e in which
general romance-motives of different kinds are embroidered on the
strictly _chanson_ canvas, there are probably none more interesting
than the later forms of _Huon de Bordeaux_ and _Ogier de Danemarche_.
The former, since the fortunate reprinting of Lord Berners's version
by the Early English Text Society, is open to every one, though, of
course, the last vestiges of _chanson_ form have departed, and those
who can should read it as edited in M. Guessard's series. The still
more gracious legend, in which the ferocious champion Ogier, after his
early triumphs over the giant Caraheu and against the paladins of
Charles, is, like Huon, brought to the loadstone rock, is then
subjected to the enchantments--loving, and now not baneful--of
Arthur's sister Morgane, and tears himself from fairyland to come to
the rescue of France, is by far the most delightful of the attempts
to "cross" the Arthurian and Carlovingian cycles. And of this we
fortunately have in English a poetical version from the great
_trouvere_ among the poets of our day, the late Mr William Morris. Of
yet others, the often-mentioned _Voyage a Constantinoble_, with its
rather unseemly _gabz_ (boasting jests of the peers, which are
overheard by the heathen emperor with results which seem like at one
time to be awkward), is among the oldest, and is a warning against the
tendency to take the presence of comic elements as a necessary
evidence of late date. _Les Saisnes_, dealing with the war against the
Saxons, is a little loose in its morals, but vigorous and interesting.
The pleasant pair of _Aiol_ and _Elie de St Gilles_; the touching
history of Charlemagne's mother, _Berte aus grans Pies_; _Acquin_, one
of the rare _chansons_ dealing with Brittany (though Roland was
historically count thereof); _Gerard de Roussillon_, which has more
than merely philological interest; _Macaire_, already mentioned; the
famous _Quatre Fils d'Aymon_, longest and most widely popular, must be
added to the list, and are not all that should be added to it.

[Sidenote: _Final remarks on them._]

On the whole, I must repeat that the _chansons de geste_, which as we
have them are the work of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in the
main, form the second division in point of literary value of early
mediaeval literature, while they possess, in a certain "sincerity and
strength," qualities not to be found even in the Arthurian story
itself. Despite the ardour with which they hav