Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/510

 478 HISTOKY OF GREECE. The romances of chivalry represented, to those who heard them, real deeds of the foretime " glories of the foregone men," to use the Hesiodic expression 1 at the same time that they em- bodied and filled up the details of an heroic ideal, such as that age could conceive and admire a fervent piety, combined with strength, bravery, and the love of adventurous aggression, directed sometimes against infidels, sometimes against enchanters or mon- sters, sometimes in defence of the fair sex. Such characteristics wore naturally popular, in a century of feudal struggles and uni- agrees substantially with M. Fauriel ; but he tries to assign a greater histo- rical value to the poems of the Carlovingian epic, very- unsuccessfully, in my opinion. But his own analysis of the old poem of Garin <le Loherain bears out the very opinion which he is confuting : " Nous sommes au regne dc Charles Martcl, ct nous reconnaissons sous d'autrcs noms les details exacts de la fumeuse defaite d'Attila dans les champs Catalauniques. Saint Loup et Saint Kicaise, glorieux prelats du quatrieme siecle, reviennent figurer autour du pere de Pe'pin le Bref : enfin pour comple'ter la confusion, Charles Martel meurt sur le champ de bataille, & la place du roi des Visi- goths, Theodoric Toutes les parties de la narration sont vraies : seule- ment toittes s'y trouvent ddplac&s. En general, les peuples n'entcndent rien k la chronologic : les 6venemens restcnt : les individus, les lieux et les 6poques, nc laissent aucune trace : c'est pour ainsi dire, une decoration sceniqne quc 1'on applique indifferemment a des recits souvcnt contraires." (Preface to the Homan de Garin le Loherain, pp. xvi.-xx. : Paris, 1833.) Compare also his Lcttre a M. Monmcrque, prefixed to the Roman de Berthe aux Grans Pies, Paris, 1836. To say that all the parts of the narrative are true, is contrary to M. Paris's own showing : some parts may be true, separately taken, but these fragments of truth are melted down with a large mass of fiction, and cannot be dis- criminated unless we possess some independent test. The poet who picks out one incident from the fourth century, another from the liftli, and a few more from the eighth, and then blends them all into a continuous tale along with many additions of his own, shows that he takes the items of fact because they suit the purposes of his narrative, not because they happen to be attested by historical evidence. His hearers are not critical : they desire to have their imaginations and feelings affected, and they are content to accept with- out question whatever accomplishes this end. 1 Hesiod, Theogon. 100 /c/lea n-porspuv aadpunuv. Puttcnham talks of the remnant of bards existing in his time (1589) : " Blind Harpers, or such like Tavernc Minstrels, whose matters are for the most part stories of old time, as the Talc of Sir Topaze, the Ecportcs of Bevis of Southampton, Adam Bell, Clymme of the Clongh, and sach other old Eomances or Historical Rhymes." (Arte of English Poesie, book ii. cap. 9.)