III.
The tone becomes more elevated; and then we have forest songs in honour of the outlaw Robin Hood.[594] The satire ceases to be simply mocking; the singer's laughter no longer consoles him for abuses; he wants reforms; he chides and threatens. In his speech to the rebel peasants in 1381, the priest John Ball takes from a popular song the burden that comprises his whole theory:
Whan Adam dalf and Eve span,
Who was thanne the gentilman?[595]
The anonymous poet makes the dumb peasant speak, describe his woes, and draw up a list of his complaints. By way of reply, anonymous clerks compose songs, half English and half Latin, a favourite mixture at that time, in which they express their horror of the rebels.[596] Others sound the praises of the English heroes of the Hundred Years' War.
Contrary to what might be supposed, the number of these last songs is not great, and their inspiration not exalted. The war, as has been seen, was a royal and not a national one; and it happened, moreover, that none of the famous poets of the time saw fit to celebrate Crécy and Poictiers. We have, therefore, nothing but rough sketches, akin to popular prints, barbarous in design, and coarse in colouring, but of strong intent. Clerks, in their Latin, pursue France and Philip de Valois, with opprobrious epithets:
Lynxea, viperea, vulpina, lupina, medea,
Callida, syrena, crudelis, acerba, superba.
Such is France according to them, and as to her king, his fate is predicted in the following pun:
O Philippus Valeys, Xerxes, Darius, Bituitus,
Te faciet maleys Edwardus, aper polimitus.[597]
To which the French replied:
Puis passeront Gauloys le bras marin,
Le povre Anglet destruiront si par guerre,
Qu'adonc diront tuit passant ce chemin:
Ou temps jadis estoit ci Angleterre.[598]