Quant tout ceo voi, et que jeo penserai Qencontre amour nest qui poet dire Nai. En lieu de rose, urtie cuillerai, Qencontre amour nest qui poet dire Nai. Pour pite querre et pourchacer intris, Qencontre amour nest qui poet dire Nai. PETER OF LANGTOFT, A canon of the priory of St. Augustin of Bridlington in Yorkshire, has left us many works in French verse. He was an Englishman, and lived toward the end of the fourteenth century, when English had become a general medium of communication, which accounts for the truly barbarous French of the author, whose language is often so obscure as to be hardly intelligible. It is impossible to say what prosody he had studied, as he makes Alexandrines of any length, and writes without any apparent rule, principle, or taste, as will be seen in the following lines, with which he opens his Hystoire des Bretons. As a historical guide, his work is of no value whatsoever, and quoted here only to show the degeneracy of the Anglo-Norman French as compared with the Continental French of the same period: Deus1 le tot puissant ke3 ceel* e terre crea 17 20 18 e pur quei 15 primes Bretagne home l'appela, 1, Dieu. 2, tout. 3, qui. 4, ciel. 5, homme. 6, forma. 7, pourvit. 8, ordonna. 9, venu. 10, rentrera. II, ce. 12, Dieu. 13, le. 14, bénisse. 15, bien. 16, écoutera. 17, d'abord. 18, commença. 19, pourquoi, 20, on. 21, quand. 22, fut. 23, détruite. 24, le. 25, roi. 26, tué. 27, lutte. PROVERBS. The following Norman proverbs, probably imported at an early period from Normandy, and freely translated, are still in use in English: Ki n'aime son mestier Ne son mestier lui. He who dislikes his business, is disliked by his business. Ki de fer velt ouvrer Si l'atende a chaufer. Strike while the iron is hot. Tuit voir ne sont a savoir. The truth is not always to be spoken. A chescun oysel Son nye li semble bel. Every bird likes his own nest. A tart ferme l'om l'estable, quant le cheval est perduz. De debles vint, a debles irra. The devil will take his own. De juvene papelard veil deable. Young hypocrite, old devil. Ki me eyme, eym mon chen. Love me, love my dog. Ki tost done, deuz foiz done. He who gives quickly, gives twice. Tant va le pot al ewe q'il brise. The pitcher which goes often to the well, will come home broken at last. Several English forms and expressions, now obsolete in France, are of French derivation. Even the term "How do you do?" is of French origin. Lors li dist la dame: Comment Le faites vous, biau tres doux sire?—Roman de Coucy, v, 3490. Le faites vous? nel'celez pas.-Idem., v, 5710. Comment Gerars li biaus le fait.—La Violette, p. 40. Adonc le duc Richard vint à luy, et luy demanda comme il le faisait.-Chron. de Norm., printed at Rouen, A. D. 1487. WILL OF A GENTLEMAN OF Yorkshire, At the end of the Fourteenth Century. 8 13 En le noune1 de Dieu, et de notre Dame Saunte Marie, et en noun de teuz lez sauntez3 de Paradyse, Amen. Moi Brian de Stapylton devise1 m'alme a Dieu et a notre Dame Saunte Marie, et a touz lez Sauntz de Paradyse, et mon chautiff' corps d'estre enterre en la Priourie de le Parke decoste ma compaigne,' que Dieu l'assoille,10 et sur mon corps seit11 un drape de blew 12 et ma volunte est au l'aide de Dieu d'avoire un herce ov1 synke 15 tapirs, chescun 16 tapir de synk livres, et tresze 17 hommes vestuz 18 en bluw 12 ov tresze torchez, de queux tresze torchez, si ne 20 22 21 saiount degastez, jeo voile que quatre demore a le dit Priorie. 25 26 19 23 14 saye; Item jeo devyse que j'ay un homme en mes armes et ma hewme24 ene sa teste, et quy soit bien monte et un homme de bon entaille de qil condicon que y sort. 33 27 34 28 30 Item jeo devyse que touz ceaux qui a moy appendent meignialx 29 en ma maison, soient vestuz en bluw a mes costagez. Et a touz les poores qils veignent 31 le jour de mon enterment jeo devise et voile que chescun ait un denier en ovre 32 de charrte, et en aide de ma chitiffe alme, et jeo voile que les sires mes compaignons, mes aliez 35 et mes voiseignez,36 qui volliont 37 venir de lour bone gre prier pour moy et pour faire honour a mon chettife corps qi pene 39 ne vault, 40 jeo oille 41 et chargez mes executour que y soient mesme cel jour bien a eise et q'il eient 44 a boiere asseth,46 et a cest 45 47 ma volunte parfournir 48 jeo devise marcæ ove l'estore 51 de maison taunke juiste seit. ci 49 38 50 42 I, nom. 2, tous. 3, saints. 4, je dispose par testament. 5, mon âme. 7, chétif. 8, à coté de. 9, compagne. 10, l'absolve. II, soit. 12, bleu. 13, justaucorps. 14, avec. 15, cinq, cierges. 16, chaque. 17, treize. 18, vêtus. 19, desquelles. 20, soient. 21, consumées. 22, désire. 23, demeurent. 24, heaume. 25, sur. 26, tête. 27, qui a la faculté de succéder à un fief conditionnel. 28, ceux. 29, qui sont attachés à ma maison. 30, dépenses. pauvres. 