A HISTORY OF
FRENCH LITERATURE
BY
CHARLES WOODWARD HUTSON
Professor of Modern Languages in the University of Mississippi,
Author of The Beginnings of Civilization, Out of a
Besieged City, etc.
NEW YORK:
WM. L. ALLISON COMPANY
PUBLISHERS.
Copyright, 1889,
BY
CHAKLES WOODWABD HUTSON.
POLITICAL CHRONOLOGY OF FRANCE.
HOUSE OF CAPET.
Hugh the Great, 987- 996
Robert the Sage, 996-1031
Henry I., 1031-1060
Philip I., . _ 1060-1108
Louis VI., . / . . . 1108-1137
Louis VIL, 1137-1180
Philip Augustus, 1180-1223
Louis VIIL, . 1223-1226
Louis IX. (St. Louis), 1226-1270
Philip III., 1270-1285
Philip IV. (The Fair), 1285-1314
Louis X., 1314-1316
Philip V 1316-1322
Charles IV., 1322-1328
HOUSE OF VALOIS.
Philip VI 1328-1350
John the Good, ........ 1350-1364
Charles V., 1364-1380
Charles VI., 1380-1422
Charles VIL, 1422-1461
Louis XT 1461-1483
Charles VIII., 1483-1498
3
FRENCH LITERATURE.
i.
GENERAL SKETCH: TO THE REVOLUTION OF 1789.
THE French language is one of those languages
of the great Aryan family which grew up in South-
ern Europe from the old Latin stock. It did not
spring from the Latir of literature, but from that
Lingua Romano, rusvet spoken in the later days
of the Roman Empii3, with various dialectic pecu-
liarities, over all th? outlying provinces. In Gaul
this tongue of the p >] iulace had already been mod-
ified by the Keltic >j>eech which it displaced, as in
Spain by the Kel i^erian. In the closing period
of Roman history had been further modified by
the Teutonic dialects brought in by the Western
Goths, the Burgundians, and the Franks. The in-
fluence of the Goths, however, was slight and tran-
sient, as they ultimately established their power on
the southern side of the Pyrenees. The influence
of the Burgundians was confined to the regions
about the Rhine.
The Franks mastered the country at just that
critical period which enabled their ruler to combine
the waning civilization of the Empire and the
moral vigor of the young Christian Church with
the energy of a fresh race, and so to continue the
traditions and the prestige of the old Roman Em-
pire into the new order of things. Their adher-
ence, too, to the Athannsian creed gave them an
advantage over other Teutonic races, who had
embraced the Arian doctrines, in enabling them
5
6 To the Revolution of 1789.
to harmonize better with the old Eoman world
into which they had penetrated.
When first taking their place in history, they
were divided into two well-marked groups the
Salian Franks and the Eipuarian Franks. The Sa-
lians, at the close of the fourth century, were spread
over Holland and the Low Countries. The Ripu-
arians had settled on both sides of the Rhine as I'ar
up as the Main. Both groups were at that time of
thoroughly Teutonic blood and speech, except that
the Belgian part of the race may have had some
trace of Keltic origin.
By the time of Charles the Great, crowned Em-
peror at Rome in the year 800, the dominion of the
Franks had greatly increased, and that wise and
warlike prince so extended his rule as to embrace
under his sway all the West of Europe. His
realm included the whole of ancient Gaul, the
greater part of Germany, Spain as far as the Ebro,
and that part of Italy still known as Lombard} 7 .
This Kaiser Karl, it must be remembered, was in
blood and speech a Teutonic prince, though, from
his having in later ages become a special hero of
French romance under the name of Charlemagne,
he is apt to be regarded by ordinary readers of his-
tory as the founder of the French monarchy, which
is far from being the true conception of his place
in history. The truth is, there was no France as
yet, and the country of the Franks stretched across
what are now northern France and central Ger-
many, taking in the countries now known as Bel-
gium and Holland.
At the close of one of his wars with the Saxons,
Charles transported vast numbers of them into
northern Gaul, and settled them there. The Em-
peror Julian, ages before, had done the same thing
with the Alternant These transplantations greatly
increased the Teutonic element in the race which
afterwards came to be known as the French. With
grafts from such various Germanic stocks as the
To the Devolution of 1789. 7
Gothic, Burgundian, Frank, Saxon, and Allemanic,
together with the Scandinavian branch of the Teu-
tonic family in the persons of the Normans, who
forced a settlement in the north of Gaul in the time
of Charles the Simple, it is no wonder that we find
the French language far richer in Teutonic words
than any other of the Romanic tongues. There are
in them all about nine hundred words of Teutonic
origin; about three hundred are common to them
all ; while French has four hundred and fifty not
found in the others.
The French monarchy and the French people
really have their historical beginning with the
crowning at Rheims of Hugues Capet. Count of
Paris, as King of the French, in the year 987.
The Franks of the West were then formally sepa-
rated from the Franks of the East, who remained
an integral part of the German Kingdom.
During the previous century, however that is,
from the deposition of Charles the Fat in 887
there had been a practical severance of the West
Franks from the East Franks. The men of Latin
Francia, dwelling between the Loire and the Seine,
and struggling for life and land with the Norman
pirates with little aid from their nominal lords in
the German land, were growing steadily into a sense
of their separate identity. Before the close of that
century of isolation and conflict, they were speak-
ing their dialect of the Romanic speech, and were
aware that it was something different from Ger-
man.
South of the Loire, another, though kindred Ro-
manic tongue was spoken. This was Proven9al.
The rulers in that land were the Dukes of Aqui-
taine and Gascony and the Counts of Toulouse and
Barcelona, who were really independent princes,
with but a slight bond of allegiance to the neigh-
boring kings. Its advanced position in the re-
newed march of progress, after the period of con-
fusion which the fall of Roman civilization brought
8 To the Revolution of 1789.
upon Europe, is finely described in these words of
Macaulay :
" That country, singularly favored by nature, was, in
the twelfth century, the most flourishing and civilized
part of Western Europe. It was in nowise a part of
France. It had a distinct political existence, a distinct
national character, distinct usuages, and a distinct speech.
The soil was fruitful and well cultivated ; and amidst the
cornfields and vineyards arose many rich cities, each of
which was a little republic ; and many stately castles,
each of which contained a miniature of an imperial
court. It was there that the spirit of chivalry first laid
aside its terrors, first took a humane and graceful form,
first appeared as the inseparable associate of art and lit-
erature, of courtesy and love. The other vernacular dia-
lects which, since the fifth century, had sprung up in the
ancient provinces of the Roman Empire, were still rude
and imperfect. The sweet Tuscan, the rich and ener-
getic English, were abandoned to artisans and shepherds.
No clerk had ever condescended to use such barbarous
jargon for the teaching of science, for the recording of
great events, or for the painting of life and manners.
But the language of Provence was already the language
of the learned and polite, and was employed by numer-
ous writers, studious of all the arts of composition and
versification. A literature rich in ballads, in war-songs,
in satire, and, above all, in amatory poetry, amused the
leisure of the knights and ladies whose fortified mansions
adorned the banks of the Rhone and Garonne."
For many generations this land of culture re-
mained a mark for the ambition of the kings rul-
ing at Paris ; and it was only by slow encroach-
ments, by a long series of conquests, marriages,
treaties, and crusades against so-called heretics, that
they gradually extended their supremacy over the
south. Equally slow was .the growth of the
French language to the mastery of all the lands in
which it ultimately became the national speech
Provence and Languedoc in the south, Bretague in
the west.
To the Devolution of 1789. 9
Of the two forms of modified Latin which sprang
up in Gaul, that which in the end became French
was long in imminent danger of being overweighted
and absorbed by its rival. The immediate parent
of French was the Roman Wallon or Langue d 1 Oil,
spoken in the north. The tongue used in the
south, the Provengal or Langue (TOc, in itself far
softer and more poetical, was, as has been said, long
the vehicle of art and culture. It was the instru-
ment of Troubadour song, the natural language of
the new spirit of chivalry.
The political fortunes of the kings of the Cape-
tian line, the extension of the northern speech into
England by the conquest of William the Norman,
the deadly blow dealt to the development of the
south by the persecutions of the Albigenses, all
tended to exalt the Langue d 1 Oil and to crush the
vitality of the Langue (TOc.
French literature proper did not begin, then,
until the French language had fairly ousted its
powerful rival of the south, though there were imi-
tators of the Troubadours among those who used
the northern speech before the Troubadours had
altogether ceased to sing. When the art of the
Troubadours began to decay, the university of Paris
was already at a high pitch of celebrity, and the
establishment of the Sorbonne soon added to its
glory. The fame of these institutions attracted
scholars from all nations, and the native language
began to assume greater elegance under the light of
learning thus held up in the capital of the French
people.
Throughout the twelfth century and in the early
part of the thirteenth, the Trouveres produced a
great number of Lays, some on real, some on imag-
inary subjects. The Fabliaux and some of the
early chronicles also belong to this period. In the
thirteenth century was begun by Guillaume de
Lorris, and finished in the fourteenth by Jean de
Meung, that Roman >le la AVv. which Chaucer trans-
10 French Literature.
lated into English among his first essays in the
poetic art. It was a great favorite in France, and
long exerted an influence upon the taste and art of
many writers.
In that great age, the fourteenth century, when
Italy was blossoming into so rich a glory of art and
letters, and England was producing her Chaucer,
Froissart began French prose in those luminous
chronicles in which he described the great wars of
Edward with France, wars which he partly wit-
nessed, and in which he may be almost said to have
shared. Froissart was on the English side, rather
than the French, in these wars ; but it must be re-
membered that he was a subject of Philippa of
Hainault, Edward's queen, and that French was the
court language in England still, and the Plantagenet
princes were not yet English, whatever their island
people may have been. Prose chronicles, it should
be said, had been written by De Joinville under the
last of the Crusading Kings, as well as by Ville-
hardoin under the first Latin Emperor of Constan-
tinople. But, admirable as these works are from
some points of view, they are like the lispings of
childhood when compared with the lifelike and
many-colored narrative of Froissart ; so that French
prose may be truly said to begin with him, as En-
glish poetry begins with Chaucer.
