144: Pinder. Son emploi était de taxer le bétail qui vaguait sur le communal.

145:

146:

147:

Then Robin took them both by the hands,
And danc'd round about the oke tree.
«For three merry men, and three merry men,
And three merry men we be.»

148: The difference between an absolute and limited monarchy.—A learned commendation of the politique laws of England. Latine. Je cite souvent ce second ouvrage, qui est plus complet.

149: Les Anglais oublient toujours d'être polis, et ne voient pas les nuances des choses. Entendez ici le courage brutal, l'instinct batailleur et indépendant. La race française, et en général la race gauloise, est peut-être, entre toutes, la plus prodigue de sa vie.

150: It is cowardise and lack of hartes and corage, that kepith the Frenchmen from rysyng, and not povertye; which corage no Frenche man hath like to the English man. It hath ben often seen in Englond that iij or iv thefes, for povertie, hath sett upon viij true men, and robbyd them al. But it hath not ben seen in Fraunce, that vij or viij thefes have ben hardy to robbe iij or iv true men. Wherfor it is right seld that Frenchmen be hangyd for robberye, for that thay have no hertys to do so terryble an acte. There be therfor mo men hangyd in Englond, in a yere, for robberye and manslaughter, than ther be hangid in Fraunce for such cause of crime in vij yers.—Aujourd'hui en France 42 vols sur les grands chemins contre 738 en Angleterre.—En 1843 il y avait, en Angleterre, quatre fois autant d'accusations de crimes et délits qu'en France, proportion gardée du nombre des habitants. (Moreau de Jonnès.)

151: Pictorial history, I, 833. Statut de Winchester, 1285. Ordonnance de 1378.

152: Benvenuto Cellini cité par Froude, I, 20, History of England, Shakspeare, Henri V; conversation des seigneurs français avant la bataille d'Azincourt.

153: Jus regale, par opposition à jus regale et politicum.

154: Ther be two kynds of kyngdomys, of the which that one ys a lordship callid in Latyne Dominium regale, and that other is callid Dominium politicum et regale. And they dyverson in that the first may rule his people by such lawys as he makyth hymself, and therfor, he may set upon them talys, and other impositions, such as he wyl himself, without their assent. The secund may not rule his people by other laws than such as they assenten unto. And therfor he may let upon them non impositions without their own assent.

155: Fortescue, In leges Angliæ, London, 1599, avec trad. anglaise. Non potest rex Angliæ ad libitum suum leges mutare regni sui. Principatu namque nedum regali, sed et politico ipse suo populo dominatur.

In corpore politica, intentio populi primum vividum est, habens in se sanguinem, viz provisionem politicam utilitati populi illius, quam in caput et in omnia membra ejusdem corporis ipsa transmittit, quo corpus illud alitur et vegetatur. Lex vero sub qua cœtus hominum populus efficitur, nervorum corporis physici efficit rationem.... Et ut non potest caput corporis physici nervos suos commutare, neque membris suis proprias vires et propria sanguinis alimenta denegare, nec rex qui caput est corporis politici; mutare potest leges corporis illius, nec ejusdem populi substantias proprias subtrahere, reclamantibus eis, aut invitis. Ad tutelam legis subditorum et eorum corporum et bonorum rex hujusmodi erectus est et ad hanc, potestatem a populo effluxam ipse habet.

Anglia statuta.... nedum principis voluntate, sed et totius regni assensu ipsa conduntur.... plus quam trecentorum electorum hominum prudentia.... (ita ut) populi læsuram illa efficere nequant, vel non eorum commodum procurare.

Élection du shériff.

In quolibet comitatu est officiarius quidam unus, regis vicecomes appellatus, qui inter cætera officii sui ministeria, omnium mandata et judicia curiarum regis in suo comitatu exsequenda exsequitur; cui officium annale est, quo ei post annum in eodem ministrare non licet, nec duobus tum sequentibus annis ad idem officium reassumetur. Officiarius iste sic eligitur: quolibet anno in crastino Animarum[155-A] conveniunt in saccario regis[155-B], omnes consiliarii ejus tam domini spirituales et temporales quam ejus omnes justiciarii[155-C], omnes barones de saccario, clericus rotulorum[155-D], et quidam alii officiarii, ubi hi omnes communi assensu nominant de quolibet comitatu tres milites vel armigeros[155-E], quos inter cæteros ejusdem comitatus ipsi opinantur melioris esse dispositionis et famæ, et ad officium vicecomitis comitatus illius melius dispositos. Ex quibus rex unum tantum eliget, quam per litteras suas patentes constituit vice-comitem comitatus....

Du jury, et des trois récusations successives, permises aux parties:

Juratis demum in forma prædicta XII probis et legalibus hominibus habentibus ultra mobilia sua possessiones sufficientes unde eorum statum ipsi continere poterunt, et nulli partium suspectis nec invisis sed eisdem vicinis, legitur in anglico coram eis per curiam totum recordatum et processus placiti....

155-A: All Souls' day.

155-B: The kings exchequer.

155-C: Justices.

155-D: Master of the rolls.

155-E: Knights or squires.

156: The same Commons be so empoverished and distroyyd, that they may unneth lyve. They drink water, they eate apples, with bread right brown made of rye. They eate no flesh, but if it be selden, a litill larde, or of the entrails or heads of beasts slayne for the nobles and merchants of the land. They weryn no wollyn, but if it be a pore cote under their uttermost garment made of grete canvass, and call it a frok. Their hosyn be of like canvas, and passen not their knee, wherfor they be gartrud and their thygles bare. Their wif and children gone bare fote.... For sum of them that was wont to pay to his lord for his tenement which he hyrith by the year a scute payth now to the kyng, over that scute, fyve skuts. Where thrugh they be artyd by necessitie so to watch, labour and grub in the ground for their sustenance, that their nature is much wastid and the kynd of them brought to nowght. They gone crokyd and ar feeble, not able to fight nor to defend the realm; nor they have wepon, nor monye to buy them wepon withal.... This is the frute first of hyre Jus regale.... But blessed be God this land ys rulid under a better lawe, and therfor the people therof be not in such penurye, nor therby hurt in their persons, but they be wealthie and have all things necessarie to the sustenance of nature. Wherefore they be myghty and able to resyste the adversaries of the realmes that do or will do them wrong. Loo, this is the frut of Jus politicum et regale under which we lyve.

157: Voir Commines, qui porte le même jugement.

158: The might of the realme most stondyth upon archers which be not rich men....

Comparer Hallam, II, 482. Tout cela remonte à la conquête et plus avant:

It is reasonable to suppose that the greater part of those who appear to have possessed small freeholds or parcels of manors were no other than the original nation.

A respectable class of free socagers, having in general full right of alienating their lands and holding them probably at a small certain rent from the lord of the manor, frequently occurs in the Domsday Book.

En tout cas, il y avait dans le Domsday Book des Saxons «parfaitement exempts de villenage.»

Cette classe est traitée avec respect dans les traités de Glanvil et Bracton.

Pour les vilains, ils se sont affranchis de bonne heure, au treizième et au quatorzième siècle, soit en se sauvant, soit en devenant copy-holders.

La guerre des Deux Roses releva encore les communes: avant les batailles, ordre fut donné souvent de tuer les nobles et d'épargner les roturiers.

159: Harrison, 275. Description of England.

160: Portrait d'un yeoman par Latimer, prédicateur de Henri VIII.

My father was a yeoman, and had no lands of his own, only he had a farm of £3 or £4 by year at the uttermost, and hereupon he tilled so much as he kept half a dozen men. He had walk for an hundred sheep, and my mother milked thirty kine. He was able, and did find the king a harness, with himself and his horse, while he came to the place that he should receive the king's wages. I can remember that I buckled his harness when he went to Blackheath field. He kept me to school, or else I had not been able to have preached before the king's majesty now. He married my sisters vith £5 or 20 nobles a-piece, so that he brought them up in godliness and fear of God. He kept hospitality for his poor neighbours. And some alms he gave to the poor, and all this did he of the said farm. Where he that now hath it, payeth £16 by the year, or more, and is not able to do any thing for his prince, for himself, nor for his children, or give a cup of drink to the poor.

In my time my poor father was as diligent to teach me to shoot, as to learn me any other thing, and so I think other men did their children: he taught me how to draw, how to lay my body in my bow, and not to draw with strength of arms as divers other nations do, but with strength of the body. I had my bows bought me according to my age and strength; as I increased in them, so my bows were made bigger and bigger, for men shall never shoot well, except they be brought up in it: it is a worthy game, a wholesome kind of exercise, and much commended in physic.

161: Pictorial history, I, 802. En 1245, 1246, 1376. A. Thierry. III, 79.

162: 1404-1409. Les Communes déclaraient qu'avec ces revenus le roi serait capable d'entretenir 15 comtes, 1500 chevaliers, 6200 écuyers et 100 hôpitaux; chaque comte recevant par an 300 marcs, chaque chevalier 100 marcs et le produit de quatre charrues de terre, chaque écuyer 40 marcs et le produit de deux charrues de terre.—Pictorial history, II. p. 142.

163: Vers 1362.

