CHAPTER VII.

THE most striking and important appearance in the English literature of this period is that of the novel. Let us see how this came into existence and how it flourished. To do this it will not be necessary to refer to the stories of the later Greek writers, to discuss Apuleius's "Golden Ass," or Lucian's novelettes, still less to make extracts from the recently discovered Egyptian novels, or to begin an argument as to whether the books of Job and Ruth are or are not ancient Hebrew novels-all of these questions have their value, but they need not trouble us now. We may take it for granted that the telling of stories is one of the fundamental attributes of the human race. In the Middle Ages, our ancestors had a number of stories, chiefly in poetical form, for their delectation. Such were, first, those treating religious subjects, as versions of the Old and New Testaments, lives of saints and martyrs, and the accounts of pious men and women e. g., “The Journey of St. Brandanus to the Earthly Paradise” (cir. 1121), the “Life of the Blessed Virgin," the "Life of Thomas à Becket" (by Garnier, cir. 1182), the "Story of the Seven Sleepers," the "Life of St. Elizabeth," etc. Secondly, Norman and Breton mythical and historical tales, such as "Le Roman du Rou,” “Robert le Diable," "Richart sans Paour,” of Norman origin; of Breton origin, the stories about Brutus, the Trojan, the Knights of the Holy Grail—about Merlin, Lancelot, Perceval, etc. Thirdly, the Frankish romances,

about Charles the Great, "Le Roman d'Alexandre" (cir. 1150), a paraphrase of Curtius, with flattering references to Louis VII. and Philip Augustus; the "Roman de Troie," "Le Livre du Preux et Vaillant Jason," the "Contes" and "Fabliaux," short stories, the prose conte being distinguished from the rhymed fabliau by its greater length. Their subjects were countless and varied, and are especially to be noticed for this-that while the romances were in a great measure, though not exclusively, the possession of the higher classes, the fabliaux were the exclusive property of the populace. No precise description can be given that shall apply to all. It is well to notice that they referred to the incidents of every-day life, which were narrated in a comic way. In them we find the originals of some of Chaucer's least poetical tales, and of some of the stories that are still handed down from one age to another by word of mouth ;* they turned to ridicule all pre

*The wanderings of stories form an interesting part of literary history. The fact is, that there is nothing rarer than originality, and a good novel in one language is sure to be translated into every other. A curious instance of the wide use of a single plot may be seen in the travels of the story of the "Widow of Ephesus." It gets its name from the narrative as it appears in Petronius; but it is also a Chinese tale, as well as Persian and Arabian and Turkish. Its earliest appearance in India was in the Pantchatantra, and it probably was carried to neighboring countries by the Buddhists. It entered Europe in the collection, the "Seven Sages," and speedily found its way into many fabliaux. The old story was told by Eustace Deschamps (in the fourteenth century), Brantôme (1527–1614), dramatized by Pierre Brinon (1614), and was told over again half a century later by La Fontaine, in one of his contes. St. Evremond (1678) has a translation of the same story in Petronius; in 1682 it was again dramatized; 1702, by La Motte; 1714, a comic opera; Voltaire, in "Zadig" (1747); Rétif de la Bretonne (1734-1806), in one of his "Contemporaines;" Alfred de Musset, in "La Coupe et les Lèvres" (1832).

It appeared in Italy and Spain with the "Seven Sages." It early made its appearance in England and Scotland in metrical romances of the thir

tensions to greatness and excessive uprightness; they were the streak of realism that always exists in the human race, and most strongly when contrasted with artificial pomp. Many of the stories thus told probably described actual incidents, or some that, perhaps, had been handed down by tradition from very remote times; others may be traced to the "Gesta Romanorum" and other collections of stories made up from the Greeks and from Eastern nations: the Crusades helped to introduce these. 'Reynard the Fox" is very possibly a combination into a coherent whole of a number of stories, the origin of which is like that of "Bre'r Fox" and "Bre'r Rabbit" in the Southern States, and like the many similar stories told in various remote and separate regions. Later in the Middle Ages, we come across the allegorical stories, of which the "Roman de la Rose" is the best known.* Of course this

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teenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries; in a separate volume in 1665; in Jeremy Taylor's "Holy Dying" (1651); Chapman dramatized it in his comedy, "The Widow's Tears," early in the seventeenth century; J. Ogilby (died 1676) wrote a poem narrating the story; Charles Johnson, a farce (1730); Goldsmith, in his "Citizen of the World" (published in 1762).

