A Literary History of the English People, from the Origins to the RenaissanceJusserand, J. J. (Jean Jules)
History
A Literary History of the English People, from the Origins to the Renaissance
Jusserand, J. J. (Jean Jules)
English literature -- History and criticism
For lewde men y undyrtoke,
On Englyssh tunge to make thys boke:
For many ben of swyche manere
That talys and rymys wyl blethly here
Yn gamys and festys and at the ale.
"Roberd of Brunne's Handlyng Synne, written A.D. 1303 with ... Le Manuel
des Pechiez by William of Wadington," ed. Furnivall, London, Roxburghe
Club, 1862, 4to, Prologue, p. 2.
[347] There exist Latin and English texts of his works, the latter being
generally considered as translations made by himself. His principal
composition is his poem: "The Pricke of Conscience," ed. Morris,
Philological Society, 1863, 8vo. He wrote also a prose translation of
"The Psalter," with a commentary, ed. Bramley, Oxford, 1884, 8vo, and
also "English Prose Treatises," ed. G. S., 1866, 8vo. Most of his works
in Latin have been collected under the title: "D. Richardi Pampolitani
Anglo-Saxonis eremitae ... Psalterium Davidicum atque alia ...
Monumenta," Cologne, 1536, fol.
[348] "When I had takene my syngulere purpos and lefte the seculere
habyte, and I be-ganne mare to serve God than mane, it fell one a nyghte
als I lay in my reste, in the begynnynge of my conversyone, thare
appered to me a full faire yonge womane, the whilke I had sene be-fore,
and the whilke luffed me noght lyttil in gude lufe." "English Prose
Treatises," p. 5.
[349] "Officium de Sancto Ricardo eremita." The office contains hymns in
the honour of the saint: "Rejoice, mother country of the English!..."
Letetur felix Anglorum patria ...
Pange lingua graciosi Ricardi preconium,
Pii, puri, preciosi, fugientis vicium.
"English Prose Treatises," pp. xv and xvi.
[350] "English Prose Treatises," pp. 1, 4, 5. _Cf._ Rolle's Latin text,
"Nominis Iesu encomion": "O bonum nomen, o dulce nomen," &c., in
"Richardi Pampolitani, ... Monumenta," Cologne, 1536, fol. cxliii. At
the same page, the story of the young woman.
[351] "Layamon's Brut or Chronicle of Britain, a poetical Semi-Saxon
paraphrase of the Brut of Wace," ed. by Sir Fred. Madden, London,
Society of Antiquaries, 1847, 3 vols. 8vo.--_Cf._ Ward, "Catalogue of
Romances," vol. i. 1883: "Many important additions are made to Wace, but
they seem to be mostly derived from Welsh traditions," p. 269, Wace's
"Geste des Bretons," or "Roman de Brut," written in 1155, was ed. by
Leroux de Lincy, Rouen, 1836, 2 vols. 8vo. _Cf._ P. Meyer, "De quelques
Chroniques Anglo-Normandes qui ont porte le nom de Brut," Bulletin de la
Societe des Anciens Textes francais, 1878. Layamon, son of Leovenath,
lived at Ernley, now Lower Arley, on the Severn; he uses sometimes
alliteration and sometimes rhyme in his verse. The MS. Cott. Otho C.
xiii contains a "somewhat modernised" version of Layamon's "Brut," late
thirteenth or early fourteenth century (Ward, _ibid._). On Layamon and
his work, see "Anglia," i. p. 197, and ii. p. 153.
[352] Madden, _ut supra_, vol. i. p. 1.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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