FOOTNOTES:

A prentyse wryteth to his mayster, fyrste in Englysshe and after in frensshe.[127]Ryght worshypful syr, I recommaunde me unto you as moche as I may, and please you wete that I am in ryght goode helth thanked be God. To whome I praye that so it may be of you and of all your good frendes. As for the mater for the whiche ye sent me to Parys, I have spoken with kynges advocate the which sayd to me I must go to the kynge and enfourme his royalle majeste thereof, and have specyal commaundement. Therfore consyderynge the tyme I have taryed at Parys in the pursute of this and the grete coste and expence done bycause of this. Please you for to knowe that for to pursue that mater unto the kyng, the which is at Monthason next Tours, and for to go thyder it is nedefull to sende me some monye and with the grace of God I shalle do suche dylygence that I shall gete your hertes desyre. No more wryte I to you at this tyme but God have you in hys protectyon. Wryten hastely the XIX daye of this moneth.Tres honnoré sire, ie me recommande a vous tant comme je puis, et plaise vous savoir que ie suis en tres bonne santé la marcy Dieu au quel ie prie que ainsi soit il de vous et de tous vos bons amys. Quant pour la matiere pour la quelle vous me envoiastes a Parys, g'ay parlé avec l'advocat du roy le quel m'a dit quil me fault aller au roy et advertir sa royalle maiesté de ce et ay un specyal commandement. Pource consyderant le temps que j'ay attendu a Paris en cest poursuite et lez granz costz et despens faitz par cause de ce. Plaise vous savoir que pour poursuir ceste matiere au roy, le qyel est a Monthason pres Tours, et pour aller la il est mestier de m'enuoyer de l'argent. Et avecques la grace de Dieu je feray telle diligence que aurez ce que vostre cueur desire. Aultre chos ne vous escripz a ceste foiz mays que Dieu vous ayt en sa protection. Escript hastivement le dixneufieme jour du moys.

A prentyse wryteth to his mayster, fyrste in Englysshe and after in frensshe.[127]

Ryght worshypful syr, I recommaunde me unto you as moche as I may, and please you wete that I am in ryght goode helth thanked be God. To whome I praye that so it may be of you and of all your good frendes. As for the mater for the whiche ye sent me to Parys, I have spoken with kynges advocate the which sayd to me I must go to the kynge and enfourme his royalle majeste thereof, and have specyal commaundement. Therfore consyderynge the tyme I have taryed at Parys in the pursute of this and the grete coste and expence done bycause of this. Please you for to knowe that for to pursue that mater unto the kyng, the which is at Monthason next Tours, and for to go thyder it is nedefull to sende me some monye and with the grace of God I shalle do suche dylygence that I shall gete your hertes desyre. No more wryte I to you at this tyme but God have you in hys protectyon. Wryten hastely the XIX daye of this moneth.

Tres honnoré sire, ie me recommande a vous tant comme je puis, et plaise vous savoir que ie suis en tres bonne santé la marcy Dieu au quel ie prie que ainsi soit il de vous et de tous vos bons amys. Quant pour la matiere pour la quelle vous me envoiastes a Parys, g'ay parlé avec l'advocat du roy le quel m'a dit quil me fault aller au roy et advertir sa royalle maiesté de ce et ay un specyal commandement. Pource consyderant le temps que j'ay attendu a Paris en cest poursuite et lez granz costz et despens faitz par cause de ce. Plaise vous savoir que pour poursuir ceste matiere au roy, le qyel est a Monthason pres Tours, et pour aller la il est mestier de m'enuoyer de l'argent. Et avecques la grace de Dieu je feray telle diligence que aurez ce que vostre cueur desire. Aultre chos ne vous escripz a ceste foiz mays que Dieu vous ayt en sa protection. Escript hastivement le dixneufieme jour du moys.

And so ends this interesting little book.[128]The texts of the two complete editions are in the main identical. The arrangement of the matter on the pages is different, and the spelling of the words, both French and English, varies considerably. Slips which occur in Pynson's text, such as the rendering of 'neuf' by 'ten,' or the accidental omission of a word in the French version, are sometimes corrected in Wynkyn's version. On the other hand, similar mistakes, though much fewer in number, are found in Wynkyn's edition and not in Pynson's; while yet others are common to both the printers. Dialect forms are scattered through the two editions with equalcapriciousness. Both texts contain a few anglo-normanisms. Pynson's shows numerous characteristics of the North-Eastern dialects, Picard or Lorrain, but at times there is a Picard form in Wynkyn's version, where the pure French form occurs in the other. Apart from such variations, the wording of the two editions is usually similar. In cases where it differs, the improvements are found in Wynkyn's edition, in spite of the fact that, as a general rule, the output of Pynson's press reaches a higher literary level than that of the more business-like Alsatian. This exception may, no doubt, be explained by the fact that Pynson was the first to print theGood Book to learn to speak French.[129]Yet here again mistakes are sometimes common to both texts, as, for instance, the rendering of the lines:

For the clerks that the seven arts canSythen that courtesy from heaven came,

by the French:

Pour les clers qui les sept arts saventPuisque courtoisie de paradis vint,

in which the wrong interpretation of the English 'for' (conjunction) and 'sythen' (taken as meaning 'since,' not 'say') destroys the sense.

