CHAPTER VIII.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.

Refer

Rhymed Chronicle of Robert Mannynge - Vocabulary — The Forms of the Pronouns - Relation to Ballad Poetry Theories as to Robin Hood-Thierry-Name of a Cycle - Metrical Romance -Time and Popularity Late Editions ences - Influence on the Language - Political Poems - Variety of Measure Wright's Edition - Tendency to form Inflections Example from the "Reliquiæ Antiquæ "— Date to mark the Rise and Development of a genuine English LanguageConnection with the National Life-Sources whence Romance words were Introduced · First English Poet Lawrence Minot - Poems - Verse Alliteration falls into Disuse Recent Revival of it- The first great Prose Writer - Sir John Mandeville - Character of his Work - Philological Value Orthography - Robert Langlande - Estimation in which his Poem was held - Verse - Spirit - Extract from the Sermon of Reason The Creed of "Piers Ploughman."

THE first production that merits our notice at the beginning of the fourteenth century is the rhymed chronicle of Robert Mannynge, or Robert de Brunne. This work is a translation, the first part of the Brut of Wace, down to the death of Cadwallader in 689, and the second part of the Anglo-Norman chronicle of Peter de Langtoft, a continuation of the first down to the death of Edward I. The style of this work is said by Marsh to be superior to that of Robert of Gloucester in ease, though not in grace of expression. Though little can be said of

the literary merits of the work, it has a philological value, as showing some changes in the language. The vocabulary is enlarged by new Romance words, and the old Saxon ending of the third person singular of the verb in d (th) is changed to the modern form in s; and the forms of the pronouns are more as in later English,scho, afterwards changed to she, and the plural forms, thei and ther.1

Campbell sees in the form of the verse traces of the ballad poetry of the time, into which the old metrical romances became resolved. It is certain that ballad poetry was now widely prevalent especially the famous cycle of the Robin Hood ballads. The allusion to these poems in the "Piers Ploughman" of Langlande, as better known to idle fellows than pious songs, is evidence of their popularity.

Of the many disagreeing theories in regard to the historical character of Robin Hood, two may be named, that of Thierry, who regards him as the hero of the Saxon serfs, that continued their resistance to the Norman invaders, even to the reign of Richard Cœur de Lion, and therefore was specially dear to the old English heart, and justly celebrated in patriotic song; the other, from the variety of dates assigned him, ranging through a period of not less than three hundred years, from the middle of the twelfth to the middle of the fifteenth century, denies the existence of any such historical personage, and assigns the name only to a cycle of poems illustrative of one form of English life, that, perhaps, which still delights in fieldsports and rustic merry-makings. It is possible that the true theory will harmonize the two, by uniting the more important elements of both. In any case the value of 2 Marsh, Second Series, p. 235.

these ballads, as a means of maintaining a true native feeling, a genuine home, national sentiment, and of a language among the people best expressive of it, and which no foreign influences could ever suppress or stifle, can hardly be over-estimated. Some value also should be given to the poetic discipline to which the language was thus subjected; yet of far greater account was the preservation of the true flavor of the Saxon element in our speech and character. It thus contributed greatly to the revival of poetry, and to the study of old English at the close of the last century, which still continues with the happiest results upon the purity of the language.

Other important agents in developing the language of the next fifty years, preparatory to the fully awakened English sentiment and nationality, and to the creation of a distinctively English literature, were the metrical romances, the political songs, and many short satirical poems.

As already noticed, the French metrical romances, so popular in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, during the latter part of the thirteenth gradually gave way to productions of a similar character, sometimes merely translations, in the native tongue. English metrical romance was at the height of its popularity during the first part of the fourteenth century, and continued to constitute the larger part of the popular literature for more than a hundred years, then gave place to prose romance, which continued to hold the popular favor till the awakening of a purer religious sentiment by the Reformation led to its neglect. Since they have become of value for philological study, a great number of the old metrical romances have been offered to the public, carefully edited by different scholars, as Ritson, Ellis, Weber, and others,

and by different learned societies. In this way some seventy or more have been published, ranging in size from three hundred to eight thousand lines. Of these a large portion belong to the early part of the fourteenth century, while some, perhaps, were composed in the next century.

For detailed sketches of English metrical romance, see "Percy's Reliques of early English Poetry," the first volume of "Warton's History of English Poetry," Ritson's dissertation in the first volume of his "Ancient English Metrical Romances;" so Ellis, Tyrwhitt, Marsh, and Craik.

When it is remembered that by far the largest part of these romances were translations from the French, it is not surprising that the French forms of versification should have been adopted, and that many French words should have been introduced in order to complete the measure of the lines, if for no other reason. The wonder rather is that so few words were introduced from this source, and that so much facility was shown in the use and accommodation of English words to this versification. Although the literary merits of these old romances are not of a very high order, yet some of them, as the one entitled "Richard Cœur de Lion," edited by Weber, are by no means deficient even in this respect. They ought not to be overlooked in their influence upon the language, in refining its uncouth orthography, and developing its poetic capabilities.

The political and other poems of the time have more of an English spirit, and are more worthy of esteem as the first essays of a national literature. The variety of metre is very great, so as to furnish examples of almost every form of the poetic measures afterwards employed.

No better discipline could have been devised for the nascent language and literature than was thus afforded.

The political songs, edited by Wright, and printed for the Camden Society, contain specimens of English songs of the successive reigns of Henry III., Edward I. and II., that are finely illustrative of the changes the language was passing through. One of these, composed upon the death of Edward I., shows a great variety in the grammatical forms of the verbs, especially in the singular number; the old forms still in use, and the new, as it were, in competition. The poem on the king's breaking his confirmation of Magna Charta shows a decided change in this short interval in favor of the later forms. In different stanzas are found different forms for the plural of the present tense of the verb; in one ending in "en," and in another, as in later English, according to the convenience of the measure. The time of Edward II. was not favorable to literary production, or the development of a national spirit, and little advance was made.

A few writers of this period were in the habit of uniting words, particularly the negatives and pronouns, with their verbs, much as we may suppose the inflections in grammar were originally introduced. This practice was begun in the preceding century, and was continued through the fourteenth, but never became universal, and was effectually checked by the usage of the great authors and by the introduction of printing. Such combinations can only arise in a spoken language, and require time to be so completely fixed by contraction as to become per

manent.

The following extracts are from an interlocutory poem, supposed, from the writing of the manuscript, to have