6
Le Pas Saladin. Conclusion Author(s): F. E. Lodeman Source: Modern Language Notes, Vol. 12, No. 5 (May, 1897), pp. 137-141 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2919341 . Accessed: 14/05/2014 03:04 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . The Johns Hopkins University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Modern Language Notes. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 194.29.185.149 on Wed, 14 May 2014 03:04:49 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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Page 1: Le Pas Saladin. Conclusion

Le Pas Saladin. ConclusionAuthor(s): F. E. LodemanSource: Modern Language Notes, Vol. 12, No. 5 (May, 1897), pp. 137-141Published by: The Johns Hopkins University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2919341 .

Accessed: 14/05/2014 03:04

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

The Johns Hopkins University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toModern Language Notes.

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Page 2: Le Pas Saladin. Conclusion

273 May, 1897. MODERN LANGUAGE NOTES. Vol. xii, No. 5. 274

different poetic modes, that is all. A hundred years hence who shall say that the one is more effective than the other?

Note that neither poet blanches or blinks at the realities. There is no timorous art, no timorous morality, no timorous facing of truth here. Despair in Spenser, like a serpent clharmiiing a bird, insinuates his seductive sllg-

gestions till we, too, for the moment are numbed and fascinated. There is no outcome from it, as there is no outconie for his reader at the moment from the terrible metaphysical imiagitnatiotn of Schopenhauer. And so in Tennyson. We are led into the depths. The passioiiate sway of the argumnnt back and forth is irresistible. No art appears; it is all reality. In botlh poets we go throuigh the wlhole sytithesis of doubt. It is terrible, but it is purgative and salutary. We are the stronger for it afterwards. We endure the catharsis of pity anid terror.

It is to be noted, too, that in both poets the moral concluision is the sanme. Despair and pessimism are moods. They are not things to be blown away by argunmenti. In this field e\en wisdom entangles herself in overwiseness. " Vain words " do not help the matter. Act- ion, sunlight, sympatlhy, the consideration of Diviine mercy, the considerationi of the sol- iclarity of existenice anid otir oneness with the whole,-these ar-e the only remedies and the riglht remedies against despair and niegation.

FREDERIC IVES CARPENTER. University of Chicago.

LE PAS SALADIV.* CONCLUSION.

ON comparing the results obtainied from the precedinig exanmination, it is evident that the laniguage containis, in addition to the fornms of the Isle-de-Fratice, a great nuimber which are purely nortli-eastern. These dialectical differ- ences are so numerous, an-d of such a charac- ter, that their use by the author of the poemn seems improbable. If this supposition is cor- rect, the presenit MS. is obviously a copy of anl earlier one, anid the question then arises, what was the dialect of the author.

Althoughl the freciuent occurrence of the * See Jan., Feb. and April issues of current volumes of

this Jouirnal.

same characteristics is not necessarily a proof of their presence in the original MIS., yet the indications that point to the French are so numerous and complete, that it must be re- garded as the language used by the writer. A list of the characteristics found in the text, and belonging to the different dialects under consideration, will slhow nmore clearly the in- fluence of each. The most important of the formls not common to the French are as follows:-

i. Retention of final t. 2. a becomes ei. 3. z beconies s. 4. c+a beconmes c(k). 5. c+e, i becomes ch. 6. Fall of / before a consonant. During the thirteenth century, final t had

lisappeared from all the dialects except the Walloniian and eastern Picard. There are many exanmples of it in the text, but that fiinal t belongecl to the original MIS. cail be shown neither by the metre, nor the rhyme.

The second characteristic is not as distinctive as the first. It is conmmon to several dialects, and may even be fotund in Frenichi. TIhe rhyme shows that ei had the same proniunciationi as the French e.

The reduLctioll of z to s took place in Isle-de- France after the middle of the thiirteenth cen- tury, and, altlhouighl the former continued to be uised, the pronunciation of both was the sanme. As the MS. was probably written at the close of the centuiry, or even later, the use of s for z in the rhynmes need not be regarded as a characteristic belonging- especially to the Picard.

The fourth and fiftlh characteristics are ap- pareiitly foreign to the Frenclh, but their pro- nuniciationi, which alonie is of importance, is in doubt. The only positive evidence as to the pronunciation of the palatal by the author is ftirnislhed by the rhyme toche: Antioche, line 300. Here c before a has the sound of ch. A peculiarity to be observed in the use of these formns is that, instead of being distributed evenly throuiglhout the text, nearly all of them are founid crowded together within a space of less than two hundred lines, while in the rest of the MS. they are comparatively rare. lThis nmay be due to carelessness in copying, and if

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Page 3: Le Pas Saladin. Conclusion

275 iAfty, 1897. MODERN LANGUAGE NOTES. Vol. xii, NO. 5. 276

so, it is an addlitioncal proof that the scribe was from the North.