On the whole, the impression conveyed by the perusal of the two editions is that the work is a compilation of treatises already in existence in manuscript. Neither the letters nor the vocabulary present any strikingly new features. The origin of the courtesy book is known, and it is even possible that the fragment of one leaf preserved belongs, not to another edition of theGood Book to learn to speak French, but to an earlier edition of the courtesy book in French and English, printed probably by Caxton, with the intention of imparting a knowledge of polite behaviour and of the favourite language of polite society at the same time. The fact that it reproduces the original courtesy book more fully than does either of the complete texts of Wynkyn and Pynson, suggests that it belonged to some such edition, or to an edition of theGood Bookearlier than either of these. As to the dialogues, they may have belonged to the group of conversational manuals,which were, no doubt, fairly numerous. Caxton, while maintaining that his 'doctrine' contains more than "many other books," adds: "That which cannot be found declared in it, shall be found elsewhere in other books." That such practical little books shared the fate of the great majority of school manuals is not surprising.

The hypothesis that the work is a compilation of older treatises would, moreover, explain the variations in the quality of the French. The dialogues and letters, it would appear, were in the first place written by Englishmen. Pynson corrected them here and there, without, however, eliminating all the anglicisms, archaisms, and provincial forms; and when they passed through the hands of Wynkyn they underwent still further emendation. The English version contains gallicisms, just as the French contains anglicisms,[130]which were, however, probably due to a desire to make the English tally with the French. This same supposition also makes it easier to understand how it came about that the treatise was printed by the two rival printers within the space of a few years, and explains how it was they repeated the same obvious mistakes.

Thus, of the matter found in the mediaeval treatises for teaching French, grammar rules alone are unrepresented in thisGood Book. Its aim is entirely practical. It seeks to teach those who wish to "lerne tospekeFrensshe" for practical purposes, that is, "to do their merchaundise," and there is no mention of any deeper or wider knowledge of the language. That the work was intended for the use of children as well as for merchants is shown by the introduction of the courtesy book, and, in the later edition, of the favourite frontispiece for children's school-books described above. But these do not form a vital part of the work itself, and are mere supplements, added probably with the intention of increasing the public to which the book would appeal. The children who used it, we may assume, would probably be of the class of the boy, "John, enfant beal et sage," who appears in the 'manière' of 1415, and learns French that he may the more quickly achieve his end of being apprenticed to a London merchant. To such children the apprentice's letter quoted above would be of much interest.

Grammar did not hold a very large place in the teaching of French at this time. Practice and conversation were the usual methods of acquiring a knowledge of spoken French, and no doubt such books as those of Caxton and of Pynson and Wynkyn de Worde found many eager students. The two editions of the first and the three editions of the second with which we are acquainted, all of which probably appeared in the course of the last decade of the fifteenth century, bear testimony to this. Reference has already been made to the probable existence of numerous works of a similar scope in manuscript, and later in print. Such were the "little pages, set in print, with no precepts," to which Claude Holyband, the most popular French teacher of London in the second half of the sixteenth century, refers with contempt; he accuses them of wandering from the 'true phrase' of the language, and of teaching nothing of the reading and pronunciation, "which is the chiefest point to be considered in that behalf," and hence of serving but little to the "furtherance of the knowledge of the French tongue." Yet, though such was the case in all these early works, they seem, without exception, to have enjoyed great popularity at the time they were written, when to speak French fluently was an all-important matter. The difficulty of this accomplishment was realised to the full. We find it expressed in a few disconnected sentences added in French probably at the beginning of the sixteenth century, at the end of the 'manière de langage' of 1396: "We need very long practice before we are able to speak French perfectly," says the anonymous writer, evidently an Englishman, "for the French and English do not correspond word for word, and the fine distinctions are difficult to seize." He proceeds to urge the necessity of a glib tongue in making progress in French, and quotes the case of an unfortunate man, good fellow though he might otherwise be, who lacked this faculty: "Il ne luy avient plus a parler franceis qu'à une vache de porter une selle, a cause que sa langue n'est pas bien afilée, et pour cela n'entremette il pas à parler entre les fraunceis."

In the early part of the sixteenth century, however, French began to be studied with more thoroughness in England. Communication with France and the tour in France were no longer fraught with the same dangers and difficulties, and favoured the use of a purer form of French. Fluent was no longer sufficient without correct pronunciationand grammar. The standard of French taught was also raised by the arrival of numerous Frenchmen, who made the teaching of their language the business of their lives. Further, the spread of the art of printing had rendered French literature more accessible, and supplied a rich material from which the rules of the language might be deduced. And so it became possible for John Palsgrave, the London teacher and student of Paris, to complete the first great work on the French language, in which, however, he did not forget to render due homage to his humble predecessors,[131]then fast passing into oblivion.

