received their names; and then the creatures of the watery element took similar ones, whenever a fancied resemblance would appear to warrant the application. Thus we have a sealion, a sea-horse, a sea-cow, a sea-calf, a sea dog-fish, a sea-hog (porpoise), a seaunicorn, a sea-otter; and many more which we do not recollect off-hand :what wonder we should have a sea-man and a sea-woman (a merman and mer maid)? But why is not the merman seen as often as the mermaid?-simply because, that those who believe they see them, are males,-the sailors and fishermen. Were those who live on "the great sea," women instead of men, we should hear far less of mermaids, and more of mermen; the sexual feeling affecting even this question. Our correspondent, whom we thank, is T. T. L. L. of West Yorkshire. RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW. Old French Literature.-Mysteries of St. Geneviève-Romances of Robert the Devil, and King Flore, &c.* We have been hindered during several months from continuing our notices of the various foreign publications on Middle Age literature, by a press of other matter, and in the mean time they have been collecting on our table until they are become rather numerous. On the whole, in France the publication of early French and Anglo-Norman poetry has not been so brisk as it was some months ago; but we are happy to say that there are several important works now nearly ready, among which may be enumerated the Romance of Witichind, or the Conquest of the Saxons by Charlemagne, edited by M. Francisque Michel, and the works of the trouvère Rutebeuf, as well as a new Collection of Fabliaux (supplementary to the volumes by Barbazan and Méon), both by M. Jubinal. We have the two first volumes of the Chronicle of Benoît, by Michel; the Brut of Wace, by Le Roux de Lincy; and two volumes of Paulin Paris's useful Catalogue of the French MSS. of the Bibliothèque du Roi; to each of which works we intend successively to devote a separate article. The Collection of Mysteries edited by M. Jubinal from the MS. of the library of St. Geneviève, is a very important addition to our materials for the early history of the stage. On a former occasion we noticed at some length the first volume of this work, whose contents came more properly under the title of Miracle Plays: the present volume contains four rather long mysteries founded on subjects taken from the New Testament, viz.-The Nativity of Christ The Play of the Three Kings-The Passion of our Lord-and The Resurrection of our Lord. In their general style these dramas, which are printed from a MS. of the 15th century, are similar to the ordinary run of our English Mysteries, and they are not embellished with any episodical scenes. The clownish conversation of the shepherds in the play of the Nativity, the swaggering of Herod and his soldiers, with the wrangling between the former and the women whose infants they come to kill, in that of * Mystères inédits du Quinzième Siècle, publiés pour la première fois, par Achille Jubinal, d'après le MS. unique de la Bibliothèque Ste. Geneviève. Tom. 2, 8vo. Paris, Techener, 1837. Le Roman de Robert le Diable, en Vers, du xiiie Siècle, publié pour la première fois par G. S. Trebutien. Paris, Silvestre, 4to. 1837. Le Roman du Roi Flore et de la belle Jeanne, publié pour la première fois par Francisque Michel. Paris, Techener, 12mo. 1838. Lettre au Directeur de l'Artiste, touchant le MS. de la Bibliothèque de Berne, No. 354, perdu pendant vingt-huit ans, suivie de quelques pièces inédites du 13é siècle relatives à divers métiers du moyen âge tirées de ce manuscrit, publiées par Achille Jubinal. Paris, 8vo. 1838. All these publications may be had in London of Mr. Pickering. the Three Kings, the bullying behaviour of the soldiers in the play of the Passion, with their cowardice at the tomb which they are put to guard, are a relief to the otherwise serious character of the dialogue. The play of the Nativity, as well as that of the Resurrection, commences with the Creation. The Creator is introduced reflecting on his works, and in conclusion resolves to make man, in order to occupy the Paradise which Lucifer, by his pride, had forfeited— "Pour recovrer de Paradis Les siéges dont jay jadis Lucifer, par son grant orgueil." "To recover of Paradise The process of creating Adam and Eve is managed in a very ingenious manner, and is a curious specimen of old stage machinery. While the Creator is making the introductory speech, Adam and Eve are lying down on the stage, each of them covered with a blanket. After the speech is ended, "God takes some mud and pretends to make Adam" (Cy preingne Dieu du limon et face semblant de faire Adam), who thereupon jumps up from under his blanket, and praises his Maker. Soon Adam becomes sleepy, and goes to lay himself down by the side of Eve's blanket; God approaches him, takes him by the ribs, and Eve rises from under her covering behind him. Eve, from the moment God leaves her with her husband, begins to wish to eat of the forbidden apple tree, and to wonder why it is forbidden. A devil, called Belgibus, appears beside the tree and tempts her. She eats of the fruit, and, after some conversation, persuades Adam to do the same. The apple sticks in Adam's throat (a circumstance from which is derived a popular name for the protuberance of the throat, Adam's apple, pomme d'Adam), and he cries out "Ha hay! je suy mal avoiez: Nostre Seigneur quant il [me] "Oh me! I am in a scrape: This morsel I cannot swallow. Alas! I bethink me too late Of the speech which made to me Then God comes forward, and causes Adam and Eve to be turned out of Paradise. Adam asks what they are to do, to keep themselves— supposing the word jeté to have been overlooked by the scribe. The addition of this word, however, clearly spoils the rithm of the line, and we venture to suggest that the line needed no alteration, but that jay is only a variation of chaï, fell. The sentence would certainly be better thus interpreted. Et filler tantost ma queloigne And to spin immediately my distaff, And so "Adam delves, and Eve spins."