which translation queen Isabel ordered to be placed in the Church of St. Innocents at Paris, for the use of the people.

The fourteenth century was much more fertile in French translation. The spirit of devotion, and indeed of this species of curiosity, raised by saint Louis, after a short intermission, rekindled under king John and Charles V. I pass over the prose and metrical translations of the Latin bible in the years 1343 and 1380, by Mace, and Raoul de Presles. Under those reigns, St. Austin, Cassianus, and Gregory the Great', were translated into French; and they are the first of the fathers that appeared in a modern tongue. St Gregory's HOMELIES are by an anomymous translator. His DIALOGUES were probably translated by an English ecclesiastic3. St. Austin's DE CIVITATE DEI was translated by Raoul de Presles, who acted professedly both as confessor and translator to Charles V., about the year 1374. During the work he received a yearly pension of 600 livres from that liberal monarch, the first founder of a royal library in France, at whose command it was undertaken. It is accompanied with a prolix commentary, valuable only at present as preserving anecdotes of the opinions, manners, and literature, of the writer's age; and from which I am tempted to give the following specimen, as it strongly illustrates the ancient state of the French stage, and demonstrably proves that comedy and tragedy were now known only by name in France. He observes, that comedies are so denominated from a room of Entertainment, or from those places, in which banquets were accustomed to be closed with singing, called in Greek CONIAS: that they were like those jeux or plays, which the minstrel, le Chanteur, exhibits in halls or other public places, at a feast and that they were properly styled INTERLUDIA, as being presented between the two courses. Tragedies, he adds, were spectacles, resembling those personages which at this day we see acting in the LIFE and PASSION of a martyr". This shews that only the religious drama now subsisted in France. But to proceed, Cassianus's COLLATIONES PATRUM, or the CONFERENCE, was translated by John Goulain, a Carmelite monk, about 1363. Two translations of that theological romance Boethius's CONSOLATION, one by the celebrated Jean de Meun, author of the ROMANCE OF THE ROSE, existed before year 1340. Others of the Latin Christian writers were ordered to be turned into French by queen Jane, about 1332.

2 Brit. Mus. MSS. Reg. 15 D. v. 1. 20 D. v.

1 Brit. Mus. MSS. Reg. 15 D. v. 1. 2. 3 It is supposed that they were rendered by an Englishman, or one living in England, as the translator's name is marked by an A. And as there is a prayer in the manuscript to saint Fridewide, an Oxford saint. Mem. Litt. xvii. p. 735. 4to. It is very rare that we find the French translating from us. Yet Fauchett mentions a French poetess, named Marie de France, who translated the Fables of Esop MORALISED, from English into Freneh, about the year 1310. But this was to gratify a comte Guillaume, with whom she was in love, and who did not perhaps understand English. Fauchett, RECUEIL, lxxxiv. p. 163. edit. 1581. I know nothing of the fables.

4 Brit. Mus. MSS. Reg. 17 F. iii. With pictures. And 14 D. i

5 Ch. viii. liv. ii.

390

PUBLICATION OF THE FIRST ART OF POETRY IN FRANCE.

But finding that the archbishop of Rouen, who was commissioned to execute this ardous task, did not understand Latin, she employed a mendicant friar. About the same period, and under the same patronage, the LEGENDA AUREA, written by James de Voragine, archbishop of Genoa, about the year 1260, that inexhaustible repository of religious fable1, was translated by Jehan de Vignay, a monk hospitular2. The same translator gave also a version of a famous ritual entitled SPECULUM ECCLESIÆ, or the MIRROUR OF THE CHURCH, of CHESS MORALISED, written by Jacobus de Casulis3: and of Odoricus's VOYAGE INTO THE EAST. Thomas Benoit, a prior of St. Genevieve gratified the religious with a translation into a more intelligible language of some Latin liturgic pieces about the year 1330. But his chief performance was a translation into French verse of the RULE of ST. AUSTIN. This he undertook merely on a principle of affection and charity, for the edification of his pious brethren who did not understand Latin.

Pour l'amour de vous, tres chers freres,

En Francois ai traduit ce Latin.