FOOTNOTES:[75]Freeman,Norman Conquest, ii., 1868, pp. 16sqq., 28sqq.[76]Manière de Langage, 1396; cp.infra, p. 35.[77]"Doulz françois qu'est la plus bel et la plus gracious language et plus noble parler, apres latin d'escole, qui soit au monde."[78]Jehan Barton,Donait François,c.1400.[79]"Afin qu'ils puissent entrecomuner bonement ove lour voisin c'est a dire les bones gens du roiaume de France, et ainsi pour ce que les leys d'Engleterre pour le graigneur partie et ainsi beaucoup de bones choses sont misez en François, et aussi bien pres touz les sirs et toutes les dames en mesme roiaume d'Engleterre volentiers s'entrescrivent en romance—tresnecessaire je cuide estre aus Englois de scavoir la nature de François."[80]Which no doubt became more numerous, as English, rather than Latin, became the medium through which French was learnt. Thus we findpour hontewritten for 'for shame';il est haut temps, for 'it is high time';quoi('why') forpourquoi;de lesfordes, and so on.[81]Edited from a unique MS. in Trinity College, Cambridge, by W. Aldis Wright, for the Roxburghe Club, 1909 (Camb. Univ. Press). G. Hickes published part of the first chapter, with remarks on its philological value, in hisLinguarum Veterum Septentrionalium Thesaurus Grammatico-Criticus et Archaeologicus, Oxford, 1705, i. pp. 144-151.[82]"Liber iste vocatur femina quia sicut femina docet infantem loqui maternam, sic docet iste liber iuvenes rethorice loqui Gallicum prout infra patebit."[83]P. Meyer,Romania, xxxii. pp. 43et seq.[84]The English spelling, very corrupt in the original, is here modernized.[85]These MSS. have been described and classified by J. Stürzinger,Altfranzösische Bibliothek, viii. pp. v-x.[86]Brit. Mus. Harl. MS. 4971; Addit. MS. 11716, and Camb. Univ. Libr. MS. Ee 4, 20.[87]Camb. Univ. Libr. MSS. Dd 12, 23. and Gg 6, 44.[88]P. Meyer,Romania, xv. p. 262.[89]Brit. Mus. Sloane MS. 513, pp. 135-138.[90]Brit. Mus. Sloane MS. 513, fol. 139.[91]There is a fragment, very indistinct, on French pronunciation in the Brit. Mus. MS. Harl. 4971:Modus pronunciandi dictiones in Gallicis.[92]Cp. also the Brit. Mus. Addit MS. 17716, fol. 100.[93]Camb. Univ. Libr. MS., Ee 4, 20; Oxford, All Souls, MS. 182.[94]Brit. Mus. MS. Harl. 4971; MS. Addit. 17716 (preceding the observations on pronouns and verbs mentioned above); Camb. Univ. Libr., Ee 4, 20; Oxford Magdalen College, MS. 188, and All Souls, MS. 182.[95]Published by Stengel,op. cit.pp. 25-40, from MS. 182 of All Souls, Oxford.[96]Brunot,op. cit.i. p. 376.[97]"A le honneur de Dieu et de sa tresdoulce miere et toutz les saintez de paradis, je Johan Barton, escolier de Paris, née et nourie toutes foiez d'Engleterre en la conté de Cestre, j'ey baillé aus avantdiz Anglois un Donait françois pur les briefment entroduyr en la droit language du Paris et de pais la d'entour la quelle language en Engleterre on appelle doulce France. Et cest Donat je le fis la fair a mes despenses et tres grande peine par pluseurs bons clercs du language avantdite."[98]Brunot,op. cit.i. p. 376.[99]"Cy endroit il fault prendre garde qu'en parlant François on ne mette pas une personne pour une aultre si come font les sottez gens, disantz ainsije ferrapourje ferray. . . ."[100]We pass from the numbers of nouns to the person of verbs, then to the genders and kinds (proper, appellative) of nouns and their cases, six in number on the analogy of Latin, which is naturally the basis of the terminology of this work and all others for many years after; then come observations on the degrees of comparison, after which we return to the verbs, and their moods and tenses. The following sections deal with the parts of speech; the four indeclinables (adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections) are merely mentioned. Nouns, adjectives, and pronouns receive some attention, but the chief subject is the verb: "Cy maintenant nous vous baillerons un exemple coment vous fourmeres touz les verbs françois du monde, soient-ils actifez, soient-ils passivez, en quelque meuf ou temps qu'ils soient. Et ceste exemple serra pour cest verbejeo aime. . . ." But the verbs are not classified, and only a few of the best known are conjugated as examples. In the list of impersonal verbs which closes the treatise, English is sometimes used to explain their meaning: "Me est avis,Me seemth."[101]J. Bale,Illustrium Maioris Britanniae scriptorum summarium. Ipswich, 1548, p. 203.[102]Dict. Nat. Biog., ad nom.[103]Preserved in a considerable number of MSS.: Brit. Mus. (Harl. 3988, Addit. 17716), Oxford (All Souls, 182), Camb. Univ. Libr. (Bd 12, 23), and in Sir Thomas Philipps's Library at Cheltenham (MS. No. 8188). The earliest (Harl. 3988) was published by P. Meyer in theRevue Critique, 1873, pp. 373-408.[104]The name of Kirmington, which occurs at the end, is no doubt that of the copyist.[105]Athenaeum, Oct. 5, 1878: article by Stengel.[106]Published by Stengel,op. cit.pp. 12-15.[107]Stengel,Athenaeum, Oct. 5, 1878. Coyfurelly also rehandled theTractatus Orthographiaeof 'T. H., Student of Paris.'[108]Ed. Paul Meyer,Romania, xxxii. pp. 49-58. It exists in three MSS.; at the end ofFeminain Camb. Univ. Libr. (Dd 12, 23), at Trinity Col. Camb. (B 14. 39, 40), and in the Brit. Mus. (Addit. 17716).[109]French, however, still had some standing at Oxford at this date.[110]Preserved in Cambridge University Library.[111]Containing such anglicisms as the rendering of 'already' bytout prest.[112]Such collections exist in MSS. Harl. 4971 and Addit. 17716, Brit. Mus.; and in Ee 4, 20, Camb. Univ. Libr.[113]Harl. 4971; cp. Stürzinger,op. cit.p. xvi.[114]Early bibliographers seem to have been uncertain as to what category it belonged to: for some time it was called aBook for Travellers; then aVocabulary in French and English(Blades,Life and Typography of Wm. Caxton, 1861-63), and finally by the more appropriate title ofDialogues in French and English.[115]Caxton's edition contains ff. 24, with about 24 lines on a page. There are three complete texts extant (at Ripon Cathedral, Rylands Library, and Bamborough Castle), and one fragmentary one (in the Duke of Devonshire's Library). The Ripon copy was reprinted for the Early English Text Society in 1900, by H. Bradley (extra series lxxix.). The other edition, of which a fragment exists in the Bodleian, was probably printed by Wynkyn de Worde (W. C. Hazlitt,Handbook ... to the Literature of Great Britain, 1867, p. 631).[116]Published from a MS. in the Bibliothèque Nationale, by M. Michelant:Le Livre des Mestiers, dialogues français-flamands, composés au 14esiècle par un maître d'école de la ville de Bruges. Paris, 1875.[117]H. Bradley: Introduction to the edition of Caxton'sDialogues.[118]Caxton's arrangement of the French and English in opposite columns is no doubt accounted for by the fact that he wrote the English version by the side of the French in his copy of the original phrase book.[119]E. G. Duff,A Century of the English Book Trade, Bibliographical Soc., 1905; andHandlists of Books Printed by London Printers, Bibliog. Soc., 1913, ad nom. The work is here given the inappropriate title of a "Vocabulary in French and English."[120]It was to have been reprinted by H. B. Wheatley in a collection of early grammars, for the Early English Text Society.[121]W. C. Hazlitt,Bibliographical Collections and Notes, 3rd series, London, 1887, p. 293.[122]For instance, theCato cum commento(1514),Stans puer ad mensam(1516), andVulgaria Stanbrigi(c.1520).[123]"What shalt thou do when thou haste an englyssh to be made in Latine? I shall reherce myn englyssh fyrst, ones, twyces, and loke out my princypal verbe, and aske hym this questyonwhoorwhat. And that worde that answeryth to the questyon shall be the nomynatif case to the verbe."[124]In the British Museum Catalogue Wynkyn's edition is dated 1493? and Pynson's 1500?; the year 1500? is also put forward as the date for the fragmentary edition. W. C. Hazlitt dates Wynkyn's edition at about the year 1498, and Pynson's at about 1492-3 (Bibliographical Collections,ut supra, andHandbook, London, 1867, p. 210).[125]My heres.Mes cheveulx.My browes.Mez sourcieulx.Myn eres.Mez oreilles.Myn teeth.Mez dens.My forhede.Mon front.Myn eyen.Mez yeulx.My nose.Mon nez.My tong.Ma langue . . . etc.[126]Published by E. J.Furnivall,Manners and Meals in Olden Time, 1868, pp. 16sqq.The MS. used by the compiler of the French manual was no doubt of a later date than the one here printed.[127]Pp. 19-20in fine.[128]It contains 11 quarto leaves, of the size of the time, with usually 29 lines to a page.[129]Thus in Pynson's edition the order of the personal pronouns before the verb is often inverted ("le vous diray," "le vous rende"), while it is correct in Wynkyn's; and some lines of the French version of the courtesy book are almost unintelligible, whereas their meaning is clearly expressed by Wynkyn.[130]Such phrases as "say me my friend" fordites-moi mon ami; "do me have a good chamber" forfaites-moi avoir une bonne chambre.[131]In addition to the works already mentioned, some reference to these mediaeval treatises is also found in an article by H. Oelsner, in theAthenaeum(Feb. 11, 1905); in A. Way's edition of thePromptorium Parvulorum(Camden Soc., 1865, No. 89; Appendix, pp. xxviisqq.and pp. lxxisqq.); Ellis,Original Letters, 3rd series, ii. p. 208.

