The Romance of Biography (Vol 1 of 2)

or givan ragion

ressed to them. It was in the ages called gothic and barbarous,-in that era of high feelings and fierce passions,-of love, war, and wild adventure, that the sex began to take their true station in society. From the midst of ignorance, superstition, and ferocity, sprung up that enthusias

less slaves of the passions and caprices of their masters, that the sentimental devotion paid to our sex in the chivalrous ages was derived.[4] The poetry of the Troubadours kept alive and enhanced the tone of feeling on which it was founded; it was cause and effect re-acting on each other; and though their songs exist only in the colle

ichard the First, two Kings of Arragon, a King of Sicily, the Dauphin of Auvergne, the Count de Foix, and a Prince of Orange, were professors of the "gaye science." Thibault,[5] Count of Provence and King of Navarre, was another of these royal and chivalrous Troubadours, and his lais a

to the Virgin, worded with such equivocal ingenuity, that it is equally applicable to the Queen of Heaven, or the queen of his earthly th

avais pouvo

é,-son b

rès doux

t mon m

n c?ur je n'

and a

d'es

tel s

e co

t end

commen

é, son b

rès doux

me mon m

biography of these Troubadours generally commences with the same phrase-Such a one was "gentilhomme et chevalier," and was "pris d'amour" for such a lady, always named, who was the wife of such a lord, and in whose honour and praise he composed "maintes belles et doctes chansons." In these "chansons,"-for all the amatory poetry of those times was sung to music,-we have love and romantic adventure oddly enough mixed up with piety and devotion, such as were the mode in an age when religion ruled the imagination and opinions of men, without in any degree restraining the passions, or influencing the conduct. One Troubadour tells us, that when he beholds the face of his mistress, he crosses himself with delight and gratitude; another pathetically entreats a priest to dispense him from his vows of love to a certain lady, whom he loved no longer; the lady being the wife of another, one would imagine that the dispensation should rather have been required in the first instance. Arnaldo de Daniel, unable to soften the obdurate heart of his mistress, performs penance, and celebrates six (or as some say, a thousand) masses a day, "en priant Dieu de pouvoir acquerir la grace de sa dame," and burns lamps befor

ttorioso e

i color ch' i

ro a gran gl

...*..

er via più che

ro di foco u

no, e con s?et

third book of the Fairy Queen, where Love, as in the antiqu

s delight with

uprearing himself," and looking round with disdain on the troop of victims and slaves who surround him, the rattling of his darts, as he shakes them in defiance and in triumph, and "claps on high his c

some unfortunate moment breaks his vow of fidelity, and unable to appease the indignation of his mistress, he retires to a forest, builds himself a cabin of boughs, and turns hermit, having first made a solemn vow that he will never leave his solitude till he is received into favour by his offended love. Being one of the most celebrated and popular Troubadours of his province, all the knights and the ladies sympathise with his misfortunes: they find themselves terribly ennuyés in the absence of the poet who was accustomed to vaunt their charms and their deeds of prowess; and at the end of two years they send a deputation, entreating him to retur

Peyre de Ruer takes the habit of a pilgrim and wanders about the country. He arrives in the holy week at a certain church, and desires of the curé permission to preach to his congregation of penitents:-he ascends the pulpit, and recites with infinite fervour and grace one of his own chansons d'amour,-for, says the chronicle, "autre chose ne s?avait," "he knew nothing better." The people mistaking it for an invocation to the Virgin Mary or the Saints, are deeply affected and edified; eyes are seen to weep that never wept before; the most impenitent heart

his very novel mode of recruiting his finances and obtaining the favour of the lady; but gives us fairly to understand, that after such a

residence of Rudel at the court of England, where he resided in great honour and splendour, caressed for his talents and loved for the gentleness of his manners, he heard continually the praises of a certain Countess of Tripoli; famed throughout Europe for her munificent hospitality to the poor Crusaders

led for the Levant. But so it chanced, that falling grievously sick on the voyage, he lived only till his vessel reached the shores of Tripoli. The Countess being told that a celebrated poet had just arrived in her harbour, who was dying for her love, immediately hastened on board, and taking his hand, entreated him to live for her sake. Rudel, already speechless, and almost in the agonies of death, revived for a moment at this unexpected grace; he was just able to express, by a last

wn story, that Petrarch has introd

ch' uso la v

r la su

e, folded within her vest, to the end of her life, is extant, and has been translated into most of the languages of Europe; of these translations, S

dolent

s cet amo

s quand j

r trop nos

toutes cho

cet amou

e à mon c?

voir m'amo

r, tenez po

'ai pour e

n bien que

maux, tant

r'amour

cet amour

s belle je

soit ni pr

nal, that I shall venture to give a version, which has at least the merit of being as faithful as the different idioms of the t

d troubled

not my l

now not t

er-for she

didst all th

my sweet lo

y heart, tha

her face,

elieve ho

for her,

ch joy a th

ecause I

ove I'll

y she wh

r one I n

near, nor

ittle ballad, remarkable for the extreme refinement of the sentiment, which is quite à la Petrarque: he gives it

n'y a d'amour que de ma part; la dame que j'aime ne veut pas m'aimer! mais au défaut des oui qu'elle me re

y the sentimen

ola, che mo

che gioir

spring in the heart, and might often b

TNO

i-Littératu

5

Roi galant

son rang n'ont rien

sonnier-et ses c

conservé

ogie d

6

should go in q

find it fairer

should go in s

find it purer

ious, sought a

d richer blood t

t faire aux dits po?tes, était qu'on leur fou

t, vol. i

ard de B

iii. p. 86.-Gingue

to add the description of the first and last interview of the Countess and her lover in t

sachant que c'éstait la Comtesse, incontinent après le doult et gracieux accueil, recouvra ses esprits, la remercia de ce qu'elle lui avait recouvré la vie, et lui dict: 'Très illustre et vertueuse princesse,