for the schoolboy.-Granted; but they reveal the extent of his classical knowledge. His turgid eloquence is fatiguing.-Be it so; he will not tire you long; listen to him with profit, as displaying the tone of his cultivation. The Latin is barbarous, the phrase vague and empty of reasoning. May be so; but you have to learn his monkish dialect; and, except by comparison of text with text, whence are to be collected the materials for the glossary? He deals in signs and portents, firedrakes, fighting armies, and bloody banners in the welkin, and stars showering from the sky.—True; but let them be studied by the meteorologist as the only recorded traces of the cyclical recurrences of the electric stream, or of the shower of the aerolithe. He abounds with fabulous legends. They are the relics of national traditions, the slight and yet certain proofs of the connexion existing between races now spread over the globe. If he borrows largely from other chronicles, you ascertain to what extent the writers so copied were diffused or received as standard authorities-points of great importance in fixing the value of historical evidence. Thus, for example, the absence of quotations from Ingulphus in our English chronicles, goes very far to confirm the opinion of those who have pronounced the work so called, to be a late fabrication. And if facts, accurately told by others, are by your chronicler related with slovenliness, or error, or distortion, you are furnished with a test by which you can estimate his judgment, accuracy, and credibility. Just as look, dress, manner, even tone, are watched by the judge during the examination of the witness, and assist him as a perpetual commentary upon the spoken words. of the evidence-so do all the minuter, nay the minutest, peculiarities of the text, equally aid the judgment of the critical enquirer.

very

A few examples taken from a medieval writer, here given entire, but in which the passages, expunged by Bouquet, are distinguished by italics, will, however, better enable the reader to ap-preciate the practical working of the scheme. We have seen that Dom Bouquet considered that the reader of a chronicler sought nothing but facts; and that whatever matter was irrelevant or strange to the history of France, should be removed. And some examples shall be given from the mutilated Ordericus, to which Sismondi refers :

Porro Burgenses, quia Regi fideles erant, nec illum aliquatenus offendere volebant, ut Julianæ adventum pluribus nociturum intellexerunt, protinus Regi ut Britolium properanter venerit mandaverunt. Providus Rex [illud recollens, ab audaci Curione, Cæsari dictum, in belli negotiis,

Tolle moras, semper nocuit differre paratis,] auditis Bur

VOL. LXXIII. NO. CXLVII.

H

:

gensium legationibus, Britolium concitus venit et portis ei gratulanter apertis in villam intravit. Deinde fidelibus incolis pro fidei devotione gratias egit, et ne sui milites aliquid ibi raperent prohibuit: municipiumve, in quo procax filia ejus se occluserat, obsedit. Tunc illa undique anxia fuit, et quid ageret nescivit pro certo cognoscens patrem suum sibi nimis iratum illuc advenisse, et obsidionem circa castellum positam sine tropheo non dimissurum fore. [Tandem, sicut Solomon ait, non est malitia super malitiam mulieris, manum suam in Christum Domini mittere præcogitavit,] unde loqui cum patre fraudulenter petivit. Rex autem tantæ fraudis feminæ nescius ad colloquium venit, quem infausta soboles interficere voluit. Nam balistam tetendit, et sagittam ad patrem traxit; sed protegente Deo, non læsit.'-(Ordericus Vitalis, p. 848.)

Of course, the mere fact of Juliana's treason against her father, would have been sufficiently recorded without the verse of Lucan and the text from Proverbs; but it is this quaint erudition of the chronicler, by which we realize, so to speak, the personality of the writer. It identifies Ordericus, and gives you a recollection of the living man, instead of an abstract idea; and, besides, do not the words expunged really contain facts which no historian would wish to neglect? We are brought into the library of the monastery of Ouches in Normandy, as it existed in the twelfth century, and you may behold the Roman poet and St Jerome's Vulgate on the shelves. We learn how the classics were searched for ornament, and the Scriptures for illustrations of human nature. We are reminded that Henry was an anointed king, and we learn how much the royal priesthood, according to public opinion, (for Ordericus is a faithful organ of that opinion,) added to the respect commanded by the sovereign.