[75]Freeman,Norman Conquest, ii., 1868, pp. 16sqq., 28sqq.

[76]Manière de Langage, 1396; cp.infra, p. 35.

[77]"Doulz françois qu'est la plus bel et la plus gracious language et plus noble parler, apres latin d'escole, qui soit au monde."

[78]Jehan Barton,Donait François,c.1400.

[79]"Afin qu'ils puissent entrecomuner bonement ove lour voisin c'est a dire les bones gens du roiaume de France, et ainsi pour ce que les leys d'Engleterre pour le graigneur partie et ainsi beaucoup de bones choses sont misez en François, et aussi bien pres touz les sirs et toutes les dames en mesme roiaume d'Engleterre volentiers s'entrescrivent en romance—tresnecessaire je cuide estre aus Englois de scavoir la nature de François."

[80]Which no doubt became more numerous, as English, rather than Latin, became the medium through which French was learnt. Thus we findpour hontewritten for 'for shame';il est haut temps, for 'it is high time';quoi('why') forpourquoi;de lesfordes, and so on.

[81]Edited from a unique MS. in Trinity College, Cambridge, by W. Aldis Wright, for the Roxburghe Club, 1909 (Camb. Univ. Press). G. Hickes published part of the first chapter, with remarks on its philological value, in hisLinguarum Veterum Septentrionalium Thesaurus Grammatico-Criticus et Archaeologicus, Oxford, 1705, i. pp. 144-151.

[82]"Liber iste vocatur femina quia sicut femina docet infantem loqui maternam, sic docet iste liber iuvenes rethorice loqui Gallicum prout infra patebit."

[83]P. Meyer,Romania, xxxii. pp. 43et seq.

[84]The English spelling, very corrupt in the original, is here modernized.

[85]These MSS. have been described and classified by J. Stürzinger,Altfranzösische Bibliothek, viii. pp. v-x.

[86]Brit. Mus. Harl. MS. 4971; Addit. MS. 11716, and Camb. Univ. Libr. MS. Ee 4, 20.

[87]Camb. Univ. Libr. MSS. Dd 12, 23. and Gg 6, 44.

[88]P. Meyer,Romania, xv. p. 262.

