Excerpt from Studies Early French Poetry
When one considers that at every respectable school, whether for girls or boys, in England, French is a part of the professed course; that a Frenchman is generally specially retained for this branch of instruction, and that a respectable minority of the pupils are really enabled to read French with something like ease and pleasure, it is singular to note the general ignorance on the subject of French literature and literary history. A sort of impression rests on most, minds that French literature begins with the "siecle de Louis Quatorze"; that Boileau, Corneille, Racine were the first French poets; that before them was nothing but the crude efforts of genius struggling with an undeveloped and stubborn language. Some few know of Malherbe, some of Ronsard, and a still smaller number of Clement Marot. How many have heard of Francois Villon, or Mellin de Saint Gelais?
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