In Germany, we find it inter alios in Gellert, Wieland, Musäus, and Chamisso; Lessing began a play with this plot (vide Grisebach, “Die treulose Wittwe," Stuttgart, 1877).

Voltaire knew that the Chinese were familiar with this story; vide his "Sottisier" (Paris, 1881), p. 22. A French translation of the Chinese version had been published by a Jesuit priest in 1736.

* An interesting chapter of literary history would be a full discussion of allegories in literature during and since the Middle Ages. In the "Roman de la Rose" allegorical personages abound, drawn as crudely as the figures in ancient illustrations who are labelled on the placard issuing from their mouths. In the mysteries, too, we come across them. This proved to be a long-lived literary form. In the heroic romances of Mlle. de Scudéry, for instance, we find instances of its survival, as in the "Carte du Tendre," which was once famous for its ingenious representation of

is a very crude and incomplete description of medieval literature. I can show now merely the abundance of material, the general lines in which it ran, in the course of the fifteenth century, when prose began to be written more freely. In this new guise the old romances had even greater popularity. These versions appeared in Germany, England, and France, and the latest of the tales of chivalry was the "Amadis de Gaule," of which I have already spoken. This book, which may be read in Southey's modern English version, differs from the others in that it and its many successors continued popular even when chivalry had already faded away. They are not so much inspired by knighthood after the manner of the people's poetry (Volkspoesie); they describe it with artistic enthusiasm. These novels were admired in Germany, France, and Spain until "Don Quixote" (1605-15) gave them their death-blow. Thus we read in Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy" (1621): "If they read a booke at any time, 'tis an English chronicle, 'Sir Huon of Bordeaux,' or 'Amadis de Gaule,' a playe-booke, or some pamplett of newes ;" and elsewhere he speaks of "such inamoratos as read nothing but play-books, idle poems, jests, 'Amadis de

Livet, in his

the tender passion. This notion was not original with her. "Précieux et Précieuses," p. 173, says that Charles Sorel, author of "Francion," in another book had described something of the kind, as had another writer. All this belongs rather to French literature, but it has a meaning for us when we recall the corresponding treatment of his story by Bunyan, in his "Pilgrim's Progress." What the French writers had done profanely, he did in behalf of religion, so that this wonderful book is one of the last expressions of mediævalism in English literature. In art there correspond with it the quaint decorations of cathedrals, and some of the old illustrations of MSS.- -e. g., P. Lacroix, "Vie Réligieuse et Militaire au Moyen Âge," etc., p. 448, the reproduction of an old picture in a missal of the "Fortress of Faith," besieged by heretics and the impious, and defended by the Pope, etc.

Gaul,' the 'Knight of the Sun,' the 'Seven Champions,' 'Palmerin de Oliva,' 'Huon of Bourdeaux,' etc. Such many times prove in the end as mad as 'Don Quixote.' "Don Quixote" had been put into English by Thomas Shelton (1612-20). The original Amadis was a genuine expression of chivalry just as it was about to disappear, and it was really of enormous influence on later literature. It not only inspired numerous successors, it affected the style of historians, just as Sir Walter Scott's novels altered the whole method of historical writing, made bulky volumes fascinating, and history picturesque. In Italy, however, these tales of chivalry lost their hold on the people. Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, and Ariosto all show intimacy with them, but the literary tendency ran in the direction of the brief, concise tale, in a few words, of some adventure. For one thing, the classics expelled these impossible romances, and the inclination of the Italians towards the peaceful arts and commerce made them intolerant of the vast impossibilities which seemed entrancing to less polished nations. Even Ariosto and Pulci, when they chose the romances for their subject, wrote about them in a mocking spirit; and Boiardo civilized them, so to speak, when he wrote his "Orlando." But they disappeared from literature before the novella, the most characteristic form of Italian literature. It was

built up on the French fabliaux, and on the short stories that reached Europe from the East, in the "Hitopadeșa." This work, Dunlop states (vide his "History of Fiction," i. 382), was preserved by an Indian king as one of his greatest treasures. In time a Persian king (at the end of the sixth century) sent a learned physician into India to get a copy of this famous book. This physician accomplished his object by inducing an alleged sage to steal the book, the bribe he employed being "a prom