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FHO.H THE niAV.LtSTO.V COUHIEK. 0 ! NOW'S the hour, when air is sweet, And birds arc all in tunc, To seek with me the cool retreat, In bright and merry Jur.c ; "H'hen every rosc-b'ish ha? a nest, And every thorn a flower, And every thing1 on curth is blcbt, This sweet and holy hour. O come, my dear, when evening flings Her veil of purple round, And zephyr, on his dewy wirgs Sweeps o'er the fiow'ry ground; "When every bird of day is still, And stars are bright above, O come, my dear, and we will fill Our cup, and drink of love. IVc'll fill it from the pure blue sky, And from the glowing west, And catch its spirit in thine eye, And in the small bird's nest ; And take its sweetness from the flov'is Its freshness from the spring, Its coolness from the dewy hours, "When night-hawks take the wing. Then we will wander far away, Along the flow'ry vale, Where winds the brook, in sparking pl.iy, And freshly blows the gale ; And we will sit beneath the shade, That maples weave above, And on the mossy pillow laid, Will drink the cup of love. 2 TAteYavy AyxA.yacAs, &c. Variety's the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor. THE POETRY OF THE TROUBADOURS. rilOM THE NEW MOXTHLT M AG A.7.1STE. r - Chivalrie, Trouth and honour, fredom and curtesie. Chaucer. Concluded from our last." Some of the most interesting por tions of the Provencal poetry are those where we find the fierceness of the warrior and the tenderness of the lov er combined in strange union. The boldest and most heroic hearts sunk into gentleness and submission before the eye of beauty, and the knight that mocked at bolts cf steel, became a willing captive to silken fetters. The inborn affections of the heart are sel dom extinguished ; and, from the field of slaughter and desolation, it turns gladly to the eye of compassion, and the voice of womanly pity. It is a strange truth, that an acquaintance with death and blood often leaves all the milder afFections of the heart untainted. Have we then two souls, as it was sup posed of old, that we can turn from the fierce delight of battle to enjoy the caresses of our children, and the con gratulations of our friends ? But, in the age of chivalry, the names of war rior and lover were almost synony mous, for arms and love were the em ployment of every gentle heart ; and to crown these accomplishments, the knight sung his own battles, and the praises of his mistress, to the sound of his own harp. There is an union of all these feelings in the stanzas which follow, and hich are from Ram baud de V quiras. CompassM with warriors, bound in brilliant arms, Leaguering strong towns, exulting in the litrht, I Mounting the imminent breach 'mid proud a larms, Shaking the old towers from their dizzy hciirht Such be the rugged tasks, which claim me now, Callim my thouirhti from thee, and sweet I.ove'b vow. ! i C.irt in my noble arms, my sole pursuit Hath been the combat and the battle-strife, And my reward hjIi, vain and worthless fruit ! Hath been the dross of gold Alas ! my life Is but a desert, severed from thy side, And even my song hath lost its wonted pride. It cannot be supposed, that in an age when war was a master-passion, its pleasures should not have been cele brated by poets who themselves bore arms. Accordingly, wc find many high-wrought descriptions of the ter rors and delights of warfare in the songs of the Troubadours. The cru sades too, the origin of which was pretty nearly contemporaneous with that of the Gay Science, were well cal culated to awaken all the fiery enthu siasm of a poet's breast. In some in stances, indeed, the double excitement of religious fanaticism and love pro ved too strong for the -sanity of the poet's brain. Pierre Vidal, a renown ed Troubadour, who loved a noble lady not wisely but too well, being banish ed from her presence, resolved to sub due h:s grief by valorous achievements in the Holy Land, and joined the cru sades in which Frederic the First per ished. Here, however, the few wits, whidi ins mistress's cruelty had left him, entirely disappeared beneath the icrvid '.',;ios of Syria. His head, like 1- might of La Mancha's, was filled with chivalrie fantasies. He believed that he had married a niece of th- Em peror of the East, and the title had descended to him in her right ; and even after his return to Europe his extravagance led him into consider able dangers. The examples, which M. Rnvnouard has selected of the warlike' poetry of the Provencals, are full of the most enthusiastic spirit of war and chivalry- We have attempt ed an imitation of some lines, in a poem of Bertrand de Born, as a specimen of the Tyrusan powers of the Trouba-I dours. 1 Not rich viands, nor the cup ! With the red wine sparkling up Not the sweeter joys of sleep To eyes that painful vigils keep Match the soul-born fierce delight, When, amid the mingled light, We listen to the swelling cry " To the rescue ! Victory '." While a thousand hoarse throats hout " Courage ! Courage !" ?mid the rout. Oh ! 