, of course, mainly in imitations of French models, and need
not detain us long; still, its existence must be remembered, for no
other fact shows so well how thorough and powerful the French invasion
had been.

What, then, were the models copied by these imitators, and what the
literature and ideas that, thanks to the Conquest, French-speaking poets
acclimatised in lately-Germanic England? What sort of works pleased the
rulers of the country; what writings were composed for them; what
manuscripts did they order to be copied for their libraries? For it must
not be forgotten, when studying the important problem of the diffusion
of French ideas among men of English race, that it matters little
whether the works most liked in England were composed by French subjects
of the king of France, or by French subjects of the king of England; it
matters little whether these ideas went across the Channel, carried over
by poets, or by manuscripts. What _is_ important is to see and
ascertain that works of a new style, with new aims in them, and
belonging to a new school of art, enjoyed in England a wide popularity
after the Conquest, with the result that deep and lasting
transformations affected the aesthetic ideal and even the way of thinking
of the inhabitants. What, then, were these ideas, and what was this
literature?

II.

This literature little resembled that liked by the late masters of the
country. It was as varied, superabundant, and many-coloured as the other
was grand, monotonous, and melancholy. The writings produced or simply
admired by the conquerors were, like themselves, at once practical and
romantic. They had, together with a multitude of useful works, a number
of charming songs and tales, the authors of which had no aim but to
please.

The useful works are those so-called scientific treatises in which
everything is taught that can be learned, including virtue: "Image du
Monde," "Petite Philosophie," "Lumiere des laiques," "Secret des
Secrets," &c.[161]; or those chronicles which so efficaciously served
the political views of the rulers of the land; or else pious works that
showed men the way to heaven.

The principal historical works are, as has been seen, those rhymed in
the twelfth century by Gaimar, Wace, and Benoit de Sainte-More, lengthy
stories, each being more flowery than its predecessor, and more thickly
studded with digressions of all sorts, and descriptions in all colours,
written in short and cle