st, of the type of hero, so dear to the middle ages, who begins
by service in the kitchen or elsewhere, of no very dignified
character, and ends by being discovered to be of noble or royal birth.
Rainouart is thus the ancestor, and perhaps the direct ancestor, of
Havelok, whom he especially resembles; of Beaumains, in a hitherto
untraced episode of the Arthurian story, and of others. His early
feats against the Saracens, in defence of Orange first, and then when
William arrives, are made with no knightly weapon, but with a
_tinel_--huge bludgeon, beam, "caber"--but he afterwards turns out to
be Guibourc's, or rather Orable's, own brother. There are very strong
comic touches in all this part of the poem, such as the difficulty
Rainouart finds in remounting his comrades, the seven nephews of
William, because his _tinel_ blows are so swashing that they simply
smash horse and man--a difficulty overcome by the ingenious
suggestion of Bertrand that he shall hit with the small end. And these
comic touches have a little disturbed those who wish to find in the
pure _chanson de geste_ nothing but war and religion, honour and
generosity. But, as has been already hinted, this is to be over-nice.
No doubt the oldest existing, or at least the oldest yet discovered,
MS. of _Aliscans_ is not the original, for it is rhymed, not
assonanced, a practically infallible test. But there is no reason to
suppose that the comic touches are all new, though they may have been
a little amplified in the later version. Once more, it is false
argument to evolve the idea of a _chanson_ from _Roland_ only, and
then to insist that all _chansons_ shall conform to it.

After the defeat of Desrame, and the relief of half-ruined Orange, the
troubles of that city and its Count are not over. The admiral returns
to the charge, and the next _chanson_, the _Bataille Loquifer_, is
ranked by good judges as ancient, and describes fresh prowess of
Rainouart. Then comes the _Moniage_ ["Monking" of] _Rainouart_, in
which the hero, like so many other heroes, takes the cowl. This,
again, is followed by a series describing chiefly the reprisals in
Spain and elsewhere of the Christians--_Foulques de Candie_, the
_Siege de Barbastre_, the _Prise de Cordres_, and _Gilbert
d'Andrenas_. And at last the whole _geste_ is wound up by the _Mort
Aimeri de Narbonne_, _Renier_, and the _Moniage Guillaume_, the poem
which unites the profane history of the _Marquis au Court Nez_ to the