned nor philosophical, but robust, undisciplined, warlike, adventurous. It was marked by striking contrasts; on one side a noble delicacy of sentiment, a refined courtesy of manners in the higher classes; on the other, dark shades of licentiousness, of rudeness and ignorance in the total of social life. The poetical compositions of such a time, especially those which rest most on the inspiration of the moment, and an individual feeling and situation, namely, their lyrical compositions, resemble not the usual flowers of our literary gardens, but much rather those Alpine plants, which can

not be transplanted from their native soil, and from the sky under which they sprung. To see the rose of the Alps in blow, we must climb the mountains. To enjoy those songs which have delighted so many illustrious sovereigns, so many gallant knights, so many ladies, celebrated for their beauty and their grace, which have had such vogue, not only in the south of Europe, but whereever chivalry flourished, and even in the Holy Land, to enjoy these songs, I say, we must listen to the Troubadours themselves, and apply ourselves to comprehend their language.

"It will be time to discuss the poetical merit of the Troubadours when we have the opportunity of reading their principal works in a correct edition, accompanied by all that is necessary to assist us in understanding them: such a one, in a word, as M. Raynouard promises us. But those who are acquainted with history will all agree, that the Provençal poetry contains a treasure of national recollections. Some Troubadours are the ancestors of families that hold, even at this day, a distinguished rank in France; others belong to families now extinct, but once illustrious and powerful; many, as Bertrand of Born, and Folquet of Marseille, played an important part in the political events of their time; a great number of them have spoken of these same events, of which they were witnesses, often, perhaps, with the partiality of passion, but always with the manly frankness of vigorous minds; all furnish living pictures of the manners of their age, whether designedly, as in their moral and political pieces, or unconsciously, in the native ingenuous expression of their feelings and their thoughts. What uncolours the history of the middle ages is, that the contemporary chronicles have generally written in Latin. Now, it is almost impossible to transfer, into a dead and learned language, the most characteristic individual traits. All, then, that is transmitted to us in the popular dialects of those times is exceedingly precious, if we would know them intimately it is as if we heard the distinguished men who then lived speaking to us themselves. What is called in history, the spirit of an age, says a German writer, is commonly nothing more than the spirit of a modern author reflecting an altered image of past times. The historian has not yet appeared in France who could paint the middle ages in a manner truly dramatic that is to say, bringing on the stage the men as they lived, surrounded with the atmosphere of the then prevalent opinions and feelings, without imparting to them motives foreign to their nature-without analysing their characters by reflexions of universal application, entitled philosophi cal, and without expecting to arrive at the secret of individual existence by the circuitous road of reasoning. If such a historian should arise, he will know how to turn to account the materials prepared for him by

the learned Editor of the Troubadours: He will borrow from them the truest and most striking of the local tints of his picture.

Even did the Provençal poetry contain nothing more than some historic details, else unknown, still it would be necessary to resort to the original text; for in all that is to serve for evidence in matter of history, it is not possible to rest satisfied with translations.

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Lastly, The study of the Provençal language is very curious in itself, under the threefold respect of the general theory of languages; of the etymology of the French tongue, and other dialects derived from the Latin; and finally, of its own peculiar beauties and distinctive qualities."

M. Schlegel proceeds to sketch some of these inquiries a little more in detail; particularly in reference to the bearing of this study on the theory of language in general, and on the formation of the French and other languages from the Latin. To some points of such discussion we may hereafter, perhaps, have occasion to call the attention of our readers. The corruption of the language of the Romans, into the dialects in which it still subsists among the descendants of the nations they had conquered, is one of the most curious and interesting subjects that are open to philologists; inasmuch as it presents to them the extraordinary phenomenon of language falling into destruction, if we may say ruins; as the mass, too, of materials, so, and renewing itself out of its own for the investigation, is unusually large, and as the several languages which have thus arisen have each attained to considerable perfection, and have each formed themselves into a very peculiar, and, it might almost be said, original character. M. Schlegel has himself in preparation, A Historical Essay on the formation of the French language," which, from his thorough acquaintance with the literature of all the ages of modern Europe, and from the philosophical spirit which he brings into all literary discussion, cannot fail, when it appears, to interest deeply the curiosity of the students of philology.

He closes his Memoir with the following words:

"I here conclude my observations, which have no other object than to draw the attention of the public to a literary undertaking of the greatest importance, in relation both to the study of philosophy and to the history of the middle ages. M. Raynouard, so celebrated as a poet, so honourably known

as a citizen, has obtained for his laborious researches the encouragement of a government, the patron of all good studies; he has deserved the gratitude not of his countrymen only, but of the whole of learned Europe. At an era when all minds are turned to

wards new ideas, it is perhaps peculiarly useful to awaken the recollection of a distant past. All the world think themselves capable of judging of former times upon slender and superficial information. To know them is another thing. The most certain way to derive no benefit from the study of history, is to engage in it with a spirit of hostility. If we despise our ancestors, let us a little dread the retribution of posterity."

