Notes and Queries, Number 55, November 16, 1850 | Page 3

more than that the educated man is better than the savage; but, in the apologetic sense intended, it is equivalent to affirming that the greatest thief is the most respectable man. Confident in this morality, he assumes a previous play to Shakspeare's; but it appears to me that he relies too much upon the "cadence" of the lines: otherwise I could not account for his selecting as an "autograph" a scene that, to my mind, bears "unmistakeable traits" of Fletcher's hand, and that, by whomsoever written, is about the weakest in the whole play.
It is a branch of the subject which I have not yet fully considered; but MR. SPEDDING will observe that the view I take does not interfere with the supposition that Fletcher revised the play, {403} with additions for its revival in 1613; a task for the performance of which he would probably have the consent of his early master.
SAMUEL HICKSON.
* * * * *
ON AUTHORS AND BOOKS, NO. IX.
_Eustache Deschamps._ Except in the two centuries next after the conquest, contemporaneous French notices of early English writers seem to be of rather infrequent occurrence.
On this account, and on other accounts, the ballad addressed to Geoffrey Chaucer by Eustache Deschamps deserves repetition. Its text requires to be established, in order that we may be aware of its real obscurities--for no future memoir of Chaucer can be considered as complete, without some reference to it.
The best authorities on Eustache Deschamps are MM. Crapelet, Raynouard, and Paulin Paris. To M. Crapelet we are indebted for the publication of _Po��sies morales et historiques d'Eustache Deschamps_; to M. Raynouard, for an able review of the volume in the _Journal des Savants_; and to M. Paulin Paris, for an account of the manuscript in which the numerous productions of the author are preserved. Of the author himself, the learned M. Paris thus writes:--
"On pourroit surnommer Eustache Deschamps le Rutebeuf du XIVe si��cle.--Ses oeuvres comprennent des ��pitres, des discours en prose, des jeux dramatiques, des ouvrages latins, des apologues, un grand po��me moral, et un infinit�� de ballades et rondeaux pieux, bouffons, satiriques," &c.
Two impressions of the ballad in question are before me; one, in the _Life of Geoffrey Chaucer by sir Harris Nicholas_, dated 1843--and the other in a volume entitled _Geoffrey Chaucer, po��te anglais du XIVe si��cle. Analyses et Fragments par H. Gomont_, Paris, 1847.--I transcribe the ballad from the latter volume, as less accessible to English students:--
"BALLADE IN��DITE ADRESS��E A GEOFFREY CHAUCER PAR EUSTACHE DESCHAMPS.
O Socrates, plains de philosophie, Sen��que en meurs et Anglais en pratique, _Ou? des grans_ en ta po?terie, Bries en parler, saiges en rethorique, Virgiles tres haulz qui, par ta th��orique, Enlumines le r��gne d'Eneas, Lisle aux geans, ceuls du Bruth, et qui as Sem�� les fleurs et plant�� le rosier, Aux ignorants, de la langue pandras Grant translateur, noble Geffroy Chaucier.
Tu es d'amours mondains Dieux en Albie, Et de la rose en la terre ang��lique, Qui _d'Angela_ Saxonne et (est) puis flourie Angleterre (d'elle ce nom s'applique).
Le derrenier en l'��thimologique En bon angl��s le livre translatas; Et un Vergier, o�� du plant demandas De ceuls qui sont pour eulx auctorisier, A ja long teams que tu ��difias, Grant tranlslateur noble Geffroy Chaucier.
A toy, pour ce, de la fontaine Helye Requier avoir un buvraige autentique Dont la doys est du tout en ta baillie, Pour rafrener d'elle ma soif ��thique Qui men gaule seray paralitique Jusques �� ce que tu m'abuveras. Eustaces sui qui de mon plant aras; Mais pran en gre les euvres d'escolier Que par Clifford de moy Bavoir pourras, Grant translateur noble Geffroy Chaucier.
L'ENVOY.
Po?te hauls loenge destynie En ton jardin ne seroie qu'ortie Considere ce que j'ai dit premier Ton noble plant, ta douce melodie Mais pour savoir de rescripre te prie, Grant translateur noble Geoffroy Chaucier."
The new readings are in Italics, and I shall now repeat them with the corresponding words as printed by sir Harris Nicolas:--
"Anglais=angles; Ou? des grans=Ovides grans; Virgiles=Aigles; d'Angela=dangels; sont=font; A ja=N'a pas; buvraige=ouvrage; rafrener=rafrecir; soif=soix; Qui men=Qu'en ma; En=Et."
After such an exhibition of various readings, arising out of only two copies of the same manuscript, it is evident that a re-collation of it is very desirable, and I am sure the result would be thankfully received by the numerous admirers of Chaucer.
BOLTON CORNEY.
Eustache Deschamps (Vol. ii., p. 376.).--J.M.B. is desirous of learning some particulars of this French poet, contemporaneous with Chaucer. He will find a brief notice of him in the _Recueil de Chants Historiques Fran?ais, depuis le XII��me jusqu'au XVIII��me Si��cle_, by Le Roux de Lincy (2 vols. Paris, 1841, Libraire de Charles Espelin). He is there described as,
"Ecuyer et huissier d'armes des rois Charles V. et Charles VI., qui resta toujours fid��le �� la maison de France;"
And the editor adds:
"Les oeuvres d'Eustache Deschamps contiennent pour l'histoire