hat the disposition of
the rimes will prevent the interpolation of topical allusions or
careless altercation. The similar safeguard of Dante's _terza rima_ will
occur to every student.

The social conditions again under which troubadour poetry was produced,
apart from the limitations of its subject matter, tended to foster an
obscure and highly artificial diction. This obscurity was attained, as
we have said, by elevation and preciosity of style, and was not the
result of confusion of thought. Guiraut de Bornelh tells us his method [37]
in a passage worth quoting in the original--

Mas per melhs assire
mon chan,
vau cercan
bos motz en fre
que son tuit cargat e ple
d'us estranhs sens naturals;
mas no sabon tuich de cals.

"But for the better foundation of my song I keep on the watch for words
good on the rein (_i.e._ tractable like horses), which are all loaded
(like pack horses) and full of a meaning which is unusual, and yet is
wholly theirs (naturals); but it is not everyone that knows what that
meaning is".[17]

Difficulty was thus intentional; in the case of several troubadours it
affected the whole of their writing, no matter what the subject matter.
They desired not to be understood of the people. Dean Gaisford's reputed
address to his divinity lecture illustrates the attitude of those
troubadours who affected the _trobar clus_: "Gentlemen, a knowledge of
Greek will enable you to read the oracles of God in the original and to
look down from the heights of scholarship upon the vulgar herd." The
inevitable reaction occurred, and a movement in the opposite direction
was begun; of this movement the most distinguished supporter was the
troubadour, Guiraut de Bornelh. He had been one of the most successful [38]
exponents of the _trobar clus_, and afterwards supported the cause of
the _trobar clar_. Current arguments for either cause are set forth in
the _tenso_ between Guiraut de Bornelh and Linhaure (pseudonym for the
troubadour Raimbaut d'Aurenga).

(1) I should like to know, G. de Bornelh, why, and for what reason, you
keep blaming the obscure style. Tell me if you prize so highly that
which is common to all? For then would all be equal.

(2) Sir Linhaure, I do not take it to heart if each man composes as he
pleases; but judge that song is more loved and prized which is made easy
and simple, and do not be vexed at my opinion.

(3) Guiraut, I do not like my songs to be so confused, that