[89]Brit. Mus. Sloane MS. 513, pp. 135-138.

[90]Brit. Mus. Sloane MS. 513, fol. 139.

[91]There is a fragment, very indistinct, on French pronunciation in the Brit. Mus. MS. Harl. 4971:Modus pronunciandi dictiones in Gallicis.

[92]Cp. also the Brit. Mus. Addit MS. 17716, fol. 100.

[93]Camb. Univ. Libr. MS., Ee 4, 20; Oxford, All Souls, MS. 182.

[94]Brit. Mus. MS. Harl. 4971; MS. Addit. 17716 (preceding the observations on pronouns and verbs mentioned above); Camb. Univ. Libr., Ee 4, 20; Oxford Magdalen College, MS. 188, and All Souls, MS. 182.

[95]Published by Stengel,op. cit.pp. 25-40, from MS. 182 of All Souls, Oxford.

[96]Brunot,op. cit.i. p. 376.

[97]"A le honneur de Dieu et de sa tresdoulce miere et toutz les saintez de paradis, je Johan Barton, escolier de Paris, née et nourie toutes foiez d'Engleterre en la conté de Cestre, j'ey baillé aus avantdiz Anglois un Donait françois pur les briefment entroduyr en la droit language du Paris et de pais la d'entour la quelle language en Engleterre on appelle doulce France. Et cest Donat je le fis la fair a mes despenses et tres grande peine par pluseurs bons clercs du language avantdite."

[98]Brunot,op. cit.i. p. 376.

[99]"Cy endroit il fault prendre garde qu'en parlant François on ne mette pas une personne pour une aultre si come font les sottez gens, disantz ainsije ferrapourje ferray. . . ."

[100]We pass from the numbers of nouns to the person of verbs, then to the genders and kinds (proper, appellative) of nouns and their cases, six in number on the analogy of Latin, which is naturally the basis of the terminology of this work and all others for many years after; then come observations on the degrees of comparison, after which we return to the verbs, and their moods and tenses. The following sections deal with the parts of speech; the four indeclinables (adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections) are merely mentioned. Nouns, adjectives, and pronouns receive some attention, but the chief subject is the verb: "Cy maintenant nous vous baillerons un exemple coment vous fourmeres touz les verbs françois du monde, soient-ils actifez, soient-ils passivez, en quelque meuf ou temps qu'ils soient. Et ceste exemple serra pour cest verbejeo aime. . . ." But the verbs are not classified, and only a few of the best known are conjugated as examples. In the list of impersonal verbs which closes the treatise, English is sometimes used to explain their meaning: "Me est avis,Me seemth."

[101]J. Bale,Illustrium Maioris Britanniae scriptorum summarium. Ipswich, 1548, p. 203.

[102]Dict. Nat. Biog., ad nom.

[103]Preserved in a considerable number of MSS.: Brit. Mus. (Harl. 3988, Addit. 17716), Oxford (All Souls, 182), Camb. Univ. Libr. (Bd 12, 23), and in Sir Thomas Philipps's Library at Cheltenham (MS. No. 8188). The earliest (Harl. 3988) was published by P. Meyer in theRevue Critique, 1873, pp. 373-408.

[104]The name of Kirmington, which occurs at the end, is no doubt that of the copyist.

[105]Athenaeum, Oct. 5, 1878: article by Stengel.

[106]Published by Stengel,op. cit.pp. 12-15.

[107]Stengel,Athenaeum, Oct. 5, 1878. Coyfurelly also rehandled theTractatus Orthographiaeof 'T. H., Student of Paris.'

[108]Ed. Paul Meyer,Romania, xxxii. pp. 49-58. It exists in three MSS.; at the end ofFeminain Camb. Univ. Libr. (Dd 12, 23), at Trinity Col. Camb. (B 14. 39, 40), and in the Brit. Mus. (Addit. 17716).

[109]French, however, still had some standing at Oxford at this date.

[110]Preserved in Cambridge University Library.

[111]Containing such anglicisms as the rendering of 'already' bytout prest.

[112]Such collections exist in MSS. Harl. 4971 and Addit. 17716, Brit. Mus.; and in Ee 4, 20, Camb. Univ. Libr.

[113]Harl. 4971; cp. Stürzinger,op. cit.p. xvi.

[114]Early bibliographers seem to have been uncertain as to what category it belonged to: for some time it was called aBook for Travellers; then aVocabulary in French and English(Blades,Life and Typography of Wm. Caxton, 1861-63), and finally by the more appropriate title ofDialogues in French and English.

[115]Caxton's edition contains ff. 24, with about 24 lines on a page. There are three complete texts extant (at Ripon Cathedral, Rylands Library, and Bamborough Castle), and one fragmentary one (in the Duke of Devonshire's Library). The Ripon copy was reprinted for the Early English Text Society in 1900, by H. Bradley (extra series lxxix.). The other edition, of which a fragment exists in the Bodleian, was probably printed by Wynkyn de Worde (W. C. Hazlitt,Handbook ... to the Literature of Great Britain, 1867, p. 631).

[116]Published from a MS. in the Bibliothèque Nationale, by M. Michelant:Le Livre des Mestiers, dialogues français-flamands, composés au 14esiècle par un maître d'école de la ville de Bruges. Paris, 1875.

[117]H. Bradley: Introduction to the edition of Caxton'sDialogues.

[118]Caxton's arrangement of the French and English in opposite columns is no doubt accounted for by the fact that he wrote the English version by the side of the French in his copy of the original phrase book.

[119]E. G. Duff,A Century of the English Book Trade, Bibliographical Soc., 1905; andHandlists of Books Printed by London Printers, Bibliog. Soc., 1913, ad nom. The work is here given the inappropriate title of a "Vocabulary in French and English."