The sixthi characteristic is interestinig only on accOullt of the rlhyme consWiilez. iiiieus, 286. Althouiglh this seems to favor a Walloiniani origin, yet this suppositioni is unsupported by other examlples, anid even contradicted by the rlhymlle soul. os/, in linle ii8.

The rem ainiing characteristics are nearly equally div7ided betweeni the two north-eastern dialects. Many of thenm are represented by but a single exanmple, anld needl no individuLal mentioni. '[ley may be grouped together as follows:-

i. el+Consotnaid becomes ialn.

2. / becomi-es il/i. 3. 'T'lhe pI-onlounl cesli. 4. 'T'lhe femininie article ii. 5. '[hle use of les for the dative lor. 6. 'I'he ending -onti of the perfect tense.

The evidence in favor of the Isle-de-Franice as the homiie of the wr-iter is more positive. The followving list will slhow at once that the vowels, the con)soinants, an-id the grammatical formi.s are essenitially Frenclh, and that but few clharacteristics are missing compared to the large nutmnber that have been omitted from the Walloniian and Picard.

VoWELS. i. e in position, and o remaini and do not

diphtholngize as in the North. 2. Atonic e in hiatus is still counited as an

extra syllable. 3. a befor-e oral consonants may become

either a, or ei, but its developmnenit in the end- ings atictun anid air is Frenclh.

4. C-Vj and o-j become i and ini. No. 2 iS of some importance as it affects the

metre, which, like the rhyme, generally re- mained unchanged.

CONSONANTS.

The consonants show a greater admixture of northern characteristics, but the regular French forms as given below are in the majority.

i. c-t-a becomes chi. 2. c-t e, i becomes c(s). 3. i is vocalized to u. 4. Final I falls. 5. Gerrman w becotmies gu.

GRAMMATICAL FORMS.

i. The feminiine article 1i is used in a single instance, but elsewhere we find la.

2. There is no trace of the possessive pro- nouns vmi, mis, i;ion, etc.

3. The forms of the verb are all French, as is showni by the endinig -oyis, of the first person plural; oi, of the imperfect; and -ereuzl anid -icrentl, of the perfect tenise.

TIhe preseince in the text of the Wallonian anid Picard clharacteristics may be accouniited for in various ways. As the different dialects are not separated from eaclh other by shalrply definied bouLndaries, the MIS. may have been copiecl either by a single scribe, speaking the miixed laiguage of the fi-ontier, or by onie from aniy one of the northerni dialects. The latter is the more probatble.

The date of the MS. canniiot be determnined, but sinice the development of the Fr-ench dutir- inig the Middle Ages wvas very rapid, it may be approximated with sulfficienit acculr-acy by all exatiniationi of the formis of the laniguiage.

The rhyme of s anid z inidicates that it imuiist have been writteni after tl-he reduction of fs to s, wlhiclh took place aboLit the close of the tlhirteenithi century.

Thle followinig inclicationis imust also be con- sidered, namely:-

i. T he declensiotns are still in force. 2. The suffix -ece is used in place of the

nmore miioderni -esse. 3. The plural of or is without s. 4. Final e has not yet been added to the

first person, singular, of the presenit tenise. Although some of these formiis do not disap-

pear unLtil quite late, yet they are rarely foundcl togetlher in the same MS. afler the middle of the fourteenth cenitury. I thlinik, therefore, that the beginninig of the fourteenith cenitury may be regarded as the most probable date of the composition of the poem, while it may have been copied some years later.

NOTES.

6. The exploits of the kinights were com- nlemorated by mtural painitings. The Pas de SWaladin must have been ver-y popular during the Aliddle Ages, if, as is stated here, repre- senitationis of it were painted oni the walls.

ii. The Pope, at the beginning of the thidcl

138

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Page 4: Le Pas Saladin. Conclusion

277 May, 1897. MODERN LANGUAGE NOTES. Vol. xii, No. 5. 278

Crusade, was Clement thiird and not Lucius. The latter su-cceeded Alexander th-ird in ii8i. He lived btut six month1s in Rone, being driveen forth by a rebellioni in II82, and died at Vteronia, in I I85.

