BADOURS

ry name of

g minstrels 18, sirvente

din of arms, the stir of thousands in the crusades against | forms of Provençal poetry flourished
the Saracens, which had their origin in the south of France; of livelihood-even, is some instand
and in the chivalrous character of the holy wars, the quar- considerable wealth-to many wanderi
rels of rival families, the gorgeous pageantry of the tourna says: "In the twelfth century, the
ments, and, above all, in the glorification of love and mar- dours circulating rapidly from castl
tial fame, were found inexhaustible materials for descriptive town to town, supplied the place of
poetry.
all the country between the rivers
The troubadours-harbingers of reviving culture in the mountains of Auvergne and the two

adins of old, whose heroic exploits against the Infidel | pilgrimage in search of the far-famed beauty enduring many miseries on his disastrous jo reached the shores of Palestine only to die in t his ladye-love. The countess, who had haster come him on his arrival, placed his body, we ar a rich and honorable tomb of porphyry, on▾ inscribed some verses in the Arabic tongue."

re the theme of wandering minstrels in every Christian
rt throughout Europe? In those days, when chivalry
rounded woman with an atmosphere of sacredness, and
e was looked upon as a sort of feudal service, wherein
knight played the part of vassal, and the lady that of
erain, it was part of the code of honor to become the
mpion of some one mistress, whose charms were extolled
verse; and each powerful châtelain, in the intervals of
, after ruthless slaughter, battles, and treason, would
ite to his lady-love pastorals full of tender sentiment,
1 redolent of the fragrance of fields and flowers.
The aristocracy of fair Provence, in its heyday of glory
1 prosperity, was, notwithstanding this addiction to
se, perhaps the most reckless and profligate the world
ever seen. One of the foremost Barons of the March
Bertrand von Born, a typical warlike troubadour of
twelfth century. Prominent in the political quarrels
he day, a perfect firebrand of war, he was courted and
aded by princes and kings; ever in search of new lands
I new loves, wielding with equal vigor the lyre and the
ord, in the science of war and the art of love he was
hout a rival. Sometimes fighting with Coeur-de-Lion,
etimes against him, this true child of the Langue d'Oc,
er many gallant defenses, was captured, but, through
extraordinary influence he exerted over his captors,
aped with life and liberty. After a long and stormy
eer, Bertrand von Born ended his days as a monk in
Monastery of Coteaux.

n the gallery of noble and stately figures furnished by
vengil poetry, we have a picture of enduring historic
erest left us by the troubadour Rambaud of Vaquieras,
the famous Boniface, Marquis of Montferrat, one of a
oic family of crusaders, who was himself a troubadour
the beau-idéal of a knight - errant, comforting the
cted, punishing the wicked, and relieving distressed
sels. When the preaching of Fulk of Neuilly roused
chivalry of France, Champagne and Flanders to a new
sade, Rambaud followed the banner of his brother-
rms, the marquis, to Palestine, winning knighthood,
ying and fighting his way through all the perils of the
y war. His songs are a record of splendidly dramatic
dents; and in the vivid sketches of his surroundings
are enabled to trace the events in the life of the great
lier-poet, in whom all the virtues and vices of his
estors seem to have been personified.

o Raymond de Miravals, who, Nostradamus informs was "deeply learned in the science of love," we are ebted for a series of lifelike portraits of some of the liest women of the period. This fashionable poet, orious for his misfortunes in love, died "poor, and n out in body and mind," after spending many years is life sighing in the train of a noted beauty. An old ach chronicler writes: "Through the songs of Rayid was Adelais admired and sought of all the barons i near, and she became the subject of curiosity even he courts of Aragon and Toulouse, and the king and count sent her messages and presents of jewels, which willingly accepted."

he great ambition of ladies in the days of chivalry was e eulogized in song, and made famous by the canzons madrigals of the troubadours; so long as they were theme, it mattered not how gallant and equivocal was poetry. The Counters of Tripolis was the cause of the incholy and dramatic episode which cut short the

H

Another minstrel in the train of Richard world-renowned Peter Vidal, unrivaled as an tore, and gifted with an exquisite voice. far and wide, scattering canzons and sirve Christendom; and his "Jongleur's Story" pro haps a greater impression, and clings to the mem stranger fascination, than any lyrical compositi period. Vidal was for some time in the househ Lord of Baux, whose fame as a troubadour was › It was in return for the lays of this high-borr that Frederick Barbarossa presented to him th City of Orange. Conquered by the Saracens, re by Charlemagne, this interesting old place boasts the most romantic histories in the annals of Fren and its vicissitudes were commemorated in Prover Marseilles, Toulouse, Carcassonne, were all famou the Langue d'Oc; but perhaps the favorite hau wandering troubadours was Aix, the ancient capit vence, where the richest rewards of jewels, mone etc., besides unbounded hospitality, were sure the exhibition of their skill. Who could imagine little moribund town, a few miles from Marseille one time the dwelling-place of a noble family, t of the most brilliant circle in Southern France ? realize in its picturesque decay the pomp and p of its old historic aspect in the days of chival Giovanni, the troubadour Count of Provence, the heritor of a mighty name, sang in his court at Ai fondest and proudest memories have gathered ro name of Count Giovanni, his country, his pe valor.

