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over the Pyrenees, took Pamplona, and advanced to the Ebro, under the walls of Saragoza. There he received hostages in token of submission from several of the Saracen princes, and so far had been successful in his object. But on his march homewards his rear-guard was assailed and put to the sword in one of the Pyrenean passes by an armed body of Spanish Basques. "In which conflict," adds Eginhard, "there fell with very many others, Anselm, Count of the Palace, and Roland, Præfect of the Marches of Brittany." I may remark that the name of Roland is here given in the truly barbaric form of Hruodlandus. Much more important than this observation is the note here appended by M. Teulet, the latest and best editor of Eginhard. "This passage," he says, "is the only one among the early historians in which any mention is made of the famous Roland who plays so great a part in all the Carlovingian romances."

On this scanty groundwork then has arisen, as I may term it, an air-built and fantastic castle. In the first place, Roland is made the nephew of Charlemagne-a relationship which would certainly not be unnoticed by Eginhard if it had been real. Next he is invested with the trusty sword Durandal, with which he not only demolishes his enemies, but on one occasion, when pursuing the Moslem, cleaves a pass through the Pyrenees which towers above le Cirque de Gavarni, and is still called la brèche de Roland. Moreover he had a horn scarcely less tremendous, which he sounded in the

1 Eginhard, Opera, vol. i. p. 32, ed. Teulet.

rout of Roncesvalles, to apprize Charlemagne of his danger, and which was heard by the Emperor at a wonderful distance. Further still the romancers are so obliging as to provide him with a bride, the Lady Alda, who remains at Paris, and is awaiting his return from Spain.

As it appears to me, there is here a striking similarity between the Roland of France and the William Wallace of Scotland. The exploits of both are unrecorded in the meagre chronicles of the time. These exploits live only in tradition and in song. But taken as a whole they have, in my judgment, a just claim to be believed, All that tradition has done is to confound the dates and exaggerate the circumstances. We may be sure that so great and so general a fame could not in either case have arisen had not the living hero impressed his image on the public mind. I should therefore entirely agree with Sismondi, who in the second volume of the history of France contends, that although Roland may not have been pre-eminent at Roncesvalles, he must have performed achievements and acquired renown in former years, when warring against the Saracens of Spain.

Many other characters of Roncesvalles, though familiar to the minstrel, are wholly unknown to the historian. Such are Oliver and other Paladins in the French romances. Such are Durandarte and Calaynos in the Spanish ballads. But above all in frequency of mention stands Ganelon, the arch-traitor, who misled Roland in the mountain passes and caused the "dolorous rout." M. Génin, a high authority on the Carlovingian

period, has discussed the subject of this name,' conceiving it to be derived from an Archbishop of Sens, also called Ganelon, who in 859 was guilty of gross ingratitude to his Sovereign and benefactor Charles the Bald. This seems to me a wholly unfounded idea. The ingratitude of Archbishop Ganelon did not lead to any such striking or fatal action as would at all impress itself on the popular imagination; and moreover it appears that the Emperor and the Prelate were reconciled together before the close of the same year. Nor is the sacerdotal character preserved in the legendary Ganelon, as one would expect it to be if an Archbishop had been in truth its prototype.

I consider it therefore very far more probable that Ganelon may have been the real appellation of the treacherous chief of the Navarrese or Spanish Basques who assailed the rear-guard of Charlemagne. Nor does it seem to me at all surprising that Eginhard in his very summary account of the transaction, and omitting even the name of Roncesvalles, should omit also the name of any leader on the enemy's side.

Be this as it may, however, there is no doubt that within two centuries and a half from the death of Charlemagne the songs and ballads founded on the tragical tale of Roncesvalles had grown popular in France. One proof of this-connected also with the history of England-is given by Robert Wace in his Roman de Rou. He tells us that as the Normans of William the Conqueror marched onwards to the battle

1 Chanson de Roland, Introduction, p. xxv.

of Hastings, they had in their front ranks a valiant minstrel, who from his deeds of arms was surnamed Taillefer, "the hewer of iron." Taillefer then in the front ranks went singing, as the old French rhymes declare it

Or,

"De Carlemaigne et de Rolant,
Et d'Olivier et des vassaus,
Qui morurent en Rainscevaux."

"Of Charlemagne and of Roland,
And of Oliver and the vassals,
Who died in Roncevaux." 1

Nor were the ballads of Roncevaux less in vogue among the Spaniards. Of this I may give a striking example, though of a later period, derived from the very masterpiece of Spanish genius. There is a passage in the second part of Don Quixote,2 where the knight of La Mancha and his squire repair to Toboso in quest of the peerless Dulcinea. There

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a country labourer passed them, going out before day break to plough, and as he came along he was singing the old ballad which says

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"Let me die,' said Don Quixote, hearing the ballad, 'if we have any good success to-night. Dost thou hear what the peasant sings, Sancho?"

1 See Génin, Introduction à la Chanson de Roland, p. lxvi.
2 Part ii. chap. ix.

The ballad thus quoted by Cervantes, as sung by a clown in La Mancha, is given by him (so far as regards the opening lines) with some slight verbal differences from its printed form in the Romancero-differences which, arising, as of course, from traditionary recitation, are of no particular account. It has been rendered into English verse by Mr. Lockhart, under the title of 'The Admiral Guarinos.' And here I cannot but pause for a moment to commemorate the admirable spirit and brilliancy with which Mr. Lockhart has translated-or rather in many cases not exactly translated, but rather paraphrased and new-formed-these ancient Spanish ballads. My own warmth of feeling may indeed mislead me when I mention a friend of great intimacy and of cherished memory, now passed away. But I would desire you to consider how strong on this point is the testimony of an American gentleman, Mr. Ticknor. In his excellent book-The History of Spanish Literature-Mr. Ticknor observes of these translations of Lockhart, that in his judgment they form a work of genius beyond any of the sort known to him in any language.'

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If indeed I may be permitted to adduce a single instance in proof of this great superiority, I shall be content with one, the concluding stanza of this very ballad on The Admiral Guarinos.' It relates how Guarinos-not a Moslem, as you might imagine from his title, but one of Charlemagne's captains, and made a prisoner at Roncesvalles after seven years' durance,

History of Spanish Literature, vol. i. p. 115, ed. 1863.

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