Claude Fauchet, sa vie, son œuvre. Documents concernant la vie et les œuvres de ClaudeFauchet. Recueil de l'origine de la langue et poesie françoise by Janet Espiner-Scott; ClaudeFauchetReview by: W. G. MooreThe Modern Language Review, Vol. 36, No. 3 (Jul., 1941), pp. 413-414Published by: Modern Humanities Research AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3717532 .

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where there was initial diversity, tempting the scholar to attempt to restore an editio princeps. Perhaps older ballads have had such multiple origins, though their present general conformity with one plan would not suggest it.

WILLIAM J. ENTWISTLE. OXFORD.

Claude Fauchet, sa vie, soni ceuvre. Docunmets concernant la vie et les oeuvres de Claude Fauchet. Recueil de l'origine de la langue et poesie francoise. By JANET ESPINER-SCOTT. Paris: Droz. 1938. 3 vols. 450, 291, 150 pp.

The war has unfortunately delayed notice of these important books, now two years old. At a time when the libraries of France are inaccessible, English students are here presented with a mass of material that may form the starting-point of many minor investigations into the social or linguistic history of the French Renaissance.

The inost interesting part of the work is the biographical account given in the first hundred pages. At the present stage of sixteenth-century study, when the main figures have been fairly well explored, it is most important to know as much as possible of the lawyers and officials who, more than any other class, kept the traditions of French culture and society alive in the turmoil of foreign and civil war. They were the de- cisive element in the French recovery after 1600 and the real founders of the state of Louis XIV. Fauchet is an excellent example; a magistrate and treasury official, his reports of financial missions to places as far distant as Toulouse show the degree of authority that Paris could exercise. In his attitude to the monarchy and to the church he is an instance of that sturdy independence and instinct for compromise which behind the scenes has shaped the destinies of the modern French state. And he is much more than the typical official; he is a bibliophile and scholar whose works show a wealth of reading and care of documentation that earned the praise of Augustin Thierry 250 years later. His unique knowledge of medieval language, literature and customs allows this author to speak of him as 'un des plus grands medievistes avant Gaston Paris' (p. ix).

Mrs Espiner-Scott deserves the gratitude of all students of the French Renaissance for the patience and industry which she has devoted to a full account of this remarkable man. She graciously admits the assistance of some research done in Oxford some years ago on Fauchet's knowledge of old French literature, but her researches cover a much wider field and make unfailing recourse to original documents. Patient scrutiny of archives has enabled her to reveal something of the real life and interests of a sixteenth-century magistrate. Her careful references produce a sense of security in the reader and in a long book I have found no case where the conclusions seem to go beyond the evidence.

where there was initial diversity, tempting the scholar to attempt to restore an editio princeps. Perhaps older ballads have had such multiple origins, though their present general conformity with one plan would not suggest it.

WILLIAM J. ENTWISTLE. OXFORD.

Claude Fauchet, sa vie, soni ceuvre. Docunmets concernant la vie et les oeuvres de Claude Fauchet. Recueil de l'origine de la langue et poesie francoise. By JANET ESPINER-SCOTT. Paris: Droz. 1938. 3 vols. 450, 291, 150 pp.

The war has unfortunately delayed notice of these important books, now two years old. At a time when the libraries of France are inaccessible, English students are here presented with a mass of material that may form the starting-point of many minor investigations into the social or linguistic history of the French Renaissance.

The inost interesting part of the work is the biographical account given in the first hundred pages. At the present stage of sixteenth-century study, when the main figures have been fairly well explored, it is most important to know as much as possible of the lawyers and officials who, more than any other class, kept the traditions of French culture and society alive in the turmoil of foreign and civil war. They were the de- cisive element in the French recovery after 1600 and the real founders of the state of Louis XIV. Fauchet is an excellent example; a magistrate and treasury official, his reports of financial missions to places as far distant as Toulouse show the degree of authority that Paris could exercise. In his attitude to the monarchy and to the church he is an instance of that sturdy independence and instinct for compromise which behind the scenes has shaped the destinies of the modern French state. And he is much more than the typical official; he is a bibliophile and scholar whose works show a wealth of reading and care of documentation that earned the praise of Augustin Thierry 250 years later. His unique knowledge of medieval language, literature and customs allows this author to speak of him as 'un des plus grands medievistes avant Gaston Paris' (p. ix).

Mrs Espiner-Scott deserves the gratitude of all students of the French Renaissance for the patience and industry which she has devoted to a full account of this remarkable man. She graciously admits the assistance of some research done in Oxford some years ago on Fauchet's knowledge of old French literature, but her researches cover a much wider field and make unfailing recourse to original documents. Patient scrutiny of archives has enabled her to reveal something of the real life and interests of a sixteenth-century magistrate. Her careful references produce a sense of security in the reader and in a long book I have found no case where the conclusions seem to go beyond the evidence.

Reviews Reviews 413 413

This content downloaded from 92.63.97.126 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 16:56:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

414 Reviews

The presertation of all this material is, however, much less satisfactory. English university research badly needs to-day a clearer view of the im- portance of order and arrangement, and these nine hundred pages are a case in point. None of the French masters of method seem to have helped the author to solve the problems that arise with the publication of docu- ments. Is all information to be given twice? What is the relation of narrative to the 'pieces justificatives'? What is the strict minimum of explanation needed to make points and references clear? These questions would have materially curtailed, I am sure, a treatment so lavish and leisurely as to be in these days of restricted paper and costly book-making almost shocking. Most of the material published is indeed valuable, but it need not have been less so if brought within the compass of one volume of 500 pp. instead of three volumes of 900 pp.

For example, the reproduction of a long passage from the Annals of Tacitus can hardly be defended as indispensable when followed by a sentence-by-sentence comparison of the same passage in the English and Latin text. The notes of the volumes frequently overlap, information is sometimes repeated and in one case a quotation is given twice on the same page; bibliography on subjects quite unrelated to Fauchet is extravagant. Writers of theses tend to forget that scholars are interested in the findings of their research, but not in most cases in the workings; these volumes contain too many instances of the workings that have led to the establishment of quite interesting points. It is interesting to know that Fauchet used a contemporary Italian historian; it may be of some value to find out that he used him sixty-five times in a single work, but it is not valuable to have all sixty-five references to folio pages meti- culously given.

These are all points of small importance, but their effect is considerable, and they are unfortunately typical of present-day practice. French studies will not be carried on with any real success in England and America unless we learn something of French method.

W. G. MOORE. OXFORD.

A History of French/ Dramatic Literature in the Seventeenth Century, Part IV. The Age of Racine, 1673-1700. By HENRY CARRINGTON LANCASTER. London: Oxford University Press. 1940. 2 vols. 984 pp. 60s.

Here are the two final volumes of Professor Lancaster's monumental work to which he proposes to add subsequently a ninth supplementary volume of general conclusions. That he should be conscious of the need for such a volume raises the whole question of the conception and method of his work. As he discusses his plan in the Introduction to Part IV, we may be permitted to deal with it here. Professor Lancaster has in effect

414 Reviews

The presertation of all this material is, however, much less satisfactory. English university research badly needs to-day a clearer view of the im- portance of order and arrangement, and these nine hundred pages are a case in point. None of the French masters of method seem to have helped the author to solve the problems that arise with the publication of docu- ments. Is all information to be given twice? What is the relation of narrative to the 'pieces justificatives'? What is the strict minimum of explanation needed to make points and references clear? These questions would have materially curtailed, I am sure, a treatment so lavish and leisurely as to be in these days of restricted paper and costly book-making almost shocking. Most of the material published is indeed valuable, but it need not have been less so if brought within the compass of one volume of 500 pp. instead of three volumes of 900 pp.

For example, the reproduction of a long passage from the Annals of Tacitus can hardly be defended as indispensable when followed by a sentence-by-sentence comparison of the same passage in the English and Latin text. The notes of the volumes frequently overlap, information is sometimes repeated and in one case a quotation is given twice on the same page; bibliography on subjects quite unrelated to Fauchet is extravagant. Writers of theses tend to forget that scholars are interested in the findings of their research, but not in most cases in the workings; these volumes contain too many instances of the workings that have led to the establishment of quite interesting points. It is interesting to know that Fauchet used a contemporary Italian historian; it may be of some value to find out that he used him sixty-five times in a single work, but it is not valuable to have all sixty-five references to folio pages meti- culously given.

These are all points of small importance, but their effect is considerable, and they are unfortunately typical of present-day practice. French studies will not be carried on with any real success in England and America unless we learn something of French method.

W. G. MOORE. OXFORD.

A History of French/ Dramatic Literature in the Seventeenth Century, Part IV. The Age of Racine, 1673-1700. By HENRY CARRINGTON LANCASTER. London: Oxford University Press. 1940. 2 vols. 984 pp. 60s.

Here are the two final volumes of Professor Lancaster's monumental work to which he proposes to add subsequently a ninth supplementary volume of general conclusions. That he should be conscious of the need for such a volume raises the whole question of the conception and method of his work. As he discusses his plan in the Introduction to Part IV, we may be permitted to deal with it here. Professor Lancaster has in effect

This content downloaded from 92.63.97.126 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 16:56:22 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions