Chapter II: The Fifteenth Century (1)

These great changes which took place in the status of French in England did not, however, affect fundamentally the popularity of the language: they had to do with Anglo-French alone. French, as distinct from this and as a foreign language, received more attention than ever before, especially from the higher classes, and from travellers and merchants. It was the language of politeness and refinement in the eyes of Englishmen, not only as a result of the Conquest, but for its inherent qualities; and so it retained this position when it gave way to English or Latin in other spheres where its predominance had been due, either directly or indirectly, to the Conquest. French had enjoyed a social reputation in England before the arrival of the invaders,[75] and had already made some progress towards becoming the language which the English loved and cultivated above all modern foreign tongues, and to which they devoted for a great many years more care than they did to their own. "Doulz françois," writes an Englishman at the end of the fourteenth century in a treatise for teaching the language,[76] is the most beautiful and gracious language in the world, after the Latin of the schools,[77] "et de tous gens mieulx prisée et amée que nul autre; quar Dieu le fist se doulce et amiable principalement a l'oneur et loenge de luy mesmes. Et pour ce il peut bien comparer au parler des angels du ciel, pour la grant doulceur et biaultée d'icel"--a more eloquent tribute even than the more famous lines of Brunetto Latini. Another writer of the same period informs us that "les bones gens du Roiaume d'Engleterre sont embrasez a scavoir lire et escrire, entendre et parler droit François," and that he himself thinks it is very necessary for the English to know the "droict nature de François," for many reasons.[78] For instance, that they may enjoy intercourse with their neighbours, the good folk of the kingdom of France; that they may better understand the laws of England, of which a great many are still written in French; and also because "beaucoup de bones choses sont misez en François," and the lords and ladies of England are very fond of writing to each other in the same tongue.[79]

As a result of the altered circumstances which were modifying the attitude of the English, there is a corresponding change in the standard of the French which the manuals for teaching that language sought to attain. All the best text-books of the end of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries endeavour with few exceptions to impart a knowledge of the French of Paris, "doux françois de Paris" or "la droite language de Paris," as it was called, in contrast with the French of Stratford-atte-Bowe and other parts of England. Those authors of treatises for teaching French of whose lives we have any details, had studied French in France, at Paris, Orleans, or some other University town. The fact that many of their productions still contain numbers of words belonging to the Norman and other dialects does not diminish the importance and significance of their more ambitious aims. These pioneer works on the French language, written in England by Englishmen without the guidance of any similar work produced in France, were bound to contain archaisms as well as anglicisms.[80]

Fluency in speaking French was the chief need of the classes of society in which the demand for instruction was greatest. Correctness in detail was only of secondary importance, and grammar, though desirable, was not considered indispensable. The importance of speaking French naturally brought the subject of pronunciation to the fore. No doubt most of the early teachers shared the opinions of their successors, that rules and theoretical information were of little avail in teaching the sounds of the language, compared with the practice of imitation and repetition; nevertheless, many of them attempted to supply some information on the subject. When, in the second decade of the fifteenth century, another writer based a new treatise for teaching French on the vocabulary of Bibbesworth, which had then been current for well over a century, the chief point in which it differed from its original was precisely in the provision of guidance to facilitate pronunciation.

This new treatise was styled _Femina_,[81] because just as the mother teaches her young child to speak his native tongue, so does this work teach children to speak French naturally.[82] It covers almost exactly the same ground as the vocabulary of Bibbesworth, but, as in the case of the earlier imitation of the same work, the _Nominale_, the order of arrangement varies, and the whole is permeated with a lively humour which makes it at least equal in interest to the work on which it is based. The French lines are octosyllabic and arranged in distichs, each pair being followed by an English translation, which is given in full, contrary to the practice in the earlier works of the same kind. The author endeavours to teach the French of France[83] as distinguished from that of England, and, although he lavishes provincialisms from the local dialects of France--Norman, Picard, Walloon--in the main they are French provincialisms, and many of them may be due to errors on the part of the scribe. To assist pronunciation notes are provided at the bottom of the page, giving pseudo-English equivalents of the sounds of words written otherwise in the text.

The treatise opens with an exhortation to the child to learn French that he may speak fairly before wise men, for "heavy is he that is not taught":

Cap: primum docet rethorice loqui de assimilitudine bestiarum.

a b
Beau enfaunt pur apprendre
c d
En franceis devez bien entendre
Ffayre chyld for to lerne
In french ye schal wel understande

e
Coment vous parlerez bealment,
Et devaunt les sagez naturalment.
How ye schal speke fayre,
And afore ye wysemen kyndly.

f g
Ceo est veir que vous dy,
h i
Hony est il qui n'est norry.
That ys soth that y yow say
Hevy ys he that ys not taugth

k l
Parlez tout ditz com affaites
m
Et nenny come dissafaites
Spekep alway as man ys tauth
And not as man untauth.

Parlez imprimer de tout assemblé
n o
Dez bestez que Dieu ad formé.
Spekep fyrst of manere assemble alle
Of bestes that God hath y maked.

(_a_) beau debet legi bev, (_b_) enfaunt, (_c_) fraunceys, (_d_) bein,
(_e_) belement, (_f_) ce, (_g_) cet vel eyztt, (_h_) Iil, (_i_) neot,
(_k_) toutdiz, (_l_) afetes, (_m_) dissafetes, (_n_) beetez, (_o_) dv
et non Dieu.

The subsequent chapters deal with the same subjects as in Bibbesworth, and sometimes the wording is almost identical. The concluding chapter, "De moribus infantis," is taken from another source, and gives admonitions for discreet behaviour, quoting the moral treatise of the pseudo-Cato, the Proverbs of Solomon, and the like. The passage in which _Femina_ deals with the upbringing of the child may be of interest, as showing how the later author repeats the earlier, while altering the wording; and as throwing some light on the way French was then learnt:

Et quaunt il court en graunt age
Mettez ly apprendre langage.
And when he runs in great age[84]
Put him to learn language.