[120]It was to have been reprinted by H. B. Wheatley in a collection of early grammars, for the Early English Text Society.

[121]W. C. Hazlitt,Bibliographical Collections and Notes, 3rd series, London, 1887, p. 293.

[122]For instance, theCato cum commento(1514),Stans puer ad mensam(1516), andVulgaria Stanbrigi(c.1520).

[123]"What shalt thou do when thou haste an englyssh to be made in Latine? I shall reherce myn englyssh fyrst, ones, twyces, and loke out my princypal verbe, and aske hym this questyonwhoorwhat. And that worde that answeryth to the questyon shall be the nomynatif case to the verbe."

[124]In the British Museum Catalogue Wynkyn's edition is dated 1493? and Pynson's 1500?; the year 1500? is also put forward as the date for the fragmentary edition. W. C. Hazlitt dates Wynkyn's edition at about the year 1498, and Pynson's at about 1492-3 (Bibliographical Collections,ut supra, andHandbook, London, 1867, p. 210).

[125]My heres.Mes cheveulx.My browes.Mez sourcieulx.Myn eres.Mez oreilles.Myn teeth.Mez dens.My forhede.Mon front.Myn eyen.Mez yeulx.My nose.Mon nez.My tong.Ma langue . . . etc.

[125]

My heres.Mes cheveulx.My browes.Mez sourcieulx.Myn eres.Mez oreilles.Myn teeth.Mez dens.My forhede.Mon front.Myn eyen.Mez yeulx.My nose.Mon nez.My tong.Ma langue . . . etc.

My heres.Mes cheveulx.

My heres.

Mes cheveulx.

My browes.Mez sourcieulx.

My browes.

Mez sourcieulx.

Myn eres.Mez oreilles.

Myn eres.

Mez oreilles.

Myn teeth.Mez dens.

Myn teeth.

Mez dens.

My forhede.Mon front.

My forhede.

Mon front.

Myn eyen.Mez yeulx.

Myn eyen.

Mez yeulx.

My nose.Mon nez.

My nose.

Mon nez.

My tong.Ma langue . . . etc.

My tong.

Ma langue . . . etc.

[126]Published by E. J.Furnivall,Manners and Meals in Olden Time, 1868, pp. 16sqq.The MS. used by the compiler of the French manual was no doubt of a later date than the one here printed.

[127]Pp. 19-20in fine.

[128]It contains 11 quarto leaves, of the size of the time, with usually 29 lines to a page.

[129]Thus in Pynson's edition the order of the personal pronouns before the verb is often inverted ("le vous diray," "le vous rende"), while it is correct in Wynkyn's; and some lines of the French version of the courtesy book are almost unintelligible, whereas their meaning is clearly expressed by Wynkyn.

[130]Such phrases as "say me my friend" fordites-moi mon ami; "do me have a good chamber" forfaites-moi avoir une bonne chambre.

[131]In addition to the works already mentioned, some reference to these mediaeval treatises is also found in an article by H. Oelsner, in theAthenaeum(Feb. 11, 1905); in A. Way's edition of thePromptorium Parvulorum(Camden Soc., 1865, No. 89; Appendix, pp. xxviisqq.and pp. lxxisqq.); Ellis,Original Letters, 3rd series, ii. p. 208.

Atthe beginning of the sixteenth century the gradual changes which brought about the extinction of Anglo-French were complete to all intents and purposes; this corrupt form of the language lingered only in a few religious houses and the law courts. The French spoken at the English Court in the Middle Ages had remained purer than elsewhere; for centuries the kings of England were as much attached to France as to England; they had spent much of their time in France and fought for the French crown as their natural right, not as Englishmen in strife with Frenchmen. From the thirteenth century, however, English was understood, though not widely spoken, at Court. It progressed gradually until, two centuries later, in the reign of Henry VI., it was used more frequently than French. By the sixteenth century French was an entirely foreign language at the English Court, and it was round the Court circles that developed the new and more serious study of the language which then arose—a study which led to the production of so important a work as John Palsgrave'sL'Esclarcissement de la langue françoyse. It will therefore be well to consider the extent to which French was used among the nobility and gentry of the time.

The personal ascendancy of the Tudors and the pomp of their Court began to attract the attention of foreigners, and to excite their curiosity. Consequently numerous travellers made their way to the English capital; and later in the same period religious persecution, raging on the Continent, drove many Protestants, frequently men of distinction, to seek refuge in England. What language would these visitors employ in their intercourse with their hosts? English is excluded from the purview, because at this time, and indeedfor some time after, our language received no recognition, and certainly no homage from any foreigner, and but scant deference from English scholars themselves.[132]Several foreign visitors in London have left an account of their impressions on hearing this entirely unknown and strange language spoken. Thus Nicander Nucius, the Greek Envoy at the Court of Henry VIII., says of the English that "they possess a peculiar language, differing in some measure from all others"; although it is "barbarous," he finds in it a certain charm and attraction, and judges it "sweeter" than German or Flemish.[133]Others formed a less favourable opinion.[134]The physician Girolamo Cordano, for instance, when he first heard Englishmen speaking, thought they were Italians gone mad and raving, "for they inflect the tongue upon the palate, twist words in the mouth, and maintain a sort of gnashing with the teeth." The Dutchman, Immanuel von Meteren, gathered the impression that English is broken German, "not spoken from the heart as the latter, but only prattling with the tongue."