'tis joy to hear the neighing Of loosen'd steeds, 'mid slain and slaying To see the shatter'd standards wave, O'er the ctAd and bloody grave Of chief and soldier, side by side, Fallen in the battle's pride ! The Sirz'cntcs, or satires of the Troubadours, were compositions di rected against the vices or follies of the age, or the characters of those who had rendered themselves hateful to the poet. Many of them, indeed, con tain the most personal attacks, whilst others are directed against the crimes and impositions of various classes of men. The germ of the Reformation maybe traced in the violent satires, which, even at this early period, were directed against the depravity, the cu pidity, and the selfishness of the monks, and which deprive the early Italian writers of the honor of having been the first and the most severe opponents of the abuses of the infallible faith. The capital of the Christian world was mentioned by them in terms of the most virulent abuse and contempt. 14 May the Holy Spirit, which was once incarnated, hear my prayer, and break thv beak, O Home !" is the de vout sunnlication of Guillaume Fijrui era 44 for thou hast burst from those boundaries, which God has given thee. thou hast absolved crimes lor gold, and hast charged thvself with a bur- den too weighty for thee to bear. May the Deity destroy thee, Rome thou faithless and immoral city " 4 Sometimes, also, their bold and free satires were aimed against the general corruption and tyranny cf the age. Thus, Polquet de Lunel says, " the Emperor tyrannizes over the kings, the kings tyrannize over their counts, the counts over the barons, and the barons over their vassals, and their tions, amongst others, the Courts of peasantry. The physicians kill , the Ladies of Gascony of Ermen instead of curing, and merchants and : garde. Viscountess of Narbonne of mechanics are all of them liars and the Queen Kleanore of the Count thieves." This is certainly an amiable ess of Champagne and of the Count description cf the times in which the ess of Flanders. This Queen Elea poet lived ; but we must make all due nore was married to Louis VII. of allowances for the spleen and license France, called the Young, and after of his profession. In another, the . wards to our Henry II. Before these poet ridicules the rouge and the cos- awful and lovely tribunals, the rival metics, which the ladies of that day poets used to appear in person, and were in the habit of using. The lat-, plead their own cause ; and the pro ter was the production of a monk, who, ceedings were, no doubt, assimilated in his unhallowed satires, spared nei- j very nearly to those of the courts of ther his fellow-monks, nor fair ladies, j justice of that day, where all the plead- nor ncble poets. We shall say a few words of the various forms of composition which distinguish the poetry of the Trouba dours. Without examinintr the hypo- thesis of Ginguene, who attributes the Provencal poetrv to an Arabian ori- gin, we may remark that it certainly I dre the Chaplain has given us a col was not derived from classical models, j lection of the principal rules, by which It is equally probable, however, that they were as much indebted to the au-! which is said by him to have been re thors of antiquity, as to the eastern ; vealed to a Breton knight in the follow- poets, for the form of their tenuous orng manner : I he champion, wander- poetical disputations, which IVI. Gin guene seems to consider as exclusively of oriental origin, although the ec logues of Theocritus and Virgil con tain many instances ot these poetical contentions. The idea, however, of two poets contending for the mastery of verse, is too simple and too natural to require this traditional explanation. But the peculiar feature, which distin guishes the poetry of the Troubadours from that of the cl assical ages, with out mentioning the vast diversity of sentiment, is the abundant employ ment of rhyme, and the great variety of stanza in which they indulged. 1 he careful attention to harmony also with which their poems were construct ed, is another peculiar characteristic, though at this day our means are very inadequate to judge of this excellence, since all their verses were generally written for music, and sung by the Troubadour, or his Jongleur, to the harp. It was bv this delightful union of poetical sentiment and musical ex- pression, thr-i the full effect was given to these simple and natural effusions of a nation's early genius, of which after ages must forever remain ignorant, and which we can only imagine from the dead and spiritless relies, which the curiosity of later times has preserved in the cabinets of the learned, when tz voice of the poet, which gave a soul to their beauty, is silent, and the strings of his harp, which enhanced their harmony, are mouldering in dust. To appreciate the lull merit oi these compositions, it is necessary to conjure up a vision, and listen to the strains of a young and noble poet, surrounded by the high atmosphere of chivalry the presence of Beauty and Valour. Such were the boasted delights of Owen Glendower in his youth. Tor I was train'd up in the English court, Where, being but young, I framed to the Harp Many an English ditty, lovely well, And gave the tongue a helpful ornament. The account given by M. Raynou ard of those celebrated tribunals, the Courts or Parliaments of Love, is cu rious and amusing ; though he seems to attach more importance to those in stitutions, than probably they ever claimed. Manv authors had illustra ted this subject by their researches before M. Raynouard, amongst whom Sismondi, in his Littcrature du midi de V Europe, and Ginguene, in his Histoire littcrature d Italic, are, perhaps, the best known in this country. Our au thor, however, has availed himself of some sources of information, which had escaped the attention of most of his predecessors ; and from a neglect ed volume written by Andre, a chap lain to the court of France, he has ob tained much interesting matter