Romances of Chivalry. By John Ashton. (T. Fisher Unwin.) —
For those who want, with a view to examinations in English literature, to know what a mediwval romance is like sufficiently to pass muster with the examiners, this book will be useful. The best part of the book are the illustrations, which are reproductions of old woodcuts, and are excessively entertaining. "The Story of Melusine " heads the book. Apparently Mr. Ashton supposes that it really did originate with Jean d'Arras, 1387, instead of being a tale of immemorial antiquity; while how he can call the tale, as related by Jean d'Arras, "one of the prettiest and daintiest" tales of the Middle Ages, it is difficult to understand, considering the nasty and hideous incidents which are introduced into it. "The Knight of the Swan" and "Robert the Devil" are well known from the operas. Sir Bevis of Hampton, whose portrait still stands, or did a few years ago, on the Bar Gate at South- ampton, and Sir Guy of Warwick, are nominis umbra who are not brought into any greater reality by the tales here told of them. The truth is, that except in so far as they reproduce well-known myths, such as the swan family and the fish-tailed bride, the romances of chivalry are terribly alike; and whether the hero is called Sir Eglamour or Amadis de Gaul, Sir Tristram or Jack the Giant-killer, matters exceedingly little to his career of giant-killing, castle-taking, Saracen.slaying, lady-loving adventure.
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