The third volume contains a third poem in the
style of the _Miroir_, but much superior, _Le Triomphe de l'Agneau_, a
considerable body of spiritual songs, a miscellaneous poem or two,
and some epistles, chiefly addressed to Francis. These last begin the
smaller and secular division of the _Marguerites_, which is completed
in the fourth volume by _Les Quatre Dames et les Quatre Gentilhommes_,
composed of long monologues after the fashion of the Froissart-Chartier
school, by a "_comedie profane_," a farce entitled _Trop, Prou [much],
Peu, Moins_; a long love poem, again in the Chartier style, entitled _La
Coche_, and some minor pieces.
Opinion as to these poems has varied somewhat, but their merit has never
been put very high, nor, to tell the truth, could it be put high by any
one who speaks critically. In the first place, they are written for the
most part on very bad models, both in general plan and in particular
style and expression. The plan is, as has been said, taken from the
long-winded allegorical erotic poetry of the very late thirteenth, the
fourteenth, and the fifteenth centuries--poetry which is now among the
most difficult to read in any literature.
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