164:

And than gan I to mete a mervelyous swevene,
That I was in a wyldyrnese, wyst I never qwere;
And as I beheld on hey, est on to the sonne,
I saw a tour on a toft, ryaly emaked,
A depe dale benethe, a donjon therein,
With depe dykys and dyrke, and dredful of sygth.
A fayr feld ful of folke fond I ther betwene,
Of al maner of men, the mene and the ryche,
Werkynge and wanderyng, as the werld askyth.
Some put hem to the plow, pleyid hem ful seeld
In syttynge and sowing swonken full harde,
And wan what wastours with gloteny dystroid....

165: L'archidiacre de Richmond étant en tournée, en 1216, vint au prieuré de Bridlington avec quatre-vingt-dix-sept chevaux, vingt-et-un chiens et trois faucons.

And now is religion a ridere, a romere bi streetis,
A ledar of love-daiyes and a load bigere;
A prickere on a pelfrey from maner to maner,
An hep of hounds at his ars, as he a lord were.
And but his knave knele that shall hym hys cuppe brynge,
He loureth on him, and axeth who taughtte hym curteise.

166:

Kynde Conscience tho herde, and cam out of the planett,
And sent forth his forreors Feveris and Fluxes,
Coughes, and Cardyacles, Crampes, and Tothe-aches,
Reumes and Redegoundes, and roynous Skalles,
Buyles and Botches, and brennynge Agwes,
Frennesyes and foule Evelis, forageris of Kynde.
There was "Harrow! and Helpe! Here cometh Kynde!
With Death that is dreadful, to undon us alle."
The lord that lyved after lust tho lowde criede.
Deeth came dryving aftir, and al to dust pashed
Kyngs and Knyghttes, Kaysours and popis.
Many a lovely lady and lemmanys of Knyghttes
Swowed and sweltid for sorwe of Dethe's dentes.

167: Dernier livre. The Lazar House.

168: Ce poëme fut imprimé plus tard, en 1550. Il y en eut trois éditions en une année, tant il était visiblement protestant.

169: Voyez Piers Plowman's crede, The Plowman's tale, etc.

170: Knighton, vers 1400, écrit ceci sur Wycleff: «Transtulit de Latino in anglicam linguam, non angelicam. Unde per ipsum fit vulgare, et magis apertum laicis et mulieribus legere scientibus quam solet esse clericis admodum litteratis, et bene intelligentibus. Et sic evangelica margarita spargitur et a porcis conculcatur.... (ita) ut laicis commune æternum quod ante fuerat clericis et ecclesiæ doctoribus talentum supernum.

171: Wycleff's Bible, édition de Forshall and Madden, préface, édition d'Oxford.

172: Prologue de Wicleff, p. 2.

Cristen men and wymmen, olde and yonge, shulden studie fast in the Newe Testament. For it is of full autorite, and opyn to the undirstonding of simple men, as to the poyntis that be moost medful to saluacioun.... and ech place of holy writ, bothe opyn and dark, techith mekenes and charite. And therfore he that kepith mekenes and charite hath the trewe undirstonding and perfectioun of al holi writ.... Therfore no simple man of wit be aferd unmesurabli to studie in the text of holy writ.... and no clerk be proude of the verry undirstondyng of holy writ, for the verrey undirstoudyng of hooly writ withouten charite that kepith Goddis heestis, makith a man depper damned.—.... and pride and covetise of clerkis is cause of her blindness and eresie, and priveth them fro verrey undirstondyng of holy writ.

173: 1395.

174: 1401. William Sawtre, premier lollard brûlé vif.

175: Commines, liv. V. chapitre XIX et XX.

«Or selon mon avis, entre toutes les seigneuries du monde dont j'ay connaissance où la chose publique est mieux traitée, et règne moins de violence sur le peuple, et où il n'y a nuls édifices abattus ny démolis pour guerre, c'est Angleterre, et tombe le sort et le malheur sur ceux qui font la guerre.... Cette grâce a le royaume d'Angleterre par dessus les autres royaumes, que le peuple ni le pays ne s'en détruit point, ny ne brulent, ny ne démolissent les édifices, et tombe la fortune sur les gens de guerre, et par espécial sur les nobles.»

176: Voir les ballades sur Chevy Chace, The Nut Brown maid, etc. Beaucoup d'entre elles sont d'admirables petits drames.

177: Né entre 1328 et 1345, mort en 1400.

178: Renan, de l'Art au moyen âge.

179: Voy. Froissart, sa vie chez le comte de Foix et chez le roi Richard II.

180:

The statue of Venus glorious for to see
Was naked fleting in the large see,
And fro the navel down all covered was
With wawes grene, and bright as any glas.
A citole in hire right hand hadde she,
And on hire hed, ful semely for to see,
A rose gerlond fresshe, and wel smelling,
Above hire hed hire doves fleckering.

