she bequeaths to him the empire, and her of war, than by his personal courage. In place is supplied by a daughter of the king of other romances the heroes are only endowed England.1 with bravery, all besides is the work of magiI have been thus minute in the account of cians. Tiran, on the contrary, performs Tirante the White, as it is one of the three nothing incredible, every thing he does lies romances preserved in the scrutiny of Don within the sphere of human capacity. Giants, Quixote's library. "By her taking so many so prevalent in other romances, are here romances together," says Cervantes, "there dwindled to nothing. Kyrie Eleison and his fell one at the barber's feet, who had a mind brother Thomas are but meagre monsters. to see what it was, and found it to be Tirante No helpless females are protected, no enchanted the White. God save me, quoth the priest, castles restored to the ordinary properties of with a loud voice, is Tirante the White there? stone and lime. I remember, indeed, no maGive me him here, neighbour, for I shall find gical story, except that of Espertius, who, in him a treasure of delight and a mine of while on his way from Africa to assist Tiran entertainment. Here we have Don Kyrie at Constantinople, is driven on the island of Eleison of Montalvan, a valorous knight, and Cos, where he restores the daughter of Hiphis brother Thomas of Montalvan, and the pocrates to her original form. She appeared knight Fonseca, and the combat which the to him in the shape of a dragon, into which valiant Detriante fought with Alano; and the she had been changed by Diana; but, by smart conceits of the damsel Plazirdemavida, consenting to kiss her on the mouth, the with the amours and artifices of the widow knight effected her transformation. A belief Reposada, and madam the empress in love in a tradition precisely the same is attributed with her squire Hyppolito." He then advises to the inhabitants of Cos, in a book of modern the housewife to take it home, and read it; French travels, of which I have forgotten the "for though, continues the priest, "the author title. Sir John Mandeville, in his Travels, deserved to be sent to the gallies for writing also relates a story somewhat similar. Speakso many foolish things seriously, yet, in its ing of an enchanted dragon in the isle of Cos, way, it is the best book in the world. Here "a yonge man," says he, "that wiste not of the knights eat and sleep, and die in their the dragoun, went out of a shippe, and went beds, and make their wills before their death, throghe the isle, till that he cam into the with several things which are wanting in all cave; here he saw a damsel who bad him other books of this kind." come agen on the morwe, and then come and It cannot, indeed, be denied, that Tirante kysse hire on the mouth, and have no drede, the White is of a nature altogether different for I schall do the no manner harm, alle be from the other romances of chivalry. It pos- it that thou see me in likeness of a dragoun, sesses much more quaintness and pleasantry. for thoughe thou see me hideous and horrible Nor is it occupied with the detached adven- to loken onne, I do the to wyten that it is tures of a dozen different knights; the atten- made be enchantment, for withouten doubt I tion is constantly fixed on the adventures of am none other than thou seest now, an woman, Tiran, of whom the reader never loses sight, and zyff thou kysse me thou shalt have all and, except in the account of the fêtes in this tresure, and be my lord, and lord also of England, which occupies a small part of the work, there are hardly any tournaments or singal combats. Tiran is more a skilful commander than a valiant knight, and subdues his enemies more by a knowledge in the art 1 The celebrated Baron Grimm, "who did not, it seems, add to his other qualifications the charms of an agreeable person, took incredible pains to supply his natural deficiency by the artificial resources of the toilet. The quantity of ceruse, or white paint, with which he daily filled up the lines and wrinkles that isle." This ambiguous lady, however, was not the daughter of Hipprocrates, the dragon of the Spanish romance, who, according to Sir John Mandeville, frequented a different island, "and some men seyne that in the isle of his face, joined to his want of moderation in the enjoyment of his bonnes fortunes, procured for him the appellation of Tyran le Blanc.” 2 Per su estilo. This has been rendered "in point of style," by some of the translators of Cervantes. of Lango is yit the daughter of Ypocras, in appended to his Contes et Fabliaux, is made forme and likenesse of a great dragoun, that from a manuscript poem in the library of St is a hundred fadme in length as men seyne, Germain des Prés, which he conjectures to be for I have not seen hire, and thei of the isles of the 12th century. callen hire Ladie of the Land,"-a fiction The Princess Melior succeeded her father which may partly have originated in one of Julian in the Greek empire. Though well that physician's children being called Draco, qualified to govern, from natural talents, and a circumstance mentioned by Suidas on the the advantages derived from a knowledge of authority of Galen. The story of Espertius magic, her subjects insisted on her selecting a and the daughter of Hippocrates was probably husband, but granted two years for the choice. conveyed to the author of Tirante by some She accordingly despatched emissaries to all obscure, but prevalent tradition; and, through the courts of Europe, with instructions to the medium of this work, a similar incident enable these messengers to make a judicious has been adopted in innumerable tales of election. wonder, and many romantic poems. In the At this time there lived in France a young twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth cantos of the man, called Partenopex de Blois, who was second book of Berni's Orlando Innamorato, nephew to the king of Paris. One day, while the paladin Brandimarte, after surmounting hunting with his uncle in the forest of Armany obstacles, penetrates into the recesses of dennes, he is separated from his party while an enchanted palace. There he finds a fair pursuing a wild boar, and night falling, he damsel seated upon a tomb, who announces to loses his way in the woods. On the following him, that in order to achieve her deliverance, day, after long wandering, he comes to the he must raise the lid of the sepulchre, and sea-shore, and perceives a splendid vessel kiss whatever being should issue forth. The moored near the land, which he enters to knight, having pledged his faith, proceeds to ascertain if any person were on board, but he open the tomb, out of which a monstrous finds no one. Now this pinnace happened snake raises itself with a tremendous hiss. to be enchanted, and, disdaining the vulgar Brandimarte with much reluctance fulfils the operations of a pilot, as soon as Partenopex conditions of the adventure, and the monster had embarked, it spontaneously steered a right is instantly changed into a beautiful fairy, who loads her deliverer with benefits (Scott's Minstrelsy, vol. ii. p. 84). In the ballad of Kempion, the prince of that name effects a similar transformation by a similar effort. There is a like story in the sixth tale of the Contes Amoureux de Jean Flore, written toward the end of the 15th century. course, and after a prosperous voyage, arrived in the bay of a delightful country. Vessels of this sort are common in romance. There is one in the beautiful fabliau of Gugemar. In the seventh canto of the Rinaldo we have an enchanted bark, which was solely directed by the force of magic, and invariably conducted the knights who entered it to some splendid The second provincial romance to which I adventure. A self-navigated gondelay is also formerly alluded, is that of PARTENOPEX DE BLOIS,' which was written in the Catalonian dialect in the 13th century, and printed at Tarragona in 1488. The Castilian translation appeared at Alcala, 1513, 4to, and afterwards in 1547. M. Le Grand, however, has endeavoured to establish that this work was originally French, and informs us that his own modern version, 1 Libro del esforzado Cavallero Conde Partinuples que fue Emperador de Constantinopla. introduced in Spenser's Faery Queen, (b. ii. . 6): C. Eftsoones her shallow ship away did slide, save. The finest of these barks is that which conducts the Christian knights, in their search of Rinaldo, to the residence of Armida. This fiction, however, was not the invention of the middle ages, but is of classical origin; vessels of this nature being described by Alcinous to witnessed. She farther intimated, that he Ulysses, in the eighth book of the Odyssey : So shalt thou instant reach the realms assign'd, Fearless through darkness and through clouds they was to remain at her castle, but that he would Partenopex having disembarked from his Anxious, at length, to revisit his native magical conveyance, approached and entered a castle of marvellous extent and beauty, country, which he learned had been attacked which stood near the harbour. In the saloon, by foreign enemies, Partenopex hazarded an which was lighted by diamonds, he finds pre- exposition of his wishes to his mistress, who, pared an exquisite repast, but no one appears. after exacting a promise of return, accommoAttendance could be the better dispensed with, dates him with the magic sloop in which he as the dainties placed themselves of