As another specimen of the result of this supposed adherence to facts, take the following description of the monastery of Bec, and of the course of study which was pursued there :

'Defuncto Herluino, qui fundator et primus Abbas Beccensis monasterii extitit, [et multis carismatibus florens, Ecclesiæ filiis in vita sua sine dolo profuit:] venerabilis Anselmus multiplici litterarum scientia pleniter imbutus successit, et præfatum Coenobium doctis ac devotis fratribus, donante Deo, laudabiliter replevit. [Dein aucto servorum Dei numero, copia rerum non defuit, sed confluentibus amicis nobilibus ac necessariis fratribus necessaria ubertas honorificè provenit.] Ad concilium probatissimi sophiste clerici et laici concurrebant, et dulcia veritatis verba, quæ de ore ejus fluebant, fautoribus justitiæ quasi sermones Angeli Dei placebant. [Hic natione Italus, Lanfrancum secutus Beccum expetiit, et instar Israëlitarum auro divitiisque Egyptiorum, id est seculari eruditione Philosophorum onustus, terram repromissionis desideranter adiit. Monachus autem factus, cælestis theoria omnimodis inhæsit, et de uberrimo fonte sophiae melliflua doctrinæ fluenta copiosè profudit. Obscuras sacræ Scripturæ sententias solerter indagavit, strenuè verbis aut scriptis dilucidavit, et perplexa Prophetarum dicta sa

lubriter enodavit.] Omnia verba ejus utilia erant, et benevolos auditores ædificabant. Dociles discipuli epistolas typicosque sermones ejus, scripto retinuerunt: quibus affatim * debriati non solum sibi, sed et aliis multis non mediocriter profecerunt. Hoc Gullielmus et Boso successores ejus multipliciter senserunt, qui tanti Doctoris syntagmata insigniter sibi hauserunt, et sitientibus inde desiderabilem potum largiter propinaverunt. [Anselmus affabilis et mansuetus erat, et cunctis simpliciter interrogantibus charitative respondebat. Inquirentibus amicis piè libros edidit miræ subtilitatis ac profunditatis de Trinitate, de Veritate, de Libero arbitrio, de Casu diaboli, et Cur Deus homo factus est. Fama sapientiæ hujus didascali per totam Latinitatem divulgata est; et nectare bonæ opinionis ejus, Occidentalis Ecclesia nobiliter debriata est.] Ingens in Ecclesia Beccensi liberalium artium et sacræ lectionis sedimen per Lanfrancum cœpit, et per Anselmum magnificè crevit: ut inde plures procederent egregii Doctores, et providi nautæ, ac spirituales auriga, quibus ad regendum in hujus seculi stadio divinitùs habenæ commissæ sunt Ecclesiæ. [Si ex bono usu in tantum Beccenses Cœnobita studiis litterarum sunt dediti, et in quæstione seu prolatione sacrorum ænigmatum utiliumve sermonum insistunt seduli, ut penè omnes videantur Philosophi: et ex collocatione eorum etiam qui videntur inter eos illiterati, et vocantur rustici, possint ediscere sibi commoda spumantes Grammatici. Affabilitate mutua, et caritatis dulcedine in Domini cultu gaudent, et infatigabili religione, ut vera docet eos sapientia, pollent. De hospitalitate Beccensium sufficienter eloqui nequeo. Interrogati Burgundiones et Hispani, aliique de longe seu de prope adventantes respondeant: et quanta benignitate ab eis suscepti fuerint, sine fraude proferant, eosque in similibus imitare sine fictione satagant. Janua Beccensium patet omni viatori, eorumque panis nulli denegatur charitativè petenti. Et quid plura de eisdem loquar? Ipsos in bonis perseverantes custodiat, et ad portum salutis incolumes perducat, qui gratis cæpit, peragitque bonum quod in eis coruscat.']—(Ordericus Vitalis, pp. 529, 530.)

It will be seen from the italics that five passages are expunged from the text, in order to furnish the historical reader with a more useful and manageable volume. And now-let us examine what is gained by the curtailment. The literary history of a country would, by most enquirers, be considered as constituting an integral portion of its general history. Dom Bouquet's theory compels the editors to think not; and consequently, as far as they are concerned, they expunge the passages relating to Bec; and thus compel the student of French history to remain in ignorance of the merits possessed by the most flourishing and influential seminary of the age-holding a conspicuous place in that genealogy of intellect in which France may justly find her chiefest pride.

But besides the information thus suppressed with respect to the general history, the expunged passages afford other points of

* i. e. Inebriati, Inebriata.