And in the preface he says, 'Or scai-je quk plusieurs de vours n' entendent pas bien LATIN auquel il fut chose necessaire de la rieule [regle] entendre? Benoit's successour in the priorate of St. Genevieve was not equally attentive to the discipline and piety of of his monks. Instead of translating monkish Latin, and enforcing the salutary regulations of St. Austin, he wrote a system of rules for BALLAD-WRITING, L'ART DE DICTIER BALLADE ET RONDELS, the first Art of poetry that ever appeared in France.

Among the moral books now translated, I must not omit the SPIRITUELLE AMITIE of John of Meun, from the Latin of Aldred an English monks. In the same style of mystic piety was the treatise of CONSOLATION, written in Latin, by Vincent de Beauvais. and sent to St. Louis, translated in the year 1374. In the year 1340, Henri de Suson, a German dominican and a mystic doctor, wrote a most comprehensive treatise called HOROLOGIUM SAPIENTIÆ. This was translated into French by a monk of St. Francois". Even the officers of the court of Charles V. were seized with the ardour of translating religious pieces, no less than the ecclesiastics. The most elegant tract of moral Latinity translated into French,

In the year 1555, the learned Claud. Espence was obliged to make a public recantation for calling it LEGENDA FERREA. Thuan. sub. ann. Laun. Hist. Gymnas. Navarr. p. 704. 297. 2 Brit. Mus. MSS. Reg. 19 B. xvii. The copy was written 1382. This version seems to be the same which Caxton translated, and printed, 1483. While it was printing, William lord Arundel gave Caxton annually a buck in summer and a doe in winter.

3 British Museum MSS. Reg. 19 C. xi. 1. This version was translated in English, and printed, by Caxton, 1474

4 Ibid. 19 D. i. 4. 5.

5 It is mentioned in the catalogue of his traductions, at the beginning of his Consolation philosophique. I am not acquainted with the English monk.

6 Englished, and printed by Caxton, very early.

was the celebrated book of our countryman John of Salisbury, DE NUGIS CURIALIUM. This version was made by Denis Soulechart, a learned Cordelier, about the year 1360. Notwithstanding the EPISTLES of Abelard and Eloisa, not only from the celebrity of Abelard as a Parisian theologist, but on account of the interesting history of that unfortunate pair, must have been as commonly known, and as likely to be read in the original, as any Latin book in France, they were translated into French in this century, by John of Meun; who prostituted his abilities when he relinquished his own noble inventions, to interpret the pedantries of monks, schoolmen, and proscribed classics. I think he also translated Vegetius, who will occur again'. In the library of St. Genevieve, there is, in a sort of system of religion, a piece called JERARCHIE, translated from Latin into French at the command of our queen Elinor in the year 1297, by a French friar. I must not however forget, that amidst this profusion of treatises of religion and instruction, civil history found a place, That immense chaos of events real and fictitious, the HISTORICAL MIRROUR of Vincent de Beauvais, was translated by Jehan de Vignay above mentioned3. One is not surprised that the translator of the GOLDEN LEGEND should have made no better choice.

The desolation produced in France by the victorious armies of the English, was instantly succeeded by a flourishing state of letters. King John, having indulged his devotion, and satisfied his conscience, by procuring numerous versions of books written on sacred subjects, at length turned his attention to the classics. His ignorance of Latin was a fortunate circumstance, as it produced a curiosity to know the treasures of Latin literature. He employed Peter Bercheur, prior of St. Eloi at Paris, an eminent theologist, to translate Livy into French"; notwithstanding that author had been anathematised by pope Gregory. But so judicious a choice was undoubtedly dictated by Petrarch, who regarded Livy with a degree of enthusiasm, who was now resident at the court of France, and who perhaps condescended to direct and superintend the translation. The translator in his Latin work called REPERTORIUM, a sort of general dictionary, in which all things are proved

1 There is a copy written in 1284 [1384,] Brit. Mus. MSS. Reg. 20 B. xv. Often, ibid. John of Meun is also said to have translated MIRABILIA HIBERNIA.

2Cette JERARCHIE translata frere Jehan de Pentham de Latin en Francoys, a la requeste 'la reine d'Engleterre Alienore femme le roy Edward.' There is also this note in the MSS. 'Cest livre resigna frere Jordan de Kyngestone a la commune des freres Menurs de Southampton, par la volunte du graunt frere Willame Notington [f. Northington in Hampshire,] ministre d'Engleterre ... l'an. de grace M.CCC. XVII.'

