Gents Mag 1850 part 1 p.357
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Gentleman's Magazine 1850 part 1 p.357
simplicity of heart betwixt two persons ignorant of such a defilement, and so form a consummation as that children are borne without wedlock, ought to be made known and prosecuted to a dissolution." The story is told at too great a length for us to give. P.316. "Neither the best friends nor the bitterest enemies of Chapelain could have felt more curiosity than I do to see his poem. Good it cannot be, for, though the habit of writing satire, as indeed the indulgence of any kind of wit, insensibly influences the moral character, and disposes it to sacrifice anything to a good point, yet Boileau must have had some reason for the extreme contempt in which he held this unfortunate production," &c. P.318. "I thank you for Chapelain. I read his poem in the hope of finding something good, and would gladly have reversed the sentence of condemnation, which I must in solemn honesty confirm. It is very bad indeed, and can please only by its absurdity," &c.This celebrated poem, which is not commonly to be met with, is in twelve books, and occupies no less than 400 pages, printed in 1665. The best edition is that we have, printed in 1655. In the opening of the poem a divinity appears to Charles IX. and promises him deliverance from the English, "par le main d'une fille," which promise is loudly applauded by the whole court, who hear it; as for the Pucelle herself, we are told,- Le Ciel, pour la former, fit un rare meslange Des vertus d'une fille, et d'un homme, et d'un ange; D'ou vint parestre au jour cet astre des Francois, Qui ne fut pas un d'eux, et qui fut tous les trois. The names of the English warriors are formed of an ingenious nomenclature, as ex. gr. Glifford, Vindesore, Cecile, Rambert, Burlingham, Markerfield, Unford, and Rameston, to say nothing of Fascot, Termes, and Glacidas. in the twelth and last book, when the fate of the heroine is to be decided, the divinity - we are almost ashamed to write this nonsense - reteats into a kind of private three-cornered study to deliberate upon the subject. The lines are these,- Plus haut que tous les cieux, une loge secrete, Sert a l'Estre incráe de profonde retraite, Quand par ses soins veillans et ses pensáe couverts, Il veut deliberer du sort de l'univers: De trois costáe egaux le loge inconcevable, Forme un triangle unique, en tout sens admirable, Et d'un lieu si sacrá le mystere inconnu Confond le contenant avec le contenu. Should any of our readers wish to be acquainted with the literary history of this poem and the opinions of the learned upon it, they may consult the following books in the places marked: La Harpe, Cours de Litterature, vol.v. pp.139, 151, 195; D'Artigny, Mámoires de Litterature, tom.vii. p.336; Melanges de V. Marville, tom.ii. p.8; Menagiana, vol.i. pp.15, 38, 45; vol.ii. p.44; vol.iii. pp.23, 108, 315; vol.iv. p.179; L'Esprit de Guy Patin ( a curious volume), p.80. Add Segresiana, pp.5, 223. Carpentiana, pp.127, 360, 454, 469. Longueriana, p.32. Bolaeana (Boileau), pp. 135, 151. Ducateana, vol.ii. p.226. Huetiana, p.51. Valesiana, p.44. (Eng. trans.); and Melanges de Litterature par Chapelain (the author of the poem), pref. p.iii. Those better acquainted with French literature than ourselves will easily enlarge this list of works, in which the critical opinions and judgments will repay perusal. We may add that there were four commissioners appointed to try the Pucelle, and we believe only four reports of the trial were officially made. We have seen the one here described. "Receuil contenant toutes les pieces interrogatoires, &c. du proces de la Pucelle d'Orleans, avec le sentence rendue contra elle, par M. Hector de Coquerelle, Nicolas Dubois, &c. in 1456, le tout en Latin, MS." vellum, folio. Coll. cum MS. in Biblliotheca M. F. Didot. P.325. "You will be surprised perhaps at hearing that Cowper's poem does not at all please me. You must have taken it up in some moment when you mind was pre- |
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