" of golde furred with ermyns, valued at two hundred frankes. "This dinner endured four houres "." Froiffart, who was entertained in this caftle for twelve weeks, thus defcribes the earl's ordinary mode of fupping. "In this eftate the erle of "Foiz lyved. And at mydnyght whan he came out of his "chambre into the halle to fupper, he had ever before hym "twelve torches brennyng, borne by twelve varlettes [valets] "ftandyng before his table all fupper: they gave a grete light, and the hall ever full of knightes and fquyers; and, many other tables dressed to fuppe who wolde. Ther was none shulde speke to hym at his table, but if he were called. "His meate was lightlye wylde foule. He had great plesure "in armony of inftrumentes, he could do it right well hym"felfe: he wolde have fonges fonge before hym. He wolde gladlye fe confeytes [conceits] and fantafies at his table. And "when he had fene it, then he wolde fend it to the other "tables.-There was fene in his hall, chambre, and court, knyghtes and fquyers of honour goyng up and downe, and talkyng of armes and of amours, &c." After fupper, Froiffart was admitted to an audience with this magnificent earl; and used to read to him a book of fonnets, rondeaus, and virelays, written by a gentyll duke of Luxemburgh 1. And mykell he loved hem thoo o.- And then com fpycerye3. And ferved hem curteyflye. I fhall hym make lorde of town and Of hye halles, and of bowre, I love hym fpecyally, &c. П CRON. vol. ii. fol. xxxvi. a. Tranfl. Bern. 1523. 5 Greatly. It appears that candles were borne by domeftics, and not placed on the table, at a very early period in France. Gregory of Tours mentions a piece of favage merriment practifed by a feudal lord at fupper, on one of his valets de chandelle, in confequence of this cuftom. Greg. Turon. HIST. Lib. v. c. iii. fol. 34. b. edit. 1522. It is probable that our proverbial fcoff, You are not fit to hold a candle to him, took its rife from this fashion. See Ray's PROV. C. p. 4. edit. 1670. And Shakefp. ROMEO AND JULIET, i. 4. I'll be a Candle-holder, and look on. 2. 9 Bowed his knee. In this age of curiofity, diftinguished for its love of hiftorical anecdotes and the investigation of antient manners, it is extraordinary that a new tranflation fhould not be made of Froiffart from a collated and corrected original of the French. Froiflart is commonly ranked with romances: but it ought to be remembered, that he is the hiftorian of a romantic age, when those manners which form the fantastic books of chivalry were actually practifed. As he received his multifarious intelligence from fuch a variety of vouchers, and of different nations, and almost always collected his knowledge of events from report, rather than from written or recorded evidence, his notices of persons and places are frequently confused and unexact. Many of these petty incorrectnesses are not, however, to be imputed to Froiffart: and it may seem surprising, that there are not more inaccuracies of this kind in a voluminous chronicle, treating of the affairs of England, and abounding in English appellations, compofed by a Frenchman, and printed in France. Whoever will take the pains to compare this author with the coeval records in Rymer, will find numerous inftances of his truth and integrity, in relating the more public and important transactions of his own times. Why he should not have been honoured with a modern edition at the Louvre, it is easy to conceive: the French have a national prejudice against a writer, who has been so much more complaifant to England, than to their own country. Upon the whole, if Froiffart fhould be neglected by the historical reader for his want of precision and authenticity, he will at least be valued by the philofopher for his ftriking pictures of life, drawn without referve or affectation from real nature with a faithful and free pencil, and by one who had the best opportunities of obfervation, who was welcome alike to the feudal castle or the royal palace, and who mingled in the buftle and business of the world, at that very curious period of fociety, when manners are very far refined, and yet retain a confiderable tincture of barbarism. But I cannot better express my sentiments on this subject, than in the words of Montaigne. J'ayme les Historiens Ou "ou fort fimples ou excellens. Les fimples qui n'ont point de quoy y mefler quelque chofe du leur, et qui n'y apportent que "le foin et la diligence de ramaffer tout ce qui vient a leur "notice, et d'enregistrer a la bonne foy toutes choses fans chois "et fans triage, nous laiffent le jugement entier pour la conoif"fance de la verité. Tel eft entre autres pour example le bon "Froiffard, qui a marchè en fon enterprise d'une fi franche "naïfueté, qu'ayant fait une faute il ne craint aucunement de "la reconnoistre et corriger en l'endroit, ou il en a efté adverty: "et qui nous represente la diverfité mefme des bruits qui cou"roient, et les differens rapports qu'on luy faisot. C'est la "matiere de l'Hiftoire nuï et informe; chacun en peut faire "fon proffit autant qu'il a d'entendement *. CHAP. clxxviii. A king is defirous to know how to rule himself and his kingdom. One of his wife men presents an allegorical picture on the wall; from which, after much study, he acquires the defired inftruction. In the original eastern apologue, perhaps this was a piece of tapestry. From the cultivation of the textorial arts among the orientals, came Darius's wonderful cloth abovementioned; and the idea of the robe richly embroidered and emboffed with stories of romance and other imageries, in the unprinted romance of EMARE, which forms of one the finest descriptions of the kind that I have seen in Gothic poetry, and which I shall therefore not scruple to give at large. Syr Tergaunte, that nobyll knyzt, And fette hym on hys kne*, Off topaze and of rubyes, That femely wer to se; Of crapoutes and nakette, For fothe as y fay the '. The cloth was dyfplayed fone: The emperour loked thar loked thar upone And myght hyt " not fe; For glyfterynge of the ryche ftone, Redy fyght had he non, And fayde, how may this be? The emperour fayde on hygh, Sertes", thys is a fayry °, Or ellys a vanyte. The kyng of Cyfyle answered than, The amerayles dowzter of hethenes 1 Gloucefter. Hence, by corruption the word ADMIRAL, and in a reftricted fenfe, for the commander of a fleet: which Milton, who knew the original, in that sense writes AMMIRAL. PARAD. L. i. 294. Dufrefne thinks, that our naval Amiral, i. e. Admiral, came from the crufades, where the Chriftians heard it ufed by the Saracens (in confequence of its general fignification) for the title of the leader of their fleets: and that from the Mediterranean states it was propagated over Europe. Lying. And And wrozte hyt all wyth pryde; And portreyed hyt wyth grete honour, t And stones on ylka * fyde. And as the story telles yn honde, The ftones that on this cloth ftonde In that on korner made was Wyth love that was so trewe; For they loveden hem wyth honour, Deamondes and rubyes, And othyr stones of mychyll pryse, In that othyr korner was dyght And for they loved hem ryght, On one corner, or fide, was embroidered the history of Idonia and Amadas. For their Romance, fee fupr. vol. ii. p. 24. |