The poems of Master François Villon of Paris : now first done into English verse in the original forms . reluctance of worthy persons in this mat-ter ; for of course it is unpleasant to think of a man of genius asone who held, in the words of Marina to Boult — A place, for which the painedst fiendOf hell would not in reputation beyond this natural unwillingness, the whole difficulty of thecase springs from a highly virtuous ignorance of life. Paris now isnot so different from the Paris of then ; and the whole of the doingsof Bohemia are not written in the sugar-candy pastorals of Mu
The poems of Master François Villon of Paris : now first done into English verse in the original forms . reluctance of worthy persons in this mat-ter ; for of course it is unpleasant to think of a man of genius asone who held, in the words of Marina to Boult — A place, for which the painedst fiendOf hell would not in reputation beyond this natural unwillingness, the whole difficulty of thecase springs from a highly virtuous ignorance of life. Paris now isnot so different from the Paris of then ; and the whole of the doingsof Bohemia are not written in the sugar-candy pastorals of is really not at all surprising that a young man of the fifteenthcentury, with a knack of making verses, should accept his breadupon disgraceful terms. The race of those who do is not extinct;and some of them to this day write the prettiest verses . After this, it were impossible for Master Francis to falllower : to go and steal for himself would be an admirable advancefrom every point of view, divine or human.— Robert LouisStevenson ( Familiar Studies of Men and Books ).. FOREWORD HIS reprint of the Poems of Fran-cois Villon is based upon threedistinct editions :I. The Poems of Master FrancisVillon of Paris, now first done intoEnglish Verse, in the originalforms, by fohn Payne. London :Printed for the Villon Society, for Private Distribu-tion, MDCCCLXXVIII. Fcap 4to. Full vellum xxiv: 1-187. From this, the editio princeps, we have reproducedthe frontispiece, also facsimiles of a fifteenth centuryMS. and a black letter form of Ballad. In one instancethe earlier reading of a single line was adopted in pref-erence to the later version. The Ballade a fohn Payneby Theodore de Banville deserved preservation.*This was in response, as may be presumed, to thededication which Mr. Payne prefixed to his translation :To my friend Theodore de Banville, the reviver of theBalladA * Found also in the 1881, but omitted from the 1892, edition. t Retained in the
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