information of considerable value. Lanfranc has very generally enjoyed the credit of being the restorer of the Latin language throughout Europe. A l'égard de la langue Latine en particulier, on convenait dès le même temps que Lanfranc avait réussi à l'épurer et la polir; on allait même jusqu'à prétendre que ses 'leçons lui avaient rendu toute son ancienne splendeur.' From this source, probably, the opinion has been generally propagated amongst modern writers. The foundation, however, for this opinion must be ascribed to an expression employed by his biographer, Milo Crispinus: Fuit quidam vir magnus, Italiâ ortus, quem Latinitas in antiquum scientiæ statum ab eo restituta tota, supremum debito cum amore et honore agnoscit magistrum, ' nomine Lanfrancus. Ipsa quoque in liberalibus studiis magistra gentium Græcia, discipulos illius libenter audiebat et admirabatur. To this passage Dom D'Achery has added an explanatory note or gloss, by which his followers have been deceived. Lanfrancus Latina lingua restitutor, et Græcæ non ignarus." Now, it is rather singular that some suspicion as to this construction of the phrase was not awakened by the known fact, that great as were the merits of this deeply learned and holy prelate, he could scarcely possess the merits so ascribed to him-the grammatical knowledge of the Latin language, accompanied by no inconsiderable degree of scholarship and elegance, being already widely diffused. But the real sense is made sufficiently clear by the words of Ordericus Vitalis, relating to Anselm, which the editors have expunged. Fama sapientiæ hujus didascali 'per totam Latinitatem divulgata est; et nectare bonæ opinioni ejus, occidentalis ecclesia nobiliter debriata est.' What, therefore, is the meaning of the passage of Milo Crispinus? With Ordericus as a commentator, it becomes sufficiently clear. The suppressed text is the best interpreter. Lanfranc was acknowledged as the chief professor throughout Latinity; that is, throughout the Roman or Western Church, or Western Christendom. Even upon the assumption that the question had been of no interest, this example proves the importance of ancient unmutilated texts for philological purposes. In the case of Ordericus, we can fortunately turn to the unmutilated original in the edition of Duchesne. But had the chronicler continued in manuscript, he would have received the same treatment from his unmerciful editor; and then, how could the reader in Great Britain, at Edinburgh, or Oxford, or Cambridge, or London, where not a single manuscript of Ordericus exists, have supplied the deficiency? As far as we are concerned, the passage would have been wholly lost.

* Hist. Lit. de la France, vol. vii. p. 77.

Our limits forbid us from pursuing this examination to the extent which is desirable; but one example more must be allowed. It is taken from the Life of St Bernard of Clairvaux, of which the following is the first or opening chapter :

• Bernardus Burgundiæ partibus, Fontanis, oppido patris sui, oriundus fuit, parentibus claris secundum dignitatem sæculi, sed dignioribus ac nobilioribus secundum Christianæ religionis pietatem. Pater ejus Tecelinus, vir antiquæ et legitimæ militiæ fuit, cultor Dei, justicia tenax. Evangelicam namque secundum instituta Præcursoris Domini militiam agens, neminem concutiebat, nemini faciebat calumniam, contentus stipendiis suis, quibus ad omne opus bonum abundabat. Sic consilio et armis serviebat temporalibus dominis suis, ut etiam Domino Deo suo non negligeret reddere quoad debebat. Mater Aleth, ex castro cui nomen Mons-Barus; et ipsa in ordine suo, apostolicam regulam tenens, subdita viro, sub eo secundum timorem Dei domum suam regebat, operibus misericordiæ insistens, filios enutriens in omni disciplina. Septem quippe liberos genuit non tam viro suo quam Deo, sex mares, feminam unam : mares omnes monachos futuros, feminam sanctimonialem. Deo namque (ut dictum est) non sæculo generans, singulos mox ut partu ediderat, ipsa manibus propriis Domino offerebat. Propter quod etiam alienis uberibus nutriendos committere illustris femina refugiebat, quasi cum lacte materno materni quodammodo boni infundens eis naturam. autem crevissent, quamdiu sub manu ejus erant, eremo magis quam curiæ nutriebat, non patiens delicatioribus assuescere cibis, sed grossioribus et communibus pascens; et sic eos præparans et instituens, Domino inspirante, quasi continuo ad eremum transmittendos.'

Cum

This brief view of the state of feeling prevailing in a noble, knightly family-the absence of the pride of birth-the humble moderation of principle the simplicity of the faith of the parents the separation of their children from the worldpresents surely an invaluable picture for the historian. But Dom Brial, strictly adhering to the pattern of his predecessors, expunges the passage as a superfluity. And with the same desire to lessen the labours of his readers, by not distracting them with irrelevant matter, he draws his pen through the whole narrative of Bernard's preaching the crusade in Germany; which, as Sismondi truly observes, is the most important portion of the saint's political history.

After such examples of the manner in which the lively value of ancient evidence is frittered away and extinguished by this process of comminution, who can doubt but that such a collection does in itself offer impediments and discouragements to historical enquiry ?-As the matter now stands, the Recueil doubles the expense and trouble of historical investigation. No one who wishes to study the history of France from its sources, can possibly dispense with this work. The correctness of the texts, the notes, and, above all, the admirable indexes, render the col