181:

First on the wall was peinted a forest,
In which there wonneth neyther man ne best,
With knotty knarry barrein trees old
Of stubbes sharpe and hidous to behold;
In which there ran a romble and a swough,
As though a storme shuld bresten every bough.
And downward from an hill under a bent,
Ther stood the temple of Mars armipotent,
Wrought all of burned stele, of which th' entree
Was long and streite, and gastly for to see.
And therout came a rage and swiche a vise,
That it made all the gates for to rise.
The northern light in at the dore shone,
For window off the wall ne was none,
Thurgh which men mighten any light discerne.
The dore was all of athamant eterne,
Yclenched overthwart and endelong
With yren tough, and for to make it strong.
Every piler the temple to sustene
Was tonne-gret, of yren bright and shene.

182: Knight's tale, p. 21-20.

183:

With him ther wenten knightes many on.
Som wol ben armed in a habergeon,
And in a brest plate, and in a gipon;
And some wol have a pair of plates large;
And some wol have a Pruce sheld or a targe,
Som wol ben armed on his legges wele
And have an axe, and som a mace of stele....
There maist thou se coming with Palamon
Licurge himself, the grete king of Trace:
Blake was his berd and manly was his face.
The cercles of his eyen in his hed
They gloweden betwixen yelwe and red,
And like a griffon loked he about,
With kemped heres on his browes stout.
His limmes gret, his braunes hard and stronge,
His shouldres brode, his armes round and longe
And as the guise was in his contree,
Ful highe upon a char of gold stood he,
With foure white bolles in the trais.
Instede of cote-armure on his harnais,
With nayles yelwe and bright as any gold,
He hadde a beres skin, cole-blake for old.
His longe here was kempt behind his bake,
As any ravenes fether it shone for blake.
A wreth of gold arm gret, of huge weight
Upon his hed sate ful of stones bright,
Of fine rubins and diamants.
About his char ther wenten whit alauns,
Twenty and mo, as gret as any stere,
To hunten at the leon or the dere.
And folwed him with mosel fast ybound,
Colered with gold and torettes filed round.
A hundred lordes had he in his route,
Armed full wel, with hertes sterne and stout.
With Arcita, in stories as man find,
The gret Emetrius the king of Inde,
Upon a stede bay, trapped in stele,
Covered with cloth of gold diapred wele,
Came riding like the God of armes Mars.
His cote-armure was of a cloth of Tars,
Couched with perles, white, round and grete.
His sadel was of brent gold new ybete;
A mantelet upon his shouldres hanging
Bret-ful of rubies red, as fire sparkling.
His crispe here like ringes was yronne,
And that was yelwe and glitered as the sonne.
His nose was high, his eyen bright citrin,
His lippes round, his colour was sanguin,...
And as a leon he his loking caste.
Of five and twenty yere his age I caste.
His berd was well begonnen for to spring;
His vois was as a trompe tundering.
Upon his hed he wered of laurer grene
A gerlond fresshe and lusty for to sene.
Upon his hond he bare for his deduit
An egle tame, as any lily whit.
An hundred Lordes had he with him there,
All armed save hir hedes in all hir gere,
Ful richely in alle manere thinges....
About this king there ran on every part
Ful many a tame leon and leopart.

184:

For trewely comfort ne mirthe is non,
To riden by the way domb as the ston.

185: The House of Fame.

186: André le chapelain, en 1170.

187: The craft of love; the ten commandements of love; ballades; the court of love, peut-être aussi, the assemble of ladies, et la belle dame sans merci.

188:

And as the new abashed nightingale,
That stinteth first, whan she beginneth sing,
Whan that she heareth any heerdes tale,
Or in the hedges any wight stearing,
And after siker doeth her voice outring:
Right so Creseide, whan that her drede stent,
Opened her herte, and told him her entent.

(Liv. III.)

189:

In chaunged voice, right for his very drede,
Which voice eke quoke, and thereto his manere,
Goodly abashed, and now his hewes rede,
Now pale, unto Creseide his ladie dere,
With look doun cast, and humble iyolden chere,
Lo, the alderfist word him astart
Was twice: «Mercy, mercy, o my sweet herte!»

(Liv. III.)

190:

Whom should I thanken but you, God of Love,
Of all this blisse, in which to bathe I ginne?
And thanked be ye, Lorde, for that I love,
This is the right life that I am inne
To flemen all maner vice and sinne.
This doeth me so to vertue for to entende
That daie by daie I in my will amende....
And who says that for to love is vice,....
He either is envious, or right nice,
Or is unmightie for his shrewdness
To loven....
But I with all mine herte and all my might,
As I have said, woll love unto my last
My owne dere herte, and all mine owne knight,
In whiche mine herte growen is so fast,
And his in me, that it shall ever last.

(Liv. II.)