55. The u-ual form of expression ispr-enidre ter7re en/ ligee, namiely, to hiold lanid in fief. Iigee from the old Fr-ainkislh ledig, is also writ- ten with the ending ie, and may, therefore, rlhymle witlh azisier, ini the line below.

69. Heraclius, the Patriarch of Jertisalem, at the time of its captture by Saladin, tool an activ,e part in the defenise of the Kingdom-i. He clearly foresaxv the daniger that threatenied the Christians in Palestine, and, as early as ii8o, joturnieyed to Europe, in order to preach anotlher Crutsade againist the Saracens. The acctusationi made against him by the author probably arose fronm the fact that he favored the electioni of the Count of Tripolis to the thronie, in lplace of Guy (le Lusignani; but this cainot be construed inito an act of treason, for Raynmond was the choice not only of the nobles and clergy. but of all the people as well.

73. Aiiier7e is evidently a mistak-e of the scriibe for amen-i. As it stanids it rlhymvles xvitlh neitlher the precedingi, nor witlh the followhing line, although the context slhows that there lhae been nio oriissioins. By omiiitting aoint d', wlhiclh cani he done without chan)gin-g the mieatin- ing, the number of syllables will be correct.

76. Botlh paz-tanit anid lesc/ans slhould be sep- arated into par tanat -id le champ.

88. Readi avinilt andI niot ail vint. 89. Avoins is ani older form. 104. Sejir is the cily of Tyre. In lille 301, it

couin1ts as two syllables. 105. FL'ise;it is an older form for the more

reguilarJussenit (I)e C(hey., iii 254). iIO. Cil le r-osmnere slhotulld be cil le vos mnere.

Mere, from onmeriri, in conniectioni with the pro- n1oun1 le, formed a stereotyped phrase, anid xwas used to express goodl will.

138. The Christianis of the Mliddle Ages conI- fuLsed the Saracenis xvith the early Paganis. Ini the literaturi-e of that period, the nanme of Apollo is often cotupled to-ether with that of AMohammiiied, both beinig regarded as the gods of the Inifidels.

I4S. Thlle tWo lines are from the Iai de 1' Oiselet. The exac t quotation is as follows:-

Li proverbes dit en apert: Cil qtii tot convoite tot pert.

(Lines 409-410).

263. The nlaimie of ILongis is of fiequent oc- currence in the literature of the Middle Ages, anid lhe is stupposed to have been the one who thrtust the spear into the side of Christ while on the Cross.

I67. A;}n cel sepuitcre gives a better reacing thlain el cel se?l/cre.

I69. Ci vesquii wotldl give a better meaninig than se vesquti.

2I6. It wotuld be interesting- to know wlhether r-oys, in lines 2I6 aind 224, is siinguilar, or plural, as it wotuld slhow wlhetlher the declenisions were still in force at the time the MS. was wirittein. The form is sinigular btut the verb is plural, and the rlhyme cannlot be clepencled upon to solve the question, as so many of the final consonants are silent. Accordinig to the meaniiig it night refer either to one kitg-, or to botlh.

232. The line is short Luiless the imlperfect fler oy be couLnted as tlhree syllables. The final e of the first person, singtlar, imperfect tense, was retainecd as late as the foturteentl) cenitury.

245. Mlesse aind fist", 379, are mistakes of the copyist for miiessi andl fcs/ti.

247. Azrez, whein in atonic positioni in the sentence, may lose its v ancl become arez. This is niot a clialectical peculiarity.

252. La-7rier slhould read Iairrier, the last. 262. Laler-ent is inicorrect. It shoUld be

s'alerenl, as in linie -65. 271. ITlle xvord arnfeei' in this coinnectioin hlas

nio meaning. M. Sylvestre hias corrected it by writing ar-iveil. This will also give the line the rectltirecl nitumiiber of syllables.

283. Tuil is ani adjective agrieeinig with coni- seil, anid should therefore he writtei itou.

297. Godefrey de Bouillon, the celebrated leader of the first CruLsade, set out for Pales- tiine in the spring of io96. Sooni after the captuLre of Jertisalem, le was proclaimed King, but refuised to take the title. He died in iioo, anid hiis body was interrecl near the Holy Seputlclhre.

300. Tockle, from *toccaie, se lockero de=to rescue from.

305. The three principal -ods of the In- fidels vere stupposed to be Mllalioni and Apollin,

139

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Page 5: Le Pas Saladin. Conclusion

279 /Jfay, I897. MIODERN LANGUAGE NOTFES. Vol. xii, No. 5. 280

menitionied before in linie 138, anld Tervagant. 312. Kinig AMfalaquin is probably Prinice Malek,

or Melkiin, the otily soil of the Sultan Nourecd- dii. Hie siucceeded to the thironie oni the death of the Sultan, in 1174, bu"t cli(c niot have the strenigti, or the power to miainitaini himinself loig, anld was finially overthirowin by Saladin, onie of the Emirs of hiis father.

320. Pacssier is ci imiistake for passeir, or pafsser.

320. rhe Subject of f(zie ancd fri/es, 317, iS

the same. It is not uintisial. in Old French for the pronouin of address to be clhaniged from the sinigtilar to the plural, or vice ver-sa, even in the satme senitenice.

327. It caninlot be ascertained whiethier King E7 scofart is atil listorical personage, or whethier the nanie is siniply a creationi of the author. Th'lie nianiy diff'erenit wax's in wlhiich the n,amne is xvritteni; nan iely, ' scorf(acs, 340, Escaifaus, 375, etc., prove thiat it was unknown to the COI.)y ist.

331. Ihlie AMS. hlas ce vatchies writteni as txvo words, btit there is iio doubt that cevachies is meanit.

336. Von!, in the plhrase vont/ eljoian/t, is re- peated in the samle line namilely, s'en von! 1i rois. This is an unniecessary repetition, anid the sense seemiis to reqtuire either an adjective, or a particilple.

342. Averont is an unusual form for the future, the extra syllable being used on ac- count of the mletre.

345. By the twelve lyepbart are nmeaint of course the kniights, they beiing so called be- cause of the leopards painted oin their shields.

36i. Cos should not be written witlh a finial s, nor is it required by the rhyme.

372. As lors is a pronouLn, the final s is in- correct. It was inot added to the adjective iunitil the close of the thirteenth cenitury, and in the text lor, before a plural noun, is always written without s.

465. In linie 45, isnelepas is writteni as two words, isnele pas, and this is the ustual form.

467. Thlle phrase il clot a la reonde is a peculiar one. No examples of the verb clore used in this coinnectioni are founid in the dic- tioniaries.

482. In Phelippons, the inflectional s, whicl marks the inominative sillguLlar, has beeni added

to the accusative. The proper niames are elsewhere correctly declined.

483. All the linees conitaininig mnesire have an extra syllable. TIhe correction can easily be made by dIropping the first syllable of the word antI wvriting sire.

520. In the f/inerar-ium eclited by William Stubbs it is stated that Saladinl wvas kinighted by the constable Helifrid of Toroni.

532. Bly substituting the verb oi, for os, a smiiootlher readlinig would l)e obtainied.

541. Dlamele is inicorrectly writteni for Da- 1miiele. The latter form is also required by the imietre, as the linles 54i anid 548 have but seven syllables.

553. Tonts caniniot rhiymie xith baronis, but it does inot appear that a linle lias been omlitted.

557. By omlittinig the article le before r oi, the ntimber of syllables xwill be correct.

599. The / of cet/z is a late addition, anid belongs especially to the fouirteenthi century.

R EFEREN CE S.

i. Alex_r-Vie (le St. Alexis, par G. Paris. Paris, 1872.

2. Archeer.-Thz! Crtisade of Riclhard I. F. Y. Powell, Editor. AEng/is/k His/o;y by Con- teImporary WHi/e7 s.

3. Acuc.-AuLcasjin uniid Nicolete, von Her- miainin Suchier. Su concd Eclitioni.

4. C0/ev.-Li Chevaliers as Detis Espees, von WV. Foerster, H-lalle, 1877.

5. Darmii.-Counis de Granlmnaire 1listoriquLe de ha ILanigue Fran~aise. I). I)armiesteter, Paris, J891.

6. L)e C/zev.-(Origine et Formation de la Lang-Le Fransaise, par A. de Chevallet, Paris, I858.

7. 1D i e z.-(J r a t mn a t i k der Romaniischen Sprachen, voIn F. Diex. Fiftlh Editioni.

8. Die Cange.-Les Familles d'Outre-Mer, par Du Cange, Paris, I869.

9. Hist. L it.--Histoire Litt6raire de la Fracnce.

to. Jalrb.-Jahit-buch ftir Romanisclhe und Etnglisclhe Literatuir.

ii. Mlarini.-IListoire des Croisades, par Marioi.

I2. Alicliad (.-Histoire des Croisades, par M\ ichauLd.

I3. lk.-L.-Grammaire cles Laingties Ro- Imlanies, par Meyer-Liibke.

140

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Page 6: Le Pas Saladin. Conclusion

28I May, I897. MODERN LANGUAGE NOTES. Vol. xii, No. 5. 282

14. Nleu.-Zur Laut- und Flexionslehre des Altfranzosischen, von F. Neumann. Heil- bronn, I878.

15. Paris, Gason.-La L6gende de Saladin (Extrait du Journal des Savants. Mai A AoAt, 1893), par G. Paris.

i6. Rech.-Recherches sur les Formes Gram-. maticales de la Langue Fran(;aise au xiii. Siecle, par G. Fallot. Paris, 1839.

17. R'cils.-Recits d'un1 M6nestrel de Reims au xiii. Siecle, par Natalis de Wailly. Paris, I876.

iS. Robson.-IMichaud's History of the Crml- sades. Translated from the French, by W. Robson.

I9. R6hiricht.-Beitrige zur Geschichte der Kreuzzuige voni Reinhold R6hricht. Berlin, 1874.

20. Rom.-Romania. 21. Rom. Stlud.-Ronianische Stuidien. 22. .Sch.-Altfranz6sische Grammatik, voII

Ed. Sclhwan. Second Edition. 23. Slubbs.-Chronicles anld Alemorials of

the Reigni of Richard I. Edited by William Stubbs, London, 1864.

24. TraiM.-Trait6 de Versification Fran- caise, par Quiclherat. Second Edition. Paris, i85o.

25. Wilken.-Geschichte der Kreuzziige, von F. Wilkeni. Leipzig, 1807.

26. Z.-Zeitsclhrift f uir IRomanische Plhilologie. F. E. LODEMAN.

Corntell Uziver-sily

COL OR-CHORDS IAN lHOMlSON'S SEASONS.

ALL critics have noticed the opuLlence of color in Tlhomson's Seasons and its almost unerrinig accuracy. He rarely misses the color except in his use of " browtn " for purple-gray to designate the shades of evening or slhadows of forests: and this is probably not a defect in perception, but in nomeniclature.

In a recent reading of the Seasons, I amused myself with noting the chords of color whicl occur, noting only those wlhose combination he emphasises anid either directly inames or distinctly indicates. The scale of colors in his descriptioni of the rainlbow, and the list of flowers of all hues in a garden, I oimlit, as pas- sing beyonid the limits of a chord. As the

matter may have some infinitesimal interest as connected with the revival of polychroma- tism in our literature at the end of the eigh- teenlth century, I subjoini my notes. Green, white, and pink. Fresh-sprung grass

and hawthorn blossoms. Green and golden yellow. Setting sunlight on

grass. Deep browna nd white. Peat-stained streams

with foam. Whtite, yellow and purple. Lilies of the valley

with cowslips and violets. Green, purple (or gray) and white. Foaming

waters amonig mossy rocks. Rose, yellow, white aznd gray. The dawn

breakinig through light clouds. Rose and green. Bluslh-roses oin grass. Gray-brown and green. Ridges of hlay on

grass. Gray, blue aznd white. A wide stream break-

ing over rocks. Blue, yellow, and yellow green. Clear sky

after rain, with low sunilight on grass. Green, yellow, and yellowish gray. Woods,

harvest-fields, anid flocks of sheep. Green tznd va(zrious browns deepenin,g to black.

AutumnI leaves. (WVe muLst understand by "black " a very dark brown. Elsewhere he speaks of autumn leaves as "yellow," bLut does not recognise ally scarlet or crimsson in thetmi.)

Whzite and blne (or gray-blule). Snow with ex- panses of smootlh ice.

Black and blue (or gr-ay blue). Rocks rising tlhrough a frozen sea.

I have not noted the relative frequency with whicih hie employs sinigle colors, but there seems to me a marked deficiency of pure red and scarlet, nor is orange (I think) menitionied.

Instanices of false color are, the full mooni breaking through 'the crimsoned east," and the full moon, wlhen night is far advanced, riding throtuglh "the pure cerulean; " unless by "pure cerulean " we are to understand simply dark transparenit sky.

I have nioted also one remarkable mistake for so accurate an observer of nature. Just after sunset,

rising slow, Blank in the leaden-coloured east, the moon Wears a wan circle round her hluinterd horns ."

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