THE MERCHANT AND THE ROGUES: FRENCH ORIGINAL AND THREE ASIATIC VERSIONS OF THE TALE OF BERYN. By W. A. CLOUSTON. NOOLISH as this story may be considered by some of those who FOOL lay the flattering unction to their souls that they are, emphatically, "sensible, practical" men, there is yet a method in its foolery-which is sometimes wisdom in masquerade. Suppose-and, "When thought is warm, and fancy flows, as the poet Cowper asks-let us suppose a land where wrong is right, false is true, and the rest follows quite naturally. Well, young Beryn arrives with his five richly-laden ships at such a land, where he is "entertained" by the inhabitants. Their ways, however, are calculated to make themselves rich but leave the stranger poor indeed. Clearly, as old Geoffrey was well aware, the only means of escaping such an accumulation of serious claims and accusations was to oppose lie to lie, or rather, to tell greater lies in self-defence; and by Geoffrey's so doing on behalf of his "client" the artful folk of Falsetown were caught in their own snares. To practise the sage maxim, "oppose falsehood with truth," would have been, in Beryn's case, utter and irretrievable ruin! The Tale of Beryn is identical with the first part of the old French romance, L'Histoire du Chevalier Berinus, which is a singular compound of two distinct tales, interspersed with necromantic and chivalric incidents. A manuscript of this romance, of the 15th century, is preserved in the National Library, Paris; and there is another in the Imperial Library, Vienna, neither of which has yet been edited. It was printed early in the 16th century under the title of "L'Histoire du noble Chevalier Berinus, et du excellent et tres-chevalereux champion Aigres de l'Aimant son fils; lequel Livre est tant solacieux, qu'il doit etre sur tout autre nomme le vrai Sentier d'Honneur, et l'Exemplaire de toute Chevalerie. Nouvellement réduit de langage inconnu au vulgaire langage François ;' Paris: Jean Bonfons, sans date. An abstract of it, by Nicolas-Bricaire de la Dixmerie (ob. 1791), is found in Mélanges tirés d'une grande bibliothèque, Paris, 1780, tome viii., pp. 225-277. In the short preface to his extrait, M. de la Dixmerie "has that this romance says not been given to us as a known translation. it first written? We are not told. We are informed that the original author was called Marithiaux; but that tells us nothing. It is supposed that it is a device of the translator to conceal his own name. Let us see if he has made a great sacrifice to his modesty."1 The following is a free translation of the first part of the extrait; it is much to be regretted that the writer did not furnish some passages from the romance itself: In what language was 1 There are two editions of the Histoire de Berinus in the Library of the British Museum, one 66 Imprime par la Veufue feu Jehan Trepperel," Paris (? 1525), the other, printed by Alain Lotrian, Paris (? 1537), both in 4to. Mr. Frederick John Vipan has kindly favoured me with some extracts from the first of these, of which I avail myself in the course of this paper. The author says he has composed his work at the instance and request of his friend and lord, for whom he would do great service if he had enough wit and ability. He then tells us that at the present day many men of understanding would devote themselves to the art of composition and writing, if they were provided with their living, as in old times, for then kings, princes, and great lords maintained men of talent, and held them in great honour ; but now all is changed: men are too much taken up with seeking for means of subsistence to be able to write any profitable work; and even if they should do so, there would be little mention of their productions on account of their low estate, for the higher the rank of the writer the more widely are his works known. "And so there was none but myself, little as I am, to accomplish the command of my lord; and I count it no trouble to fulfil his will, and moreover the matter of which I would speak pleases me. And think not the said matter is new, rather is it of very great antiquity, but it is not of less value on that account."-In the second chapter it is stated that this book was written by a "clerc qui s'appellait Marthiaulx;" and in ch. 128: "Or dit l'histoire ainsi comme marteaulx le raconte; " in ch. 34 he is called marteau. Abstract of French Version. [The nos. at the side are those of the lines of the English Poem.] THE HERE was an emperor of Rome, named Philip, successor of 785 Constantine, who had a council composed of seven sages,1 two 789 of whom, Cicero and Scipio, were astronomers-that is to say, 822 astrologers, for at that time one had not sufficient knowledge to style himself soothsayer or prophet. During the reign of Philip 828 there dwelt in Rome a very noble and wealthy citizen, named Fawnus, who had long desired the blessing of an heir. His wife, 845 Agea, fervently prayed to Heaven for the same, and at last her supplications were granted. She gave birth to a son, whom they 884 named Berinus. Having waited for him many years, they were anxious that the greatest care should be taken of him, and so he was 900 never thwarted in anything, and had every wish or whim gratified. Berinus was scarcely twelve years old when he was considered by the children as one of the best born and worst educated in the capital. On attaining his fifteenth year he ought to have followed the example of other young Romans, and practised the exercises of the field of Mars, such as wrestling, running, and throwing the javelin, as well as leaping hedges and broad ditches, and swimming across the Tiber. It is well known that the great warriors of Rome were excellent swimmers Cæsar gave a proof of this near Alexandria; but Berinus did not wish to take Cæsar as his model. His affectionate parents and himself considered that the exercises of the circus were of too rough a description, seeing that those who engaged in them often : The 1 Wright, in his edition of the Canterbury Tales, printed for the Percy Society, vol. xxvi., p. 243, says that "from the manner in which the Seven Sages are introduced at the beginning of the Tale of Beryn [see 11. 789-825], it is evident there must have been some version of that romance [i. e. The History of the Seven Wise Masters of Rome] in Europe differing from the usual one, which does not contain this story." I don't agree with him. seven sages of the emperor Philip are mentioned but twice afterwards (11. 1099 and 2659), while in the French romance, as we shall see, they figure with little honour-old Geoffrey proves more than a match for their combined "wisdom." It is not uncommon in mediæval stories for a king or emperor to have seven "wise men" for his counsellors, who, unlike those of the romance referred to by Wright, don't relate tales to their royal master. |