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Excerpt from Specimens of Old French (IX-XV Centuries): With Introduction, Notes, and Glossary
IN the present collection of Specimens, where a choice was possible, preference has for the most part been given to selections having some special interest for the English reader, from their connexion either with the literature or with the history of England. These will be found to com prise nearly one third of the total number. The interesting Canter mam/ire? Of Nicole de Bozon (a hitherto unknown English writer), lately edited by Miss Toulmin Smith and M. Paul Meyer, and the account in Old French verse of Strongbow's invasion of Ireland, edited, under the title of the 'song of 'dermot and the Earl,' by Mr. G. H. Orpen, unfortunately appeared too late for any use to be made of them here. The three recently discovered Ballade: of Oton de Grauson (printed in Romania by M. Piaget), upon which Chaucer based his so-called 'compleynt of Venus,' seemed of sufficient importance to warrant their insertion in an Appendix. In other respects the collection has been made as representative as the scope of the work would allow. Pains have been taken to select pieces of intrinsic interest and literary merit, complete in themselves, and at the same time characteristic of the works to which they severally belong.
Specimens which have already done duty elsewhere have, as a rule, been excluded. Certain pieces, however, such as the Sfrasburg 0af/zs, Eulalia, the St. Leger, and the like, must necessarily, for linguistic reasons, find a place in any collection of this kind. Their inclusion here, therefore, calls for no further explanation. In the one or two other instances in which the above rule has been departed from, the passages previously selected happened to be the best available for the purposes of this volume. The Specimens are arranged approximately in chronological order, but this arrangement must to a certain extent be regarded as pro visional. By an oversight Marie de France (spec. XXXV) is included among the writers of the thirteenth century; her place is correctly indicated in the introductory note at the head of the piece. Supplementary remarks on several of the Specimens will be found in the Notes. A full Glossary is appended, with references to the text, which, it is hoped, will largely increase its usefulness. A few rectifications have been inserted under the head of Errata.
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