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to an article in the Cornhill Magazine for July 1877,* as also to the Odes Funambulesques, the Petit Traité de Poésie Française, and other works of M. Théodore de Banville. To M. de Banville in particular, and to the second French Romantic School in general, the happy modernisation in France of the old measures of Marot, Villon, and Charles of Orleans is mainly to be ascribed.

TRIOLET, RONDEL, RONDEAU.-These three are classed together, because originally the names appear to have been used indifferently. For example, in his "History of English Rhythms," Dr. Guest quotes,from an old French authority, the "Jardin de Plaisance," a poem of eight lines corresponding to the modern Triolet, but commencing thus:

"Ainsi se font communs rondeaulx

Ne plus ne moins que cestuy ci."

And Charles of Orleans seems to have called what we now style his Rondels, Rondeaux or Chansons. What is less intelligible is, that M. Gustave Masson in "La Lyre Française" (Macmillan) unaccountably prints a pair of these as "Triolets." The fact would appear to be, that the Rondel and the Triolet are the earlier forms, and the Rondeau is an evolved product of both. The natural tendency, in the first instance, would be to somewhat overwork the refrain, then afterwards to make it less prominent, and finally to enlarge the field of operation. This is exactly what appears to have taken place.

* By Mr. E. W. Gosse.

The modern TRIOLET consists of eight lines with two rhymes. The first pair of lines are repeated as the seventh and eighth, while the first is repeated as the fourth. The order of rhymes is thus as follows:-a,b,a,a,a,b,a,b. The following example by, of all persons in the world, a grave French magistrate, Jacques Ranchin, has been christened by Ménage the "King of Triolets:"

"Le premier jour du mois de mai
Fut le plus heureux de ma vie.
Le beau dessein que je formai,
Le premier jour du mois de mai.
Je vous vis et je vous aimai:

Si ce dessein vous plut, Silvie,
Le premier jour du mois de mai

Fut le plus heureux de ma vie."

Here is another, and a less sentimental one, by M. Alexis Piron-"qui ne fut rien, Pas même academicien." It is, in fact, addressed to the Academy, against whom-" semper ardentes acuens sagittas”he discharged quite a quiver of arrowy little epigrams :

"Grâce à monsieur l'abbé Ségui,
Messieurs, vous revoilà quarante.
On dit que vous faites aussi
Grâce à monsieur l'abbé Ségui.
Par la mort de je ne sais qui,

Vous n'étiez plus que neuf et trente:
Grâce à monsieur l'abbé Ségui,

Messieurs, vous revoilà quarante."

As far as can be ascertained, the Triolet has not

Y

been written at all in English until quite recently. Mr. Swinburne's admirable "Match" ("Poems and Ballads," 1st series, 1866), is apparently reminiscent of this form; but the pair of Triolets * by Mr. Robert Bridges ("Poems," Pickering, 1873) seem the first of their kind. The Triolet is perhaps best adapted for Epigram. The weight of its raison d'être rests upon the fifth and sixth line, while the perfection of its execution lies in the skill with which the third line is connected with the fourth, and the final couplet with the one preceding it. If, as in Piron's, the writer is able to give a new sense to the fourth line, the general effect is increased.

The modern RONDEL is a poem of fourteen lines with two rhymes. As in the Triolet, the initial couplet is repeated at the close. It is also repeated after the sixth line, forming the seventh and eighth lines. Thus the whole falls naturally into three groups or stanzas, two of four lines and one of six. The usual arrangement of the rhymes is-a,b,b,a; a,b,a,b;a,b,b,a,a,b, as in the following from Charles of Orleans:

"Alez vous en, alez, alez,

Soussy, Soing, et Merencolie,

Me cuidez sous (pensez-vous) toute ma vie

Gouverner, comme fait avez?

"Je vous prometz que non ferez,

Raison aura sur vous maistrie.

Alez vous en, alez, alez,

Soussy, Soing, et Merencolie.

* Vide No. cci.-[ED.]

"Se jamais plus vous retournez
Avecques vostre compaignie,

Je pri à Dieu qu'il vous maudie,

Et ce par qui vous revendrez.
Alez vous en, alez, alez,

Soussy, Soing, et Merencolie."

*

Mr. John Payne's "Kiss me, Sweetheart," which appeared in the "Athenæum" for August 18, 1877, is a correct English example." Some writers content themselves with repeating one line only, the first, at the close, thus making the Rondel of thirteen lines. But as M. de Banville gives the rule in one way, and writes the poem in another, it may be assumed that this is a matter in which his English followers are also at liberty to use their discretion.

.

The beauty of the Rondel lies in the skilful management of the refrain. In the most successful specimens it will be found to recur without effort, and with a certain indefinable air of novelty at each recurrence. Most of the masterpieces in this form. are contained in the works of Charles of Orleans, although M. de Banville has written some graceful examples. Beyond the English Rondels attributed to the former writer, one of which is printed in Cary's "Early French Poets," there would appear to be but few antique Rondels in our language. Guest, it is true, speaks of a "Roundle" by Lidgate; and a very clumsy one by Hoccleve is quoted by Professor Morley in his "Shorter English Poems." It is possible, as Chaucer, in the "Legende of Good Women," expressly speaks to his own authorship of

* Vide No. cciii.-[ED.]

66

Many a himpne for your holy daies

That highten balades, roundels, virelaies,"

that further search would reveal others. Meanwhile, it is matter for speculation whether Sidney's "My true love hath my heart and I have his," quoted in Puttenham's "Arte of English Poesie," is not in form a memory of the Rondel.

As has been already said, the modern RONDEAU is a modification of the Rondel. It is made up of thirteen lines with two rhymes and two unrhyming refrains, generally the first half of the first line, sometimes only the first word.* As in the Rondel, the lines fall into three groups, a first of five lines, a second of three (and refrain), and a third of five (and refrain). The usual sequence of the rhymes is a,a,b,b,a;-a,a,b (and refrain);―a,a,b,b,a (and refrain), as shown in the following early example by Victor Brodeau. It is in ten-syllable lines; most modern Rondeaux are in eight:

"Au bon vieux temps, que l'amour par bouquets

Se démenoit, et par joyeux caquets,

La femme étoit trop sotte, ou trop peu fine:
Le temps depuis, qui tout fine et affine,

Lui a montré à faire ses acquets.

"Lors les seigneurs étoient petits naquets (garçons);
D'aulx et oignons se faisoient les banquets;
Et n'étoit bruit de ruer en cuisine,

Au bon vieux temps.

"Dames aux huis n'avoient clefs ni loquets;
Leur garderobe étoit petits paquets

* Vide Nos. cciv. to ccix.-[ED.]

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