191:

192:

192-A:

193:

194: The Flour and the Leafe.

195:

196: Stendhal, de l'Amour: différence de l'amour-goût et de l'amour-passion.

197: Son nom aujourd'hui en Angleterre désigne la respectable maison de commerce Bonneau et C^ie.

198: And gode thrift (Troïlus) had full oft.

199: The Court of Love, vers 1353 et suiv. Voy. aussi le Testament de l'Amour.

200: Le Poirier, le Berceau sont parmi les Contes de Cantorbéry.

201:

202:

Bold war hire face, and fayre and red of hew,
She was a worthy woman all hire live;
Housbandes at the chirche dore had she had five,
Without other compagnie in youthe....
In all the parish wif ne was ther non,
That to the offring before hire shulde gon,
And if ther did, certain so wroth was she,
That she was out of alle charitee....

203:

God bad us for to wex and multiplie,
That gentil text can I wel understond;
Eke wel I wot, he sayed that min husbond,
Shuld leve fader and moder, and take to me;
But of no noumbre mention made he,
Of bigamie or of octogamie;
Why should men than speke of it vilanie?
Lo here the wise king Dan Salomon,
I trow he hadde wives mo than on,
(As wolde God it leful were to me
To be refreshed half so oft as he)
Which a gift of God had he for all his wives?....
Blessed be God that I hav wedded five.
Welcome the sixthe whan that ever he shall.
Christ spoke to hem that wold live parfitly
And Lordlings (by your leve) that am not I.
I wol bestow the flour of all myn age,
In th' actes and the fruit of mariage....
And husband wol I have, I wol not lette,
Which shall be both my dettour and my thrall,
And have his tribulation withall
Upon his flesh, while that I am his wif.

204:

For as an horse I couth both bite and whine,
I couth compleine though I were in the gilt....
I pleinid first, and so was our war stint.
They were full glad t' excusin them full blive
Of what they agilt nevir in their live....
I swore that all my walking out by night
Was for to espy wenchis that he dight....
For though the Pope had sittin him beside,
I wold not sparin them at their owes bord....
But certainly I madin folk soche chere
That in his own grese made I him to frie
For angir and for very jalousie.
By God, on erth I was his Purgatory,
For which I hope his soule is now in glory....
And Jenkin eke our clerk was one of tho,
As help me God, whan that I saw him go
Aftir the bere, methought he had a paire
Of leggis and of fete so clene, so faire,
That all my hert I gave unto his hold.
He was, I trow, but twenty winter old,
And I was forty, if I shall say sothe ...
As help me God, I was a lusty one,
And faire, and rich, and yong, and well begone.

205:

A Frere there was, a wanton and a merry....
Full wele beloved and familier was he
With Frankeleins all over his contre,
And with the worthie women of the towne....
Full swetely herde he their confessioune,
And plesaunt was his absolutionne.
He was an esy man to give pennaunce,
Ther as he wist to have a gode pittaunce;
For unto a pore order for to give
Is a signe that a man is wel yshrive....
He knewe the tavernes wel in every toun,
And every hostiler and tapistere,
Better than a Lazere and a begger....
It is naught honest, it may not avaunce,
For to have deling with suche base poraille,
But alle with rich and sellers of vitayle....
For many a man so herde is of his herte,
That he may not wepe, although him sore smert;
Therefore instede of weping and prayers,
Man mote give silver to the poor Freres.

(Prologue des Contes de Canterbury.)

206:

In every house he began to por and prie,
And beggid mele, and chese, or ellis corne....
«Yeve us a bushell whete, or malte or rey,
A Godd'is Kichel, or a trip of chese.
Or ellis what ye list, I may not chese,
A Godd'is half-penny, or a masse penny,
Or yeve us of your brawn, if you have any,
A dagon of your blanket, leve Dame,
Our sustir dere, lo, here I write your name.»...
.... And whan he was out at the dore anon,
He playned away the namis everichone.
.... «God wote, quod he, laboured have I full sore,
And specially for thy salvacion,
Haw I said many precious orison.
I have this day ben at your chirche at messe....
And there I saw our Dame, ah, where is she?»
The Frere arisith up full curtisly,
And her embracith in his armie narrow,
And kissith her swetely and chirkith as a sparow....
«Thankid be God that you have soul and life,
Yet sawe I not this day so faire a wife
In alle the whole chirche, so God me save....
I woll with Thomas speke a litil throwe,
These curates ben full negligent and slowe
To gropin tenderly a man 'is conscience....
Now, Dame, quod he, je vous die sans dout,
Have I not of a capon but the liver,
And of your white bred but a shiver,
And aftir that a rostid pigg'is hedde,
(But I n'old for me that no beste were dedde,)
Than hadde I ynow for my suffisaunce.
I am a man of litil sustenaunce,
My spirit hath his fostring in the Bible.
My bodie is so redie and penible
To wakin, that my stomach is distroied.
I praye you, Dame, that ye be nought annoied!»....
«Now, sir, quod she, but one word er I go,
My child is dedde within these wekis two.»—
«—His dethe I saw by revelatioune,
Sayid this Frere, at home in our dortour,
I dare well saye, that within half an hour,
After his dethe, I saw him bore to blisse
In my visioune, so God my soule wisse.
So did our sexton and our Fermetere
That have ben true Freris these fifty yere.
And up I rose and alle our covent eke
With many a tere trilling on our cheke....
Te Deum was our song and nothing elses....
For, sir and dame, trustith ye me right well,
Our orisouns ben more effectuell,
And more we se of Crist'is secret things
Than borell folk, albeit they were kings.
We live in poverty and abstinence
And borell folk in richesse and dispence....
Lazar and Dives livid diversly,
And diverse guerdons haddin they thereby....»

