Although the matter has been made one of dispute, there
seems little reason to doubt that Thomas the Rhymer was
really and truly the author of Sir Tristrem—a romance which
obtained almost universal popularity in its own day, and which
was paraphrased, or rather imitated, by the minstrels of Normandy
and Bretagne. The principal opponent of this conclusion
is the able antiquary, Mr Price, who, in his edition of
Warton's History of English Poetry, has appended some elaborate
remarks to the first volume, with the purpose of proving
that the story of Sir Tristrem was known over the continent of
Europe before the age of Thomas of Ercildoune. That, however,
by no means disproves that Thomas was the author of the
Auchinleck MS., edited by Sir Walter Scott. That its language
may have suffered from passing orally from one person to
another before being committed to writing at all, is not improbable.
Be this as it may, such was the instability of literary popularity
before the invention of printing, that at last only one copy
of True Thomas' romance was known to exist. From this,
which belongs to the Advocates' Library in Edinburgh, and is
the earliest specimen of Scottish poetry extant, the author of
Marmion gave the world his edition in 1804, filling up the
blanks in the narrative, and following out the story in a style
of editorial emendation, and competency for his task, not often
to be met with. Taken all in all, the rifacimento is not one of
the least extraordinary achievements of a most extraordinary
literary career.
The more hurried reader will find a succinct, and very luminous
account of Sir Tristrem, with illustrative extracts, in Mr
Ellis' Specimens of Ancient Poetry, vol. i., where that distinguished
scholar evinces his usual taste, research, and critical
discrimination.
