Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/683

Rh ROMANCE 659 of his situations and the names of the English localities in which his scenes are laid. Three other Spanish ro- mances may be mentioned here. Though the earliest printed edition of Oliveros y Artus is in French, the work (printed in Spanish at Burgos in 1499) is undoubtedly of Spanish origin. It has been popular in all languages. An English version came from the press of Wynkyn de Worde in 1518. Felix Marte de Hyrcania (Valladolid, 1556), by Melchor Ortega, is chiefly remarkable as having been read by Dr Samuel Johnson, who is likely to have been the only person since the 16th century capable of such a feat. The Guerras de Granada (1595-1619) of Perez de Hita con- tains some of the finest ballads in the language, and is an interesting and well -written fiction. The first (and best) part deals with the reign of the last Moorish king of Granada, and the second part relates the final ruin of the Moors in Philip III.'s reign. Another favourite fiction in many lands is that in which a chaste wife is wrongfully accused of infidelity and punished. The character even appears among the earliest ballads of the Charlemagne cycle (La reine Sibelle) ; but here we have to mention three distinct narratives which have attracted generations of readers, and which are widely known from their adop- tion by many Avriters. These are Patient Grizd (Griseldis), Genevieve of Brabant, and La belle Helene. The story in each is similar, and the plot or some of the incidents may be traced in the Lai del Fresne of Marie de France (c. 1220), in the Latin legendary history of St Genevieve (written about 1272), in several old monkish lives of St Helena of Constantinople, in the late romances of Valentine and Orson, Florent et Lyon, and other stories, the heroine being variously described as the Chaste Empress, the Chaste Queen, or the Chaste Duchess. The most celebrated of these stories is that of Griseldis. She is said to have been the wife of Walter, marquis of Saluces or Saluzzo, in the llth century, and her misfortunes were considered to belong to actual history when they were handled by Boc- caccio and Petrarch, although the probability is that Boc- caccio borrowed his narrative from a ProvenQal fabliau. He included it in the recitations of the tenth day (Deca- merone), and must have written it about 1350. Petrarch Latinized it in 1373, and his translation formed the basis of much of the later literature. These works, however, really belong to a different class from that treated here, and may be referred to popular tales, like the narratives which have been repeated in many forms and in many lands from the time of Bidpai downwards. The prose French romance, La Patience de Griselidis (Brehan-Loudeac, 1484), was derived from Petrarch, as also Chaucer's nar- rative in the Canterbury Tales, and the Elizabethan drama in which Dekker was a collaborateur. The De Duobus Amantibus (or Euriahis and Lucretia) of vEneas Sylvius is usually included amongst romances, but it is rather an historical novel based upon the imperial court gossip of his own day. The Spanish Carcel de Amor, composed about 1480-90 by Diego de San Pedro, is also a novel; the famous or infamous Celestina is a drama of surpassing vigour and interest ; and the pastoral romances of Diana, Pastor Fido, and Arcadia belong to a different class from that of mediaeval romance. As much may be said of the English romances produced in the 16th and the earlier part of the 17th century, which are chiefly weak novelistic imitations of the later adjuncts to Amadis and Palmerin. The Seven Champions of Christendom is a popular tale. The Romance of the Fox (Reynard the Fox} and the Roman de la Rose likewise belong to totally distinct orders of literature, the former to that of tales (Volksbiicher) and the latter to the large class of allegorical poems. The Norman stories of Robert the Devil and Robert of Sicily are also popular tales. III. MODERN ROMANCE TO THE 17m CENTURY. The inspiration of mediaeval romance is gone ; but it is necessary briefly to trace its final reflexions to the close of the 17th century, when prose fiction began to assume more definitely the character of the modern novel. We have seen how large a place in the history of France, romances is occupied by France down to the end of the 16th century. We first meet with the so-called "pastoral romance" in French in L'Astree (1612) of Honore" d'Urfe, an enormous work inspired by Montemayor, which, how- ever, La Rochefoucauld found interesting. It was fre- quently reprinted and had many continuations and imita- tions. Camus de Pontcarre" wrote in opposition religidus pastorals such as Palombe. - To the same class belong Floris et Cleonthe (1613) by Moulinet du Pare, Les Bergeries de Vesper (1618) by G. Coste, Chryserionte de Gaule (1620) by De Sonan, Le Courtisan Solitaire (1622) by J. Lourdelot, Le Melante (1624) by L. Videl, L'Endimion (1624) by J. Ogier de Gombauld, Cleomedes et Sophonisbe (1627) by De Gerzan, Le Berger Extravagant (1627) by Ch. Sorel, Anax- andre et Orazie (1629) by Boisrobert, Ariane (1632) and Roxane (1639) by J. Des Marets. Le Roy de Gomberville led the way to the new school of French romance in Polexandre (1632-39) and La Cytheree (1640-42), which were the models for the still more ponderous productions of La Calprenede and De Scudery. La jeune Alcidiane (1651), an unfinished continuation of Polexandre, was com- pleted by Mademoiselle M. A. Gomez. These form a link between the genuine romance of chivalry and the so-called heroic style. We still meet with giants and extravagant exploits. The adventures with pirates and the sea scenes show the influence of translations of Greek novels. Made- leine de Scudery produced her romances under the name of her eccentric brother Georges, but the authorship was well known. The first to appear was Ibrahim, ou Vlllustre Bassa (1641); then the work for which she is best known, Artamene, ou le Grand Cyrus (10 vols., 1649-53); Clelie, histoire romaine (10 vols., 1650-53), contains the famous "carte du pays de Tendre"; then came Almahide, ou VEsclave Reyne (1660), Les Femmes Illustres (1665), and La Promenade de Versailles (1669). One of the causes of her great popularity was her representation of living characters under flimsy disguise. Keys to Le Grand Cyrus have been published. Gauthier de Costes, chevalier de la Calprenede, wrote Cassandre (1642-50) ; Cleopdtre (12 vols., 1647-58), the best of his works, which contains the character of Juba satirized by Boileau ; Faramond (12 vols., 1661-70), continued by Pierre Dortigue de Vau- moriere ; and Les Nouvelles (1661). In spite of their appalling length and their tedious conversations and de- scriptions, La Calprenede's romances are not without merit. The author has imagination, and his heroes have a share of the noble sentiments of their predecessors. Berenice (1648) by J. R. de Segrais, La Precieuse (1656-58) by Mich, de Pure, Histoire du Temps (1654) and Marcarise (1664), both by H&lelin, a.nd the mystical romances of the Jesuit Ceriziers, belong to the same school. Nearly all the familiar machinery of the old romances is now absent : we no longer meet with dragons, necromancers, giants, and enchanted castles. Formerly love was secondary to heroic achievement ; now it becomes the ruling passion, and knightly deeds are performed only to excite the applaud- ing smile of a mistress and not for the sake of military glory. The jargon of gallantry used in these fictions exercised an evil influence upon contemporary literature, until it was laughed out of existence by the Precieuses Ridicules of Moliere and the dialogue of Boileau on Les Heros de Roman. Such works as Marie Stuart (1675) by P. Le Pesant de Boisguilbert, Nouvelles d' Elisabeth (1680),