* There were innumerable legends abroad, in the Middle Ages, concerning the holy cross, one of which appears in this Mystery. Time has passed on, and Adam, in his advanced age, is dying. He sends his son Seph (Cep) to Paradise, to pray to God for him. God orders Raphael to give him a branch of the apple-tree. Cy vois Raphael à Cep, et ly baille Cep, beaus amis, entens à moy: "Here let Raphael come to Seph, and give him the branch, and say: And when thy father shall be dead, Seph plants the branch, as he is ordered, and in course of ages out of it grew the tree which furnished the wood to make the cross on which Christ was crucified. Before we leave Jubinal's book, we will observe that it contains an interesting preface and notes, in the latter of which he has printed the Songe d'Enfer of Raoul de Houdaing, and another ancient poem entitled A dispute between the Synagogue and the Church. The curious old Romance of Robert the Devil (a name which has been rendered so famous by the opera of Meyerbeer) is printed very elegantly in quarto, double columns, with the beautiful fac-simile of the old gothic type which was cast at the expense of the Prince d'Essling. To produce a still more close resemblance to the ancient MS. the ten illuminations which adorned it have been re-produced in so many wood-cuts which are given in their several places in the poem. It is altogether a very beautiful book. The English reader has become well acquainted with the legend of Robert the Devil by the re-print of the Old English prose translation in the three volumes of Early English Prose Romances by Mr. Thoms. M. Trébutien has prefaced his edition of the French Metrical Romance, which is of the thirteenth century, by a long and curious introduction, in which he examines the historical allusions which it is supposed to contain, collects the popular traditions concerning it, and gives a list of the different forms in which the romance has, from time to time, appeared. The name of Robert the Devil is still preserved in traditions and names of places in different parts of Normandy. One of the towers of the Tower of London, now called Devereux's Tower, was, in the reign of Henry VIII. known by the name of Robin the Devyll's Tower. We think that M. Trébutien has misunderstood the words of Britton and Brayley, who confess themselves ignorant of the origin of this name. They could scarcely be ignorant of the Legend of Robert the Devil, but they might be uncertain why his name came * See the proverb illustrated both by a picture and a song, in our Review of Wright's Early English Poetry, Gent. Mag. May, 1837, p. 518. + Rain, a branch, from the Latin Ramus. to be given to the tower, a difficulty which the present editor of the romance has not cleared up by saying it is derived from the name of his hero. The real solution probably is, that in the reign of Henry VIII. some room in this tower was fitted up with tapestry representing this curious legend. The beautiful little prose romance of King Flore and the fair Joan, edited by M. Francisque Michel, is written with much naïveté in a very rustic dialect. Its plot resembles that of the Roman de la Violette, which we noticed in January, 1835. The father of Joan was a knight who lived on the borders of Flanders and Hainault. He married her to his favourite esquier, whom he knighted on the occasion, and gave with her a rich dowry. The squier, whose name was Robin, proceeded to fulfil a vow which he had made to go in pilgrimage to St. James of Compostello before he consummated his marriage; and one of the knights at the court of his father in-law made him a wager that before his return he would obtain the favours of his wife. The false knight bribed the old woman who attended on the lady, but no persuasions could prevail, and news had already come that Robin was on his way back; when the knight, fearful of losing his wager, was secretly introduced by the old woman into the house when Joan was naked in a bath. He seized upon her, and, while carrying her to the bed with the purpose of obtaining what she denied by force, he observed a mole on her thigh. Unable to effect his purpose, he retired with disgrace; but by describing to her husband the mole which he had seen, he persuaded the latter that the wager was gained. Robin, in disgust, leaves his wife and home, and goes secretly to Paris. The faithful Joan follows him, and in disguise lives long with him as his page; till they return, Robin challenges and defeats the false knight, recovers his wife, and lives happily with her to his death; after which, as a reward for her many virtues, she is married to the rich King Flore. This little volume is a beautiful addition to the various forms in which appeared this popular story, until at last it was embodied in the Cymbeline of Shakspeare, and therefore it is one of those books which should be in every Shakspeare collection. The last book which we shall notice at present, is a tract by Jubinal relating to a valuable MS. of Romances and Fabliaux