It is therefore evident that the exploits of Tristram were celebrated by the continental poets long before the birth of Thomas of Erceldoune. If we may rely on the authority of the Welsh annals, they were recorded at a much earlier period, and his character belongs to authentic history. It has been remarked that the scene of Tristram's life and adventures is laid in countries inhabited by the Celtic tribes, and that the names of all the principal personages are of genuine British origin.* Some of those names however do not seem to be exclusively British. Mark is evidently derived from the Latin Marcus, which, under certain varieties of termination, has found its way into most countries of Europe. Rouland Rise, the appellation of the hero's father, is perhaps of a mixed character: Rouland has for many centuries been a French name; and Rise, whatever it may signify in the Celtic dialects, is conspicuous in the Gothic as denoting a giant or hero. In the ancient Danish ballads we meet with Langben Rise and Berner Rise; and Rouland Rise is apparently a name of similar formation, denoting the giant or hero Rouland. The introduction to Gottfried's poem exhibits a passage which has been supposed to contain an allusion to Thomas of Erceldoune : Kinderling's Aber, als ich gesprochen han, Vnde an Britvnschen buchen las Aller der landherren leben, Vnde ez vns zu kvnde hat gegeben.§ Geschichte der Nieder-Sächsischen, oder sogenanten Plattdeutschen Sprache,' S. 350. Magdeburg, 1800, 8vo. Notwithstanding the celebrity of the French original, it has very recently been printed for the first time. (Le Roman du Renart, publié par M. D. M. Méon. Paris, 1826, 4 tom. 8vo.) The branch ascribed to Marie de France is inserted in the fourth volume. With respect to her claim to be considered as the author, the reader may consult the preface of M. Méon, p. vii. and M. Robert's Essai sur les Auteurs dont les Fables ont précédé celles de La Fontaine,' (p. cxxix. cliv.) prefixed to 'Fables inédites des XII, XIIIe et XIVe Siècles, et Fables de La Fontaine rapprochées de celles de tous les Auteurs qui avoient, avant lui, traité les mêmes sujets.' Paris, 1825, 2 tom. 8vo. *Scott's Introduction, p. xxv. Rese, gigas, homo insolitae magnitudinis. Isl. hrese, risur. V. Verelii Index, p. 124. Al. riso. Belg. reus. Germ. riese. L. B. risius. Terram quam incolebant hi Gigantes, veteres historici Risaland nuncupant.' (Ihre, Glossarium Suiogothicum, tom. ii. col. 424.) Udvalgte Danske Viser, udgivne af Abrahamson, Nyerup, og Rahbek, i. Bd. S. 25. 55. Kiöbenhavn, 1812-4, 5 Bind. 8vo. § Tristan von Meister Gotfrit von Straszburg, S. 5. Here Here Gottfried appeals to the authority of Thomas von Britanie, which however may either mean Thomas of Britain, or of Bretagne. Von der Hagen and Büsching, the historians of German poetry, have properly suggested a doubt whether the chronology will authorize us to conclude that this precursor was Thomas of Erceldoune.* The precise period at which Gottfried wrote his romance, it may be very difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain: but some manuscripts of it are described as belonging to the middle of the thirteenth century;† and the author is supposed to have died between the year 1240 and the year 1250. Thomas appears to have been still alive in the year 1286. As the intercourse between Scotland and the continent was not then very frequent or familiar, it may be suspected that the Scotish romance could not very expeditiously be translated into French, and circulated in Germany. In the outline of the story, as told by the British and the German poet, there is indeed a general coincidence; but Von Groote has pointed out many variations in the detail. Heinrich von Friberg likewise alleges the authority of Thomas von Britania : Als Thomas von Britania sprach Von den zwein süzen jungen, In Diutsche von in zwein geseit.§ As he supposes this Thomas to have written in the language of Lombardy, we can scarcely understand him as referring to Thomas of Erceldoune; and he is very far from adhering to the narrative of the romance with which we are acquainted. True indeed it is that such writers are often abundantly licentious in quoting authorities: they sometimes make serious protestations of deriving their materials from British or Amorican, and even from Latin or Greek sources; and, as the editor of Sir Tristrem has suggested, their protestations may be entitled to the same degree of credit that is due to Cervantes when he gravely reveals the discovery of the Arabic manuscript. But another early poet, Wolfram von Eschenbach, in his romance of Titurel, quotes as one of his sources of information the Chronicle of Cornwall, by Thomas von Brittanien.|| Mr. Price Von der Hagen und Büsching's literarischer Grundriss zur Geschichte der Deutschen Poesie, S. 133. Berlin, 1812, 8vo. E. von Groote's Einleitung, S. xlix. Von der Hagen's Einleitung, S. ix. § Gottfrieds von Strassburg Werke, ii. Bd. S. 97. See the Preface (p. v.) to Lohengrin, ein Altteutsches Gedicht, herausgegeben von J. Görres, Heidelberg, 1813, 8vo. has has already remarked, that this is evidently the same Thomas mentioned by the other German romancers; and that many of the inferences respecting the extended fame of the Scotish poet must consequently be regarded as erroneous. It is highly probable that this chronicle was written in Norman French: that it was written at a very early period, is sufficiently obvious; for Wolfram, by whom it is quoted, flourished about the year 1207. At a period so remote as the year 1226, a romance of Tristram and Ysoude was, at the command of Hakon king of Norway, translated into the Islandic language by a monk named Robert.* This version has never been printed; but the manuscript preserved at Copenhagen has been inspected by the learned and excellent Dr. Müller, who supplies us with some important information. An incident related in Gretterssaga he states to be unquestionably borrowed from the romance of Tristram: the mistress of Dromund has recourse to the same casuistical expedient as the royal mistress of Tristram, in order to prepare her for taking an oath of purgation. Such an incident might possibly have been derived from some other source, or might also have been devised by the writer of the Saga; but it is of more consequence to learn, that the Islandic and the British romance of Tristram closely adhere to the same order. The chronology of Thomas of Erceldoune's life will not permit us to imagine that his romance preceded that which was translated into Islandic at this very early period; and we must therefore conclude that both authors borrowed the story from one common original. The tale of Tristram, after having been very widely circulated by the minstrels, was at length extended and modified into a prose romance, written originally in French, and afterwards translated into Spanish and Italian. It has never been exhibited in an English dress; but Syr Trystram is a conspicuous character in the book compiled from the French romances by Sir Thomas Malory, and commonly known by the title of Mort d'Arthur. The metrical romance ascribed to Thomas of Erceldoune is Einari Sciagraphia Historiae Literariae Islandicae, p. 105. Havniae, 1777, 8vo. Müllers Sagabibliothek, i. Bd. S. 261. Kiöbenhavn, 1817-20, 3 Bind. 8vo.-The same romance is likewise mentioned in Professor Nyerup's Almindelig Morskabslæsning i Danmark og Norge igjennem Aarhundreder, S. 119. Kiobenhavn, 1816, 8vo. See Scott's Introduction, p. lxxi.-An abridgment of the prose romance of Tristan de Léonois occurs in the Comte de Tressan's Corps d'Extraits de Romans de Chevalerie,' tom. i. p. 1. Paris, 1782, 4 tom. 12mo. Of most of the French romances in prose, connected with the story of King Arthur and the Round Table, an account may be found in Dr. Southey's Preface to 'The Birth, Lyf, and Actes of King Arthur.' Lond. 1817, 2 vols. 4to. This is a republication of the work compiled by Sir Thomas Malory, and first printed by Caxton in the year 1485. deservedly deservedly regarded as a precious relique of early British poetry; it is highly curious as a specimen of language, and not less curious as a specimen of composition. The verses are short, and the stanzas somewhat artificial in their structure; and amid the quaint simplicity of the author's style, we often distinguish a forcible brevity of expression. But his narrative, which has a certain air of originality, is sometimes so abrupt as to seem obscure, and even enigmatical. On the subject of these romances, we have collected materials much more ample; but as we despair of finding any very considerable number of readers of a taste sufficiently antiquarian, we cannot venture to proceed much further in the same course. We shall only presume to solicit the good-natured reader's indulgence, if we add a few annotations on detached passages of the British romance; and bearing in mind the professed character of this journal, we shall take care to borrow some of our illustrations from foreign sources. On his arrival at Dublin, Sir Tristrem finds the people in great consternation at the ravages of a dragon; for without the agency of a dragon or a giant, no romance can be complete. Such is the national alarm, that the hand of the fair Ysoude is promised to the bold man who shall either slay this monster or take it alive. Tristrem exposes himself to a very perilous encounter with the dragon, which vomits flames of fire that consume shield and stone: after breaking his spear and losing his steed, he at length achieves its death; and having cut out its tongue, he bears it away in his hose next the hide;' but before he proceeds more than ten paces, he is deprived of sense and motion by the powerful operation of the dragon's poison. The king's steward, who had beheld the princess with a longing eye, now makes his appearance, and having cut off the monster's head, presents it to Ysoude as a trophy of the victory which he professes to have obtained; but she receives his report with distrust, and proceeds with her mother to the scene of action, where they find the real champion. Having opened his mouth, they pour treacle in that man;' and when he is at length revived, he avers that he is the slayer of the dragon, and confirms his assertion by producing the tongue.* A similar stratagem is recorded in that very singular relique of German poetry, entitled the Heldenbuch, or Book of Heroes. After the valiant Wolffdieterich has nearly extirpated a whole family of dragons, a certain duke named Gerwart makes his appearance, and, with a design similar to that entertained by the Irish steward, takes * Sir Tristrem, p. 93. 3d edit, Edinb. 1811, 8vo. possession possession of one of their heads; but a combat ensues between the two champions, and after his antagonist is defeated, Wolffdieterich convicts him of imposture by producing the dragon's tongues. Er lugt ihn zu den munde, Ich weiss auch das gar eben, Ohn zungen nicht mag leben.* In the progress of the narrative, we find the frail consort of King Mark exposed to the hazard of submitting to the ordeal by fire. This mode of trial, this ignorant and superstitious appeal to the justice of God, seems very generally to have prevailed among the ancient people of Europe. But the most ancient record of the fiery ordeal is perhaps to be found in the subse quent passage of Sophocles: Ἦμεν δ' ἕτοιμοι καὶ μύδρους αἴρειν χεροίν, Καὶ πῦρ διέρπειν, καὶ θεοὺς ὁρκωμοτεῖν, Nescio In reference to this passage, Brunck has remarked, an antiquius aliud extet superstitionis illius testimonium, qua diu captae fuerunt septentrionalium omnium populorum mentes.' Two different modes of probation are here specified, namely, by handling a bar of hot iron, and by passing through a fire. In the description of a combat between Sir Tristrem and the giant Urgan, the following verses occur : Bot up he stirt bidene, And heried Godes sand.-P. 147. Sir Walter Scott subjoins this note: As explained by an ingenious friend, "Blessed God's son," or rather perhaps, "God's sent," i.e. God's ambassador.' We understand the verse as simply denoting, Blessed the sending of God, or what As this book is of very rare occurrence, we shall copy the title at length: Heldenbuch; darinn viel seltzamer Geschichten vnd kurtzweilige Historien, von den grossen Helden vnd Rysen, wie sie so ritterlichen vmb eines Königs Tochter gestritten haben, vnd wies inen zu Wormbs im grossen vnd kleinen Rosengarten ergangen ist. Jetzundt durchauss mit newen Figuren gezieret, vnd in vier vnderschiedliche Bücher abgetheilet, dessgleichen zuvor nie getruckt ist.' Franckfort am Mayn, 1590, 4to. The passage which we have quoted is to be found in folio 160. Sir Tristrem, p. 160. Stiernhook de Jure Sueonum et Gothorum vetusto, p. 83. Holmiae, 1672, 4to. Ant. Fernandez Prieto y Sotelo, Historia del Derecho Real de España, p. 140. Madrid, 1738, 4to. Sophoclis Antigone, v. 264. edit. Brunck. God |