207: Comparer le tableau de Rembrandt au Louvre (le Moine chez le menuisier).

208:

The frere answerde: «O Thomas, dost thou so?
What nedith the diverse freris to seche?
What nedith him, that hath a parfit leche,
To sechin othir lechis in the toune?
Your inconstance is your confusioune.
Hold you me then and eke alle our covent
To prayin for you insufficient?
Thomas, that jape no is not worth a mite,
Your maladie is for we have to lite.
A, yeve that covent four and twenty grotes,
And yeve that covent half a quarter otes,
And yeve that frere a peny', and let him go:
Nay, nay, Thomas, it may be nothing so.
What is a farthing worth partie in twelve?
Lo! eche thing that is onid in himselve
Is more strong, than when it is so yskattered;
Thomas, of me thou shalt not be yflattered:
Thou woldist have our labour all for nought.
.... And yet, God wol, unnethe the fundament
Parfourmid is, ne of our pavement
There is not yet a tile within our wones,
By God, we owin fourtie pound for stones,
Now helpe, Thomas, for him that harrowed helle,
For ellis mote we alle our bokes selle,
And if men lak our predicatioune,
Than goth this world all so destructioune.
For who so fro this world wold us bereve,
So God me savin, Thomas, by your leve,
He wold bereve out of this world the sonne.»

(The Sompnour's tale.)

209:

This frere ybosti that he knowith hell,
And God it wat that it is litil wonder,
Freris and Fendis gon but little asonder.
For parde, ye han ofte time here tell
How that a Frere ravishid was to hell
In spirit onis by a visioune,
And as an Angel led him up and doune
To shewin him the peynis that were there....
And unto Sathanas ladd he him doune.
«And now hath Sathanas, said he, a taile
Brodir than of a Carike is the saile.
Hold up thy taile, thou Sathanas, quod he,
Shew forth thyn erse, and let the Frere se,
Where is the nest of Freris in this place.»
And er that half a furlong wey of place,
Right so as bees swarmin out of a hive,
Out of the Devil's erse they gan to drive,
Twenty thousand Freris all on a rout,
And throughout Hell they swarmid all about,
And come agen as fast as they might gon,
And into his erse they crepte everichone;
He clapt his taile agen, and lay full still.

(The Sompnour's prologue.)

210: The Sompnour's prologue.

211: Voir dans les Contes de Cantorbéry the Rhyme of sir Thopas, parodie des histoires chevaleresques. Chacun y semble un précurseur de Cervantès.

212: Canterbury Tales.

213:

—Though that he was worthy he was wise;
And of his port, as meke as is a mayde:
He never yet no vilainie ne sayde,
In all his lif, unto no manere wight,
He was a veray parfit gentil knight.

214:

With him, ther was his sone, a yonge Squier,
A lover, and a lusty bacheler;
With lockes crull as they were laide in presse,
Of twenty yere of age he was, I gesse.
Of his stature he was of even lengthe;
And wonderly deliver, and grete of strengthe,
And he hadde be, somtime, in chevachie
In Flaundres, in Artois, and in Picardie,
And borne him wel, as of so litel space,
In hope to standen in his ladies grace.
Embrouded was he, as it were a mede
All full of freshe floures, white and rede.
Singing he was, or floyting all the day:
He was as freshe as is the moneth of May.
Short was his goune, with sleves long and wide.
Wel coude he sitte on hors, and fayre ride,
He coude songes make, and wel endite;
Juste and eke dance; and wel pourtraie and write:
So hote he loved, that by nightertale
He slep no more than doth the nightingale,
Curteis he was, lowly and servisable;
And carf before his fader at the table.

215: J'aurais voulu traduire: «Elle réprimait les bruits de l'estomac.»—Mais le mot propre est naïf dans l'original.