31, viennent. 32, œuvre. 33, charité. 34, chétif. 35, alliés. 36, voisins. 37, veulent. 38, leur. 39, peine. 40, vaut. 41, désire. 42, ce jourlà. 43, aise. 44, aient. 45, boire. 46, assez. 47, cette. 48, remplir. 49, six. 50, marcs. 51, provisions. CHAPTER IX. FUSION OF ANGLO-NORMAN FRENCH AND ANGLO-SAXON ENGLISH. FROM the Norman conquest to the end of the reign of the seventh Norman sovereign, King John, is almost exactly a century and a half. The victory of Hastings was gained on the 14th of October, 1066, and John died on the 19th of October, 1216. What was the history of the vernacular language of England during that period is a question which, in the absence of all records referring to the matter, can only be answered, if indeed it can be answered at all, from an examination of such compositions of the time in the native tongue as have come down to us. The principal literature produced in England during this entire period was in the French and Latin languages. In the latter were written most works on subjects of the ology, philosophy, and history; in the former, most of those intended to amuse as well as to instruct, and addressed less to professional readers than to the court and the upper classes of Norman society, by whom they were seldom actually read, or even intended to be read, but only listened to while being recited or chanted by others. It is, however, impossible to determine whether the native English people understood the new language sufficiently to enjoy these songs or recitals; it is most probable that some of them soon mastered the imported tongue, while others, no doubt, remained for ever ignorant of it. But at all events, it was this French literature that for more than a century took the place of the old vernacular literature entirely. The employment of the Latin language in writing by monks, the secular clergy, and all persons of education, was universal not only in England, but throughout western Christendom, and just as much so after the conquest as before. But it was quite otherwise with the writing of French; that was altogether a new idea in England, and was indeed very unusual in France itself, where, up to the eleventh century, it had not been very exten sively used yet for literary purposes. The great mass of the oldest French literature that has been preserved was produced in England, or, at any rate, in the dominions of the king of England in the twelfth century. To whatever portion of society in England an acquaintance with this French literature was confined, it is evident that it was for some time after the conquest the only literature of the day that, without addressing itself exclusively to the learned classes, still demanded some measure of cultivation in its readers or auditors, as well as in its authors. It was, in fact, the only popular literature that was not adapted to the mere populace. We might infer this even from the fact that, if any other ever existed, it has mostly perished. The various metrical chronicles, romances, and other compositions in the French tongue, a good many of which are still extant, are very nearly the only literary works which have come down to us from this age. And, while the mass of this literature that has been preserved is very considerable, we have distinct traces of much more which is now lost. "How the French language should have acquired the position which it thus appears to have held in England for some time after the conquest is easily explained. The advantage which it derived from being the language of the court, of the entire body of the nobility, and of the opulent and influential classes generally, is obvious. This not only gave it the prestige and attraction of what we now call fashion, but, in the circumstances to which the country was reduced, would very speedily make it the only language in which any kind of regular or grammati cal training could be obtained. With the native population almost everywhere deprived of its natural leaders, the old landed proprietary of its own blood, it can not be supposed that schools in which the reading and writing of the vernacular tongue was taught could continue to subsist. This has been pointed out already. But what we may call the social cause, or that arising out of the relative conditions of the two races, was probably assisted by another which has not been so much attended to. The languages themselves did not compete upon fair terms. The French would have in the general estimation a decided advantage for the purposes of literature over the English. The latter was held universally to be merely a barbarous form of speech, claiming kindred with nothing except the other half-articulate dialects of the woods, hardly one of which had ever known what it was to have any acquaint |