We have, however, to recollect that, among the learned, Latin was in general use as a spoken language; it was the ideal of the Humanists to make Latin the universal language of the educated world. Erasmus was able to live several years in England, and in familiar intercourse with Englishmen, without feeling the necessity for learning English or using any other modern language; but he mingled almost entirely with scholars, such as Grocyn, Linacre, Latimer, Colet, and More—men with whom Henry VIII. loved to surround himself. Still, the great Dutchman was an exception even amongst Humanists, who nearly all, at some period in their lives, forsook Latin for their native tongue. Moreover, Latin was not fluently or colloquially spoken by the majority of the English nobility and gentry. The poet, Alexander Barclay, tells us that "the understandyne of Latyn," in the early years of the sixteenth century, was "almost contemned by Gentylmen."[135]"I have not these twenty years used anyTHE SPEAKING OF LATINLatin tongue,"[136]said Latimer at his trial for heresy in 1554—a striking testimony on the lips of one whose natural sympathies were towards Humanism. Some years later the great Huguenot scholar, Hubert Languet, wrote to his young English friend, Sir Philip Sidney—then newly returned from continental travel—to express his apprehension lest the young man should forget all his Latin at the English Court and entirely give up the practice of it; he urges him to do his best to prevent this, and maintain his Latin along with his French. Languet affirms that he has never heard Sidney pronounce a syllable of French incorrectly, and wishes his pronunciation of Latin were as perfect.[137]Sidney, however, does not appear to have considered Latin of as much importance to a courtier as French: "So you can speake and write Latine not barbarously," he wrote to his brother Robert in 1580,[138]"I never require great study ordinarily in Ciceronianisme, the cheife abuse of Oxford." No doubt Sidney voices a general sentiment in this verdict. It is increasingly clear that the supremacy of Latin was beginning to be questioned on all sides, and, while Latin remained to a large extent the language of scholars, it was not generally employed in society.

Further, when the English did speak Latin, foreigners had considerable difficulty in understanding them, on account of their notoriously bad pronunciation. The great scholar Scaliger, who was in England in 1590, tells that he once listened to an Englishman talking Latin for a quarter of an hour, and at last excused himself, saying that he did not understand English![139]To the same effect is the observation of Tom Coryat, the traveller, who, on his journey on the Continent,[140]found his Latin so little understood, that he had to modify his pronunciation. At a later date, when the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosmo III., visited the two English Universities,[141]he was unable to understand the Latin speeches and orations with which he was greeted. A Latin comedy whichthe Cambridge students performed in his honour was equally unintelligible to him. "To smatter Latin with an English mouth," wrote Milton in a well-known passage, "is as ill a hearing as Law French."

At the same time a quickened interest in modern languages generally was felt in England as in other countries. Two of these, Italian and Spanish, entered the arena to challenge the supremacy of French in the world of fashion and intellect. The real issue of the contest, however, was never in doubt. The Renaissance and the new Humanism appeared for a time to favour the Italian rival,[142]but the inherent merits of French, with its particular genius for precision and clarity, easily won the day. Those circles—often very brilliant circles—of distinguished men and women for whom the Renaissance was as the dawn of a new day, often made Italian a more serious object of study than French; but though it was widely learned for the sake of its literature, it was never so widely spoken or so universally popular as French. Italian, and to a minor degree Spanish, were indeed seriously cultivated by the Tudor group of distinguished linguists,[143]and so became a sort of fashion, which, spreading to more frivolous circles, soon degenerated into mere affectation. These dilettanti had been at a great feast of languages and stolen the scraps, to use Shakespeare's words. Such affectation was naturally felt to be dangerous. While Roger Ascham renders due homage to the linguistic attainments of his queen,[144]he finds it necessary to reproachINTEREST IN MODERN LANGUAGESthe young gentlemen of the day with their deficiency in this respect. Professional teachers of modern languages likewise complain of the lack of seriousness on the part of many of their pupils. John Florio,[145]for example, bewails the fact that when they have learned two words of Spanish, three words of French, and four words of Italian, they think they have enough, and will study no more; and a French teacher[146]expresses the same thought in almost identical terms; according to him they learn a little French one day, then a bit of Italian and a snatch of Spanish, and think themselves qualified for an embassy to the Grand Turk. Shakespeare's Falconbridge, the young baron of England, may be taken as a fair example of such dilettantism.[147]

Thus Italian was never a really dangerous rival to French, which had struck its roots deep into the English soil long before Italian influence reached our shores. Not only was this the case, but French was also widely known throughout Europe. Even in the early years of this period, the poet Alexander Barclay, himself the author of a French grammar, affirms that French was spoken even by the Turks and Saracens. The French themselves are said to have been in love with their own language, and, as a result, to have neglected Latin;[148]when the English ambassador at Paris, Sir Amias Poulet, sent to England for a chaplain for his household, he wrote: "Yt were to be wished that he had at the least some understandinge in the French tongue for his better conference with the Frenche ministers, whereof many are not best able to utter there mynde in Lattyn."[149]

We may therefore safely conclude that French was the language commonly spoken by Englishmen in their intercourse with foreigners, although Latin was sometimes used in conversation, and Italians were occasionally addressed in theirown tongue. English was so little used in the Court and its circles that foreigners were apt to forget that England had a language of her own; one of them considers it a merit in Henry VIII. that he was able to speak English! In London, indeed, the use of French was so common that several foreign observers deemed the fact worthy of note. Nicander Nucius, the Greek envoy who visited London in 1545, remarks[150]that, for the most part, the English use the French language, besides having a great admiration for everything else French—an observation which cannot safely be taken as referring to any other class than the nobility, as his relations would be almost wholly restricted to that class. When the Duke of Württemberg visited the court of Elizabeth, where he found ample occasion to exercise his own admirable knowledge of French, he left on record the fact that many English courtiers understood and spoke French very well. The spread of French at the English Court attracted the attention of Frenchmen also, and several years after Nicander's account, Peletier du Mans states that in England, at least among the princes and their courts, French is spoken on all occasions.[151]