their own had arrived, and which in a short while conOn the evening he accord on his lips. After he had taken ad- veys him to France. vantage of their hospitality, a lighted torch landed he sets out for Paris, and on his way showed him the way to his bed-chamber, meets with a knight, whom he discovers to where he was undressed by invisible hands. be Gaudin, the lover of Uracla. The strictest The notion of such a palace, like many other intimacy arises between these two persons after incidents in this romance, must have been a dreadful combat; a mode of introduction, suggested by the story of Cupid and Psyche which, though now fallen into disuse, was the in Apuleius. A similar fiction has been usual commencement of friendship in those adopted by the earliest romantic poet of chivalrous ages :Italy in the second canto of the Morgante Maggiore, that giant comes with his master Orlando to a splendid and mysterious castle, in which the apartments are richly furnished, and the table spread with every sort of wines and provisions. After the guests have partaken of a sumptuous repast, they retire to rest on rich couches prepared for their repose, no one having appeared in the course of the entertainment. Deux Chevaliers qui se sont bien battus, La Pucelle, Preface au chant ix. "Expell'd their native homes by adverse fate, When Partenopex had gone to bed, and the lights had been extinguished, a lady entered the apartment, who, after some tedious expostulation on the freedom he had used in usurping the usual place of her repose, evinced a strong determination not to be put out of her way. In the course of the night his companion acquaints him that she is Melior Soon after the arrival of Partenopex in of Constantinople, who, it will be remembered, was a great empress, and a fairy at the France, Angelica, the pope's niece, who was same time. Having fallen in love with Par- at this time residing at the court of Paris, tenopex, on report of her emissaries, she had falls in love with him, and in order to detach contrived the enchantments he had lately him from his engagement with the fairy, which she had discovered by means of an While preparations were making for the intercepted letter, she employs a holy man, who repaired to Partenopex, and denounced Melior as a demon. He found that her lover was proof against an insinuation with regard to his mistress possessing a serpent's tail, which he begged to be excused from crediting, but that he was somewhat startled by the assurance, that she had a black skin, white eyes, and red teeth. tournaments, Parseis, an attendant of Uracla, having become enamoured of Partenopex, took him out one day in a boat. After some time, Partenopex remarked to her the distance they were from land. The damsel then made an unequivocal declaration of attachment, and confessed she had recourse to this stratagem to have an opportunity for the avowal. Partenopex, who perhaps saw no insurmountable Partenopex having returned to the residence objection to a communication of this nature of the fairy, resolves to satisfy himself the on shore, began to express much dissatisfacfirst night he passes in her company, as to tion at his cruise; but his complaints were the truth of her possessing the perfections interrupted by a tempest, which drove the attributed to her in France. On raising a vessel to the coast of Syria; Partenopex, being lamp to her countenance, he has the satis- forced to land, was seized by the natives, and faction to find she has been cruelly traduced; became the prisoner of King Herman. Durbut, as she unfortunately awakes, from a drop ing his captivity, the sultan of Persia ordered of wax falling on her bosom, he incurs her this tributary monarch to accompany him to utmost resentment. His life is spared at the the tournaments which were about to be intercession of Uracla, but, being forced to celebrated at Constantinople. After his deleave the castle, he repairs to the forest of parture, Partenopex having contrived to Ardennes, having adopted the scheme of pre-interest the queen in his behalf, was allowed senting his person as food for the wild beasts, to escape, and arrived in the capital of the Iwith which that district abounded. This eastern empire just as the tournaments comconsummation, however desirable, was retard-menced. His most formidable antagonist was ed by unaccountable circumstances; for the sultan of Persia, but Partenopex is at though tantalized during a whole night by length, by his strength and courage, permitted the roaring of lions and hissing of serpents, to lay claim to the hand of the rejoiced and who gave repeated demonstrations of accom- forgiving empress. modating the knight, the provoking animals The romance of Partenopex is obviously avoided all personal intercourse, and one of derived from the fable of Cupid and Psyche, the monsters selected the horse of Partenopex so beautifully told by Apuleius. Psyche is in preference to his master. The neighings borne on the wings of Zephyr to the palace of of the steed brought Uracla to the spot, who her divine admirer. Partenopex is transported had set out in quest of Partenopex on per- in a self-navigated bark, before a favourable ceiving some relenting symptoms on the part breeze, to the mansion of Melior. Both are of her sister. Partenopex, all hopes of per- entertained at a banquet produced by invisible sonal deglutition being at an end, consented agency, and similar restrictions on curiosity to accompany Uracla to her castle in Tenedos, are imposed: both are seduced into disobedithere to await the resolves of the empress ence by the false insinuations of friends, and fairy. Leaving Partenopex in this abode, adopt the same method of clearing up their Uracla set out on a visit to her sister, and, suspicions. Banishment, and a forfeiture of relying on the prowess of Partenopex, per- favour, are the punishments inflicted on both; suaded her to declare that she would bestow and, after a long course of penance, both are her hand on the victor, in a tournament she restored to the affections of their supernatural was about to proclaim. The princesses of admirers. These resemblances are too close romance frequently offer their hand to the to permit us to doubt, that the story of Psyche conqueror in a tournament, perhaps on the has, directly or indirectly, furnished materials same principle on which Bayle says Penelope for the fiction with which we have been enpromised to espouse the suitor who should gaged. Some of the incidents in Partenopex bend the bow of Ulysses. have also a close resemblance to the story of the Prince of Futtun and Mherbanou, in the and tenderness of the amatory descriptions, Bahar-Danush, or Garden of Knowledge. are highly susceptible of poetical embellishThat work was indeed posterior to the com- ment. Melior's enchanted palace is thus position of Partenopex; but the author Ina-described :tulla acknowledges that it was compiled from Brahmin traditions. The Peri, who is the heroine of that tale, is possessed of a barge covered with jewels, which steered without sails or oars; and the prince, while in search of its incomparable mistress, arrives at a palace, in which he finds the richest effects and preparations for festivity, but no person appears. Partenopex de Blois was translated into German, probably from the French romans, as early as the 13th century, the hero and his mistress being denominated Partenopier and Meliure. It has also been recently versified by Mr Rose. The subject is happily chosen, as the romantic nature of the incidents, Fast by the margin of the tumbling flood, between. Beneath the porch, in rich mosaic, blaze CHAPTER VI. Romances of Chivalry relating to Classical and Mythological Heroes.-Livre de Jason.La vie de Hercule.-Alexandre, &c. romancers of the middle ages, spurious materials were not wanting to make them in some degree " conscious of a former time." It has been suggested in a former part of this work, that many arbitrary fictions of romance are drawn from the classical and mythological authors; and in the summary given of the The "Tale of Troy Divine" had been kept tales of chivalry, a few instances have been alive in two Latin works, which passed under pointed out, in which the ancient stories of the names of Dares Phrygius and Dictys Greece have been introduced, modified merely Cretensis. The former was a Trojan priest, by the manners of the age. mentioned by Homer,' and was believed to Since so much of the machinery of romance have written an account of the destruction of has been derived from classical fiction, it would Troy. Elian mentions that the history of have been strange had not the heroes of anti- Dares Phrygius was extant in his time, but quity been also enlisted under the banners of he probably refers to some spurious author chivalry. Accordingly we find that Achilles, who had assumed that appellation. At length Jason, and Hercules, were early adopted into an obscure writer, posterior to the age of Conromance, and celebrated in common with the stantine, availing himself of this tradition, knights of the Round Table, the paladins of wrote a book which he entitled De Excidio Charlemagne, and the imaginary lineage of Troja, and which professed to be translated Amadis and Palmerin. And though the purer streams of classical learning were probably withheld from the 1 The sons of Dares first the combat sought, A wealthy priest, but rich without a fault; from the work of Dares Phrygius, by Cornelius |