216:

Ther was also a Nonne, a Prioresse,
That of hire smiling was full simple and coy;
Hire gretest othe n'as but by Seint Eloy;
And she was cleped Madame Eglentine.
Ful wel she sange the service devine,
Entuned in hire nose ful swetely;
And Frenche she spake ful fayre and fetisly,
After the scole of Stratford atte Bowe,
For Frenche of Paris was to hire unknowe.
At mete was she wele ytaughte withalle;
She lette no morsel from her lippes falle,
Ne wette hire fingres in hir sauce depe.
Wel coude she carie a morsel, and wel kepe,
Thatte no drope ne fell upon hire brest.
In curtesie was sette ful muche hire lest.
Hire over-lippe wiped she so clene,
That in her cuppe was no ferthing sene
Of grese, whan she dronked hadde hire draught.
Ful semely after hire mete she raught.
And sikerly she was of grete disport,
And ful plesant, and amiable of port,
And peined hire to contrefeten chere
Of court, and ben estatelich of manere,
And to ben holden digne of reverence.
But for to speken of hire conscience,
She was so charitable and so pitous,
She wolde wepe if that she saw a mous
Caughte in a trappe, if it were ded or bledde.
Of smale houndes hadde she, that she fedde
With rosted flesh, and milk, and wastel brede.
But sore wept she if on of hem were dede,
Or if men smote it with a yerde smerte:
And all was conscience and tendre herte.
Ful semely hire wimple ypinched was,
Hire nose tretis; hire eyen grey as glas;
Hire mouth ful smale, and thereto soft and red;
But sikerly she hadde a fayre forehed.
It was almost a spanne brode I trowe;
For hardily she was not undergrowe,
Ful fetise was hire cloke, as I was ware.
Of smale corall aboute hire arm she bare
A pair of bedes, gauded all with grene;
And thereon heng a broche of gold ful shene,
On whiche was first ywriten a crouned A,
And after, Amor vincit omnia.
Another Nonne also with hire hadde she,
That was hire chapelleine, and Preestes thre.

217: Description du temple de Mars d'après la Théséide de Stace.

218: En parlant de Cressida, il dit: «Aussi vrai que notre première lettre est maintenant un A, on ne vit jamais chose digne d'être plus chèrement louée, ni sous un noir nuage d'étoile si brillante.»

219: Sous Proclus et sous Hégel. Duns Scott, à trente et un ans, meurt, laissant, outre ses sermons et ses commentaires, douze volumes in-folio en petit caractère serré, en style de Hégel, sur le même sujet que Proclus. Voyez aussi saint Thomas et toute la file des scolastiques. On n'a pas l'idée de ce travail avant de les avoir maniés.

220: Pierre le Lombard, Manuel des sentences. C'est le livre classique du moyen âge.

221: Duns Scott, éd. 1639.

222:

Utrum angelus diligat se ipsum dilectione naturali vel electiva?
Utrum in statu innocentiæ fuerit generatio per coitum? Utrum omnes fuissent nati in sexu masculino?
Utrum cognitio angeli posset dici matutina et vespertina?
Utrum martyribus aureola debeatur?
Utrum virgo Maria fuerit virgo in concipiendo?
Utrum remanserit virgo post partum?
Le lecteur fera bien d'aller chercher dans le texte la réponse à ces deux dernières questions.

(Saint Thomas, Summa Theologica, édition de 1677.)

223: History of english poetry, t. II.

224: Contemporain de Chaucer. Sa Confessio amantis est de 1393. Histoire de Rosiphèle. Ballades.

225: Warton, II, 225.

226: Voir, par exemple, au septième livre, le passage le plus poétique, la description de la couronne du soleil.

227: 1420, 1430.

228: C'est le titre que Froissart (1397) donna à son recueil de vers, en le présentant au roi Richard II.

229: Lydgate, Histoire de Troie, description de la chapelle d'Hector. Voyez surtout les Pageants ou entrées solennelles.

230: Voyez sa Vision de la Fortune, gigantesque figure. Dans cette peinture, il a de l'émotion et du talent.

231: La guerre des Hussites, la guerre de Cent-Ans, la guerre des deux Roses.

232: Vers 1506. The Temple of glass. Passetyme of pleasure.

233: Vers 1500.

234: Mort en 1529, lauréat en 1489. Les Récompenses de cour, la Couronne de laurier, l'Élégie sur la mort du duc de Northumberland, plusieurs sonnets, sont d'un style convenable et appartiennent à la poésie officielle. Voyez Philarète Chasles, Skelton, études sur le seizième siècle.

235: Mot de Skelton.

Though my rhyme be ragged
Tattered and gagged,
Rudely rain-beaten,
Rusty, moth-eaten,
Yf ye take welle therewithe,
It hath in it some pith.