French was also not infrequently used in correspondence. Apart from such diplomatic correspondence as exists, numerous examples of the interchange of private letters in French among the English nobility have come down to us. Even among scholars Latin was by no means the only medium of communication. In the sixteenth century the chief scholars of the two countries corresponded with each other, and, though Englishmen never wrote in their native tongue, Frenchmen did occasionally use their own language rather than Latin. Bacon wrote in French to the Marquis of Effiat, and Hotman, on the other hand, in French to Camden: "Me sentant detraqué de l'usage de la langue latine, je vous escris cette lettre en françois pour renouveller avec vous notre amitié ancienne et correspondance."[152]John Calvin corresponded with Edward VI. and Protector Somerset in French, and Henry IV. of France carried on a voluminous correspondence in his own language with his "tres chere et tres aimée bonneFRENCH REGARDED WITH SPECIAL FAVOURsœur," Elizabeth, as well as with her chief ministers.[153]French was thus more than a mere accomplishment for the English gentleman, and soon became an absolute necessity for all those who desired employment under the Crown. It is true that an interpreter might be had, but the practice was looked upon with great disfavour as very unsuitable where private negotiations had to be conducted. The necessity for a knowledge of French on the part of a minister of state may be gathered from the large number of petitions and other documents addressed to them in that language and preserved among the State Papers.[154]A rather curious instance of the favour with which the use of French was regarded in official circles is supplied by the case of a Scotch prisoner in London, who, when he desired leave on parole, on the ground of ill-health, was advised to make his application in French, "to shew his scholarship."[155]Copies of proclamations, issued in foreign countries, were frequently translated into French before being sent to the English Government; and time after time we find a lack of knowledge of French regarded as a serious disqualification for diplomatic or other public service. One young gentleman regrets that he "cannot be engaged on any work of importance as he does not know French." The drawbacks arising from an inadequate knowledge of the language appear from the case of a certain Thomas Thyrleby who writes from Valance to Wriothesly in 1538 telling him how much discouraged he is concerning his knowledge of French. He says he went with the Bishop of Winchester and Brian to the Constable that morning at eight o'clock, and that he could understand them, but not the Grand Master's answer, except by conjecture, guessing at a word here and there; after dinner he had audience of the French king and bore away never one word but "l'empereur, l'empereur" often rehearsed; and he feels he must diligently apply himself to learn the language or the king will be ill served when he is left alone.[156]

The Tudors appear to have regarded the study of French with much favour. The first king of this line had lived formany years in France and was strongly imbued with French tastes.[157]He encouraged Frenchmen to visit England, and appointed one of them, Bernard André, his Poet Laureate and Historiographer as well as tutor to his sons. There were also troupes of French comedians and minstrels who performed at Court from time to time.[158]The king always received with favour at his Court those who were fluent in the French tongue. No doubt Stephen Hawes secured the king's patronage partly by his facility in the use of this language, and partly from his really profound knowledge of French literature, of which the king also was an eager student. Yet this first of the Tudor kings belongs rather to the Middle Ages and the Old Learning than to the Renaissance.

Not until we reach the period of Henry VIII., a distinct favourer of the New Learning, do we enter fully into the spirit of the new movement. In a true sense Henry may be called the first King of England, for England was his real home, and while using the ancient title "King of France," he had no truly filial attachment to the country. He may thus be taken as a fair example of the attitude of the cultivated English noble towards foreign languages. He spoke French fluently though he had never been in France, and also conversed in Latin with ease; Italian he understood, but made no attempt to speak. He always addressed foreigners in either French or Latin.[159]An admirer of French fashions, he copied in such matters his friend and rival, the French king, even allowing his beard to grow when he heard that Francis wore one, and having his hair dressed "short and straight after the French fashion." When the Venetian ambassador, Piero Pasqualigo, came from Paris to London in 1515, Henry eagerly seized the opportunity to institute a comparison between himself and the French king. Pasqualigo, meeting Henry at Greenwich, writes how he on one occasion beheld his majesty mounted on a bay Frieslander, and dressed entirely in green velvet; directly the envoy came in sight, he began to make his horse to curvet and perform such feats, that Pasqualigo says he thought himself looking upon Mars. He came into our tent, the narrator continues, and, addressing me in French, said, "Talkwith me a while."[160]HENRY VIII.'S KNOWLEDGE OF FRENCHHenry then proceeded to question him about Francis and to induce him to draw comparisons between himself and the French king. The ambassador remarks that Henry spoke French "very well indeed." The campaign of 1513 supplies another example of the ease with which Henry spoke French. The English king was accompanied by Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, who later incurred the royal anger by his presumption in marrying Henry's sister Mary, the Dowager of France. On the present occasion, however, the king's knowledge of French was of great service to Suffolk, who found some difficulty in pressing his suit with the Lady Margaret of Savoy, owing to his ignorance of that language. The Duke had half seriously removed a ring from the lady's finger, and, as she particularly desired to reclaim it, and he refused to return it, she called him a thief; but he could not understand the word "larron," so she was forced to call upon the king to explain.[161]

There are extant several examples of Henry's compositions in French. Much of his private correspondence was written in this tongue; and he also essayed to write verses in French, possibly in imitation of Francis I. Their quality may be judged from the following specimens:[162]

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