Swift Erondell, why hast thou been so slowe
Whose nature is to bring the summer in?
In earlier years Erondell had no doubt made use of Holyband's works; he evinces a high esteem for the sixteenth-century teacher, and shows intimate acquaintance with his Schoolemaister and his Treatise on Verbs. It is an interesting fact that until the middle of the seventeenth century and probably much later Holyband's sixteenth-century French was still being taught in England; as late as 1677 the French Schoolemaister was among the books advertised for sale by Thomas Passenger at the sign of the Three Bibles on London Bridge.[747] The great changes taking place in the evolution of the French language reached England but slowly.
Erondell translated another French work into English.[748] One day Richard Hakluyt, the geographer, brought him the whole volume of the Navigations of the French Nation to the West Indies to translate. From this Erondell selected the Nova Francia, or the Description of that part of New France, which is one continent with Virginia, described in the three late voyages ... made by M. de Monto, M. du Pont Grave, and M. de Poutrincourt, into the countries called by the French men La Cadre, lying to the southwest of Cape Breton ..., which was published in 1609 and dedicated to the "Bright Starre of the North, Henry, Prince of Great Britaine."
The arrival of the French Queen of England, Henrietta Maria, in 1625, gave further stimulus to the already strong French influence at the Court. When she came she knew no English, and for many years after her arrival waywardly refused to study the language. Her numerous suite of French ladies and gentlemen, including Mme. Georges, the Duc and Duchesse de Chevreuse, and Père Sancy, shared her ignorance, as indeed did practically all foreigners. The English Court was thus called upon to exercise its French to the uttermost. The small French colony in London managed to make itself very unpopular, not only with the King but also with the whole Court. Their ignorance of English and English ways caused them to commit blunders which prejudiced people against them. Such was the case when Henrietta and her suite strolled, chattering and making a great noise, through an assembly of English people listening to a sermon. The preacher asked if he must stop, but no notice was taken, and soon the whole retinue returned in the same fashion, evidently not understanding a word of what was going on.[749] Within a year of their arrival, however, most of the French attendants were dismissed.
Four years after the arrival of the French queen, who had a passion for the theatre, a French company arrived in London and acted before an English audience.[750] They first played a farce at Blackfriars on the 17th of November, but did not meet with much success, being "hissed, hooted, and pipinpelted." This hostile reception was partly due to the fact that women[751] took part in the acting—a thing hitherto unknown in England—and partly because the play was a "lascivious and unchaste comedye," and the company was formed of "certain vagrant French players who had beene expelled from their owne country." No wonder that they gave "just offence to all vertuous and well disposed persons in the town." Yet the French actors were not discouraged. They waited a fortnight, and then obtained a licence to play at the Red Bull. This second attempt does not appear to have been more successful than the first. After some three weeks had elapsed, however, the company decided to make a last effort. This time they acted at the Fortune, but with so little success, that the Master of the Revels refunded them half his fee "in respect of their ill-fortune." The failure of the venture was due largely to its novelty, and the popular dislike of the French. FRENCH PLAYERS IN LONDONThough we are told that there was a "great resort" to the French plays,[752] apparently people went more for the sake of rioting than for the pleasure of hearing the French plays.
The stormy reception of 1629 did not, however, hinder other French actors from coming to our country. In 1635 a new company arrived, this time under the special patronage of the Queen.[753] They first played before Her Majesty, who recommended them to the King. Through his influence they were allowed the use of the Cockpit Theatre in Whitehall. There, on the 17th of February, they presented a French comedy called Mélise—either Corneille's Mélite, or more probably Du Rocher's comic pastoral, La Mélize, ou les Princes Reconnus.[754] The King, Queen, and Court were present. The acting met with approval and the players received £10. There was no repetition of the riotous behaviour which had characterised the performances of 1629, probably because there were no women in the company, and also because the players were specially patronised by the Court and the aristocracy. A few days after the King gave orders to the Master of the Revels, Sir Henry Herbert, brother of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, that the French company should be allowed to act at Drury Lane Theatre on the two sermon days of each week during Lent, and through the whole of Passion week, when they would avoid rivalry with Beeston's English players, who did not perform on those days. Sir Henry Herbert, himself a good French scholar, tells us he "did all these courtesies to the French gratis," wishing to render the Queen his mistress an acceptable service.
The French actors now enjoyed increasing popularity. When, at the end of Lent, they had to relinquish the Cockpit, Drury Lane, to the English players, their services were still in demand. On Easter Monday they acted before the Court in a play called Le Trompeur puny, no doubt the tragi-comedy of that name by Georges de Scudéry.[755] Their success was even greater than on the occasion of the Court performance of Mélise, and on the 16th of April following, they presented Alcimedor,[756] under the same circumstances, and "with good approbation." These three plays acted at the Court are the only part of their repertoire that is named in the record of the Master of the Revels. On the 10th of May they received £30 for three plays acted at the Cockpit, probably that in Whitehall, where they first acted Mélise before the Court, nearly four months earlier, and not the Cockpit, Drury Lane, where they had played during Lent.
The question now arose of providing the French players with a special theatre of their own. Arrangements were made for converting part of the Riding School in Drury Lane into a play-house, and on the 18th of April the King signified to Sir Henry Herbert his royal pleasure that "the French comedians should erect a stage, scaffolds and seats, and all other accommodations." On the 5th of May following a warrant was granted to Josias d'Aunay and Hurfries de Lau (so Sir Herbert spells their names)[757] and others, empowering them to act at the new theatre "during pleasure." How long the French company, whose director was Josias Floridor, continued to act in London is not known. But it is a striking fact that in 1635 there was a regular French theatre established in the city, and its presence must have had considerable effect. The French company under Floridor again appeared before the Court, in December 1635; we do not know what they played, beyond the fact that it was a tragedy. On the twenty-first of the same month, the Pastoral of Florimène was acted in French at Whitehall by the French ladies who attended the Queen. The King, the Queen, Prince Charles, and the Elector Palatine, were present, and the performance was a great success.
The Queen did not persist in her obstinate refusal to learn English. When she had been in the country about seven years, she began to study the language seriously. Mr. Wingate was her tutor, and her love of the theatre was put to practical use by the performance of long masques and pastorals in English in which she took part. It is not surprising that Henrietta Maria was ignorant of English, for our language was ENGLISH IGNORED ON THE CONTINENTpractically unknown in France in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Italian and Spanish were the fashionable modern foreign languages in France. English was either entirely ignored or regarded as barbarous, and since French was widely spoken at the English Court, and Latin was used by scholars, the need for it was not felt.[758] No foreign ambassador ever knew English. Of the Frenchmen who visited England,[759] only a few learnt the language. Chief among these were the French teachers, the pioneers among Frenchmen in the study of the English tongue. Of individuals, the Sieur de la Hoquette, man of letters and traveller, is said to have visited England to see Bacon, and learnt English in order to read the Chancellor's works in the original. He discussed Bacon's works and English novels with J. Bignon, and was surprised to find that scholar acquainted with them. Jean Doujat also knew English, as did La Mothe le Vayer, who married a Scotchwoman, and also perhaps Regnier Desmarais, who draws a few comparisons with it in his grammar.[760] But these were isolated exceptions. Among the languages in which Panurge addresses Pantagruel on their first meeting, English has a place, but is hardly recognisable in its Scottish dress.[761] And the Maréchal de Villars relates in his memoirs[762] that the Duc de la Ferté, "quand il avait un peu bu," would break out in English to the great astonishment and amusement of all who were present. There is a tradition that Corneille kept a copy of the English translation of the Cid, which he showed to his friends as a curiosity.
Yet the general ignorance of English outside England did not discourage English actors from making professional tours abroad. They seem to have enjoyed considerable popularity in Germany and the Low Countries,[763] where they played at first in English. No doubt dancing, mimicry, and music had much to do with their success, and the clown probably took advantage of his position to offer interpretations from time to time. However, the actors soon learnt some German by mixing with German actors. A band of English acrobats had performed at Paris in 1583. Some years later, in 1598, a troupe of English comedians hired the Hôtel de Bourgogne,[764] the only theatre in Paris, from the Confrérie de la Passion, who usually played there. The English actors, at whose head was one Jehan Sehais, got into trouble for playing outside the Hôtel, contrary to the privileges of the Confrérie, and had to pay an indemnity. How much these actors made use of their language for attracting an audience is not certain. At a somewhat later date, another company played at Fontainebleau before Henry IV. and his son, afterwards Louis XIII. The "wild dramas" acted by the English players seem to have made a great impression on the young prince, who afterwards would amuse himself by dressing as a comedian and crying in a very loud voice, "Toph, toph, milord!" pacing about with great strides in the fashion of the English actors.[765] But it is highly probable that these few words were all the English the future king of France could muster.