3 British Museum MSS. Reg. 14 E. i.

4A curious picture of the distracted state of France is recorded by Petrarch. The king, with the Dauphin, returning from his captivity in England, in passing through Picardy, was obliged to make a pecuniary bargain with the numerous robbers that infested that country, to travel unmolested. VIE PETR. iii. 543.

5 Henault, NOUVEL. ABREG. HISTOIRE FRANCAN p. 229. edit. 1752. 4to. And VIE DE PERTRARQUE, iii. p. 547.

392 INFLUENCE OF PETRARCH ON LITERATURE IN FRANCE.

to be allegorical, and reduced to a moral meaning, under the word ROMA, records this great attempt in the following manner. 'TITUM 'LIVIUM, ad requisitionem domini Johannis inclyti Francorum regis, 'non sine labore et sudoribus; in linguam Gallicam transtuli'.' To this translation we must join those of Sallust, Lucan, and Cesar: all which seem to have been finished before the year 1365. This revival of a taste for Roman history, most probably introduced and propagated by Petrarch during his short stay in the French court, immediately produced a Latin historical compilation called ROMULEON, by an anonymous gentleman of France; who soon found it necessary to translate his work into the vernacular language. Valerius Maximus could not remain long untranslated. A version of that favourite author, begun by Simon de Hesdin, a monk, in 1364, was finished by Nicolas de Gonesse, a master in theology, 14012. Under the last-mentioned reign, Ovid's Metamorphoses MORALISED3 were translated by Guillaume de Nangis and the same poem was translated into French verse, at the request of Jane de Bourbonne, afterwards the consort of Charles V., by Philip de Vitri, bishop of Meaux, Petrarch's friend, who was living in 13614. A bishop would not have undertaken this work, had he not perceived much moral doctrine couched under the pagan stories. Jean le Fevre, by command of Charles V., translated the poem DE VEtula, falsely ascribed to Ovid5. Cicero's RHETORICA appeared in French by master John de Antioche, at the request of one friar William, in the year 1383. About the same time, some of Aristotle's pieces were translated from Latin; his PROBLEMS by Evrard de Conti, physician to Charles V. and his ETHICS and POLITICS by Nicholas d'Oresme, while canon of Rouen. This was the most learned man in France, and tutor to Charles V.; who, in consequence of his instructions, obtained a competent skill in Latin, and in the rules of the grammar. Other Greek classics, which now began to be known by being translated into Latin, became still more familiarised, especially to general readers, by

1 This was the translation of Livy, which, with other books, the duke of Bedford, regent of France, about 1425, sent into England to Humphrey duke of Gloucester. The copy had been a present to the king of France. Mem. Litt. ii. 747. 4to. In the Sorbonne library at Paris,

there is a most valuable MSS. of this version in two folio volumes. In the front of each book are various miniatures and pictures, most beautifully finished. Dan. Maichel de Bibliothec. Paris. p. 79. There is a copy, transcribed about the time the translation was finished. Brit. Mus. MSS. Reg. 15 D. vi. DES FAIS DE ROMAINS. With pictures.

2 British Museum MSS. Reg. 18 E. iii. iv. With elegant delineations, and often in the same library.

3 Perhaps written in Latin by Joannes Grammaticus, about 1070.

4 There was a French Ovid in duke Humphrey's library at Oxford.

Brit. Mus. MSS.

Reg. 17, E. iv, 1. This version, as I apprehend, is the same that Caxton translated into English prose,. and printed, 1480. A MSS. is in Bibl. Pepys. Magd. Coll. Cant. Cat. MSS. Angl. &c. tom. ii. M. 6791

5 Polycarpus Leyserus supposes this piece to be the forgery of one Leo Protonotarius, an officer in the court at Constantinople, who writes the preface. Hist. Poes. Med. Av. p. 2089. He proves the work suppostitious, from its several Arabicisms and scriptural expres. sions, &c. Brawardine cites many lines from it, Advers. Pelag. p. 33. As does Bacon, in his astrological tracts. It is condemned by Bede as heretical. In Boeth. de Trinit. Selden intended a DISSERTATION on this forgery, De Synedr. iii. 16. It is in hexameters, in three qooks. 6 Christin. VIE CHARLES. V.