ON THE CRUSADES.

Translated from the German of

FREDERICK SCHLEGEL.

IT has been remarked by those who have described the journeys of individual pilgrims to the Holy Land, that the motives by which these persons were induced to perform their travels, were far from being at all periods the same; the first of them were actuated by the simple suggestions of piety; curiosity and the love of adventure mingled very considerably in the views of those who succeeded them; and others who, at a period yet later, pursued the same route, contrived to preserve all the worldly zeal of sagacious merchants, in the midst of pilgrimages still nominally undertaken for the purpose of renouncing the world over the grave of the Redeemer. An observation, not very dissimilar to this, may be made in regard to the purposes and character of those great associations of armed pilgrims-the Crusades. The first, under the pious Godfrey de Bouillogne, was entirely the work of religious enthusiasm; and, for that reason perhaps, above all succeeding expeditions, it was irresistible in its progress, and happy in its effects. In the times immediately subsequent, more particularly in the heroic contests of Richard Coeur-de-Lion with the chivalrous Saladin, the original object appears to have been more lost sight of, and the mainspring of action to have proceeded from the romantic spirit of warlike glory and adventure. In the sequel, when Crusades came to be conducted in a more business-like manner, when the Greek empire had become Latinized by means of their VOL. IV.

frequency, and the leaders began to calculate with the foresight of politi cians, that the conquest of Egypt was a necessary step to that of Palestine, -these things were all so many symptoms of decay in the spirit of enthusiasm-that spirit, in whose strength alone expeditions so stupendous in magnitude, and so unnatural in purpose, could be carried through with any hope of ultimate success. This flame shone, indeed, once again in St Lewis, but that was only a flash in the socket. It was speedily extinguished; and in the end the only advantage derived from these most laborious and perilous adventures, fell to the share of the maritime powers of Italy, above all, of the Venetians, who had taken little part in the expeditions themselves, excepting with mercantile views and mercantile weapons. Such is the course of human events! One lofty thought, one almighty feeling, seizes and possesses the spirit of an age, no less easily than of an individual, lifts it above all the trammels of custom, and enables it to deem and to find no obstacle unsurmountable. But when possession has once cloyed the excited ardour, when the spirit that sported with peril, and was prodigal of strength, has become cooled, prudence steps in, and the charm is for ever lost in the first calculation of advantage.

Among the great number of extraordinary persons and heroes which the history of this period displays, none perhaps is so well fitted to represent the whole power of the ruling spirit of chivalry-to show how men forgot even the character of royalty in that of knighthood, as Richard of England. By his scarcely credible feats of valour, his perilous return, his captivity, his misfortunes, which could do all but tame his lion heart,—by every incident in his chivalrous life-he is fitted to be the type and symbol of the age of the Crusades. Characters such as this, or even as that of Godfrey and other more strictly religious Crusaders, are more adapted to be comprehended and depicted by the imagination of a Tasso, than to be penetrated and explained by the perspicuity of a Tacitus. The characters and heroes of the middle age are, indeed, throughout distinguished from those of classical antiquity, by this circumstance, that their lives and actions were always more under the command and direction of

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imagination than of reason. The character of Alexander the Great alone, forms an exception from the general character of the cultivated Greeks and Romans, and bears some resemblance (as indeed the characters of the Orientals do) to that of the middle age, inasmuch as imagination and enthusiasm seem to have had more influence upon him than reason and calculation. It was thus that in all the struggles, dangers, wanderings of this period, the fullness of animal life was spread over and breathed from every thing; that breath and magic of fancy which has power to adorn alike rejoicing and humiliation, triumph and despair. In the old northern sagas, the heroic spirits of the Valhalla are represented as enjoying themselves during the day in warlike contests, till, on the going down of the sun, all their wounds are healed by the power of magic, and they sit down with Odin to the friendly banquet;-in like manner, the knightly combats of this romantic time appear very often to have been engaged in with scarcely any political purpose or consequences, and the only real or desired result of a whole life of peril and adventure, to have been nothing more than the feeling of repose, the retirement of peaceful recollection, the stillness of the evening succeeding the splendour and fervours of the day. What a contrast do these spirits afford to those whose workings we witness in times of greater prudence and refinement, when statesmen and warriors are such only from situation, and seem to follow in the wake of events, rather than to rule and preside over their current. It is doubt ful whether all the other advantages which these possess, are sufficient to atone for their comparative poverty of spirit and of feeling.