on this obscure subject. In celebrating the charms of their respective mistresses, or in disputing the various abstruse questions with which la gaie science abounded, it was natural that the chivalrous rivals should wish to refer their contention to some arbitrament, to the authority of which both parties might submissively ield. The Courts of Love, where the fair judges never failed to exact and ob tain the most implicit obedience, were accordingly instituted soon after the introduction of the Gay Science, and lias early as the time of the Count of Poitiers, one of the first and noblest of the Troubadours. The courts were generally held under the authority of some lady distinguished by rank and beautv, who associated to herself a competent number of o;her judges, sometimes amounting to sixteen or twenty. Andre the Chaplain men ings were ere texius or conducted in open court, without the intervention of writing. These compositions were called TensonS) as it is supposed from the Latin con'TE NSioncm, or j eux-par-tis ; and the judgments of the court were called les arrets d amour. An- : these udicatures were guided, and ing through a thick forest, in hopes of encountering the great Arthur, was met by a fair lady, who thus address ed him : 14 I know whom you seek ; but your search is vain without my aid. You have sought the love of a Breton lady, and she requires you to procure for her the celebrated faucon, which reposes cn a perch In the court of Arthur. To obtain this bird, vou must prove in combat the superior charms of the lady of your heart over those of the mistress of every knight in the court of Arthur." A number . . r a - rn a n vemuies ouow. ,n I'ltt t h J. -iilnhf (indc - I'll i - r perch of gold : a paper is suspended to the perch of a golden chain ; this paper contained the code of love, which it was necessary for the knight to pro mulgate, ere he might venture to bear away the faucon as a prize. This code of erotic laws was pre sented to a tribunal composed of many brilliant ard beautiful judges. It was adopted by them, and ordered to be ob- served by all he suitors of their court, under the heaviest penalties. The code contained thirty-one articles, of which we shall give u few. They are all mentioned by Andre the Chaplain. 1. Marriage is no excuse against another at tachment.' . He, who knows not how to conceal, knows not how to love. 3. No one can love two persons at one time. 4. Love must always increase or diminish. 16. At the sudden appearance of his mistress, the heart of a true lover trembles. 23. A true lover must eat and sleep sparingly. 23. A moderate presumption is sufficient to produce suspicion in the mind of a lover. 30. The image of his mistress is present, with out intermission, to the mind ot the true lover. It does not clearly appear what w ere . 4- i r l i,.r- r the sanctions oi these awtul laws, or by what process the courts of love en forced obedience to their decrees ; nor indeed is it very evident whether all the cases, which came within their cognizance, were not merely fictions of the imagination, for the purnose of dis- I playing the poetical talents of the ad vocates, and the wit and beauty ot the judges. M. Raynouard, however, seems to consider these tribunals as possessed of the power of enforcing ertion of lorcc. but by the stronger; - " . 1 , . , . permitted not a knight to enjoy tran- not a Kiugnt 10 enjoy tran- the bosom ot his iamilv, cpiility in while his peers were waging war be yond the seas of opinion, which com pels the gamester to pay a debt of hon or with the money, for want of which . i - nis muustrious tradesman is starving of opinion, which does not permit a man to refuse a challenge, though the law has designated it a crime of o pinion, before the influence of which even tyrants tremble. We shall give cne of the cases, with the decision of the lady -judges, for the edification of our fair readers, especial ly those who are casuisticaliy and co quettishly inclined. Case. A knight, betrothed to a la dy, had been absent a considerable time beyond the seas. She waited, in vain, for his return, and his friends, at last, began to despair of it. The lady, impatient of the delay, found a new lover. I tie secretary ot tne absent i - ..... r 1 1 0 it- - the laclv, opposed this new passion, Ti , , V r o- 1 ne lady's delence was this : 4lbmce !r-.inmr ii-i Tnrivinr -i r t - mtir nti? At a widow, after two years of mourning, may receive a new lover, much more may she, whose betrothed husband, in his absence, has sent her no token of remembrance or fidelity, though he lacked not the means of transmitting it." This question occasioned long de bates, and it was argued in the court of the Countess of Champagne. The judgment was delivered as follows : r lady is not justified in renoun her lover, under the pretext of cm 2: his long absence, unless she has cer tain proof that his fidelity has been violated, and his duty forgotten. There is, however, no legal cause of absence, but necessity, or the most honorable call. Nothing should give a woman's heart more delight than to hear, in lands far distant from the scene of his achievements, the renownof her lover's name, and the reverence in which he is held by the warlike and the noble. The circumstance of his having re trained irom despatching a messenger, or a token of his love, may be explain ed on prudential reasons, since he may have been unwilling to trust the secret of his heart to every strangei's keep ing ; for though he had confided his