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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

Name: A Literary History of the English People, from the Origins to the Renaissance
Author: Jusserand, J. J. (Jean Jules)

Jusserand, J. J. (Jean Jules)

English literature -- History and criticism

Besides their horseplay, jugglers and histrions had, to please their
audience, retorts, funny answers, witticisms, merry tales, which they
acted rather than told, for gestures accompanied the delivery. This part
of the amusement, which came nearest the drama, sharp repartees,
impromptu dialogues, is the one we know least about. Voices have long
been silent, and the great halls which heard them are now but ivy-clad
ruins, yielding no echo. Some idea, however, can be formed of what took
place.

First we know from innumerable testimonies that those histrions spoke
and told endless nonsense; they have been often enough reproached with
it for no doubt to remain as to their talking. Then there is
superabundant proof of the relish with which men enjoyed, in the Middle
Ages, silly, teazing or puzzling answers; the questioner remaining at
the end rolled up in the repartees, gasping as a fly caught in a
spider's web. The Court fool or buffoon had for his principal merit his
clever knack of returning witty or confusing answers; the best of them
were preserved; itinerant minstrels remembered and repeated them;
clerks turned them into Latin, and gave them place in their collections
of _exempla_. They afforded amusement for a king, an amusement of a
mixed sort, sometimes:

--Why, says the king, are there no longer any Rolands?--Because, the
fool answers, there are no longer any Charlemagnes.[744]

Walter Map, as we saw, was so fond of happy answers that he formed a
book of all those he heard, knew, or made in his day. The fabliau of the
"Jongleur d'Ely," written in England in the thirteenth century, is a
good specimen of the word-fencing at which itinerant amusers were
expert. The king is unable to draw from the jongleur any answer to any
purpose: What is his name?--The name of his father.--Whom does he belong
to?--To his lord.--How is this river called?--No need to call it; it
comes of its own accord.--Does the jongleur's horse eat
well?--"Certainly yes, my sweet good lord, he can eat more oats in a day
than you would do in a whole week."[745]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

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

Besides their horseplay, jugglers and histrions had, to please their
audience, retorts, funny answers, witticisms, merry tales, which they
acted rather than told, for gestures accompanied the delivery. This part
of the amusement, which came nearest the drama, sharp repartees,
impromptu dialogues, is the one we know least about. Voices have long
been silent, and the great halls which heard them are now but ivy-clad
ruins, yielding no echo. Some idea, however, can be formed of what took
place.

First we know from innumerable testimonies that those histrions spoke
and told endless nonsense; they have been often enough reproached with
it for no doubt to remain as to their talking. Then there is
superabundant proof of the relish with which men enjoyed, in the Middle
Ages, silly, teazing or puzzling answers; the questioner remaining at
the end rolled up in the repartees, gasping as a fly caught in a
spider's web. The Court fool or buffoon had for his principal merit his
clever knack of returning witty or confusing answers; the best of them
were preserved; itinerant minstrels remembered and repeated them;
clerks turned them into Latin, and gave them place in their collections
of _exempla_. They afforded amusement for a king, an amusement of a
mixed sort, sometimes:

--Why, says the king, are there no longer any Rolands?--Because, the
fool answers, there are no longer any Charlemagnes.[744]

Walter Map, as we saw, was so fond of happy answers that he formed a
book of all those he heard, knew, or made in his day. The fabliau of the
"Jongleur d'Ely," written in England in the thirteenth century, is a
good specimen of the word-fencing at which itinerant amusers were
expert. The king is unable to draw from the jongleur any answer to any
purpose: What is his name?--The name of his father.--Whom does he belong
to?--To his lord.--How is this river called?--No need to call it; it
comes of its own accord.--Does the jongleur's horse eat
well?--"Certainly yes, my sweet good lord, he can eat more oats in a day
than you would do in a whole week."[745]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

A Literary History of the English People, from the Origins to the Renaissance

A Literary History of the English People, from the Origins to the Renaissance

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