being turned into French. Thus Poggius Florentinus's recent Latin version of Xenophon's CYROPEDIA was translated into French by Vasque de Lucerie, 13701. The TACTICS of Vegetius, an author who frequently confounds the military practices of his own age with those of antiquity, appeared under the title of LIVRES DES FAIS D'ARMES ET DE CHEVALLERIE, by Christina of Pisa2. Petrarch DE REMEDIIS UTRIUSQUE FORTUNÆ, a set of Latin dialogues, was translated, not only by Nicholas d'Oresme, but by two of the officers of the royal household3, in compliment to Petrarch at his leaving France. Many philosophical pieces, particularly in astrology, of which Charles V., was remarkably fond, were translated before the end of the fourteenth century. Among these, I must not pass over the QUADRIPARTITUM of Ptolemy, by Nicholas d'Oresme; the AGRICULTURE", or LIBRI RURALIUM COMMODORUM, of Peter de Crescentiis, a physician of Bononia, about the year 1285, by a nameless friar preacher"; and the book De PROPRIETATIBUS RERUM of Bartholomew Anglicus, the Pliny of the monks, by John Corbichon, an Augustine monk?. I have seen a French manuscript of Guido de Colonna's Trojan romance, the hand-writing of which belongs to this century8.

In the fifteenth century it became fashionable among the French, to polish and reform their old rude translations made two hundred years before; and to reduce many of their metrical versions into prose. At the same time, the rage of translating ecclesiastical tracts began to decrease. The latter circumstance was partly owing to the introduction of better books, and partly to the invention of printing. Instead of procuring laborious and expensive translations of the ancient fathers, the printers, who multiplied greatly towards the close of this

1 Brit. Mus. MSS. Reg. 17 E. v, 1. And 16 G. ix. With pictures.

There is a

MSS. Reg. 19 B. xviii. &c. Vegetius was early translated into all the modern languages. There is an English one, probably by John Trevisa, as it is addressed to his patron lord • Berkeley, A.D. 1408. MSS. Digb. 233, Princ. In olde tyme it was the manere.' translation of Vegetius, written at Rhodes, die 25 Octobris, 1459, per Johannem Newton.' ad calc. Bibl. Bodl. K. 53. Laud. MSS. Christina's version was translated, and printed, by Caxton, 1489. See supr. p. 67. 3 Niceron, tom. 28, p. 384.

4 Mons. l'Ab. Lebeuf says Seneca instead of Petrarch, Mem. Litt. xvii, p. 752.

I must not forget to observe, that several whole books in Brunetto's TRESOR consist of translations from Aristotle, Tully, and Pliny, into French. Brunetto was a Florentine, and the master of Dante. He died in 1295. The TRESOR was a sort of Encyclopede, exhibiting a course of practical and theoretic philosophy, of divinity, cosmography, geography, history sacred and profane, physics, ethics, rhetoric, and politics. It was written in French by Brunetto during his residence in France: but he afterwards translated it into Italian, and it has been translated by others into Latin. It was the model and foundation of Bartholomeus of the PROPERTIES OF THINGS, of Bercheur's REPERTORIUM, and of many other works of the

same species, which soon followed. Brit Mus. MSS. Reg. 17 E. i. It will occur again.

5 DES PROUFFITZ CHAMPESPRES ET RURAUX. Brit. Mus. MSS. Reg. 14 E.

6 In twelve books. Jacob Quetif. tom. i, p. 666.

7 Leland says, that this translation is elegant; and that he saw it in duke Humfrey's library at Oxford. Script. Brit. cap. ccclxviii. Brit. Mus. MSS. Reg. 17 E. iii. With pictures. Ibid. 15 E ii. Where the translation is assigned to the year 1362. The writing of the MSS. to 1482. With pictures.

8 Brit. Mus. MSS. Reg. 16 F. ix. A new translation seems to have been made by Rauol le Feure, in 1464. Englished by Caxton, and printed, 1471. Caxton's GODEFROY OF BOLOGNE, translated from the French, and printed 1481, had a Latin original. The French, a fine copy. is in British Museum 17 F. v, MSS. Reg. Sæpius ibid.