Mr. Amyot has subjoined a specimen of his own poetical powers in describing "the Minstrel TAILLEFER'S achievements," in the battle of Hastings, from the old Norman lays of GAIMAR and WACE. I can only find room for the first few verses. The poem is entitled,
THE ONSET OF TAILLEFER.
Foremost in the bands of France,
Arm'd with hauberk and with lance,
And helmet glittering in the air,
As if a warrior knight he were,
Rush'd forth the MINSTREL TAILLEFER
Borne on his courser swift and strong,
He gaily bounded o'er the plain,
And raised the heart-inspiring song
(Loud echoed by the warlike throng)
Of Roland and of Charlemagne,
Of Oliver, brave peer of old,
Untaught to fly, unknown to yield,
And many a Knight and Vassal bold,
Whose hallowed blood, in crimson flood,
Dyed Roncevalle's field.
[150] M. Denon told me, in one of my visits to him at Paris, that by the commands of Bonaparte, he was charged with the custody of this Tapestry for three months; that it was displayed in due form and ceremony in the Museum; and that after having taken a hasty sketch of it, (which he admitted could not be considered as very faithful) he returned it to Bayeux--as it was considered to be the peculiar property of that place.
[151] See p. 109 ante.
[152] See page 13 ante.
[153] Mr. Cotman has a view of this church, in his work on Normandy.
[154] I suspect that the "peaceful" waters of this stream were frequently died with the blood of Hugonots and Roman Catholics during the fierce contests between MONTGOMERY and MATIGNON, towards the latter half of the sixteenth century. At that period St. Lo was one of the strongest towns in the Bocage; and the very pass above described, was the avenue by which the soldiers of the captains, just mentioned, alternately advanced and retreated in their respective attacks upon St. Lo: which at length surrendered to the victorious army of the latter; the leader of the Catholics. SEGUIN: Histoire Militaire des Bocains; p. 340- 384; 1816, 12 mo.
[155] The reader will be doubtless gratified by the artist-like view of this cathedral, by Mr. Cotman, in his Architectural Antiquities of Normandy.
[156] It cannot fail to be noticed that the following sentences are in fact rhyming verse, though printed prose-wise.