despatches to a messenger, who might not have been able to comprehend them, yet, by the wickedness of that messenger, or by his death cn the journey, the secret of his love might be revealed., The ingenuity, displayed by the pleaders on both sides, was considera ble, and the decisions of the judges, which are generally pretty diffuse, are usually luminous" and conclusive. Un fortunately for the fame of la gaic science ', there were no reporters at that day to transmit to us the authentic re cords of the courts of love ; and v. e must, therefore, be satisfied with the relics which have been casually pre served of these singular proceedings. We may remark, however, that the au thority of the decisions which remain, js stm lmimpeached by superior ' - - - . jurisuiction. INDUSTRY, .V RELIGIOUS TIILVCS, IMP 011T.UVT. There are some persons who are not deficient in activity, but who are constantly active to no purpose, who take the utmost pains about things which are trifling or contemptible, too frivolous to rucrit cur regard, or too worthless to repay the labor of pursuit To direct our active powers towards the attainment of trifles, is, in fact, to neglect the attainment of better and more serious things. But there is an other species of industry, which is not occupied only in the pursuit of trifles, but in attempts to execute what is re ally vicious and mischievous, contrary to the will of God, and adverse to the happiness of man. To do evil some times requires as much pains as to do good ; and there are individuals, who will often exert great pains in doing evil and take no pains in doing good. i & . p ! ertions ol mind and body will men oi- . - ; icm cmpioy, in oiuci 10 ijci jcci buiuc i nefarious project of revenge, or to ac- complish some unworthy views of am I bition, avarice, or lust. What dili gence do we sometimes observe those, who, in other respects, deserve the re proach of idleness, exert in the pur j suit of diversions and amusements ; Will not the gambler sit up, night after night, without rest, and almost with out refreshment? How many hours ' will men patiently devote to frivolous, tf nhcrpnf rr wnntnn ?nert.Tr when wouU th-mk ,'hemselves se : verelv punished it they were required , - ha,f the Jn dcvot;OR 1 l, . -,T'i wtum , .u- we are far from insinuating, that any diversion or amusement, when inno cent in its kind and harmless in its ten- j . ! cien ncv, is, if taken in moderation, in consistent with the spirit or incompat ible with the duties of religion ; but this we say, that men should not make diversion or merriment, shows or fes tivals, their sole pursuit, to the neglect of weightier matters and more lasting interests. There is a time for all things ; a time to work, and a time to play ; but it cer tainly behoves us to devote the larger portion of our time to serious pursuits j becoming our station ; becoming us as i rational beings, designed for a happy i immortality i recreation the business of our lives. we should use recreation to miti jrate our cares, or increase our relish for . ousiness. .fieasure is mcreas sed bv . the recollection ot pain; and crave i , , 1111 1 study or hard labor adds trreatly to ; , -, r 11 ! the recollection of ; the delight of occasional relaxation. -n 1 1 u 1 . I in the world, to attain afrluence or dis- j tinction ! How vigilant, how indefati I gable are men, when ambition or ava- ! , 1 - rice, or lust, incense tneir passions, stimulate the will, and inflame the blood! What efforts will some make to corrupt the simple, or seduce the innocent ! How diligent are others in making mischief, in subverting the in terest of their rivals, or marring the fortune or the reputation cf their ene mies ! But this mischievous kind of industry, vhich, for the well being of society, is more frequent than it ought, is that which infallibly leads to present regret and future misery; which will, in the end, -generate self disapproba tion, uneasiness of mind and bitter ness of heart, and alienate us from the favour of God, without which no true pleasure is to be found. Such is not the industry which becomes the ser vants of our Saviour. The industry best fitted for us is the employment of our faculties in those things, which right reason commands, and God di rects. Such industry will be found most beneficial to us, conducive to our present good and our eternal happiness As this life is so short and uncertain, it behoves us more especially to adapt the exercise of cur faculties to the at tainment of the good things which the gospel promises to those who obey its precepts. Now the state of a chris tian is not a state of idleness, for no one oujrht to be so industrious, as no one can have objects placed before him more worthy of his activity. Hence the Apostles always represent the christian life as one of hardy toil and unabating industry. Hence we are re quired to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling ; to walk wor thy of the Lord unto all pleasing, be ing fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. The scriptures represent to us but one way of attaining the favour of the Supreme Being, and that is by contin ual endeavours to do his will. Thus St. Paul enjoins us to abound in the work of the Lord, since God will ap portion his favour to our labours. In order to do the will of God more ef fectually, we are required to study it, proving what is that good and accept able and perfect will of God. Wc fellow the world in approving others, bu. rrc f o bcfcrs it in armroviS' cursYCt,
