Three kings there were, in eastern lands, who saw that bright star shining, And all amazed they were, and stood with mickle thought divining So swift their way these wise men took, yready making them, Good store of incense and of myrrh, and precious fine red gold,* No carved couch, nor cradle fair, of gold and ebony, Nor coverlid of marten soft, nor ermine pall had he, But he who all things governeth, aye, he who made them all, Lay as a little infant there, beside the oxen's stall; All meanly clad within the crib, for linen raiment none, Nor thick wrought robe, our ladye had wherewith to wrap her son; "Now will I tell you of these kings, how they were lodged there- * "Co fud mirre e encens e ruge or esmerć." So early was the phrase "fine red gold," used. + "Ileoc ert Senechal, mere de pitie." So feudal were the expressions Guichard then proceeds to give a short view of the Gospel history, and to insist upon his hearers giving instant attention to its message; and, in a strain of simple and touching pathos, he exhibits its fulness and freeness; then finally, after again warning them of the dangers of the times, he concludes: “Then see ye pray Almighty God, who hath all power and might, This mercy may He grant to us, for his pity doth excel; You bless and save, both now and aye, through all eternity." And thus, "ici, fin le sermun de Guichart de Beaulieu."* While the zealous preacher of Beaulieu was thus scattering "the good seed," by the wayside, right learned clerks were also providing moral, and occasionally religious, instruction for the higher classes; and among these, Simon le Fresne-Simon Ash, as he is called by Leland, who places him in his list of Latin poets of the 12th century-must take no mean place. That this learned man, the friend of Giraldus Cambrensis-who, in some verses addressed to him, speaks of his attainments in the highest terms-should have turned aside from his loftier studies, to adopt, not merely the language of this period. In his description of the judgment day, Guichart tells that it will be" un grant cour pleniere." Although in this curious work there is much occasional tautology, still it is so abundant in simple and characteristic passages, that it is worthy of more extensive transcription. Its singularly Protestant character too is very remarkable. but the very metre and style of the trouvère, affords a strong proof of the earnestness with which the learned men of this age laboured to diffuse the advantages which they possessed among their contemporaries. The work in which Simon le Fresne laid aside the character of the Latin scholar, to appear as the trouvère, is a poem which bears the title of "Le Dictie du Clerc e de la Philosophie ;" and is formed upon the model, for it certainly is not a translation, of that very favourite book of our forefathers, Boethius' Consolations of Philosophy: the commencing lines are very naïve, and perfectly in the character of the trouvère : Joy 'twill give, and ease from woe, No wise man sets his heart upou. "Twas a clerk who made his plaint, Having in her company Seven fair daughters, (sooth to say, She gave demonstration plain, For what is wealth but idle dreaming, A thing of falsehood and mere seeming, Like the wave that ebbs and flows: Then listen to her, witness well; List, and this Romanz I'll tell." Then commences a long colloquy between the clerk and "lady Philosophy;" the clerk bitterly lamenting the changefulness of fortune, and the lady shewing that he ought to have expected "chance and change," since "What morning gives, eve takes away; Now there 'tis then obscure, now clear- Still the clerk mourns-"There is great benefit in riches," says he, "for the rich man walks abroad, esteemed among his friends." To this lady Philosophy replies, that riches often do more harm than good—an argument, however, which she remarks, never yet deterred any one from seeking after them; besides, "the mere opinion of others is nothing, unless founded upon enlightened judgment;" and then follows this poetical passage— "What say you to these jewels bright, No; for they judge the meanest thing Nor is its color fair to see, Save that he wills it so to be." Still the clerk laments: "Said he, Hath not man great felicity, When he beholds the flowers in May, Fair promise of the fruit they'll bring? And fresh clothed fields, where the green ear springeth, Doth not his heart with joy o'erflow When feed his eyes on this fair show? Lady Philosophy replies with the old hackneyed argument, that every thing is subject to change; she, however, afterward takes higher ground, and argues from the shortness of human life, and finally bids her pupil ever bear in mind the doctrine of an overruling providence; since * “ Un papeillum ki tant e vil." |