The spirit of chivalry, nevertheless, forms only one epoch, and presents only one view of the middle age; and how marked and predominant soever over the whole of its manners and characters, the imagination, and the power of great ruling passions may have been, we must by no means deny to this period the still deeper influence of its great law-givers. The very names of Alfred of England, Stephen the legislator of Hungary, and St Lewis of France, are sufficient to prove the absurdity of any such neglect. Many of our German kings and em

perors might in like manner be named, who were not only brave warriors, but thoughtful and skilful generals; nay, not merely commanders of armies, but accomplished sovereigns, capable of weighing well, and directing well, every item of their political strength. The German characters are particularly distinguished by their strength and seriousness of heroic power: of such power and loftiness of character is the middle ages, the combat of the emperor Frederick I. with Henry the Lion (of Brunswick) furnishes a striking example and image. The powerful, upright, austere emperor, burning with wrath against his friend for having deserted him in his Italian contests, overthrowing with the stormy rage of a hero, one, in heroism as in power, inferior only to himself,

but the moment the enemy is at his feet, melted by all the returning warmth of friendship toward the old brother in arms,-all this forms a delightful and ennobling picture of the spirit of the times. It was by such feelings as these that rulers and princes were then governed, above all, among the Germans. The Italian characters of the middle age, on the other hand, from their habitudes of republican party-war, and their heartless politics, were fashioned into a much nearer resemblance of the great men of antiquity. The true chivalrous spirit exerted by far its most exclusive power over the Normans, whose spirit and manners were at this period common, in a great measure, to France and England, while these kingdoms were so closely connected with Normandy, and through it with each other.

The want of unity of purpose and action, which was the chief cause of failure in all the Crusades, is to be ascribed not merely to the ill-concerted plans of the different leaders and expeditions, but also to great and essential differences in the external situations, as well as in the national propensities and feelings, of the different peoples of the west. The Spaniards were so much occupied at home with their perpetual struggle against the Moors, that they could take little share in the remoter warfares of the Cross. Similar causes might be adduced to explain the want of co-operation among the more distant tribes of the north. The north of Italy and

Germany, the whole imperial dominions, were completely filled by the great contest between the church and empire, agitated and lacerated every where by the rivalry of the Guelphs and Ghibellines to such a degree, that, although they did take a part, and a most effective one, in the Crusades, they were all very tardy in doing so; or, at least, did not follow the tendency of the time with that ready impetuosity which was displayed by the Norman-English, the Norman-Neopolitans, the warriors of Normandy itself, or those of France, who so much resembled all these in spirit and character. These kindred nations were all strong in redundant population and warlike zeal, and they had little business at home to prevent them from employing this strength abroad. It may be, that had they acted in hearty unison, they were of themselves abun dantly sufficient for carrying through the whole work, at all events, their striking similarity of character and situation must have mightily facilitated their measures, and tended to their ultimate success.

The great German Crusades under Conrad III. and Frederick I. were eminently unfortunate, chiefly by means of the influence of climate, and the jealousy of the Greeks. Frederick II. was indeed active and zealous in his time; but he satisfied himself with procuring a very favourable peace, and was glad to return home to his favourite Sicily. The only powers which had any regular and enduring plan, or were indeed seriously interested in the protracting of the struggle, were the Head of the Church and the Maritime States of Italy; in very different ways, indeed, and with very different interests. Upon the whole, when we reflect on the disunited and discordant elements of which the European power was composed, and on the necessary difficulty, or rather impossibility, of directing that terrible engine long to any one purpose, one should be inclined to wonder that the kingdom of Jerusalem subsisted so long as it did, rather than that its unsubstantial fabric at last yielded to the unremitted and zealous efforts of the Saracen princes.

Of all the effects of the Crusades, the animating stimulus given to the spirit of chivalry is the most remarkable: it is true, that the laws of

honour, the noviciate in arms, and the whole system of the morality of gentlemanship, had already been reduced to a regular form, arranged in steps and degrees, and connected with exterior marks of distinction,-and that a foundation had therefore been laid for the essence of chivalry. These elements, however, were never brought into their full splendour of action, till knights, serving under the banner of the Cross,' and elevated by the consciousness of their magnificence, were set gradually free from the shackles, not only of feudalism, but of nationality, and learned to regard and reverence themselves as the immediate champions and servants of God and universal Christendom. The three great spiritual orders of knighthood, which Europe received from the East and the Crusades, were the fountains and patterns of all other orders; the order of St John, namely, whose members preserved alive the original spirit of chivalry down to very modern times, in their perpetual opposition to the Ottoman arms; the Teutonic order, which conquered and civilized Prussia, and planted with Christian colonies the borders of the Baltic; and, lastly, the order of the Templars, which, after a short and splendid existence, was, in a manner so terrible, annihilated by the covetous rage of the French king. In regard to that influx of ideas, which may have proceeded from the East to the West, the order of the Temple was certainly the most remarkable of the three. In France, where also Europe witnessed the first bloody spectacle of a religious war in the persecution of the Albigenses-on the same soil where, under Louis XIV., the despairing Camisardes were at last reduced and extirpated,-in the same cruel and bigotted France, the Knights Templars were doomed to encounter a similar catastrophe. But the righteous blood of Molay left a curse behind, and neither the king who perpetrated, nor the pontiff who sanctioned his murder, long survived their atrocious guilt. What the ruling ideas were of this order, what was the unrevealed part of its purpose and destination, we have not the means to discover; the existence of such secrets is all that we can positively ascertain in regard to them. The order was annihilated in France, and even in the other

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