47. Charles, duke of Orleans, long prisoner in England after the battle of Agincourt, was the first who gave polish and elegance to French poetry. In a more enlightened age, according to Goujet’s opinion, he would have been among their greatest poets.[293] Except a little allegory in the taste of his times, he confined himself to the kind of verse called rondeaux, and to slight amatory poems, which, if they aim at little, still deserve the praise of reaching what they aim at. The easy turns of thought, and graceful simplicity of style, which these compositions require, came spontaneously to the Duke of Orleans. Without as much humour as Clément Marot long afterwards displayed, he is much more of a gentleman, and would have been in any times, if not quite what Goujet supposes, a great poet, yet the pride and ornament of the court.[294] [293] Goujet, Bibliothèque Française, ix. 233. [294] The following very slight vaudeville will show the easy style of the Duke of Orleans. It is curious to observe how little the manner of French poetry, in such productions, has been changed since the fifteenth century. Petit mercier, petit panier: Pourtant si je n’ai marchandize Qui soit du tout à votre quise Ne blamez pour ce mon mestier; Je gagne denier à denier; C’est loin du trésor de Vénise. Petit mercier, petit panier, Et tandis qu’il est jour, ouvrier, Le temps perds, quand a vous devise, Je vais parfaire mon emprise, Et parmi les rues crier: Petit mercier, petit panier. (Recueil des anciens poètes Français, ii. 196.) |English poetry.| |Lydgate.| |James I. of Scotland.|