which had been long missing from the library at Berne, but which has been recently discovered at Paris, and finally restored to its ancient repository. The first part of this tract is a reprint of a letter to a periodical, giving the history of the MS., with the circumstances connected with its discovery and restoration. This is followed by five poems on the different trades of the Middle Ages, taken from the Berne MS. The several trades that are celebrated in these poems, which are curious illustrations of the manners and costume of the thirteenth century, are the Changers, the Shoemakers, the Clothiers, the Butchers, and the Rope-makers. An extract from the second of these poems, will shew us how great a point it was with the gallants of those days to be bien chaussés. "Ne chevaucher ne porroit Nus prodom s'il nuz piez estoit, Que miaux vaudroit, si con je pans, Et avoir bone chaucéure: "Neither could a respectable person Ride out, if he were bare-foot, For I have seen, as it seems to me, If any one pass by the way, There is not one of those who see him For this is known to great and small, The last article of M. Jubinal's tract is a table of the contents of the Berne MS., with the two first lines of each piece. REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. Remains of the late Rev. Richard Hur rell Froude, A.M. 2 vols. WE have been more than usually interested in these volumes, and very grateful to the editor for having in so judicious and affectionate a manner performed his act of duty to his friend's memory, and given us so true and lively a picture of his profound piety, his brilliant talents, and his accurate and varied knowledge. The author of the volumes was the eldest son of the the Venerable R. H. Froude, Archdeacon of Totnes, and was born and died in the parsonage house of Dartington, Devon. He was born in 1803; was at Otley free school, in the family of the Rev. George Coleridge; went to Eton in 1816; resided at Oriel as a commoner in 1821; took a high degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1824; was elected Fellow of his college in 1826; in 1827 took his M.A. degree; the same year he held the office of tutor till 1830; and he was ordained in 1828. The disorder which terminated his life showed itself in 1831. He therefore passed the winter of 1832 in Italy, and the shores of the Mediterranean; and the two next winters in the West Indies. He died of consumption on the 28th Feb. 1836, when he was nearly thirty-three years old. The two present volumes are formed from papers left behind by the author, but never prepared for publication. The editor justly remarks, that if an apology is requisite for the magnitude of the collection, it will be found in the truth and extreme importance of the views to the development of which the whole is meant to be subservient; and also in the instruction derivable from a full exhibition of the author's character as a witness to those views. The editor, after having expressed the natural reluctance which all persons of delicacy must feel in having the familiar thoughts and habits of those with whom they are connected unreservedly exhibited before the public eye, makes a reserve when the singularity of the case appears to justify it. He says, "Let him suppose a person in the GENT, MAG. VOL. X. prime of manhood, devoting himself ardently and soberly to the promotion of the one great cause, writing, thinking, speaking of it for years, as exclusively as the needs and infirmities of human life would allow; but dying before he could bring to perfection any of the plans which had suggested themselves to him for its advancement. Let it be certainly known to his friends that he was firmly resolved never to shrink from any thing not morally wrong which he had good grounds to believe would really forward that cause; him if he saw his friends in any way postand that it was real pain and disquiet to poning it to his supposed feelings and interests. Suppose further, that having been for weeks and months in the full consciousness of what was soon likely to befall him, he departs leaving such papers as make up the present collection in the hands of those next to him in blood, without any express direction as to the disposal of them; and that they, taking known chiefly to rely, unanimously and decidedly judged publication most desirable for that end, which was the guide of his life, and which they too esteemed paramount to all others. Imagine the papers appearing to them so valuable, that they feel as if they had no right to withhold such aid from the cause to which he was pledged; would it, or would it not be their duty, as faithful trustees, in such case to overcome their own scruples? altogether to one great object, is not of The case of a person sacrificing himself every day occurrence. It is not like the too frequent instances of papers being ransacked and brought to light, because the writer was a little more distinguished or aecounted a little wiser and better than his neighbours. It cannot be fairly drawn into a precedent, except in circumstances equally uncommon.” counsel with the friends on whom he was It was impossible that the editor could pass over unnoticed the probable expression of a feeling, that many of the sentiments and expressions encouraged a dangerous tendency to Romanism; and he has successfully met it, from the author's own repeated declarations. "The view," he says, "which the author would probably take of his own position is this: that he was a minister not of any human Establishment, but of H |