It is curious to note in the records of the trou how many successful followers of the "gentle craf connected with the cloister. The witty and d Monk of Montaudon was known as a fashionabl whilst his superior, Folquet, afterward Bishop of T from a gay troubadour became a fierce religious Many ecclesiastics were sent from monasteries to p sort of musical crusade against the heretics in the d'Oc, who also had their champions in the land Some even became military chiefs of high renown. spicuous amongst them was the monk, Louis Las son of the Count of Ventimiglia. To quote from damus, who discourses much on this member of an and noble family: "He was of such a happy wit, n in the poetical Provencal, but also in the vulgar d that nobody could equal the sweetness of his inv While yet a youth, he took Holy Orders in a mona but afterward falling in love with a lady of the nei hood, the sister of the great Isnard of Glanderes, h ried her, and had five children. The Queen Gi having a powerful army in Provence for the expuls the free companies, gave the command thereof to La who was valiant and skilled in war. At the end campaign, the envy and malice of his ill-wishers him to be persecuted by Pope Urban V., who d that he should return to his convent. But he, who rather have chosen death in preference, and who sa

med bean

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services that the poet had rendered, and those that he | Sunday-scholar, who persistently annoy
might yet render, her crown. Seeing, besides, that he was ence, and makes light of our authority.
a gentleman of handsome person, and gay and generous to be turned out," is carelessly said by
di position, she wrote so earnestly in his favor to the Pope again, forgetting that the natures incli
at Avignon, that His Holiness consented to fix a period of very ones for which Satan is striving,
twenty-five years at the end of which the poet was to who has made his power already felt wil
return to his cell." Lascaris, however, did not outlive the or evil in the days to come. "Turnin
allotted time.
serious punishment a young life can ki
means expulsion; let everything else be
you tried private converse, an earnest
of the home and knowledge of the surro
of class, and the like ?-and, above a
special prayer? It is not a bad plan, o
to suspend a persistent evil-doer by lette
of time; but the element of hope, an
pardon, should always be kept in sight.
pathize with the complaint we heard
make at a teacher's conference-that a 1
had taken in a boy expelled from his, wi
which would have brought out the facts.
is not surely hopeless, who, forbidden
school, presents himself perseveringly
roundings.

In this cursory sketch of the troubadours, it would be
impossible to enumerate each of the fifty-seven poets
whose names are associated with Provençal literature; but
we must not forget two or three of those best remembered
of their age and country. The unfortunate Luc de la
Barre, whose songs reflecting on Henry II. roused the
vengeance of that monarch, was hunted from place to
place and blinded, when he refused all sustenance, and
died of famine and despair. The love affair of Bertrand
of Pezera, a professor of Provençal poetry, with a young
and lovely girl in his school, whom he married in spite of
all opposition, excited great sympathy and interest. The
adventurous couple commenced a life of wandering min-
strelsy; and the "Monk of the Golden Isle" informs us
that before entering a château they would make inquiries
as to the occupants; and "then, with wonderful quickness,
they would compose a song ornamented with the memo-
rable deeds in love, war and the chase of the châtelain and
his progenitors."

Another wandering couple were the celebrated Raymond Ferrand and the Lady of Courbon, who retired from the world, after some years of joyous minstrelsy, to convents within sight of each other. This Lady of Courbon was notorious as one of the presidents of the "Conrt of Love," held in the Castle of Romanini. Queen Eleanor, wife of Henry II., the Countess of Champagne, the Countess of Narbonne, and many noted beauties, gave sentences in these courts, which Hallam speaks of as "fantastical solemnities where ridiculous questions of gallantry were debated." To borrow the language of Sismondi-the noble ladies of that period "instituted courts of love, in which questions of gallantry were gravely discussed and determined by their suffrages; in a word, they had brought the whole of the south of France into a state of carnival, which forms a singular contrast to the ideas of reserve, virtue and modesty which we ascribe to the good old

times."

In Provence, during the Middle Ages, the serenade was a custom, with the charming Alba and Serena-morning and evening songs. Many chivalrous singers were adepts in this light and characteristic form of Provençal poetry.

An old proverb says, "The Arabs' registers are the verses of their bards;" and so these mediæval canzons and madrigals-which are inseparably connected with a most romautic era-present the old life with all its grand ideas and great actions; bringing many illustrious names out of the dim mists of fable into the clear daylight of history.

"UNTIL SEVENTY TIMES SEVEN."

FORGIVENESS has been beautifully illustrated by the

simile of the sea-worm and the mussel. The sea-worm

perforates the mussel's shell, and then the wound is
closed up with a pearl. The Apostle asked our Lord how
often he was required to forgive, and we know the tender,
patient answer that fell from the lips that in death prayed
for His enemies. Some of us can forgive a real injury
more easily than a rudeness, an impertinence. Perhaps

"

BRING HIM UNTO M

A LADY who was in great distress on and wayward brother, went one Sunda accustomed seat in the house of God. she that she felt herself to be in no cond by the services of the sanctuary. A vi cupied the pulpit that day, and was chapter of Mark. While he read on w pression the wonderful words, this Ch came deeply interested, and for the time When the nineteenth verse was reached with emphasis the direction of the M unto Me." These last words came with comfort to the sad and burdened heart. bered by her of the sermon or the rem message had already come to her from Spirit had sent the words, "Bring hin with power to her soul, and she was there to cast her burdens on the Lord as prayer aud faith she carried her errin compassionate Saviour, who is as acce help now as when He walked the earth The load was lifted, and this tru sitting at the feet of Jesus was assured t other all would be well. She went awa prayer, no longer with bowed head, but confidence that God had heard her pray her petition. She had heard the voice gone to Him. She had carried her by God's own time she was permitted to se prayer, and had the unspeakable joy o precious one had confessed Christ as h has passed away, but she rejoices in the that He is for ever with the Lord.

ago.