Taylor, Edgar [Editor]; Austin, Sarah [Editor]: Lays of the minnesingers or German troubadours of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries: Illustr. by specimens of the contemporary lyric poetry of Provence and other parts of Europe ; With histor. and crit. notes, and engravings from the ms. of the minnesingers in the king's library at Paris, and from other sources (London, 1825)

CASTILLE. 39

their own breasts for the feelings which their poetry
breathes, than to mine the inaccessible rocks of fo-
reign manners and language. We might with as
much propriety seek our origin of such songs of joy
in that of the ancient Hebrew poet;

Rise up, my love!

My fair one ! and come away!

For lo ! the winter is past,

The rain is over and gone;

The flowers appear on the earth,

The time of the singing of birds is come,

And the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land;

The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs,

And the vines, with the tender grape, give smell:

Rise up, my love !

My fair one ' and come away !

What is the internal evidence on which the sup-
posed derivation of Troubadour poetry from the
Arabs rests 1 Are these critics acquainted with the
poetry of the nations whom they thus unite ? Father
Andrez admits " Egli e vero che nelle composizioni
de' Provenzali non si scorge vestigio d' Arabica eru-
dizione; ne v' e segno alcuno d' essersi formati i
Provenzali poeti su le poesie degli Arabi." But he
adds, " Non si ravvisa neppure che fossero piii ver-
sati nell' opere de' Greci e de' Latini, ne si vede uso
alcuno delle favole Greche e dell' antico mitologia."
His admission would probably be considered suffi-
cient to destroy his theory; but unluckily, this pas-
sage shows that Father Andrez, like many other