236: Voir à Bruges les tableaux de Hemling (quinzième siècle). Aucune peinture ne fait si bien comprendre la piété ecclésiastique du moyen âge, toute pareille à celle des bouddhistes.

237: Van Orley, Michel Coxie, Franz Floris, les de Vos, les Sadler, Crispin de Pass et les maîtres de Nuremberg.

238: Le premier carrosse est de 1564. Il étonna beaucoup. Les uns disaient que c'était «une grande coquille marine apportée de Chine,» les autres que c'était «un temple ou les cannibales adoraient le diable.»

239: Voyez la peinture de cet état de choses dans les lettres de la famille Paston, publiées par John Fen.

240: Louis XI en France, Ferdinand et Isabelle en Espagne, Henri VII en Angleterre. En Italie, le régime féodal a fini plus tôt, par l'établissement des républiques et des principautés.

241: 1488. Acte du Parlement sur les inclosures.

242: A Compendious examination, 1581, by William Strafford. Acte du Parlement, 1541. Whereby the inhabitants of the said town have gotten and come into riches and wealthy livings. (Il s'agit de Manchester.)

243: Pictorial history, I, 902.

244: Pictorial history, I, 903. De 1377 à 1583, de 2 millions et demi à 5 millions.

245: Ludovic Guicciardini. En 1585.

246: Henri VIII, au commencement de son règne, n'avait qu'un vaisseau de guerre. Élisabeth en fit partir cent cinquante contre l'Armada.

1553. Compagnie anglaise du commerce russe.

1578. Drake fait le tour du monde.

1600. Compagnie anglaise pour le commerce de l'Inde.

247: Liv. VI, chap. IV, Pictorial History.

248: Nathan Drake, Shakspeare and his Times, passim.

249: Ce style est appelé le style Tudor. Il devient tout à fait italien, voisin de l'antique, sous Jacques I^er, avec Inigo Jones.

250: Voyez Burton, Anatomy of melancoly; Stubbes, etc.

251: Holinshed, 921.

252: Holinshed, ibid.

253: Elisabeth and James' Progresses, by Nichols.

254: Tiré des Masques de Ben-Jonson. Masque of hymen, 76. Éd. Gifford, t. VII.

255: Aussi certaines lettres privées décrivent la cour d'Élisabeth comme un endroit où il y avait «peu de piété et de pratique de la religion, et où toutes les énormités régnaient au plus haut degré.»

256: Midsummer Night's Dream.

257: Nathan Drake, Shakspeare and his times, chap. V et VI.

258: Stubbs, Anatomy of abuses.

259: Hentzner's travels in England.

Il pense que dans la fête de la Moisson la figure qu'on traînait en char était celle de Cérès.

260: Warton, t. II, § 4; t. III, § 1.

Avant 1600, tous les grands poëtes, de 1550 à 1616, tous les grands historiens de la Grèce et de Rome, sont traduits en anglais. Lillye, en 1500, le premier enseigne publiquement le grec.

261: Ungracious.

262: Ma il vero e principal ornemento dell' animo in ciascuno penso io che siano le lettere, benchè i Francesi solamente conoscano la nobilità dell'arme.... et tutti i litterati tengon per vilissimi huomini. Page 112, éd. 1585, Castiglione, il Cortegiano.

263: Voyez Burchard, majordome du pape, récit de la fête où assistait Lucrèce Borgia; Lettres de l'Arétin, Vie de Cellini, etc.

264: Mot de Pulci.

265: Voyez ses esquisses à Oxford et les esquisses du religieux Fra Bartholomeo à Florence. Voyez aussi le Martyre de saint Laurent, par Baccio Bandinelli.

266: Benvenuto Cellini, Principes sur l'art du dessin. «Tu dessineras alors l'os qui est placé entre les deux hanches. Il est très-beau et se nomme sacrum.... Les admirables os de la tête.»

267: Vie de Benvenuto Cellini. Voyez aussi ces exercices que Castiglione prescrit à l'homme bien élevé:

Peró voglio che il nostro cortegiano sia perfetto cavaliere d'ogni sella.... Et perchè degli Italiani è peculiar laude il cavalcare benè alla brida, il maneggiar con raggione massimamente cavalli aspri, il corre lance, il giostare, sia in questo de meglior Italiani.... Nel torneare, tener un passo, combattere una sbarra, sia buono tra il miglior francesi.... Nel giocare a canne, correr torri, lanciar haste e dardi, sia tra Spagnuoli eccellente.... Conveniente è ancor sapere saltare, e correre;.... ancor nobile exercitio il gioco di palla.... Non di minor laude estimo il voltegiar a cavallo. Page 55, édition 1585.