En fraunceys a luy vous devez dire
Comez il doit soun corps discrire.
In French to him ye shall say
How first he shall his body describe.

Et pur ordre garder de moun et ma,
Toun et ta, son et sa, masculino et feminino.
And for order to kepe of mon and ma,
Toun and ta, soun and sa, for ma souneth.

Quia ma sonat feminino moun masculino.
To femynyn gender and moun to masculyn.

Cy que en parle soit bien apris,
Et de nule homme escharnis.
So that in speach he be well learned,
And of no man scorned.

At the end is a 'calendar,' or table of words arranged alphabetically in three parallel columns. The first gives the orthography of the word, the second the pronunciation, and the third the explanation of its meaning and construction, which usually takes the form of an English equivalent.

In the meanwhile the grammatical study of French was not neglected. There are still extant numerous small treatises[85] dealing with different aspects of French grammar, chiefly the flexions, and belonging to the end of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The conjugation of verbs receives special attention, and there are several manuscripts providing paradigms and lists of the chief parts of speech--often very incorrect, and of more value as showing the interest taken in French in England than as illustrating any development in the history of the conjugations of French verbs. The usual verbs described in these fragmentary works[86] are _amo_, _habeo_, _sum_, _volo_, _facio_, and the French paradigms are generally accompanied by Latin ones, on which they are naturally based, and which were intended to help the student to understand the French ("cum expositione earundem in Latinis"). The two most considerable of these works known add many verbs to the list mentioned above. Of these the first, the _Liber Donati_,[87] gives examples of law French rather than literary French;[88] but the other, written in French, endeavours to teach "douce françois de Paris"--_cy comence le Donait soloum douce franceis de Paris_.[89] The _Donait_ belongs to the fifteenth century, and is the work of one R. Dove, who also wrote some _Regulae de Orthographia Gallica_ in Latin,[90] which show considerable resemblance to those of the earlier _Orthographia Gallica_. The same is true of some of the rules devoted to orthography in the _Liber Donati_, which also owes something to the work of 'T. H., Student of Paris,' either in the original form, or, more probably, in the recast, due to Canon Coyfurelly. In this respect, Coyfurelly continues the efforts of the earlier writer to purify English spelling of French--efforts which at this time would meet with more success than was the case earlier.[91]

Another topic touched on in the _Regulae_ of R. Dove is the formation of the plural of nouns, and of the feminine of adjectives. The substance of one of these rules may be quoted, as an example of the failure of these early writers to grasp general principles. All nouns ending in _ge_, like _lange_, says the grammarian, take _s_ in the plural, as _langes_; all nouns ending in _urc_, as _bourc_, have _z_ or _s_ in the plural and drop the _c_, as _bours_; all nouns ending in _nyn_, as _conyn_, take _s_ in the plural, as _chemyns_; all nouns ending in _eyn_, as _peyn_, form their plural by adding _s_, as _peyns_. Such is the rule for the formation of the plural of nouns, and that for the feminine of adjectives, which follows, is on the same lines. Pronouns also received some attention from these early grammarians. The _Liber Donati_[92] contains a few remarks on the personal, demonstrative and possessive pronouns, giving the different forms for the singular and plural and the various cases; thus it tells us that _jeo_ and sometimes _moy_ are used for _I_ (_ego_) in the nominative case, and in other cases _moy_ or _me_ in the singular, while _nous_ is used for the plural in all cases, and so forth.

We thus see that the verbs, nouns and pronouns received consideration, varying in degree, at the hands of these pioneers in French grammar. Neither were the indeclinable parts of speech neglected; at the end of the _Liber Donati_ there is a list of some of these as well as of the ordinal and cardinal numbers in both Latin and French, while the _Donait_ gives the numbers only. Some manuscripts contain lists of adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions in Latin and French.[93] Others give lists of the cardinal and ordinal numbers in French, and one adds to these a nomenclature of the different colours.[94] The names of the days, months, and feast-days were another favourite subject.

Of these small treatises that which nearest approaches the form of a comprehensive grammar is the _Liber Donati_, which includes observations on the orthography and pronunciation, on verbs and pronouns, and lists of adverbs, conjunctions, and numerals. But there appeared at the beginning of the fifteenth century, before 1409, a more comprehensive treatise of some real value--the _Donait françois pur briefment entroduyr les Anglois en la droit langue du Paris et de pais la d'entour_,[95] a work which but for its very many anglicisms might be placed on a level with some of the similar grammars of the sixteenth century.[96] The origin of this _Donait_ is interesting. A certain Englishman, John Barton, born and bred in the county of Cheshire, but a student of Paris, and a passionate lover of the French language, engaged some good clerks to compose the _Donait_, at his own great cost and trouble, for the benefit of the English, who are so eager ("embrasez") to learn French.[97] Judging from the lines with which Barton closes his short but communicative preface, the work was intended mainly for the use of young people--the "chers enfants" and "tres douces pucelles," 'hungering' to learn French: "Pur ce, mes chiers enfantz et tresdoulcez puselles," he writes, "que avez fam d'apprendre cest Donait scachez qu'il est divisé en belcoup de chapiters si come il apperera cy avale." Barton then retires to make way for his 'clerks,' whose remarks are entirely confined to grammatical teaching and who, like Barton, write in French.

Most of the early treatises on French grammar which appeared in England are written in Latin. Latin appears to have been the medium through which French was learnt and explained to a large extent, although in the case of the riming vocabularies English was used for teaching the young children for whom these nomenclatures were chiefly written. But grammar, probably intended to be learnt by older students, was usually studied in Latin, which was also found to be a help in learning French. Students are told to base French orthography on that of Latin, and there are constant references from French words to their Latin originals. The _Donait soloum douce franceis de Paris_ is apparently the only work of any importance written in French before that of Barton. English was not used for this purpose before the sixteenth century, when it was almost invariably employed, even by Frenchmen. A grammar such as Barton's would, no doubt, be read and translated with the help of a tutor; and it is highly probable that the children for whom it was intended would have previously acquired some practical knowledge of French from some such elementary treatise as Bibbesworth's vocabulary. Moreover, French was so generally in use in the higher classes of society, and had been for so long a kind of semi-national tongue, that it would hardly be approached as an entirely foreign language, as in later times. In writing a French grammar in French, Barton and those who followed the same course merely adopted for the teaching of French a method in common use in the teaching of Latin. The advisability of writing French grammars in French was a question, as we shall see, much discussed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as well as in much more recent times.

The clerks employed by Barton made free use of the observations on French grammar which had appeared previously. But their work had an additional value; the rules are stated with considerable clearness and are usually correct.[98] The opening chapters deal with the letters and their pronunciation, set forth, like the rest of the grammar, in a series of questions and answers:

Quantez letters est il? Vint. Quellez? Cinq voielx et quinse
consonantez. Quelx sont les voielx et ou seroit ils sonnés? Le
premier vouyel est _a_ et serra sonné en la poetrine, la seconde
est _e_ et serra sonné en la gorge, le tiers est _i_ et serra sonné
entre les joues, le quart est _o_ et serra sonné du palat de la
bouche, le quint est _u_ et serra sonné entre les levres.

To these observations on the vowels are added a few on the consonants, and "belcoup de bones rieules" (six in all) treating the avoidance of hiatus between two consonants and the effects of certain vowels and consonants on each other's pronunciation. Next come a few observations on the parts of speech; for "apres le Chapitre des lettres il nous fault dire des accidens." Instead of giving a number of isolated instances as rules for the formation of the plural, the general rule for the addition of _s_ to the singular is evolved and emphasized by this advice: "Pour ceo gardez vous que vous ne mettez pas le singuler pour le pulier (pluriel) ne a contraire, si come font les sots." Further, we must avoid imitating the 'sottez gens,' to whom frequent reference is made, in using one person of a tense for another, and saying _je ferra_ for _je ferray_.[99] In this section of the work the rules follow each other without any orderly arrangement.[100]

At about the same time an English poet is said to have written a French grammar, as another poet, Alexander Barclay, actually did later. An early bibliographer[101] includes in his list of Lydgate's works one entitled _Praeceptiones Linguae Gallicae_, in one book, of which no further trace remains to-day. Lydgate, however, was well acquainted with French; he made the customary foreign tour, besides visiting Paris again on a later occasion in attendance on noble patrons, and put his knowledge of the language to the test by translating or adapting several works from the French, like most contemporary writers.[102] The same early authority informs us that, as soon as Lydgate returned from his travels, he opened a school for the sons of noblemen, possibly at Bury St. Edmunds. Probably Lydgate wrote a French grammar for the use of these young noblemen, who would certainly have to learn the language; and, after serving their immediate purpose, these rules, we may surmise, were lost and soon forgotten.

In the fifteenth century, instruction in French epistolary style of all degrees continued to be supplied in collections of model letters; and at the end of the fourteenth century a new kind of book for teaching French appeared--the _Manière de Langage_ or model conversation book, intended for the use of travellers, merchants, and others desiring a conversational and practical rather than a thorough and grammatical knowledge of French. Contrary to the custom, prevalent at this later period, of providing English translations, the earliest of these contain no English gloss, but simply the French text without any attempt at even the slight grammatical instruction provided in the vocabularies. Their sole purpose was to give the traveller or wayfarer a supply of phrases and expressions on the customary topics; grammatical instruction could be sought elsewhere.

The earliest of these[103] is the first work for teaching French to which a definite date can be assigned. A sort of dedication at the end is dated from Bury St. Edmunds, "la veille du Pentecote, 1396." We have not the same definite information as to the author.[104] The anglicisms make it clear that he was an Englishman, while the references to Orleans and its university, and the trouble there between the students and the townspeople in 1389, suggest that he was a student of that university, then much frequented by the English and other foreigners, especially law students. He may have been Canon M. T. Coyfurelly, Doctor of Law of Orleans,[105] and author of the contemporary recasting of T. H.'s treatise on French orthography. The author tells us he undertook his task at the request of a "tres honoré et tres gentil sire"; that he had learnt French "es parties la mere," and that he wrote according to the knowledge he acquired there, which, he admits, may not be perfect. Indeed his French is full of anglicisms; _que homme_ is written for 'that man'; _oeuvrer_ for 'worker'; _que_ for 'why,' and so on; there are also many grammatical mistakes such as wrong genders, _au homme_, _de les_ for _des_, _de le_ for _du_. This "manière" must have enjoyed a very considerable popularity, judging from the number of manuscripts, of various dates, still in existence. And, in modern times, it presents a greater interest to the reader than any of the treatises mentioned before, partly from the naïveté and quaintness of its style, partly owing to the vivid picture it gives us of the life of the time at which it was written.

It opens in a religious strain, with a prayer that the students of the book may have "sens naturel" to learn to speak, pronounce, and write "doulz françois":

A noster commencement nous dirons ainsi: en nom du pere, filz et
Saint Esperit, amen. Ci comence la Maniere de Language qui
t'enseignera bien a droit parler et escrire doulz françois selon
l'usage et la coustume de France. Primiers, au commencement de
nostre fait et besogne nous prierons Dieu devoutement et nostre
Dame la benoite vierge Marie sa tres douce mere, et toute la
glorieuse compaigne du Saint reaume de Paradis celeste, ou Dieux
mette ses amis et ses eslus, de quoi vient toute science, sapience,
grace et entendement et tous manieres vertuz, qu'il luy plaist de
sa grande misericorde et grace tous les escoliers estudianz en cest
livre ainsi abruver et enluminer de la rousée de sa haute sapience
et entendement, qu'ils pouront avoir sens naturel d'aprendre a
parler, bien soner et a droit escrire doulz françois.

Then, because man is the noblest of all created things, the author proceeds to give a list of the parts of his body, which recalls the old riming vocabularies. This, however, is the only portion in which conversation is sacrificed to vocabulary. In the rest of the work, though the vocabulary is increased by alternative phrases wherever possible, it is never allowed to encroach too much on the conversation.

The second chapter presents a scene between a lord and his page, in which the page receives minute instructions for commissions to the draper, the mercer, and upholsterer--an excellent opportunity of introducing a large choice of words. Conversation for travellers is the subject of the third chapter, the most important, and certainly the most interesting in the whole book. It tells, "Coment un homme chivalchant ou cheminant se doit contenir et parler sur son chemin qui voult aler bien loin hors de son pais." After witnessing the preparations for the journey, the reader accompanies the lord and his page through an imaginary journey in France. Dialogue and narrative alternate, and the lord talks with his page Janyn or whiles away the time with songs:

Et quant il aura achevée sa chanson il comencera a parler a son
escuier ou a ses escuiers, ainsi disant: "Mes amys, il est bien pres
de nuyt," vel sic: "Il sera par temps nuyt." Doncques respont Janyn
au son signeur bien gentilment en cest maniere: "Vrayement mon
seigneur, vous ditez verité"; vel sic: "vous ditez voir"; vel sic:
"vous dites vray"--"Je panse bien qu'il feroit mieux pour nous
d'arester en ce ville que d'aller plus avant maishuy. Coment vous
est avis?"--"Ainsi comme vous vuillez, mon seigneur." "Janyn!"--"Mon
signeur?"--"Va devant et prennez nostre hostel par temps."--"Si
ferai-je, mon seigneur." Et s'en vait tout droit en sa voie, et
quant il sera venu a l'ostel il dira tout courtoisement en cest
maniere. "Hosteler, hosteler," etc.

The page then proceeds to make hasty preparations for the coming of his master to the inn, and we next assist at the arrival of the lord and his evening meal and diversions--another opportunity for the introduction of songs--and his departure in the morning towards Étampes and Orleans.

More humble characters appear in the next chapter: "Un autre manière de parler de pietalle, comme des labourers et oeuvrers de mestiers." Here we have conversations between members of the working classes. A gardener and a ditcher discuss their respective earnings, describe their work, and finally go and dine together; a baker talks with his servant, and so gives us the names of the chief things used in his trade, just as the gardener gave a list of flowers and fruits. A merchant scolds his apprentice for various misdemeanours, and then sends him off to market:

Doncques l'apprentiz s'en vait au marchié pour vendre les danrées de
son maistre et la vienment grant cop des gens de divers pais de les
achater: et apprentiz leur dit tout courtoisement en cest
maniere,--'Mes amis venez vous ciens et je vous monstrerai de aussi
bon drap comme vous trouverez en tout ce ville, et vous en aurez de
aussi bon marché comme nul autre. Ore regardez, biau sire, comment
vous est avis; vel sic: comment vous plaist il;

and after some bargaining he sells his goods.

In the next "manière de parler" a servant brings a torn doublet to a mender of old clothes, and enlists his services. A chapter of more interest and importance is that dealing with greetings and salutations to be used at different times of the day to members of the various ranks of society:

Quant un homme encontrera aucun au matinée il luy dira tout
courtoisement ainsi: "Mon signour Dieux vous donne boun matin et
bonne aventure," vel sic: "Sire Dieux vous doint boun matin et bonne
estraine, Mon amy, Dieux vous doint bon jour et bonne encontre." Et
a midi vous parlerez en cest maniere: "Monsieur Dieux vous donne bon
jour et bonnes heures"; vel sic: "Sire, Dieu vous beneit et la
compaignie!" A peitaille vous direz ainsi: "Dieux vous gart!" . . .
Et as oeuvrers et labourers vous direz ainsi: "Dieux vous ait, mon
amy,"

and so on. One traveller asks another whence he comes and where he was born, and the other says he comes from Orleans, where there is a fierce quarrel between the students and the townspeople; and was born in Hainaut, where they love the English well, and there is a saying that "qui tient un Henner (Hennuyer) par la main, tient un Englois par le cuer." We are next taught how to speak to children: "Quant vous verez un enfant plorer et gemir, vous direz ainsi: Qu'as tu, mon enfant," and comfort him, and when a poor man asks you for alms, you shall answer, "Mon amy, se je pourroi je vous aidasse tres volantiers. . . ."

From this we return to subjects more suited to merchants and wayfarers--how to inquire the road, and to go on a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Thomas-à-Becket. The work closes with a gathering of companions in an inn, which, like the rest of the chapters, is full of life and interest. Last of all, a sort of supplement is added in the form of a short poem on the drawbacks of poverty:

Il est hony qui pouveres est,

and a _fatrasie_ in prose.

Another treatise of the same kind, written about three years later, was intended chiefly for the use of children, _Un petit livre pour enseigner les enfantz de leur entreparler comun françois_.[106] It was not the first of its kind. The metrical vocabularies of Bibbesworth and his successors were chiefly intended for the use of children. There is also some evidence to show that the grammatical treatises were used by children; the commentary was added to the _Orthographica Gallica_ because the rules were somewhat obscure "pour jeosne gentz," and Barton, in his introduction, mentions the "chiers enfantz" and "tresdoulez puselles," as those whom his grammar particularly concerns.

In the _Petit livre_, however, the teaching is of the simplest kind, and specially suited to children. The dialogue lacks the interest of the earlier 'manière,' and inclines, in places, to become a list of phrases pure and simple. The work opens abruptly with the words: "Pour ce sachez premierement que le an est divisé en deux, c'est asscavoir le yver et la esté. Le yver a six mois et la esté atant, que vallent douse," and so on to the other divisions of the year and time. The children are then taught the numbers in French, the names of the coins, and those of the persons and things with which they come into daily contact. Then follow appropriate terms for addressing and greeting different persons, and the author even goes so far as to provide the child with a stock of insulting terms for use in quarrels. The rest of the treatise does not appear to be intended for children. There are conversations in a tavern, lists of salutations, familiar talk for the wayside and for buying and selling, all of which has little special interest, and is designed apparently to meet the needs of merchants more than any other class. In the chatter on the events of the day there occurs a passage which enables us to date the work. The traveller tells the hostess of the captivity of Richard II. as a recent event:

"Dieu, dame, j'ay ouy dire que le roy d'Angleterre est osté."--"Quoy
desioie!"--"Par ma alme voir."--"Et les Anglois n'ont ils point de
roy donques?"--"Marie, ouy, et que celuy que fust duc de Lancastre,
que est nepveu a celluy que est osté."--"Voire?"--"Voire
vraiement."--"Et le roygne que fera elle?"--"Par dieu dame, je ne
sçay, je n'ay pas esté en conceille."--"Et le roy d'Angleterre ou
fust il coronné?"--"A Westmynstre."--"Fustez vous la
donques?"--"Marie, oy, il y avoit tant de presse que par un pou que
ne mouru quar a paine je eschapey a vie."--"Et ou serra il a
nouvel?"--"Par ma foy je ne sçay, mais l'en dit qu'il serra en
Escoce."

The authorship is not so easy to ascertain. The manual may be due to Canon T. Coyfurelly, probable author of the earlier and better-known work also.[107] The many mistakes and anglicisms, such as _quoy_ for _quelle_ ('what') and the exclamatory 'Marie' in the quotation just given, show it to be the work of an Englishman.

Another book of conversation appeared in 1415,[108] as may be gathered from its first two chapters, in which a person fresh from the wars in France tells of the siege of Harfleur and the battle of Agincourt, and announces the return of the victorious English army. The rest of the dialogues are represented as taking place in and about Oxford. There is the usual tavern scene. Travellers from Tetsworth arrive at an Oxford inn, and are present at the evening meal and diversions. The hostess describes the fair at Woodstock and the articles bought and sold there; her son, a boy of twelve years, wants to be apprenticed in London; he goes to the school of Will Kyngesmylle, where writing, counting, and French are taught. One of the merchants calls the lad and questions him as to his knowledge of French: "Et que savez vous en fraunceys dire?--Sir je say moun noun et moun corps bien descrire.--Ditez moy qu'avez a noun.--J'ay a noun Johan, bon enfant, beal et sage et bien parlant engleys, fraunceys et bon normand, beneyt soit la verge que chastie l'enfant et le bon maistre qui me prist taunt! Je pri a Dieu tout puissant nous graunte le joye tous diz durant!" The lad then proceeds to give proof of his knowledge by naming the parts of his body and his clothing, always, it appears, the first things learnt.

This reference to the teaching of French in the school of an Oxford pedagogue shows that, though French had at this time lost all standing in the Grammar Schools, it was still taught in private establishments.[109] It seems highly probable that Will Kyngesmylle was the author of this work, and that he used his text-book as a means of self-advertisement, a method very common among later teachers of French. At the close comes a chapter belonging to another work of the same type, which is only preserved in this fragment; no doubt other such works existed and have been entirely lost.

It is likely that in the fifteenth century these conversational manuals supplanted, to a considerable extent, the earlier type of practical manual for teaching French--the metrical vocabulary--with which they had something in common. At any rate, there is no copy of such nomenclatures extant after _Femina_ (1415). The 'manières' provided in their dialogues much of the material found in the vocabularies, giving, wherever possible, groups of words on the same topics--the body, its clothing, houses, and men's occupations. Further, the vocabularies, which had never departed from the type instituted by Bibbesworth in the thirteenth century, dealt more with the feudal and agricultural life of the Middle Ages, and so had fallen behind the times. The 'Manières de Langage' were more in keeping with the new conditions. Towards the end of the century (and perhaps at the beginning of the sixteenth century) we come to a manual,[110] which, while resembling the 'manières' in most points, reproduces some of the distinctive external marks of the vocabularies. For instance, the French is arranged in short lines, which, however, do not rime, and vary considerably in the number of syllables they contain; and these are followed by a full interlinear English gloss, as in the later vocabularies. The subject matter, however, is similar to that of the early conversation books. First comes gossip at taverns and by the wayside:

Ditez puisse ie savement aler?
Saie may I saufly goo?
Ye sir le chemyn est sure assez.
Yes sir the wey is sure inough.
Mes il convent que vous hastez.
But it behoveth to spede you.
Sir dieu vous donne bon aventure.
Sir god geve you good happe.
Sir a dieu vous commaunde.
Sir to god I you betake.

Sir dieu vous esploide.
Sir god spede you.
Sir bon aventure avez vous.
Sir good chaunce have ye.
Sir par saint Marie cy est bon servise.
Sir by saint Marie her is good ale.
Sir pernes le hanappe, vous comenceres.
Sir take the coppe, ye shal beginne.
Dame ie ne feray point devaunt vous.
Dame I wil not doo bifor you.
Sir vous ferrez verrement.
Sir ye shal sothely.

After some disconnected discourse on inquiring the time, asking the way, etc., we again return to the tavern:

Dame dieu vous donne bon jour.
Dame god geve you good daie.
Dame avez hostel pour nous trois compaignons?
Dame have ye hostel for us iij felowes?
Sir quant longement voudrez demourer?
Sir how long wol ye abide?
Dame nous ne savons point.
Dame we wote not.
Et que vouldrez donner le iour pour vostre table?
And what wil ye geve a daie for your table?
Dame que vouldrez prendr pour le iour?
Dame what wol ye take for the daie?
Sir non meynns que vj deniers le iour.
Sir noo lesse thenne vj d. the day ... etc.

Next comes the usual scene between buyers and sellers, followed by another inn scene of greater length. After attending to their horses, the travellers sup and spend the night at the inn, and set out the next morning after reckoning with their hostess. The manuscript ends abruptly in the midst of a list of salutations. The nature of the French[111] betrays the author's nationality; he was evidently an Englishman. As to the English, the quaint turn given to many of the phrases is usually explained by the writer's desire to give a literal translation of the French; many of the inaccuracies in both versions are probably due to careless work on the part of the scribe.

Merchants thus appear to have been one of the chief classes among which there was a demand for instruction in French. In addition to the large part assigned to them in the 'Manières de Langage,' and in the epistolaries, where letters of a commercial nature are a usual feature, there exist collections of model forms for drawing up bills, indentures, receipts and other documents of similar import. They are usually called 'cartularies,' are accompanied by explanations in Latin, and may be looked upon as the first text-books of commercial French.[112] One author explains their origin and aim by this introductory remark:[113] "Pour ceo qe j'estoie requis par ascunz prodeshommez de faire un chartuarie pour lour enfantz enformer de faire chartours, endenturs, obligations, defesance, acquitancez, contuaries, salutaries, en Latin et Franceys ensemblement . . . fesant les chartours, escripts munimentz a de primes en Latyn et puis en Franceys."

More emphasis is laid on the demand for instruction in French among the merchant class by the fact that the earliest printed text-books were designed chiefly for their use. The first of these may be classed with the new development of the 'Manières de Langage,' comprising dialogues in French and English, although it does not exactly answer to this description.[114] It was issued from the press of William Caxton in about 1483, and at least one other edition appeared at a later date.[115] In form it is a sort of narrative in French, with an English translation opposite. The aim of the work is stated clearly in an introductory passage which informs the reader that "who this book shall learn may well enterprise merchandise from one land to another and to know many wares which to him shall be good to be bought, or sold for rich to become." Caxton thus recommends the book to the learner:

Tres bonne doctrine Rygt good lernyng
Pour aprendre For to lerne
Briefment fransoys et engloys. Shortly frenssh & englyssh.
Au nom du pere In the name of the fadre
Et du filz And of the soone
Et du sainte esperite And of the holy ghost
Veul comnencier I wyll begynne
Et ordonner ung livre, And ordeyne this book,
Par le quel on pourra By the which men shall mowe
Raysonnablement entendre Resonably understande
Françoys et Anglois, Frenssh and Englissh,
Du tant comme cest escript Of as moche as this writing
Pourra contenir et estendre, Shall conteyne & stratche,
Car il ne peut tout comprendre. For he may not all comprise.
Mais ce qu'on n'y trouvera But that which cannot be founden
Declairé en cestui Declared in this
Pourra on trouver ailleurs Shall be founde somwhere els
En aultres livres. In other bookes.
Mais sachies pour voir But knowe for truthe
Que es lignes de cest aucteur That in the lynes of this auctour
Sount plus de parolles et de raysons Ben moo wordes & reasons
Comprinses, et de responses Comprised, & of answers
Que en moult d'aultres livres. Than in many other bookes.
Qui ceste livre vouldra aprendre Who this booke shall wylle lerne
Bien pourra entreprendre May well enterprise
Merchandises d'un pays a Marchandise fro one land to
l'autre, anoothir,
Et cognoistre maintes denrées And to know many wares
Que lui seroient bon Which to him shall be good to be
achetés bought
Ou vendues pour riche devenir. Or sold for rich to become.
Aprendes ce livre diligement, Lerne this book diligently,
Grande prouffyt y gyst vrayement. Grete prouffyt lieth therein truly.

The 'doctrine' itself opens with a list of salutations with the appropriate answers. A house and all its contents come next, then its inhabitants, which introduces the subject of degrees of kinship:

Or entendes petys et grands,
Je vous dirai maintenant
Dune autre matere
La quele ie commence.
Se vous estes mariés
Et vous avez femme
Et vous ayez marye,
Se vous maintiens paisiblement
Que vos voisins ne disent
De vous fors que bien:
Ce seroit vergoigne.
Se vous aves pere et mere,
Si les honnourés tousiours;
Faictes leur honneur;. . .
Si vous aves enfans,
Si les instrues
De bonnes meurs;
Le temps qu'ilz soient josnes
Les envoyes a l'escole
Aprendre lire et escripre. . . .

At the end of the category come the servants and their occupations, which affords an opportunity of bringing in the different shops to which they are sent and of specifying the meat and drink they purchase there. We then pass to buying, selling, and bargaining in general, and to merchandise of all kinds, with a list of coins, popular fairs, and fête-days.

After an enumeration of the great persons of the earth comes the main chapter of the work, giving a fairly complete list of crafts and trades. This takes the form of an alphabetical list of Christian names, each of which is made to represent one of the trades, beginning with Adam the ostler: "For this that many words shall fall or may fall which be not plainly heretofore written, so shall I write you from henceforth divers matters of all things, first of one thing, then of another, in which chapter I will conclude the names of men and women after the order of a, b, c." The baker may be selected as a fair example:

Ferin le boulengier Fierin the baker
Vend blanc pain et brun. Selleth whit brede and brown.
Il a sour son grenier gisant He hath upon his garner lieng
Cent quartiers de bled. One hundred quarters of corn.
Il achete a temps et a heure, He byeth in tyme and at hour,
Si qu'il n'a point So that he hath not
Du chier marchiet. Of the dere chepe (high buying prices).

At last the author, "all weary of so many names to name, of so many crafts, so many offices, so many services," finds relief in certain considerations of a religious order: "God hath made us unto the likeness of himself, he will reward those who do well and punish those who do not repent of their sins, and attend the holy services: If ye owe any pilgrimages, so pay them hastily; when you be moved for to go your journey, and ye know not the waye, so axe it thus." The usual directions for inquiring the way follow with the description of the arrival at an inn, and the customary gossip. The reckoning and departure on the following morning afford an opportunity of including a further list of Flemish and English coins together with the numerals; and Caxton concludes his work by commending it to the reader with a prayer that those who study it may persevere sufficiently to profit by it:

Cy fine ceste doctrine, Here endeth this doctrine,

A Westmestre les Loundres At Westmestre by London
En formes impressée, In fourmes enprinted,
En le quelle ung chaucun In the whiche one everish
Pourra briefment aprendre May shortly lerne
François et Engloys. French and English.
La grace de sainct esperit The grace of the holy ghosst
Veul enluminer les cures Wylle enlyghte the hertes
De ceulx qui le aprendront, Of them that shall lerne it,
Et nous doinst perseverance And us gyve perseverans
En bonnes operacions, In good werkes,
Et apres cest vie transitorie And after lyf transitorie
La pardurable ioye et glorie! The everlasting ioye and glorie!

The short introduction and epilogue were most probably the composition of Caxton himself. The rest of the book is drawn from a set of dialogues in French and Flemish, first written at the beginning of the fourteenth century, called _Le Livre des Mestiers_ in reference to its main chapter.[116] This would possibly be known to merchants trading with Bruges and other centres of the Low Countries; and when we notice the numerous points of resemblance between it and the English manuals of conversation, the first of which did not appear before the end of the same century, it seems very probable that the Flemish original had some influence on the works produced in England. Caxton was a silk mercer of London, and his business took him to the towns of the Low Countries, especially Bruges, where the English merchants had a large commercial connexion. There, no doubt, he became acquainted with the _Livre des Mestiers_, and probably improved his knowledge of French by its help, for he studied and read the language a good deal during his long sojourn abroad. There also he probably added an English column to his copy of the French-Flemish phrase-book, as a sort of exercise rather than with any serious intention of publication; and when he had set up his press at Westminster, remembering the need he had felt for French, in his own commercial experience, and the little book which had assisted him, he would decide to print it. Caxton's copy of the _Livre des Mestiers_ belonged, no doubt, to a later date than the one extant to-day,[117] probably to the beginning of the fifteenth century. It must have been fuller, and have had different names attached to the characters, so that, as the names are still arranged in alphabetical order, it is difficult, at a glance, to distinguish the identity of the two texts.

Caxton's rendering of the French is often inaccurate, owing perhaps to the influence of the Flemish version from which he seems to have made his translation.[117] Moreover, at the early date at which Caxton, probably, added the English column to the _Livre des Mestiers_, his knowledge of French had not yet reached that state of thoroughness which was to enable him to translate such a remarkable number of French works into English. He himself tells us in the prologue to the _Recuyell of the Histories of Troy_ of Raoul le Fèvre (Bruges, 1475)--the first of his translations from the French, and, indeed, the first book to be printed in English--that his knowledge of French was not by any means perfect. With the exception of the introductory and closing sentences, Caxton made few additions to his original. He did indeed supply the names of English towns, coins, bishoprics, and so on; but, on the whole, the setting of the work is foreign; Bruges, not London, is the centre of the action, and no doubt the place where the original was composed.

Not long after the publication of Caxton's doctrine another work of like character and purpose appeared. It claims to be "a good book to learn to speak French for those who wish to do merchandise in France, and elsewhere in other lands where the folk speak French." The atmosphere is entirely English, and consequently its contents bear a closer resemblance to its English predecessors. In the arrangement of the dialogue it is identical with the Cambridge conversation book, except that the English lines come before the French, and not the French before the English.[118] The four subjects round which the dialogue turns, namely, salutations, buying and selling, inquiring the way, and conversation at the inn, were all favourites in the early "Manières de Langage." For the rest it follows in the steps of its English predecessors in confining itself to dialogue pure and simple, while Caxton's 'doctrine' adopted the narrative form. In one point, however, the work differs from the latest development of the old "Manière de Langage," as preserved in the Cambridge Dialogues in French and English; the dialogues are followed by a vocabulary, then a reprint of one of the old books on courtesy and demeanour for children, with a French version added, and finally commercial letters in French and English. The work is thus made much more comprehensive than any of its type which had as yet appeared, and includes samples, so to speak, of all the practical treatises for teaching French which had appeared in the Middle Ages.

It was printed separately by the two chief printers of the time, both foreigners: Richard Pynson, a native of Normandy and student of Paris, who came to England and began printing on his own account about 1590-1591; and Wynkyn de Worde, a native of Alsace, and apprentice to Caxton, with whom he probably came to England from Bruges in 1476, and to whose business he succeeded in 1491.[119] Although neither of the printers dated their work, it seems probable that the earliest edition was issued by Pynson. There is a unique copy of his edition in the British Museum; it is without title-page, pagination, or catch-words, and the colophon reads simply "Per me Ricardum Pynson." The colophon of Wynkyn's work, of which there is a complete copy in the Grenville Library (British Museum),[120] and a fragment of two leaves in the Bodleian, is slightly more instructive and runs as follows: "Here endeth a lytyll treatyse for to lern Englyshe and Frensshe. Emprynted at Westmynster by my Wynken de Worde." Now as Wynkyn moved from Westminster in 1500 to set up his shop in the centre of the trade in Fleet Street, opposite to that of his rival Pynson, his edition of the work must have appeared before that date, because it was issued from what had been Caxton's house in Westminster. On the other hand, the type used by Pynson is archaic,[121] and the work is evidently one of the earliest issued from his press. It is inferior to Wynkyn's edition from the technical point of view. A headline is all there is by way of title; while in Wynkyn's copy we find a separate title-page, containing the words, "Here begynneth a lytell treatyse for to lern Englishe and Frensshe," and a woodcut of a schoolmaster seated in a large chair, with a large birch-rod in his left hand, and, on a stool at his feet, three small boys holding open books. This particular woodcut was a favourite in school-books of the period;[122] it appears, for instance, in a little treatise entitled _Pervula_, giving instructions for turning English into Latin, which Wynkyn de Worde printed about 1495.[123] Moreover, each page of Wynkyn's edition has a descriptive headline, "Englysshe and Frensshe," which is not found in Pynson's. The text also is in many places more accurate than that of the Norman printer, and gives the impression of having been corrected here and there. It is therefore probable that Pynson first printed the treatise shortly after 1490,[124] and that another edition was issued by Wynkyn de Worde during the period intervening between the date of the issue of Pynson's edition and the end of the century. A remnant, consisting of one page of yet another edition, is preserved in the British Museum, and shows some variations in spelling from the two other texts.

This little book, then, seems to have enjoyed considerable popularity during its short life. On the whole it is more elementary in character than the 'doctrine' of Caxton. The first things taught are the numbers and a list of ordinary mercantile phrases. The opening passage is very much like that written by Caxton for his work:

Here is a good boke to lerne to speke Frenshe.
Vecy ung bon livre apprendre parler françoys.
In the name of the fader and the sone
En nom du pere et du filz
And of the holy goost, I wyll begynne
Et du saint esperit, je vueil commencer
To lerne to speke Frensshe,
A apprendre a parler françoys,
Soo that I maye doo my marchandise
Affin que je puisse faire ma marchandise
In Fraunce & elles where in other londes,
En France et ailieurs en aultre pays,
There as the folk speke Frensshe.
La ou les gens parlent françoys.
And fyrst I wylle lerne to reken by lettre.
Et premierement je veux aprendre a compter par lettre. . . .

Next come the cardinal numbers and a vocabulary of words "goode for suche as use marchaundyse":

Of gold & sylver.
D'or et d'argent.
Of cloth of golde.
De drap d'or.
Of perles & precyous stones.
De perles et Pieres precieuses.
Of velvet & damaskes.
De velours et damas etc. . . .

and so on for nearly a page, in which the names of various cloths, spices, and wines are provided.

Then follows another "manner of speeche" in a list of salutations arranged in dialogue form:

Other maner of speche in frensshe.
Autre magniere de langage en françoys.
Syr, God gyve you good daye.
Sire, Dieu vous doint bon iour.
Syr, God gyve you goode evyn.
Sire, Dieu vous doint bon vespere.
Syr, God gyve you goode nyght & goode reste.
Sire, Dieu vous doint bon nuyt et bon repos.
Syr, how fare ye?
Sire, comment vous portez vous?
Well at your commaundement.
Bien a vostre commandement.
How fare my lorde & my lady?
Coment se porte mon seigneur et ma dame?
Ryght well blessyd be God.
Tres bien benoit soit Dieu.

Syr, whan go ye agayne to my lorde,
Sire, quant retournez vous a mon seigneour,
I praye you that ye wyll recommaunde me unto hym,
Je vous prie que me recomandez a lui,
And also to my lady his wyfe.
Et aussi a ma dame sa femme.
Syr, God be wyth you.
Sire, Dieu soit avecques vous.

Yet another favourite subject is next introduced--a conversation on buying and selling:

Other maner of speche to bye and selle.
Aultre magniere de langage pour vendre et achatter.
Syr, God spede you.
Sire, Dieu vous garde.
Syr, have ye not good cloth to sell?
Sire, n'avez vous point de bon drapt a vendre?
Ye syr ryght good.
Ouy sire tres bon.
Now lette me see it and it please you.
Or le me laisses voir s'il vous plest.
I shall doo it with a good wyll.
Je le feray voulentiers.
Holde, here it is.
Tenez sire, le veez cy.
Now saye how moche the yerde is worthe
Or me dites combyen l'aune vault.
Ten shelynges.
Dix solz.
Forsothe ye set it to dere.
Vrayment vous le faictez trop cher.
I shall gyve you eyght shelynges.
Je vous en donneray huyt soulz.
I wyll not, it is to lytell.
Non feroy, cest trop pou.
The yerde shall coste you nyne shelynges,
L'aune vous coustra neuf soulz,
Yf that ye have it.
Si vous l'airez.
Ye shall have it for no lasse.
Vous ne l'avrez pour riens mains.

The merchant has also to be able to ask for directions on his way, and to gossip with the landlady of the wayside inn; the phrases necessary for these purposes are recorded in the next "manner of speech," where, as in the first treatise of 1396, the scene is laid in France: