Chapter II: French Tutors at Court--Giles Duwes--John Palsgrave--Jean Bellemain (2)

Bellemain did not compose any treatise on the French language. He says that he had long nourished the hope of writing some rules for French pronunciation and orthography; but he changed his mind, thinking it mere folly to attempt to give rules for that which was not yet fixed and certain. In a translation into French of the Greek Epistle of Basil the Great to St. Gregory upon solitary life, which he dedicated to the Princess Elizabeth,[276] he expresses his opinion upon the new style of French orthography, then promoted by certain writers, with whom he did not agree on most points. These writers[277] wished to make the orthography tally with the pronunciation and to discard the letters which are not pronounced; they would thus change the spelling still used for the most part by scholars and courtiers, and which in Bellemain's opinion is preferable to that proposed by the so-called reformers. He argues that an alteration of the spelling of French would necessitate a corresponding change in Latin, where the letters have the same sound and meaning, a thing which appears ridiculous to the merest observer. Besides, the derivative consonants are useful, as they serve to distinguish words of identical sound but different meaning and derivation, and to indicate the length of the preceding vowel. On the other hand, letters have been added by versifiers merely to suit their rimes, and these writers have done more than any others to corrupt French orthography. Of what avail is it, asks Bellemain, to compose rules on a subject so much in dispute? For these reasons he abstained from increasing the number of works on the French language produced in England.

In the dedication to Elizabeth of his translation of Basil the Great's Epistle to St. Gregory, Bellemain shows that he was familiar with the books which the princess read, and also expresses his desire that she will not let her French be corrupted by the so-called reformed orthography she may meet in some of these books.[278] Thus Bellemain took an interest in Elizabeth's French, and it is highly probable that he was her tutor in that language.[279] [Header: QUEEN ELIZABETH'S KNOWLEDGE OF FRENCH] In the year 1546, when he began to teach Edward French, the Princess Elizabeth shared for some time her brother's studies. It is said that they began with religious instruction in the morning, and the rest of the forenoon, breakfast alone excepted, was devoted to the languages, science, and moral learning. Edward then went to his outdoor exercises and Elizabeth to her lute or viol.[280] No doubt, then, she received lessons from the French tutor until she left her brother in December. Elizabeth, however, had made considerable progress in the language some years before this date, and before 1544, so that it is extremely likely that Bellemain had been teaching her for several years before he was appointed French tutor to Edward, perhaps owing to his success with Elizabeth. At any rate there does not seem to be any trace of any other French tutor to the princess, and the fact that he received an annuity of £50 for life suggests that he had already rendered some service in the royal family.

The scholar Leland praised Elizabeth's skill in French and Latin when he saw her at Ampthill with her brother, and already in 1544 she had completed the first composition in which she exerted her early activity in the French language. This was a translation of Margaret of Navarre's _Miroir de l'ame pecheresse_,[281] which she called _The Miroir or Glasse of the Synneful Soul_, and dedicated to Queen Katharine Parr.[282] It was published in 1564 under the title, _A godly meditacyon of the Christian soule concerning a love towards God and Hys Christe, compyled in Frenche by Lady Margarete, Quene of Naver, and aptly translated into Englysh by the right vertuous lady Elizabeth, daughter of our late Soverayne Kynge Henri the VIII._[283] The translation itself is not very good, and the style is awkward. But Elizabeth was only eleven years old when she undertook it, and observes apologetically that she "joyned the sentences together as well as the capacite of (her) symple witte and small lerning coulde expende themselves." In the following year (1545) she translated some prayers and meditations written in English by the queen, Katharine Parr, into Latin, French, and Italian, and dedicated them to her father.[284] Of greater interest is a little book the princess wrote in French, and also offered to the king--a translation into French of the _Dialogus Fidei_ of Erasmus, thus inscribed: "A Treshaut Trespuissant et Redoubté Prince Henry VIII de ce nom, Roy d'Angleterre, de France et d'Irlande, défenseur de la foy, Elizabeth sa Treshumble fille rend salut et obedience." This treatise, composed before the death of the king in 1547,[285] was preserved in the Library at Whitehall, and often attracted the attention of foreign visitors in London.[286]

Thus Elizabeth was well accomplished in French before the reign of Edward VI. It was while her brother was king that the great Hebrew scholar, Antony Rudolph Chevallier, commonly called Monsieur Antony, was for a short time her tutor in French. Chevallier was a Norman who had studied Hebrew under Vatable at Paris, and had been forced to take refuge in England on account of his religious opinions. He studied at Cambridge and lived for a year in the house of Archbishop Cranmer,[287] who brought him to the notice of the young king (then famous for his patronage of foreign scholars of the Reform) and of Protector Somerset, who appointed him tutor to the Princess Elizabeth.[288]

On the death of Edward VI., Chevallier, like Bellemain, left England. He taught Hebrew at Strasburg and Geneva, where he came into contact with English student refugees under the reign of Mary I., and made the acquaintance of Calvin. He returned to England in the reign of Elizabeth (1568) to solicit the queen's help for the French Protestants. He received a good welcome, and in 1569 was made a lecturer in Hebrew at Cambridge, where "he was accounted second to none in the realme." He returned to France before the Massacre of St. Bartholomew (1570), and died as a result of the hardships he suffered in making his escape.

[Header: RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF FRENCH TUTORS]

It is a curious fact that the religious opinions of the French tutors in Henry VIII.'s family were reflected in the reigns of their pupils--the Protestant Edward VI., the Roman Catholic Mary, and the Protestant Elizabeth. Both Duwes and Bellemain allowed the subject of religion to make its way into their lessons, and they probably exercised some influence, differing in degree, on the religious convictions of their pupils.

FOOTNOTES:

[221] First edition. Printed at London, by Th. Godfray, _c._ 1534. Sig. A-Ea in fours.

[222] Both these grammars were reprinted by Génin, in the _Collection des documents inédits sur l'Histoire de France_. II. _Histoire des lettres et sciences_. Paris, 1852.

[223] By Andrew Baynton, in a letter prefixed to Palsgrave's grammar.

[224] Palsgrave in his grammar.

[225] Both Palsgrave's and Duwes's observations on the pronunciation of French are utilized by M. Thurot: _De la prononciation française depuis le commencement du_ 16e _siècle d'après les témoignages des grammairiens_. 2 tom. Paris, 1881.

For further treatment of Palsgrave's grammar, see A. Benoist, _De la syntaxe française entre Palsgrave et Vaugelas_. Paris, 1877.

[226] The second book begins on folio xxxi. and ends on folio lix. In the third book the pagination begins anew: folio 1 to folio 473.

[227] Four hundred and seventy-three folios, while the first and second books together occupy only fifty-nine folios.

[228] The fulness, originality, and exhaustive character of the work may be illustrated by the treatment of such a point as the agreement of the past participle with its subject, when used with the auxiliary _avoir_. "... yet when the participle present followeth the tenses of _Je ay_, it is not ever generall that he shall remain unchaunged, but ... yf the tenses of _Je ay_ have a relatyve before them or governe an accusative case eyther of a pronoune or substantyve, the participle for the most part shall agree with the sayd accusatyve cases in gendre and nombre, and in such sentences not remayne unchaunged. Helas, I have loved her, _helas je l'ay aimée_ ..." etc.

[229] Duwes's plan is as comprehensive as Palsgrave's, as is seen by the following table:

"In the first part shal be treated of rules, that is to say, howe the fyve vowelles must be pronounced in redynge frenche, and what letters shal be left unsounde, and the course thereof.

"The second part shal be of nounes, pronounes, adverbes, participles, with verbes, propositions, and coniunctions.

"Also certayne rules for coniugation.

"Item fyve or syx maners of coniugations with one verbe.

"Item coniugations with two pronounes and with thre and finally combining or ioinyng 2 verbes together."

[230] _The Boke of the Governour ..._ ed. H. H. S. Croft, 1883, vol. i. p. 55.

[231] _Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII._ iv. 5806.

[232] _Ibid._ iv. 4560.

[233] ". . . m'a comandé et enchargé de reduire et mectre en escript la maniere coment g'ay procedé envers ses dictz progeniteurs et predecesseurs, coe celle aussi y la quelle ie l'ay (tellement quellement) instruit et instruis iournellment. . . ."

[234] _Privy purse expenses of the Princess Mary_, ed. F. Madden, 1831, pp. xli-xliii.

[235] "Duwes avait d'une main leste et sure esquissé la petite grammaire de Lhomond: Palsgrave avait laborieusement compilé la grammaire des grammaires: L'in-folio fut étouffé par l'in-8vo. Cela se voit souvent dans la littérature où le quatrain de St. Aulaire triomphe de la Pucelle de Chapelain" (Génin's Introduction).

It seems an exaggeration to use the word "étouffer." At any rate the victory was not final. Palsgrave's work is not forgotten to-day, like that of Duwes.

[236] There are copies of all three editions in the Bodleian. The British Museum contains one copy of Bourman's edition, and two of Waley's (the third). Génin used Godfray's edition in his reprint.

[237] E. G. Duff, _A Century of the English Book Trade_, Bibliog. Society, 1905.

[238] There are, however, a larger number of Palsgrave's one edition extant than of Duwes's three. This is, no doubt, because its size and value prevented it from being used with the lack of respect with which school-books are usually treated. There is a copy of the _Esclarcissement_ in the Bibliothèque Mazarine at Paris; two in the British Museum; one in the Bodleian, one in Cambridge University Library, and one in the Rylands Library.

[239] _Supra_, p. 92.

[240] Dated September 2, twenty-second year of his reign (_i.e._ 1530).

[241] There were three drafts of the indenture with Pynson, _Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII._ iii. 3680, iv. 39. The first two were probably drawn up in 1523. The last is dated January 18, 1524. The first two were printed by Dr. Furnivall for the Philological Society, 1868. The third draft is in Cromwell's hand, corrected by Palsgrave. There is a clause that Pynson shall not print more than the given number--750--until that number is sold. Pynson seems to have printed only the first two parts of 59 leaves. After this there comes a third part, with a fresh numbering of leaves from 1 to 473. The printing was finished July 18, 1530, by J. Hawkins.

[242] At the rate of 6s. 8d. a ream.

[243] Ellis, _Orig. Letters_, 3rd series, vol. ii. p. 214.

[244] He found it useful in diplomatic service. He writes to his patron: "I am well asseyed here and my little knowledge of French well exercised" (Brussels, Nov. 20, 1538), _Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII._ xiii. pt. ii. No. 882.

[245] "O devotz amateurs de bonnes lettres pleust a Dieu que quelque noble coeur s'employast a mettre et ordonner par regle nostre langaige françois! Ce seroit moyen que maints milliers d'hommes se evertueroient a souvent user de belles et bonnes paroles. S'il n'y est mis et ordonné on trouvera que de cinquante en cinquante ans la langue françoise pour la plus grande part sera changée et pervertie" (folio 1, verso). Tory sketched a plan of a great work on the language to which his _Champ fleury_ was intended only as an introduction.

[246] Génin is 'certain' that the date given on the frontispiece of Palsgrave's work is a year earlier than that on which it actually appeared. He draws this conclusion from the date of the king's privilege, twenty-second year of Henry VIII., who came to the throne in 1509; 9 + 22 = 31. This leaves Palsgrave a longer period to gather what he could from Tory's work, says Génin. But the twenty-second year of the reign of Henry VIII. began in April 1530, and the printing of Palsgrave's work was completed on the 18th of July.

[247] _Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII._ i. Nos. 513 and 3094.

[248] _Ibid._ vi. No. 1199. Duwes also received numerous grants of money and licences to import Gascon wine.

[249] Printed in _Theatrum Chemicum_, Ursel, 1602, vol. ii. pp. 95-123, and reprinted in J. J. Manget's _Bibliotheca Chemica_, Geneva, 1702, vol. ii. Two copies of an English translation are in the Bodleian (Ashmole MSS.). See _Dict. Nat. Biog._

[250] He is called "schoolmaster to my Lady Princess of Castile," in the Book of Payments, March 1513, _Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII._ ii. No. 1460.

[251] _Ibid._ ii. 295.

[252] _Ibid._ i. 5582.

[253] Bale, _Britanniae Scriptorum_, 1548, fol. 219.

[254] _Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII._ ii. pt. 2, 1107.

[255] J. G. Nichols, _Memoir of the Duke of Richmond_, 1855, Camden Society, _Miscellany_, iii. pp. xxiii-xxiv; also _Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII._ iv. 5806, and v. 1596, 1793, 2069, 2081.

[256] _Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII._ iv. 5806.

[257] _Ibid._ iv. 4560: Letter dated July 27, 1528.

[258] _Ibid._ iv. 5806, 5807.

[259] "Instructions for Syr Wm. Stevynson, what he shall do for one John Palsgrave with the Frenche Queenes Grace and the Duke of Suffolk her espouse": _ibid._ v. 5808.

[260] Wood, _Athen. Oxon._ ed. Bliss, i. 121.

[261] _Letters and Papers_, v. 621-622: Letter dated Oct. 18, 1532.

[262] Palsgrave received ecclesiastical preferment from time to time. Amongst others, he was collated to the prebend of Portpoole in St. Paul's Cathedral by Bishop Fitzjames in 1514, and to the Rectory of St. Dunstan-in-the-East by Cranmer in 1533, and to that of Wadenhoe, Northamptonshire, in 1545, by the same Archbishop. (Thompson Cooper in the _Dict. Nat. Biog._)

[263] Written by a Dutch contemporary, Fullonius, in 1529.

[264] J. G. Nichols, _Literary Remains of Edward VI._, Roxburghe Club, 1857, p. 210.

[265] _Ibid._ p. lxxviii.

[266] These have been printed by J. G. Nichols in his _Literary Remains_, p. 144 _et seq._ The MS. of the first is at Trin. Col. Cantab. R 7, 31, of the second in the Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 9000, and of the third at Biblio. Pub. Cantab. Dd 12, 59, and Brit. Mus. Addit. 5464. Nichols uses the text of the first of these.

[267] "Apres avoir noté en ma Bible en Anglois plusieurs sentences qui contredisent a toute ydolatrie, a celle fin de m'apprendre et exercer en l'ecriture Françoise, je me suis amusé a les translater en ladite langue Françoise, puis les ay fait rescrire en ce petit livret, lequel de tres bon coeur je vous offre" (_Literary Remains ..._, p. 144).

[268] "Lettre inédite de Bellemain": _Bulletin de la Soc. de l'Hist. du Protestantisme Français_, vol. xv., 1866, pp. 203-5.

[269] It was, however, translated into English and published in 1681 (two copies in the Brit. Mus.), and reprinted by Rev. J. Duncan in 1811 (no copy known), and by the Religious Tract Soc., _Vol. of Writings of Ed. VI._, etc.

[270] Calvin wrote to Edward VI. in French: "C'est grand chose d'estre roy, mesme d'un tel pays. Toutesfois je ne doubte pas que vous n'estimez sans comparaison mieux d'estre chrestien. C'est doncq un privilege inestimable que Dieu vous a faict, Sire, que vous soiez roy chrestien, voire que luy servez de lieutenant pour ordonner et maintenir le royaulme de J. Christ en Angleterre" (_Bulletin_, _ut supra_).

[271] There is a copy of this in Brit. Mus. Royal MSS. 20, A xiv.

[272] Ellis, _Orig. Letters_, ser. 1, vol. i. p. 132, and translated in Halliwell's _Letters of the Kings of England_, ii. 33.

[273] J. C. Nichols, _Literary Remains_, p. 32.

[274] _Ibid._ p. li.

[275] Huguenot Soc. Publications, vol. viii. ad nom.

[276] Brit. Mus. Royal MSS. 16, E 1. The whole consists of only eighteen small leaves, of which five are occupied by the dedication. No date is attached. The dedication continues:

". . . S'ainsy estoit (Tresnoble et Tresillustre Dame) que i'attendisse le temps auquel ie peusse trouver et inventer chose digne de presenter a vostre excellence, certes, madame, i'estime que ce ne seroit de long temps: car quelle chose est ce qu'on pourroit monstrer de nouveau a celle a qui rien n'est caché, soit en langue grecque ou latine ou en la plus part des autres langues vulgaires de l'Europe: soit en la congnoissance des histoires ecrites en icelles ou en philosophie et autres liberales sciences. Puis donc qu'ainsy est que peu de livres antiques se peuent trouver que n'ayez leuz ou au moins desquels n'ayez ouy aucunement parler, ioint aussy qu'estes maintenant comme en lieu solitaire, ie vous vueil seulement ramentevoir une epistre de Basile le grand que i'estime qu'avez autres fois leue: en laquelle il recommande fort la vie solitaire ou au moins exempte des cures et solicitudes de ce monde: et ce a intention de pouoir induire celuy a qui il l'envoioit a la contemplation de Dieu et de la vie future: qui sont les choses ausquelles devons le plus penser durant que sommes en ce monde comme estans les causes qui plus nous donnent occasion de bien vivre. . . ."

[277] Sylvius (1530) had proposed a new system of orthography based on etymology and pronunciation. Meigret, however, was the chief exponent of the reformers, who sought to make orthography tally with pronunciation (in his _Traité touchant le comun usage de l'escriture françoise_, 1542 and 1545, and other works). Meigret was supported by Peletier du Mans (_Dialogue de l'ortografe et prononciation françoese_, 1549) and others, and bitterly attacked by the opposing party. The question, once opened, continued to be discussed until the decision of the Academy (founded 1649) settled the matter. Brunot, _op. cit._ ii. pp. 93 _sqq._

[278] "Ie vous ay escrit ce petit avertissement de paour que paraventure, en lisant tant de diversitéz d'impressions comme pourriez faire en ceste langue, ne sceussiez laquelle devriez suivre en ecrivant; mais il sera bon de suivre la plus part des modernes qui s'accordent quant a cela."

[279] Stevenson, _Cal. of State Papers_, foreign series, 1558-9, p. xxv, takes it for granted that Bellemain was Elizabeth's tutor in French.

[280] Strickland, _Lives of the Queens of England_, 1884: Life of Elizabeth, iii. pp. 9, 13.

[281] First printed at Alençon, 1531.

[282] This is at present in the Bodleian Library. It has an embroidered cover, probably by the princess herself. See Cyril Davenport, _English Embroidered Bookbindings_, London, 1899, p. 32. It was reprinted in 1897.

[283] There are two copies of this rare little volume in the Brit. Mus. Another edition, varying considerably from the first, occurs in Bentley's _Monuments of the Nations_, iv., London, 1582 (Stevenson, _ut supra_, p. xxvi). It was republished in 1897.

[284] See Davenport, _ut supra_, p. 33. The original is in the Brit. Mus.

[285] This little work appears to have been lost.

[286] Such as Hentzer the German, in 1598; Justus Zinzerling, 1610; Peter Eisenburg the Dane, 1614. See Rye, _England as Seen by Foreigners_, pp. 133, 171, 268, 282.

[287] D. C. A. Agnew, _Protestant Exiles from France ..._, 3rd ed., 1886, vol. i. p. 45.

[288] Haag, _La France Protestante_, and Cooper, _Athen. Cant._ i. 306. Agnew, _op. cit._, does not mention that Chevallier was tutor to Elizabeth.