Next to Froissart comes the historian, Philippe
de Comines, who wrote in the fifteenth century and
opens the way to the study of the philosophy of
history. With Francis I. and his brilliant sister,
Marguerite of Navarre, French literature took a
powerful impulse forward. Francis himself, with
all his faults, was fond of art and of books. The
revival of letters had quickened the human mind
everywhere in western Europe; and there were
many eminent writers in France, both in sympathy
with the court and hostile to it on account of its
attitude towards the Reformers. Rabelais satirized
all parties. Amyot translated the ancients and fos-
To the Revolution of 1789. 11
tered a sort of heathen republic in the minds of
men. Montaigne observed the stir of parties tran-
quilly, and had doubts and scruples about them all.
Ronsard initiated the imitation of the excellences
of the ancients in poetry, and carried the age with
him into a great stretch of pedantic purism. Calvin,
driven from France, established in Geneva a sort
of pastoral theocracy, and formulated doctrine and
government there for a large section of the Re-
formed. Queen Marguerite displayed in her writ-
ings that curious contrast, so often to be observed
in the writers of this age, between the religious
side and the artistic side of human nature. One of
her books, the Miroir de Tame Pecheresse, a work
of religious devotion, had the honor of being con-
demned by the Sorbonne for its Reforming tone.
Another, the Heptameron des Nouvelles, an imita-
tation of Boccaccio's Decameron, goes even further
than that pleasant book in the license of some of
Its tales.
I have mentioned the efforts of Ronsard to im-
prison the forms of the language and literature
within the narrow limits of rigid rules drawn from
the best writers among the ancients. Rabelais,
thorough scholar though he w r as, was bitterly op-
posed to this exclusive homage to the ancients and
submission to their authority; and, though the
classical school gained the day for the time and
produced at a later period the polished but artifi-
cial gems of Corneille and Racine, the spirit of
modern French literature is more in unison with
the free and riotous fancy of Rabelais than with
the stiff and measured march of the school that
followed Ronsard's lead.
Rabelais, as a humorist, still holds a high place
in the literature of the world, and ranks as a great
prose Aristophanes. His fantastical romance of
Gargantua is a long series of satirical exposures of
all the follies and vices of his day, It is, however,
often so foul in its language and licentious in its
12 French Literature.
exuberant flow of high spirits, that it is not a book
to be placed within reach of every comer. Dimi-
try's Three Good Giants strips it of this soiled ves-
ture.
Of all the writers of the sixteenth century that
have come down to us, Montaigne continues to be
the best known, the most read, and the most dearly
loved. The secret of this immortality, aside from
his merits as a thinker, lies in the wonderful way
in which he has impressed his individuality upon
his works. Every reader of the essays of Michel
de Montangne feels that he knows the man person-
ally, and that he is a lovable man to know. One
element, moreover, of their charm for us, and a
high and honorable trait in the character of Mon-
taigne, is the spirit of tolerance, of true charity of
judgment, which the Essays breathe. This feature
in the man's character is the more wonderful, in
that it was wholly alien to the spirit of his age c
To these attractions, he adds the charm of an ex-
ceedingly clear, sweet, and flowing style, and a
reflective temper peculiarly pleasing to the reader
of leisure.
Bulwer-Lytton, in one of his own admirable
essays, calls him the Horace of Essayists, " an ap-
pellation," says he, " which appears to me appro-
priate, not only from the subjective and personal
expression of his genius, but from his genial
amenity ; from his harmonious combination of
sportiveness and earnestness; and, above all, from
the full attainment of that highest rank in the sub-
jective order of intellect, when the author in the
mirror of his individual interior life, glasses the
world around and without him, and, not losing his
own identity, yet identifies himself with infinite
varieties of mankind." The French language owes
much to the inimitably easy style of the old Gas-
con country-gentleman.
The establishment of the Academic Francaise,
under the auspices of Cardinal Richelieu, formed a
To the Revolution of 1789. 13
nucleus for the clustering of French literary genius
of every order. Kichelieu's bad taste and literary
jealousies for he was himself a writer do not
seem to have hindered the development of real
genius ; and his patronage of bad poets acted as a
stimulus upon the good, and gave them the advan-
tage of a foil to set off their own excellence. It
was enough that the atmosphere should be literary ;
genius had a climate to flourish in.
Corneille now appeared to grace the language
with his classic tragedies, and his single comedy,
the promise and foretaste of Moliere's rich fruitage.
Drawing inspiration from Seneca and the Latin his-
torians on the one hand, and from the Spanish
drama on the other, Corneille gave to the French
stage its earlier notemarks of dignity of style and
declamatory grandeur of sentiment, too often swell-
ing into bombast in his imitators. We find in our
English literature the faults of the French tragic
school carried almost, to unconscious caricature in
the extravagance of TDryden's and Nat. Lee's stilted
heroes and heroines. Corneille's finest plays are
Le (7/, Horace, Cinna, and Polyeucte. To these
must be added his amusing comedy, Le Menteur.
The next literary period, the age of Louis XIV.,
for which Eichelieu's policy paved the way and pre-
pared the splendors emphatically the Augustan
age of French literature abounds in great writers
of every kind.
The place of Corneille in the tragic world of
dramatic literature was fully filled by Racine, whc
was to the elder poet what Sophocles was to
oEschylus. Phe'dre, that admirable play of passion,
was indeed drawn from the Phedra of Euripides;
but the sober evenness and moderation of Racine's
genius bring him into closer relationship with
Sophocles. While Racine was enriching the lan-
guage with powerful tragedies, first on profane
themes thrilled through with human love placed in
pathetic situations, and in later days on Biblical
14 French Literature.
subjects carefully kept free from that passion wliicli
had kept alive interest in his earlier pieces, the
prince of comedy was amusing court and city with
his witty ridicule of all the whims and oddities of
the day. Moliere carried comedy of the purely
laughable and fun-moving order to its highest per-
fection. At the same time, being himself a capital
actor and one of the ablest stage-managers that
ever lived, as well as dearly beloved by his fellow
comedians, he created the celebrated Comedie Fran-
$aise, to this day the living transmitter of all the
traditions and prestige of the French theatre in its
best days. Moliere was thus not only the author
whose works we can all read and enjoy, but the
power, acting through the coming centuries, by
which the art of the player is kept from decline.
The stage showed brightest; but there was
scarcely a department of literary art which did not
at this time shine with a rich effulgence of light.
Pascal, in his Lettres Provinciates and his Pensees,
enriched the literature with keen reasoning and
profound thinking, expressed in the tersest and
neatest of styles. Descartes employed the lan-
guage with great force and skill in the domain of
speculative research, though much of his meta-
physics was expressed in Latin. Bossuet, Bourda-
loue, Massillon, and Fiddlier preached in it eloquent
sermons and impressive funeral discourses. Fn-
elon used it in a variety of ways ; for education in
his romance of Telemaque and in some special
treatises ; for controversial writings, in which he
measured swords with Bossuet; for philosophical
disquisition ; and for pulpit oratory. La Fontaine
produced in it his amusing but somewhat improper
Contes and his exquisite Fables; Boileau, his
pleasant Satires and Epitres, and his comic epic,
Lutrin. La Eochefoucauld and La Bruyere put it
to a new service in their epigrammatic Sentences
and Caracttres. Letters, such as those of Madame
de Sevigne' ; and Memoirs, such as those of Cardi*
To the Revolution of 1789. 15
nal de Retz and Madame de Stael, and, towards
the close of the long reign of Louis XIV., those of
the Due de St. Simon, make a peculiar part of
French literature, distinctive indeed, as no other
literature possesses so many, so unreserved, and so
ably written private records of individuals and
families.
This age was followed by the one immediately
preceding that great rising of the oppressed com-
mons of France, known as the first French Revolu-
tion. It was characterized by a singular passion,
in court circles and among the literary men of the
day, for skepticism in the moral and religious field
of thought, and a speculative furore for fraternity,
liberty, and equality, in the political and social
sphere.
The leaders of thought, Montesquieu, Voltaire,
Rousseau, and Buffon, were all deeply imbued in
different ways with the spirit of the age, and did
much to bring about the tremendous results of the
next century.
Montesquieu, in his Lettres Persanes, satirized
the life of his day, religious, political, social, and
literary. In his Considerations sur les Causes de la
Grandeur et de la Decadence des JRomains, he threw
out many admirable suggestions toward the study
of the true philosophy of history. In his Esprit
des Lois, he ably investigated the principles which
lie at the foundation of organized society. The
supporters of civil liberty in every land owe a debt
to Montesquieu for the impulse which he gave to
studies into its nature and principles.
Voltaire has a bad name with serious persons.
But, with all his faults, he was a great light in
French literature and an able worker in the cause
of human progress. He laughed down many
abuses. So universal was his genius, though never
of an exalted type, and so great his versatility,
that it would be useless in a brief sketch like this
to so much as name the many fields of literature
16 French Literature.
in which he shone. His long warfare with existing
institutions went far to destroy the faith of his
contemporaries in them, and helped to pave the
way for the great Eevolution.
What Montesquieu did by acute speculative
thought and Voltaire by keenest ridicule, Eousseau
did by sentiment. Never was work more filled
with impassioned sentiment than Eousseau's Con-
fessions. His whole charm lay in this appeal to
the sensuous part of our nature. His philosoph-
ical notions and socialistic opinions are worth-
less ; but they chimed in with the growing beliefs
of his day, and there was therefore great practical
power in his Contrat Social, feeble as its whole
system of sociology is to thinkers of our time.
Buffon's contribution to the destructive ideas by
which the writers of this period prepared the way
for the Eevolution, was not important. He was,
from that point of view, only one among the deis-
tical scientists of his time. But, in a literary light,
he was a noble figure of the age. His Histoire
naturelle, faulty enough considered as a scientific
work, popularized the study of nature by the
beauty of its style and the charm of its method.
His style is noble and eloquent, and his love for
nature sometimes exalts the language of his
descriptions to true sublimity.
Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's lovely little prose-
idyll Paul et Virginie, serves as a stepping-stone
between Eousseau and Chateaubriand. It has the
tenderness of sentiment which the impassioned
Jean- Jacques had brought into fashion, and at the
same time the devotion to wild nature which Cha-
teaubriand was to enter upon in the next genera-
tion with such enthusiasm. His Chaumiere in-
dienne and Voyage a V Isle de France exhibit the
same characteristics.
Helve'tius, materialistic philosopher; Diderot
and d'Alembert, the encyclopedists ; Condillac, the
metaphysician; Crebillon, the dramatist; bis son,
To the Revolution of 1789. 17
Crebillon, the indecent romancer; Beaumarchais,
the brilliant writer of comedy and unconscious
herald of the Revolution; and Le Sage, the creator
of Gil Bias, all belong to this period.
Le Sage, in permanence of literary fame, is by
far its greatest name. The others are marked
names, and their works are much talked about ; Le
Sage is read. Only sections of the reading public
read here and there a work of Voltaire or Rous-
seau. Everybody reads Gil Bias, if not in the
original, at least in translated form. Eminently
original and thoroughly French, though borrowed
in a general way from the Spanish picaresco ro-
mances, it holds its own even with modern readers,
not only from its entertaining vivacity, wit, and
humor, but because it is so true to human nature in
all time. To use the words of Bulwer-Lytton, in
his Essay on Knovjledye of the World:
" The knowledge of life it illustrates is so vast, that,
in substance, it remains to this day the epitome of the
modern world. Amid all the mutations of external
manners, all varying fashions of costume, stand forth in
immortal freshness its large types of civilized human
nature. Its author is equally remarkable for variety of
character, formed by the great world, and for accurate
insight into the most general springs of action by which
they who live in the great world are moved. Thus he
is as truthful to this age as he was to his own."
We have now reached the eve of the French
Revolution of 1789. With that tremendous event,
all changes in the world of French thought and feel-
ing. The old disappears in blood. The classic
taste in literature vanishes with the pomp of the
ancien regime ; laws and letters for awhile yield
to arms, and at the next breathing-place French
literature assumes a new phase.
2
18 French Literature.
II.
SINCE THE REVOLUTION OF 1789.
BEAUMARCHAIS, the author of those witty come-
dies, Le Barbier de Seville and Le Mariaye de Fi-
garo, was the immediate precursor of the Kevolu-
tion of 1789. He it was who, by bitterly satiriz-
ing in his famous Memoir es the infamous Parlement
Maupeou, showed the poison that was sapping the
very life-blood of national existence. He it was
who gave the finishing stroke in the war of the
wits against the already tottering edifice of absolu-
tism in France.
Voltaire had broken the spell of religion such
as that age knew it a superstition or a hypocrisy.
Rousseau, in passionately advocating the rights of
man, had dimmed the prestige of birth and rank.
Beaumarchais, in lifting the veil, with unrivaled
skill as a pleader of his cause, from the court that
was bribed to wrong him, revealed the utter cor-
ruption that was poisoning the fountains of justice,
and opened the eyes of the people to the fact that
their last safeguard against tyranny was gone. His
brilliant attack excited the admiration of Yoltaire,
whose pen had often served the same cause and had
been dipped in the same gall. Villemain lavishes
his eulogies upon the art of Beaumarchais' forensic
eloquence :
" That art of filling with venom things the most inno-
cent, of mingling with a seemingly simple narrative lit-
tle calumnies, of lying with grace, of insulting with an
air of candor, of being ironical, biting, pitiless, of plung-
ing the point of sarcasm into the wound already made,
then of appearing serious, conscientious, reserved, and
eoon after of barking on a full cry of bad passions all for
Since the Revolution of 1789. 19
the good of the good cause, of interesting self-love, of
amusing malice, of flattering envy, of exciting fear, of
rendering the judge an object of suspicion to the audi-
ence and the audience terrible to the judge; that art
of humiliating and of attracting, of threatening and of im-
ploring; that art, above all, of causing his adversaries to be
so laughed at that one begins to believe that people so
ridiculous can never be in the right ; in fine, all that ar-
senal of malice and of eloquence, of wit and of passion,
of reason and of invective, this is what makes up some
part of the Memoirs of Beaumarchais ! "
The same potent spirit of irony flamed triumph-
antly through the scenes of his brilliant comedies.
The age demanded tremendous negation of every
force that held authority in the land, for all were
supporting tyranny and oppression and misrule.
In all the literature of the day this destructive
philosophy found a vent; but it was especially
potent on the stage. In tragedy, there were inces-
sant tirades against fanaticism. In comedy, there
were as ceaseless utterances in favor of equality.
In the comedies of Beaumarchais, the fire burned
more fiercely and with a brighter and more beauti-
ful blaze than elsewhere. His Figaro has been
said to have given the signal and the programme
of the Revolution. He is the representative of the
superior intelligence that finds itself in a state of
social inferiority. He shows the disaccord of or-
ganized society, the unhappy contrast of capacity
and condition. It was madness in the government
of the day to have permitted the representation
of a piece which brought the light of genius to
bear upon such inequalities.
The strange thing about it all is that the ruling
class felt vaguely what \vas corning, and yet made
no provision for the evil days. Louis XV. said,
"It will last my time." No effort was made to
reform the stale. The Parlement which was the
judicial body in Fr.mce held stoutly to its privi-
leges ; the court continued its abuses; the clergy
20 French Literature.
kept up the spirit of intolerance ; the nobles abated
not one jot of their outrageous claims ; the king
held firmly to the traditions of arbitrary power.
At last the storm burst, and all was swept away
the whole order of things that belonged to the
France of Louis XV. In the whirl of tragic
events, there was no room for literature. Men do
not create art when the house is tumbling down
upon their heads. The reign of the guillotine was
not propitious to the growth of taste. Anarchy
led to the Empire ; but the first Empire was one
long series of wars, and what literary workers
there were, were either in opposition or ready at
a moment's warning to take that position. Mad-
ame de Stae'l was of the first class ; Chateaubriand,
of the second.
They were the first of the romantic school in
France. Kousseau and Bernardin de Saint-Pierre
had given the impulse and had some share in fur-
nishing them with the keynote of those prose-
poems by which they are best known. But it was
they who first fairly introduced their countrymen
to new ideas and made them take an interest in a
world outside of France. Madame de Stae'l studied
Germany, and wrote a book about it. ISAllemagne
showed the new influence and the new tendency.
Like the Germans Goethe and the rest she went
to Italy, too, for inspiration ; and the new romantic
spirit, revealed in her Corinne, fed its nascent iervors
on the still smouldering incense of the old classic
and mediaeval art.
Chateaubriand, singular compound of reformed
skeptic and of a politician oscillating between re-
publicanism and legitimacy, drew a fresh source of
inspiration from his travels in America, where he
was especially impressed by the wild forests still
haunted by bird and beast alone and the mighty
river down the long course of which La Salle had
lately made his lonesome way. These and the
relics of a civilization found among that singular
Since the Revolution of 1789. 21
tribe, the Natchez, seem to have greatly struck his
imagination. His Atala, his Genie du Christ-
ianisme, his Les Martyrs, prompted by the wonders
he had seen and by the enthusiasm which Christian
heroism produced in his susceptible spirit, exer-
cised a powerful influence, though not a permanent
one, upon the age. His little pamphlet, De Bona-
parte et des Bourbons, was declared by Louis XVIII.
to be worth an army of 100,000 men in favor of the
royalist party. Yet he had been an embassador in
Napoleon's service, until the murder of the Due
d'Enghien. Nor did Chateaubriand remain the
staunch royalist he must have felt himself to be at
the time he produced the pamphlet so much ex-
tolled by the Bourbon prince. In his last
political work, he sets forth as his political creed :
" I am a Bourbouist in honor, a Monarchist on
grounds of rational conviction; but in natural
character and disposition, I am still a Republi-
can."
He was a brilliant and effective writer, of warm
imagination ami fine powers of description ; but in
all that he has written there is a want of a sound
philosophic basis. He lacks depth and solidity,
and reminds us of wine that has a fine sparkle and
pleasant flavor, but is deficient in that quality
which connoisseurs style "body." There is in his
literary merits and demerits a marked resemblance
to Lamartine, or, to speak more justly, it should be
said that Lamartine resembles him.
After the Napoleonic age carne the romantic re-
vival, with an especially brilliant luxuriance in the
outgrowth of fiction and of comedy. We shall
find the withering influence of Voltairean unbelief
and the sensual influence of Rousseau's sentiment-
alism, like two noxious plants flowered into full
bloom, both impressing themselves still upon a
large portion of this later literature.
The gay songs of Beranger, that went to the
heart of a people naturally joyous, had the effect,
22 French Literature.
during the dull period of the Eestoration, of restor-
ing that easy temper and fondness for amusement
which the horrors of the Reign of Terror and the
ceaseless conscriptions of the Emperor had for so
long a time made impossible to the French. Btranger
was thus, all unconsciously, the cause of a return
to the old passion for the stage, although the pleas-
ure of the Parisians in that form of amusement had
never wholly lapsed.
"The stage in France," says M. Franeisque Sarcey,
" is a national and especially a Parisian pleasure. Mo-
liere, Reynard, Beaumarchais, Voltaire, Scribe, and many
other less celebrated dramatic authors were born within
sight of the walls of Paris. Everybody in Paris is fond
of the play, and is a good judge of it. Even at the
present moment, when this passion is not so strong as it
used to be, many a young man will go without his dinner
in order to treat himself to the play. How many will
stand for three or four hours together at the doors of a
theatre, in the midst of rain or snow, to see the piece that
has ca,ught the taste of the public ! Everything that re-
lates to dramatic literature is warmly discussed, and there
is not a woman, however imperfectly educated she may
otherwise be, who is not capable of giving expression to
her opinions on theatrical matters, witli a knowledge of
the subject sometimes astonishing. Every soil has its
own peculiar virtues ; in the same way every nation has
its own peculiar aptitude. The passion of the French is
the stage."
Napoleon loved the theatre, and, while his jeal-
ousy of public discussion had an injurious effect
upon the development of literature under the Em-
pire, he fostered the great company that was proud
of calling itself La Maison de Moltire I mean, the
famous Comedie Fran^aise with aid from the pub-
lic treasury.
The social changes brought about by the Revo-
lution furnished the stage with a new audience.
The Court was no longer the arbiter of taste. For
some time after the Restoration, the bourgeois pub-
lic passed judgment upon the pieces represented
Since the Revolution of 178$. 1'6
and the actors who played in them. "They were
called," says M. Sarcey, "the habitues because they
went to the theatre every night; and when the nc-
tor, entering on the scene, perceived those long rows
of bald and shining heads, on which the chandelier
shed its rays, he was seized with a slight trembling.
I saw the last remnants of this circle in my youth :
to-day they have entered into the category of fos-
sils."
These solid old citizens of Paris were tenacious
of the past ; they clung to tradition, and retarded
the advancement of dramatic literature. Aided by
such an audience, the superb acting of Rachel alone
kept up the classic stage, in opposition as it was to
the tastes and aspirations of the younger genera-
tion. The revolt of the romantic school against
the fetters of classicism began about the year 1830
The spirit of revolution was astir then, but the
classic drama still continued to hold the old House
of Moliere. It was obly after the Revolution of
18-18 that the new romantic school fairly succeeded
in overcoming the prejudice of the public in
favor of the classic drama, and gained a footing
even on the stage of the Theatre Fran^aise. Of
these who won distinction in dramatic composition
in these later days I can mention here only the
names of Boursault, Regnard, Legrand, Lemercier,
Victor Hugo, Dumas, Scribe, Alfred de Vigny, Al-
fred de Musset, and Octave Feuillet. Some of these
merit and will receive fuller mention.
But the greatest development of modern French
literature has been in the form of fiction. Espe-
cially in romantic fiction has this development
taken place, for the French have a gift in that direc-
tion. They have never yet been excelled in the
construction of the plot, they have a fine feeling
for sentiment, they are keen observers of life and
manners, they have a wholesome horror of weary-
ing the reader by serious digressions, they are care-
24: French Literature.
ful and patient in their workmanship, and they
pay great attention to style.
If there is a philosophy at the bottom of their
pictures of life, they are far too artistic to bring it
to the front. If they describe minutely, they take
the greatest pains that the descriptions shall be
picturesque or else amusing. There is little of that
humor which, in English literature at its best,
blends philosophic reflection with feeling, in so sub-
tle a way that oftentimes the smile and the tear are
almost equally ready to come at the waving of the
enchanter's wand. But there is, in the place of hu-
mor, a sparkling wit, an engaging vivacity, q,
charming archness, that one finds rarely in English
writers.
There is not much real appreciation of country
scenery one of the sweetest traits in the art of
English genius except in George Sand (Madame
Dudevant) and a few others. But the life of cities,
and especially of Paris, is made as familiar to us as
if we had grown up amid the same scenes ; and
there is no literature which can excel the French
in these realistic pictures.
Alexandre Dumas, the elder, the most prolific
of them all, is also the most dashing and vivacious
of these romancers a Murat among story-tellers.
He is also one of the most entertaining, and is per-
haps the best known in this country, having myri-
ads of readers everywhere. The catalogue of his
writings numbers several hundreds of volumes, and
they all belong to the type of the sensational
romance. Most of them deal with past times, and
profess to be historical novels, though they are true
neither to character nor to fact. Yery many of
them were written in a sort of literary partnership
by men who found it pay them better to publish
under Dumas' name than under their own. Dumas
supervised them and gave them the final stamp of
his own rapid and readable style. But his real
masterpieces were unquestionably -wholly his own
Since the Revolution of 17S9. 25
work. Such were Les Trois Mousquetaires, Le
Comte de Monte- Cristo, and his inimitable books of
travel.
Eugene Sue takes rank with Dumas as of the
sensational school. He excelled in intricate and
ingeniously complicated plots His energetic
movement kept up the interest of the reader at
every stage of the action, He especially under-
stood the art of contrast, and by the use of power-
ful dramatic situations urged the mind of the reader
to intense excitement. Nothing could remove the
spell until the last page was reached, and then
there remained long hovering over the imagination,
weird phantoms and wild visions, that mesmerized
the spirit into a longing for the renewal of the
feverish intoxication. There was peril for young
minds in this over-heating of the brain, and at the
same time Sue's political and social ideas were
eminently dangerous. It is likely that the crude
philosophy of Communism owes not a little to the
deep impressions made on the lower classes by the
propagandism of immature minds that had fed on
the unwholesome thought fermenting in Les
Mysteres de Paris, Le Juif Errant, and Mathilde.
Equally sensational, and in a really insane way
at times, but widely different in personal pride, in
intensity of conviction, and in style, from Dumas
and Sue is Victor Hugo. The author of Notre
Dame de Paris, of Quatre-vinyit-treize, of Les Mis-
erables, with a wild and lyrical style, sometimes ab-
surdly oracular, sometimes epigrammatic, some-
times as fantastic as that of Carlyle, has produced
remarkable pictures pictures, it is true, of a life
rather ideal than real, but still pictures of what
might be true. He is a poet always, whether
writing in verse or in prose, and as a poet he is a
fine manifestation of the Gothic type as distin-
guished from the classical. Hugo rejects form, and
puts his faith in the idea he would express : hence
the frequent uncouthness of his form and the cloudi-
26 French Literature,
ness of the idea. He represents a French type at
the very antipodes in its remoteness from that type
represented by Kacine or Moliere, or even by Vol-
taire and Le Sage.
Balzac gives us another type. He is the pro-
found analyst of the human heart, the subtle
searcher into its follies, its frailties, its whimsies,
its passions, but morbid and bitter in the effects he
produces. He is perhaps best known by his Le
Pere Goriot, La Peau de Chagrin, and Eugenie
Orandet.
There was greater variety in Madame Dudevant.
She wrote at first in conjunction with Jules Sandeau
and from him adopted part of his name, so as to be
.Known in literature as George Sand. Full of
poetic fancy, gifted with a graceful and lucid style,
impassioned in her own nature, and yet versatile
enough to escape the monotony of passion per-
haps through the largeness of her sympathies she
charmed and entertained many different classes of
readers. Her Indiana and her Jacques were ro-
mances of the passions. Her La Petite Fadette,
La Mare d*Auteuil, and Nanette were simple,
touching country-stories, almost pastorals. Others
of her numerous works were Lelia, Mauprat, Andre,
Consuelo, and Flammarande. The story of her life
is a curious one, and there is an especial interest in
the account of her relations with Alfred de "Musset,
that unhappy poet whose rich fancy and melodious
utterance unluckily charmed her for awhile and
entrapped him into an ill-assorted, as well as unlaw-
ful, union. Madame Dudevant's life was immoral,
and so were her earlier books ; but the ferment in
her genius seems to have worked off in the course
of time, and left pure wine.
Paul de Kock, though making no insidious
attacks on morality, won the reputation of an auda-
cious tempter of the young into the paths of sin.
He certainly is not clean, yet there is a hearty
jovialty about him, a robust vitality, that makea
Since the Revolution of 1789. 27
him a far less dangerous sinner than are those sen-
timental novelists who suggest immoral thoughts,
or preach an immoral creed, without venturing to
name the sin toward which they cluster. He was
a prolific writer, both of novels and of vaudevilles.
His son, Henri, has written novels of the same order.
To these romancers must be added a few others
of note. There is Edmond About, in his later
years almost wholly devoted to journalism and
politics, but whose Tolla, Le Roi des Montagues,
Germaine, Uhomme a Voreille cassee and Le Cos de
M. Guerin have won him no mean name among
writers of fiction. His works, fictitious and politi-
cal, are marked by 'trench ant sarcasm and fine
irony, as well as by original surprises.
There are Ernest Feydeau, the author of Fanny,
a novel of thoroughly maudlin sentimentality;
and Flaubert, whose Madame Bovary is a romance
of the grossly physiological type ; and Adolphe
Belot, whose Femme de Feu is also a picture of
sensual passion.
I should name too Jules Sandeau, to whom we
owe a fresher and sweeter strain in his charming
romance of Madeline. Then, there are Soulie and
Souvestre and Me"ry: Alphonse Karr and Paul
Feval ; the younger Dumas, Murger, and de Mire-
court; de Stendhal, and Chevalier. To these may
be added Charles de Bernard, Prosper Merime'e,
Jules Claretie, Theophile Gautier, and those literary
partners, Erckmann-Chatrian, who have done so
much for the delineation of Alsatian life. Then,
there are fimile Gaboriau, who imitated Poe in his
minuteness of detail and ingenious literary puzzles ;
Jules Verne, who struck out the new line of calling
the wonders of science to the aid of fiction, and
who seems exhaustless in the department he has
created ; and Daudet and Zola, who agree in their
cynical realism and contempt for decency, though
Zola seems to revel in the filth of all that misery,
vice, and crime which he depicts with so repulsive
28 French Literature.
a minuteness, while Daudet has the art to turn his
gaze away from the utterly unclean.
The animated pictures of Eussian life, painted by
the lady who calls herself Henry Greville, furnish
a pleasant relief to all this vile prostitution of art.
Of the poets, Beranger, often styled the Burns
of France, the greatest of her song- writers ; and
Lamartine, most sentimental of sentimentalists,
belong to the period of the Eestoration. Victor
Hugo ranks high as lyric poet, as well as among
the dramatists and romancers. De Vigny and De
Musset have left their mark on the poetry of
French literature, both being singers of melody and
power. Sainte-Beuve's reputation rests chiefly
upon his admirable criticisms, but he also sought
to win fame among the poets of the romantic
school. Baudelaire was emphatically the poet of
unrighteousness and of despair, admiring Poe,
translating and imitating him, and producing the
kind of poetry that lust, opium, and hunger might
combine with a certain lurid style of genius to
form. Yet, in the case of poor Baudelaire, absinthe
may have painted all those effects which I have
imagined three potent demons to be responsible
for.
Of the critics the most eminent in modern times
have been Sainte-Beuve, Armand de Pontmartin,
and Jules Janin, in the field of French literature.
Henri Blaze is the chief critic and historian of
German literature ; and of English literature H. A.
Taine is confessedly the best historian of literature
in any language. The authors of histories of
French literature, either for certain periods or for
the whole of its extent, have been numerous.
Some of them have discoursed only on the Latin
literature produced in Gaul, and yet have called
their works Discourses on French Literature. The
greatest names among the writers of this class, and
of that which gave some account of French litera-
ture proper, are Littre, Villemain, Geruzez, Demo-
Since the Revolution of 1789. 29
geot, Vinet, Nettement, Albert, Charpentier, Cart,
Marque, Nisard, and Sainte-Beuve.
The historians must be mentioned with equal
brevity. They are Barante, the author of UHistoire
des Dncs de Bouryogne; Guizot, the author of
IjHistoire de la Civilization en Europe and the
History of France; Thierry, the author of UHis-
toire de la Conquete de TAngleterre par les Normans ;
Lamartine, the author of ISHistoire des Girondins ;
Michelet, the author of UHistoire de France; to-
gether with Thiers, Martin, Delord, Lanfrey, Lenor-
mant, and a great many more.
In metaphysics, the chief names are Victor
Cousin, Jouffroy, Janet, Lacour, Laugel, and Vera.
In Christian morality and ecclesiastical dogma, the
most eminent writers are Lamennais, with his
memorable Sur r Indifference en Mature de Re-
l.i'jinn and the very different Paroles d" 1 unCroyant;
Laccrdaire; Montalembert, and Dupanloup. In
political philosophy, there are Chevalier, De Toc-
queville, and Bonald. In philology and archaeol-
ogy, the great names are Champollion, De Sacy,
Kenan, Rernusat, Littre, Bida, and Gaston Paris.
In socialistic propagandism, there are three great
visionaries, Comte, St. Simon, and Fourier. In the
sciences, the French have won high distinction in
that world-literature, which utters itself in every
civilized tongue. Among the great names are
those of Cuvier, the father of anatomy ; Ampere
and Arago, distinguished in so many sciences; La
Place, Gay Lussac, and Lcgendre.
In the rapid enumeration just made, there have
necessarily been omitted the names of many
writers who have a world-wide reputation. Such,
for instance, are Saintine, the author of that charm-
ing tale of prison-life, Picciola; Laboulaye, a most
versatile and excellent writer; Madame Craven,
the author of several tender and thoughtful
romances of deep, religious tone; and Madam de
Segur, whose fairy tales are fresh and sparkling.
30 French Literature.
It is pleasant to be able to say, in closing this
brief review of recent French literature, that the
turbid stream of unbridled passion, which, like the
rushing torrent from the mountain, swept away
with the primness of the classic fountain and
mimic lake their limpid purity too, has begun to
exhaust its force and seems to be depositing its
sediment and gradually clearing. The strange and
offensive phenomenon of a Zola stirring up the
marsh-mud at the bottom serves only to mark
more strongly the general change for the better.
Decency will yet come back to cleanse the French
imagination.
Lays of Irouvbres. 31
III.
LAYS OF THE TEOUVERES.
HAVING given a general outline of French liter-
ature, from the earliest utterances of the race in a
language wHch they realized to be something dif-
ferent from broken Latin, down to the writings of
our own day, I now turn back to invite your closer
attention to single periods, or even, in some in-
stances, to individual writers of marked eminence.
First, then, let us look more closely into the
earliest literature of the French.
The provengal literature, though the prelude
to that of the Trouveres of the North, cannot fairly
be classed as a par> of French literature, since both
in language and in sentiment it is more nearly allied
to the Italian and the Spanish. Properly speak-
ing, it stands apart as an independent literature,
from which all its neighbors drew inspiration ; the
Suabian Minnesingers coming nearest to it in spirit
and form.
I have already given a general account of the
origin of the French language, and shall not here
pause to describe in detail its gradual development.
It was still in a crude and formative condition in
the twelfth century when those lays were produced
which the spirit of chivalry gave birth to.
The youth of great races always passes through
the stage called the Heroic Age, and we find the
same general characteristics in all races at this
stage, whether we read of the Achaians in the lays
of Ilorner, or of the Persians in those of Firdausi,
or of the Burgundians in the Nibeluntj Lay. But
the chivalry of the Christian races of the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries was characterized by one
32 French Literature.
feature which is found, in so marked a degree, in
only one other race their great rivals and adver-
saries, the Arabians after they had received the
faith of Islam. This striking feature, this power-
ful element, was the enthusiasm of religion. It
was religious fervor, blended with the passion for
war, which gave rise to the Crusades, whether
against the Moslem in Spain or the Moslem in the
Holy Land or the Moslem in Egypt and at Tunis ;
and the Crusades in turn exalted the passions which
led to their inception.
From these enthusiasms sprang the inspiration to
song the popular song of the twelfth century.
Human love soon came in to form an element in
this popular poetry, and completed the type of the
chivalric lay.
Those of the earlier type, in which love has no
share, or but a slight one, are called Lays of Ex-
ploits (Chansons de Geste)', while those of the later
type are known by the general name of The Cycle
of the Round Table (Le Cycle de la Table ronde).
The Lays of Exploits were sung by the Trou-
veres, as Homer's lays had been sung in the isles
of Greece or in the Hellenic cities by the Rhapso-
dists. They were of two classes, the first drawing
its subjects from traditional history of the Teutonic
races, the second from the greatly transmuted facts
of antiquity related by monkish historians.
The Cycle of the Round Table had its origin in
Breton legends transformed by Teutonic influences.
The finest of the heroic poems cluster around
the already mythical figure of the Frankish Karl.
The great leaders, under whom the armies led to
battle by him saved the Christian races of the
West from conquest by unbelievers, very soon be-
came mythical heroes. Roland, around whom the
most romantic legends gathered, is named but once
in authentic history. It is only casually that the
chronicler Eginharcl mentions him, as Warden of
trie March of Britanny, in the brief passage which
Lays of the Trouvtres. 33
he devotes to that skirmish in which the Paladin
fell.
Yet, when three centuries had passed by, it was
Roland and his fatal fall at Roncevaux that formed
the theme of Taillefer's battle chant as he rode
forth from the Norman line at Hastings and met
the Saxon van with the stirring words of defiant
song ringing from his lips. The slaughter of the
Frankish emperor's rear-guard in that famous pass
of the Pyrenees, the treason of Ganelon, and the
heroic deaths of Roland and his comrades formed
the earliest subjects of epic and ballad in all the
literatures of the Romance races. The Frankish
epic of Roland (Chanson de Roland] is the noblest
of those early lays.
It is a poem of more than four thousand lines in
length. It covers events which transpired in the
course of a few days. It shows no trace of clas-
sical influence. It differs from the Spanish ballads
in that it is not lyrioal, but truly epical in form and
tone. Yet it is probably a growth from a number
of ballads common to the folk-song of the Frankish
race, welded by some artistic hand into unity. The
poem may be briefly outlined thus:
Charles sits on his golden throne, judging his
host, under a pine. The paladins all around him
are busy with the game of chess. As they are thus
engaged, Blancandrin comes in as envoy from
Marsile, sultan of the infidels, with offers of peace
and treaty. Marsile promises to give hostages and
to follow the emperor to his court at Aachen.
Roland exhorts Charles to refuse to negotiate with
miscreants who had once slain his envoys. Gan-
elon, Roland's stepfather, fiercely engages in the
discussion, and there is soon a hot altercation be-
tween the two barons.
The emperor imposes silence, and decides to send
an envoy to Marsile. Ganelon, in spite of his un-
willingness, is chosen. Feeling deeply aggrieved,
he begins in his heart to plot treason even while he
3
34: French Literature.
rides away with Blancandrin. When he reaches
the camp of the enemy, he cries aloud to Marsile :
"Be thou baptized, oh King : to Aachen shaltthou
be taken, and there shalt thou be judged, and there
shalt thou die in shame and mean estate."
At these insulting words, Marsile lays his hand
on his spear. But he controls himself, and waits
for Ganelon to produce Charles's letter. Marsile
reads it, and the envoy, who is nowhere described
as lacking in courage, sets his back against a tree
and half draws his sword. Even the Saracens say
of him, " A noble baron is this."
Marsile finds the letter gentler than the bearing
of the envoy, speaks him fair, and offers him, in
true Homeric style, a gift of sable skins. He asks
Ganelon, " When will Charles the Old be weary of
war ? " " Never," answers Ganelon, " while his
nephew Eoland and the Peers are on ground."
He next advises Marsile to send tribute and host-
ages, and at the same time to lay an ambush in
the passes of the Pyrenees. After this evil counsel,
he swears to treason on the relics in the hilt of his
sword, and returns to Charles, bringing with him
the keys of Saragossa, as well as hostages and
tribute from the sultan.
On the eve of his homeward march, Charles has an
evil dream. In the vision he sees Ganelon seizing
his spear in the pass of the mountains. He awakes,
weeping at the omen of disaster. But the warning
is without effect. He yields to the suggestion of
Ganelon, that the rear-guard should be assigned to
Eoland, along with Evriard de Rousillon, Turpin, and
Oliver. Breaking up camp, the army crosses black
rocks and dark valleys, shedding tears when at last
they come in sight of Gascony, "at memory of their
fiefs and fields and of their little ones and gentle
wives."
While the host is thus melted to tender feelings at
the thought of their nearness to their homes, the
rear-guard begin to note the advance of the Sara-
Lays of the Trouvbres. 35
cens. " We shall have battle," says Oliver, as he
hears the sounds of an approaching army. " God
grant it," cries Eoland ; " never let bad ballad be
sung of us."
Oliver begins to express his suspicion of Gan-
elou's treason. But Koland stops him. Then Oli-
ver urges him to use his magic horn, the Olifant
(horn of elephant's tusk), to bring Charles and the
main army to their aid. But Roland refuses. "In
sweet France," he cries, " I would lose my fame."
The Saracen host comes on. Bishop Turpin ab-
solves the Christians, though leaves and grass are
the only creatures of God that can serve for the sa-
cramental elements.
Then the Franks cry, "Mount Joie," and address
themselves to battle. Marsile's nephew, Aelroth,
rides along the Saracen line, shouting taunts to the
Christians. The two hosts rush together in fierce
onset. Roland drives his lance through Aelroth's
breastplate and breast. Oliver hurls down Faus-
seron, " lord of the land of Datban and Abiron."
Turpin slays King Corsablyx.
Fighting furiously with spear and battle-axe, the
Franks for a time seem to be driving back the en-
emy. Siglorel, another chief of the heathen, "the
enchanter whom Jupiter had led through hell,"
falls before the charge of the knights.
Lances are broken and cast aside. The knights
draw their swords ; Oliver, his bright blade Haute-
claire; Roland, that famous brand Durandal. They
cut their way through the dense masses of the
enemy.
But the heathens are re-enforced, the Christians
are now few in number. Roland thinks it time to
wind his horn. But Oliver mocks him with the
question : " Wilt thou not lose thy fame in sweet
France? Ah, never now shalt thou lie in the arms
of Aide, my sister." * But Turpin interposes.
*The lady Aide, liere referred to, dies at the news of Roland's death ;
aud this is the only love-note in the poem.
36 French Literature.
"Nay, sound," says he. "We shall have burial at
our friends' hands, and shall not be the spoil of
wolves."
Then Roland blows till blood starts from his
mouth ; and the echo of that dread horn winds
through the passes of the mountain and rings above
the tempest of wind and the thunder and the grand
moans of nature at the hero's death. Charles hears
the death-blast, and knows at once that his nephew
is in great need. At once he divines Ganelon's
treason, and lie hands him over to the cooks and
camp-followers to be bound and tormented. But
the worn-out remnant of the rear-guard are too
hard-pressed to be saved at this late hour.
"The black folk, that have nothing white save
the teeth," fall on the weary knights in vastly su-
perior numbers. Never shall the knights see again
"the land of France, that very sweet country."
Oliver is wounded to the death by the hand of
the Caliph, but cuts him down at the same time.
Oliver, whose eyas are dimmed by blood and the
nearness of death, strikes out so blindly that he
smites Roland on the crest.
"My lord companion, do you this of purpose?"
asks Roland. "Not so, for I hear thee, but thee
not, friend Roland, God help thee," cries Oliver.
Roland forgives the blow, and at that word they
bow to each other in knightly courtesy. Roland's
horse being slain, and he almost exhausted, he
gathers the bodies of the peers in a circle around
the dying Turpin. The bishop crosses his fair
white hands, and cries that they shall all meet soon
among the Holy Innocents.
Roland now speaks the praise of Oliver over that
knight's dead body, and lays himself down on the
green grass. He tries to break the blade of his
good sword Durandal, lest it fall into the hands of
the Saracens. He strikes ten blows on the hard
rock, but they fail to snap the steel. Then he cries:
" Ah, Durandal, how clear thouart and bright that
Lays of the Trouv^res. 37
shinest as the sun. With thee have I conquered
lands and domains for Charles of the white beard.
Yea, now for thee have I sorrow and heaviness,
and would die sooner than see thee in pagan hands.
Holv thou art, and lovely; in thy golden hilt is
store of relics. How many kingdoms have I taken
with thee, wherein Charles now rules."
Then, casting down his sword and horn, he throws
himself over them on the green grass under a pine.
He turns his face to Spain, and many things come
into his mind sweet France, and the Barons of his
house, and Charles his lord. Weeping and groan-
ing heavily at the thought of these, he stretches
out to God the glove of his right hand. Saint
Gabriel takes it from his grasp. And as his spirit
leaves the body, it is borne to Paradise by Saint
Michael of the Sea.
The poem, however, does not end with this tragic
picture. The overthrow of the Saracens and the
punishment of Ganelon must be described. The
sun stands still for Charles, while the Paynim host,
calling on Termagaunt their god, are driven back
to Saragossa.
In Saragossa Marsile, furious at defeat, beats his
image of Apollo and casts the idol of Mahomet
into a ditch. At the era of this poem, the Chris-
tians evidently had a very vague conception of the
religion of Iskim.
Next day, the final battle is fought. Charles and
his Franks fight all day. " Clear is the moon and
flaming are the stars," when Charles marches into
Saragossa. There is no obstacle to the army's re-
turn this time. But, when the Franks come back
to Aachen without Roland, Aide " of the golden
hair and the bright face" falls dead at Charles's feet.
The grey king, musing alone, says, " My God, how
painful is my life !"
And so ends the "Geste'' that Turoldus made.
It comes nearer to being a great national epic than
any poem the French have ever produced since.
88 French Literature.
But, being essentially a Frankish lay, it could not
wholly win the sympathies of the composite race
formed by the blending of Franks with Komanized
Kelts and Basques.
Yet, Homer's great epics glorified, in the Achai-
ans, a ruling aristocratic race with much the same
position in relation to other Hellenic races as that
held by the Franks towards some at least of the
subject races over whom, they held feudal sway.
Possibly, had there been no revival of ancient
learning in Western Europe, the great Chanson de
Roland might have taken somewhat the place in
French literature which the Iliad held in that of
Hellas.
This poem stands almost alone in its spirit of
loyalty to the Empire. The other poems relating
to Charles and his family manifest that tendency to
independence on the part of the great barons which
was essentially the temper of feudalism. These
lays are very numerous. One of them, Ogier de
Danois, would seem by its name to link the Frarik-
ish Emperor with the Scandinavians. But modern
criticism has traced in the title Danois Ogier's ori-
gin from the forest of Ardeene. Hence this pala-
din of Charlemagne was not a Dane, but a Frank.
In this story the game of chess figures mor
prominently than in the Lay of Eoland, for the
hostility of Ogier to the Emperor is caused by the
killing of his son Caudouin (Baldwin) at a game
with the son of Charlemagne who, enraged at being
beaten, dashes the heavy chess-board of gold and
ivory at his adversary's head. Escaping to Pavia,
the offended vassal performs wonderful acts of
prowess in the war that ensues between Charles and
Didier, King of the Lombards, in whose service he
fights his former master.
Later, he is once more in the service of Charles,
now in sore need of his stalwart arm. The Em-
peror has been even forced to yield his son to
Oierg's vengeance, which, checked by heavenly in-
Lays of the Trouveres. 39
terference, lias taken the mild form of a furious
blow with the fist which has rolled the murderer in
the dust. Broiefort, the hero's old charger, is
brought forward from among the pack-animals of
a convent, rejuvenated at sight of his master and
the apparel of war, and soon returns from the field
with Ogier on his back, victorious over the
Saracens.
Turold is the name assigned to the author of the
Lay of Roland, while Eaimbert of Paris is accred-
ited with the authorship of the Lay of Ogier.
Turold is placed by scholars in the eleventh cen-
tury, and Raimbert in the twelfth.
But there are poems of fire and invention, which
must have been written in the interval between
these lays of Turold and Raimbert. These Chan-
sons de Geste are The Crowning of Louis (Le Cou-
ronnement de Louis), The Wagon of Nimes (Le
Charrois de Nimes}, The Capture of Orange (La
Prise d'Oranye), The Vow of Nivien (Le Vceu de
Vivien), and the Battle of Aleschans (Le Bataille
d 1 Aleschans).
These poems all relate to the same hero, Guill-
aume of the Short Nose, or, as he is also called, of
the Iron Arm ; and their scenes are laid in the time
of Louis the Easy-Natured, son- of Charlemagne.
Aleschans is JElisei Campi, the cemetery of Aries.
Among other famous lays are the Lay of the
Lorraines (Chanson des Lorrains), by Jean of Flagy ;
Raoul de Cambrai, the author of which is unknown;
and the Four Sons of Aymon (Quatre Fils Aymori),
by Huon of Villeneuve.
"We now reach lays that treat of real events.
The Lay of Antioch ( Chansom d'Antioche) is one of
these. It was composed by Richard the Pilgrim
at the time of the taking of Jerusalem by the cru-
saders, and at the end of the twelfth centurv was
rewritten by Graindor of Douai. It is regarded as
more faithful history than the Latin chronicles of
40 French Literature.
the same events by such writers as "William of
Tyre.
About the same time, the Romance of Alex-
ander (Roman d'Alexandre] was produced by Lam-
bert the Short, of Chateaudun, and Alexander of
Bernai. This lay differed from the earlier lays in
two respects : it went to antiquity for its subject,
and it was peculiar in the structure of its verse.
The elder chanson had employed a loose verse
of ten or eleven syllables, with a strong time-beat
about the middle of each line. This romaunt em-
ployed, with great regularity, the verse of twelve
syllables, with the strong time-beat exactly in the
middle, so that each run of sounds up to the breath-
ing comprised invariably six syllables, or at any rate
three distinct time-beats. It was the use of this
measure in the Lay of Alexander, which gave
rise to the name Alexandrine.
The basis alone of this poem is antique, the col-
oring is of the age in which it was produced. The
manners and the spirit of the age of chivalry are
infused into it throughout. The real Alexander
would have recognized neither himself nor his
surroundings.
The lays about Arthur and the Round Table
Knights are based on legends the Bretons brought
from their island home six centuries before.
Wace, the Anglo-Norman, worked them into his
Romance of Brute (Roman de Brut). But the
Trouvere, Chrestien of Troyes, first gave them
really poetic form. His Tristan was written in a
verse of eight syllables with alternating rhymes.
Aime* of Varennes used the same verse in his
Florimont.
The taste for marvels and for amorous incidents
passed from the lays of the Bretons to those of the
Franks. Thus we find the sorceries of Maugis
playing a great part in the Four Sons of Aymon ;
and the gallantries of Witikind's queen, in Jeaa
Borel's Lay of the Saxons.
Lays of the Trouvdres. 41
The romance of Parthenope shares this new
spirit. The hero, Parthenope of Blois, valiant and
lovable, reverses the old myth of Cupid and Psyche :
By the light of a lamp he indiscreetly views his
unknown mistress, the fairy Melior, Empress of
Constantinople ; and loses her by his fatal curiosity.
But deep repentance, deeds of prowess, and con-
stant devotion win her back to him ; and he ends
by reigning openly in that palace into which he
had once secretly penetrated. Singularly enough,
nearly about the time of the production of this
lay, a French-speaking prince, Baldwin, Count of
Flanders and Hainault, did mount the throne of
Constantinople, as the first Latin Emperor of the
Byzantine empire. Among other highly imagina-
tive romances of this kind may be named Flore et
Blanche- Fleur, Violette, and the Chastelain de
Coucy.
A work of far greater interest than any fairy
tale in verse was the outcome of the historic inci-
dents just rr.ontioned in connection with the lay of
Parthenope. Vlns was the first of the Chronicles,
the earliest work in French prose.
Induced by the Venetians to help them take
Zara, the leaders of the fourth Crusade had been
prayed while there by young Alexis, son of Isaac
II., Emperor of Constantinople, to aid him against
his usurping uncle by whom his father had been
deposed and blinded. The Crusaders agreed,
restored the rightful Emperor, and then failing to
get the reward promised by Alexis, returned to
Constantinople, seized and sacked the city, and
made Baldwin Emperor.
This striking and dramatic series of events was
witnessed and afterwards related by Geoffrey de
Villelmrdouin (1150-1213) in his Conquete de Con-
stantinople. This is a work of liigh merit. A mil-
itary leader, a man of the world, a negotiator of
treaties, he was qualified to record events of which
he knew the hidden springs, and of which he had
42 French Literature.
seen the stirring and picturesque scenes enacted
before him.
His account is in keeping with these qualifica-
tions. He writes simply, soberly, with force, stat-
ing briefly what is of importance and leaving out
all that is irrelevant. Not a few single passages,
isolated from their context, stand out as complete
pictures. Such, for instance, is the account of the
negotiations of the Crusaders at Venice to procure
transports and to secure the concurrence of the re-
public. Such is that which describes the emotion of
the Crusaders at the sight of Constantinople, so
beautiful and grand a city as it seemed to those
simple Western warriors, and so capable of defence.
Such is the scene of the re-instatement of the blind
Emperor, where the blind old warrior Doge Dan-
dolo also figures, a scene vividly described from
our old chronicler by the younger Bulwer-Lytton
in English verse.
So far, we have had before us the serious side of
the age of chivalry. There was also a humorous
side, in which fables played their part, and in
which the true folk-lore multiplied its satirical
fancies.
Before, however, we turn aside from the Lays,
let me mention one charming work of the Trou-
veres, which seems to have been born of the de-
light felt by its author in the beautiful valleys of
Provence, where he lays the scene of his story.
This work is Aitcassin et Nicollette, an idyllic song-
story, the story being told in prose, with songs in-
terspersed through it. Competent scholars regard
it as a work of the twelfth century, though the
Trouvere who wrote it has caught from his sojourn
in the land of the Albigenses a tone of satire in
regard to priests and things clerical that was char-
acteristic of a later age among his countrymen.
Alexandre Bida, philologist and artist, has put it
into modern French and daintily illustrated it; and
we have it in English under the title, " The Lovers
Lays of the Trouv^res. 43
of Provence." It is a fragrant little flower of ro-
mance handed down to us through the centuries as
fre.sh as when it first bloomed in that wild time.
I shall close this chapter with brief mention of
some of the Chansons de Geste not yet referred to.
Among these are Berthe aux grands pieds by
Adenes le Hoi, embodying legends of Charles the
Great's mother; Jean de Lanson, Huon de Bor-
deaux, Acquin, Aspremont, Fierabras, Otinel, Guy
de Bourgogne, Prise de Pampelune, Macaire, Doon
de Mayence, Guy de Nanteuil, all relating the ex-
ploits of Charles and his Paladins.
44: French Literature.
IV.
THE FABLIAUX AND THE CHRONICLES.
STUDENTS of folk-lore have shown that the
"beast-fable" is a common inheritance of the
Aryan races ; and it has been ascertained that it
has nowhere reached so high a degree of poetical
development as among the Franks. They handed
down this taste to both the German and the French
branches of their race.
It is worthy of notice, in passing, that a remark-
ably similar series of fables- has existed among the
descendents of the Africans brought to this country
as slaves, from the time of their importation to the
present day. The children of our country are now
familiar with many of them through the publica-
tion of Harris's Uncle Remus ; but they have for
generations been the delight of the young people
brought up on our Southern plantations, to whom
they were related by the old " rnaumers " in that
rich dialect which so admirably brought out their
native numor.
Reynard the Fox is the chief of these stories, as
they existed among the Franks ; and it seems to
have first appeared, in the Latin tongue, in the
Netherlands. These Latin poems belong to the
tenth and eleventh centuries. About the begin-
ning of the twelfth century appeared Isengrirnua,
of which the wolf is the hero; and, a little later,
Reinardus, relating the rogueries of the fox. Both
of these works were by Flemish ecclesiastics. A
little later still, the fable passed over into German
literature.
In French literature, it can be traced back only
to the beginning of the thirteenth century. But it
TJt& Fabliaux and the Chronicles. 45
soon became immensely popular, and great num-
bers of poems were devoted to the adventures of
Reynard.
Through the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,
it formed a favorite vehicle for satire both in France
and Germany. The general plan of all these
animal-epics is the same. Noble the Lion is
emperor or king, with his court, palace, and all the
insignia of royalty. Keynard the Fox is a crafty
baron dwelling in a castle called Malpertuis.
Isengrin the Wolf is his uncle an uncle upon
whom he plays off malicious tricks, just as in the
comedies scampish nephews were wont to do.
Their wives too bear names. The spouse of
Reynard is Emmeline, that of Isengrin is Hersent.
Church and State are both satirized in these
poems, sometimes merrily, sometimes bitterly ; and
they are valuable for the light they cast on the
social condition of the people in the middle ages.
They are mostly written in verses of eight sylla-
bles, with rhyming couplets.
These " beast-fables " belong to the general class
called Fabliaux. This term comprehends a great
variety of short metrical tales, intended for recita-
tion. They were often of the nature of mock-
heroics, but were sometimes serious. One of the
rnerry ones, the Vilian Mire, furnished Moliere with
the plot of his Hedecin malgrZ lui. Others, also
ingenious and witty, are Saint Pierre et le Jongleur,
the Trois Bossus, and the Vair Palefroi.
The story of this last runs thus: A young
knight, courteous, brave, and of fine person, lacking
money but possessing an excellent horse or palfrey,
has for neighbor an old lord, father of a daughter
of great beauty. The two young people have seen
and loved each other. The lover in vain asks for
the hand of the lady. The father is polite, but in-
timates that the aspirant's estate is too slender.
The lady counsels her lover to apply to an old un-
cle of his, to whom he is sole heir, for aid in satis-
46 French Literature.
fying the father. The uncle promises, but woos for
himself, and is accepted by the father. The young
lover, returning from a tournament, learns the
treason only through the request made for his
beautiful palfrey, to be used in the procession which
is to conduct the bride to the chapel. He sends
him, in spite of his grief and anger. Now, the pal-
frey was wanted for the bride's especial use. Dur-
ing the ride, which takes place before day-dawn,
the palfrey turns down a familiar path in the forest,
and gallops home before he is missed from the
cavalcade. A chaplain is at hand, and the lovers
are united before the two old men find their way
to the manor-house of the young knight. The
author of this graceful little fabliau is Huon le
Roy.
Other abler composers of fabliaux and contes were
Jean de Boves, Henri Piancelle, and Rutebeuf.
The taste spread to other lands ; and these metrical
tales appeared, sometimes in the form of prose,
sometimes in that of verse, in the works of master-
spirits. Boccaccio in his Decameron, and Chaucer
in his Canterbury Tales, drew largely from these old
fabliaux.
There were also legends of miracles, performed
by the saints and especially by the Virgin. One of
these, by Gautier de Coinsy, Prior of Yic-sur-Aisme,
relates how the Virgin contended and conquered in
a tourney under the form of a knight who had been
so deeply engaged in performing his orisons in one
of her chapels as to let the hour of combat pass by
unobserved.
During this period, when both the epic lay and
the mock-epic fabliau were so enthusiastically cul-
tivated, many circumstances concurred to extend
and ennoble the French language. The Normans
had carried it, a few generations before, to Sicily,
Southern Italy, and England. The Crusaders, with
leaders like Godfrey of BuiHon, Robert of Nor-
mandy, the Sicilian Normans, Bohemond and Tan-
The Fabliau's and the Chronicles. 47
cred, Hugh ofVermandois, Louis Phillippe Auguste
of France, Richard of England, Baldwin of Flanders,
and other French-speaking captains, had carried it
in successive generations to the shores of the Levant
and to Jerusalem itself.
In the East all the nations of the West came to
be known for centuries by the comprehensive term
of Franks, and the mixed jargon in which all nego-
tiations were conducted between Christians and
Moslems was called Lingua Franca.
While Louis IX. Saint Louis was conducting
his disastrous crusades, was protecting the mendicant
orders, was trying in every way to bring back the
spirit of his age to the ardors and the simple faith
of the earlier crusading times, the great love-alle-
gory of the Middle Ages was produced.
Guilluame of Lorris takes a vast host of abstract
qualities, quickens them into life in forms like
those of the characters that Buiiyan in a later age
peopled his Pilg rim's Progress with, and creates
the famous Roman^de la Rose, the great Book of
Love for the centuries just before the Renaissance,
as Ovid's Art of Love had been for former genera-
tions. The work of Guilluame of Lorris was left
unfinished, and, forty years later, was continued in
a very different tone by Jean of Meung.
But, before we note the differences which the
last part of the Roman de la Rose, when compared
with the first, shows between the spirit, temper,
and motive of Jean of Meung and those of his pre-
decessor, it will be necessary to mention a remark-
able prose work. This is the chronicle of the Sire
de Joinville (1222-1318), who accompanied Saint
Louis in the first of his expeditions, knew him
thoroughly, and loved him as man and as master,
lie relates the exploits of his king, recites his con-
versations and opinions, opens to us fully that sin-
gularly enthusiastic nature crowned monk and yet
valiant knight. He does not concur in aJl the
views of his master, much as he admires him ; and,
48 French, Literature.
when Louis sets out on his second crusade, the
good seneschal thinks that his five wounds received
at Massora, his captivity of several months, all that
he has suffered of hunger, thirst, fever, and the
plague, will honorably excuse him from the new
enterprise.
This chronicle of de Joinville has great merit as
a picture of the times and as a lifelike portraiture
of one of the most singular characters in history.
There are in it, also, vivid descriptions by an eye-
witness of most dramatic historical scenes.
We hardly leave the period of the Crusades,
when we find France greatly changed. Thought
had been enlarged by freer intercourse with Eome,
by contact with the splendid though effete civiliza-
tion of the Byzantine Empire, by a nearer acquain-
tance with the then brilliant civilization of the
Saracens, by the return of travellers from the mag-
nificent empire of the Mogul Khans. The political
and social situation had undergone a change at
home. The number of petty fief's had been greatly
diminished by their sale or merger for the equip-
ment of the barons wh'o had gone on the Crusades.
The great lords became greater than ever, and held
larger courts. The towns had increased their
wealth and gained greater municipal privileges.
The historian of Civilization in Europe, Guizot,
sums up the results of the Crusades in these words :
" On the one hand, the extension of ideas and the
emancipation of thought ; on the other, a general
enlargement of the social sphere, and the opening
of a wider field for every sort of activity: they
produced, at the same time, more individual freedom
and more political unity. They tended to the
independence of man and the centralization of
society/'
It was amid this new order of society that Jean
of Meung finished the poem left incomplete by
Guillaume of Lorris, Le Roman de la Rose. He
did so at the invitation of his king, Philip the
The Fabliaux and the Chronicles. 49
Fair, that prince of cunning policy. The whole
spirit of the poem was changed in the continuation.
From a dreamy and metaphysical allegory of love
and the ladies, it became a vast political satire and
a social diatribe as well. The bitter poet scourges
avarice, idleness and hypocrisy, having an especial
grudge against those pests of the age, the mendi-
cant monks, "tramps" in the name of religion.
The same spirit of hostility to the abuses of the
Church, clothed in the same form of allegory, in
which all the personages and places are virtues and
vices, is exhibited in a renovation of the "beast-
fable" by Jacquemart Gelee. This fabliau is enti-
tled Renart le Nouvel.
Another poet, contemporary with, these, Franqois
of Rues, attacks the Pope and the order of the
Templars, making Fauvel the Mare the type of
luxury and ambition, as Gelee had made Reynard
the Fox the type of bad faith.
At this time, when poetry in France had degen-
erated into violent. satire, disfigured by the uncouth
forms of abstract qualities in masquerade, Italy
was moving steadily toward a brighter light of
learning than the old dark lantern of scholasticism
could furnish. A taste had sprung up for the study
of the older Latin literature. The Civil Law of
the Roman empire, too, had been eagerly studied
from the time of the twelfth century. That great
Florentine poet, Dante Alighieri, had produced his
Divina Commedia. There was an awakening be-
yond the Alps, which was to bear fruit later all over
Europe.
But France was destined to pass through the
throes of a great agony, before she could find leisure
to profit by the new quickening of the human
mind. She had now to meet the trials of the Hun-
dred Years' "War. These long wars filled up the
last half of the fourteenth and the first half of the
fifteenth centuries. We have nothing to do here
with those shining names, Crecy, Poitiers, Azin-
4
50 French Literature.
court ; with the gallant knights, Edward the Black
Prince, Sir "Walter de Manny, Gaston de Foix, Ber-
trand du Guesclin ; or with that figure, the bright-
est and purest, surely, in all history, Jeanne Dare,
the Maid of Orleans. Our business is with what
came after ; for this time of convulsion was of ne-
cessity sterile in literary effort, except for two wit-
nesses of phases of the struggle and to some ex-
tent partakers in it, Jean Froissart the chronicler,
and Eustache Deschamps the poet.
Froissart, the son of a painter of escutcheons, was
born at Valenciennes in 1337. He was destined
for tke Church, and so received a better education
than the knights and princes with whom he after-
wards lived so much. His passion for poetry, for
courtly society, for knightly deeds, took him to
other lands, after inciting him to relate such events
of the wars of his time as he could find material
for. On finishing the first part of his Chronicles,
which he began when only twenty years of age, he
went to the brilliant court of Edward III. of Eng-
land, where he became a great favorite with the
Queen, Philippa of Hainault, who made him her
secretary. He also visited Scotland, as the guest
of King David Bruce. In 1366, he went with the
Black Prince to Bordeaux. Later, he accompanied
the Duke of Clarence to Italy; and, there, it is be-
lieved that he had Chaucer and Petrarca for fellow-
guests at the marriage of the duke with the daugh-
ter of Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan. On
Philippa's death, Froissart left England. He was
afterwards private secretary to the Duke of Bra-
bant, on whose death he p ntered the service of Guy,
Count of Blois, and, continuing his Chronicles,
made a journey to the court of Gaston Phoebus,
Count de Foix, to hear from the Bearnese and Gas-
con knights the tales of their feats during the
great wars. He made other journeys, especially a
visit to the English court of Richard II., where he
was nobly welcomed. He died in 1410 at Chimay,
The Fabliaux and the Chronicles. 51
where he held a canonry. He was certainly a born
narrator, and cannot be surpassed for ease, unaf-
fected simplicity, warmth and variety of coloring.
" In certain narratives of battle," says Villemain,
" Froissart is truly Homeric. One could not describe
with greater force the shock of those masses of mail-clad
men that dash together. Arrived in the castle of Gaston
de Foix, you see there in life-like colors the life of leis-
ure, the dainty delights, the festivals: they could not be
painted with more grace. Pass with the Chronicler into
Spain : the boldness of Henry of Transtamare, the gen-
ius of the Black Prince are before you. Come back with
him to France : the wisdom of Charles V., his activity,
his able and restorative administration, are described
with a care and a seriousness which seem for a time to set
aside the natural gaiety of Froissart. Great events,
familiar anecdotes, characteristics of different nations,
English, Flemings, French all are mingled and succeed
one another without confusion ; and never are the colors
of the historian alike, though he is always unaffected,
natural, full of his stibject."
His Chronicles were, in the next age, continued
by Monstrelet, but in very inferior style.
As to the part taken by Froissart, one in these
days is apt to imagine, simply because he spoke
and wrote in French, that he was unpatriotic in
showing more decided sympathy in the great
struggle with the kings and nobles of England than
with those of France. But, it must be remembered,
that those kings were of the house of Anjou, spoke
French, and laid claim to the throne of France,
having in their veins fully as much of the French
blood-rojal as any prince of the house of Valois;
that those barons of England were of Norman and
Aquitanian descent ; that the English queen, who
protected and rewarded Froissart, was like himself
a Fleming, as Hainault was then subject to Flan-
ders ; and that the Angevin princes ruled by just
right of inheritance nianv fair lauds in which French
52 French Literature.
was the native tongue, and were followed to battle
by many French knights. The struggle was at
first a struggle of dynasties, and not of nationalities.
It was not till the time of Henry V. that it could
be called a conflict between England and France.
But Froissart was to the men of his own day
something more than a chronicler. He was also a
poet, and a voluminous one. He tells the story of
his youthful love, which was a devotion after the
manner of the Provengal poets, in a lay of some
four thousand lines, interspersed with ballades
virelays, and rondeaux. The poem is styled Trettie
de TEspinette Amoureuse, and is full of all manner
of prettinesses. But unreal as it all is, there is in
it the noble ideal of faith in honor, virtue, loyalty
the belief in love as the great elevator and purifier.
So, in the great chronicler, we find also one of the
last of the Trouveres, or even of the Troubadours,
for both theme and treatment are more in their
mood than in that of the poets of the North.
There was another poet of this age, who has
come down to us with that title, and whose mission
it was to sing of those events which Froissart chroni-
cled. This was Eustache Deschamps, soldier and
magistrate, and hater of the English. His verse has
many tones, serious, lofty, tender, satirical. It has
also the varying forms of ballade, rondeau, lay.
It was in this age, too, when war was desolating
the land and was aided in its dread task by the
plague called the Black Death and by the frightful
atrocities of that rising of the peasants called the
Jacquerie, that as a singular contrast the table-song
and the vaudeville came first into being. Olivier
Basselin improvised such songs for the Norman
wine-bibbers two centuries before they appeared in
print, modernized somewhat in language, but with
the same thoughts and the same rhythm. There is
a fine lyrical swing about them, which has given
them vitality, and has caused their rhythm to be
reproduced in many a modern chant. This old
The Fabliaux and the Chronicles. 58
singir of drinking-songs, Olivier Basselin, was not
only the father of the modern vaudeville, but that
species of composition actually takes its name from
him that is, from the name of the region where
he composed his songs, the Valley of the Vire, for
the vaudeville was originally called Vau-de- Vire.
Under Charles V. of France, who encouraged the
study of the classics, there were three authors
deserving at least brief mention. These were
Christine de Pisan, one of the most learned women
of her age; Jean Gerson, the ecclesiastic once
believed to have been the true Thomas a Kempis;
and Alain Char tier, poet and patriot.
Christine wrote the life of Charles V., under the
title, Livre des fails et bonnes moeurs du roi Charles
V. Gerson, besides a vast number of Latin works
which he composed in his numerous controversies,
wrote in French some strong remonstrances to
King Charles in behalf of the University, of which
he was Chancellor. Alain Chartier, a short time
after the fatal battle of Agincourt, wrote his Livre
des quatre Dames, a poem in which he takes occa-
sion to reproach those who fled from that lost field.
His most striking work is his Quadriloye invectif^
a patriatic manifesto, put forth between the defeat
at Agincourt and the deliverance of Orleans by the
Maiden. It is a noble appeal, full of hope and en-
couragement. It was Jeanne Dare who answered
it in the name of France and of the God, who, as she
firmly believed, sent her to lead the armies of
France ; and, though she perished herself, she saved
her beloved France.
The old lays of exploits had now passed away
with the decay of chivalry. The latest of them
were two poems, one of them reciting the adven-
tures of a purely imaginary hero, Baldwin of
Sebourg, whom the Trouvere invents as a scion of
the house of the Counts of Flanders ; the other,
written by Cuvelier, a short time after the death of
54: French Literature.
Du Guesclin, and narrating the history of that
Breton hero.
A little later, we find the heroic lays transformed
into prose romances, and the fabliaux into prose
novels. Among these latter was the famous col-
lection, called the Cent Nouvelles nouvelles, some
tales of which and these among the most licentious
are ascribed to the Dauphin, who afterwards
mounted the throne as Louis XI.
But the most remarkable literary productions,
perhaps, of this age were the fiery sermons of the
popular preachers, Olivier Maillard and Michel
Menot, both of them Franciscan friars. They used
familiar comparisons, popular proverbs, piquant al-
lusions to passing events, biting personalities, satir-
ical anecdotes and fables; apostrophized with with-
ering irony and startling vehemence great Church
dignitaries; attacked the great lords and ladies;
and even rebuked the king.
Besides this dramatic preaching, stirring the peo-
ple to repentance Wickliffe in England and IIuss
in Bohemia had just preceded Menot and Maillard,
and Savonarola in Italy was their contemporary
the Church was authorizing at this time the per-
formance of those Mystery and Miracle plays, of
which in our times the Ober-Ammergau Passion-
play is a solitary survival.
A celebrated fraternity, called the Confrerie de
la Passion, founded in Paris in 1350, had the mo-
nopoly for the performance of these. They were
very long and occupied, each of them, several
days. The most celebrated of them, the Mystery
of the Passion, contains more than sixty thousand
verses, and its representation took up several weeks.
The brothers Grebau and Jean Michel of Angers
were the most notable composers of these religious
dramas.
Serious at first, these performances after a time
degenerated ; and farce and ribaldry were mingled
with them, until by the middle of the sixteenth
The Fabliaux and the Chronicles. 55
century they fell into great disrepute. They were
at last prohibited, as a public scandal, by the Parle-
ment of Paris in 1548.
Meanwhile, however, that taste for allegory, which
had shown itself so prodigally in the Romance of
the Rose, also ventured upon the stage, and the en-
tertainment given by the Mystery Plays was some-
times varied by the performance of Morality Plays,
in which the virtues and vices took the place of the
Biblical characters.
The fabliaux also invaded the stage, being there
transformed into farces, very licentious for the most
part. Some that were comparatively free from such
grossnesses as disfigured the majority, were still
immoral in their tone, as setting forth the triumph
of roguery. They are, however, amusing ; and the
most famous of them, Maitre Pathelin, is really a
masterpiece of its kind.
Besides this purely popular literature, we find on
the eve of the Renaissance three writers of greater
literary pretensions, one of them, however, as pop-
ular as the preachers and the composers of Mystery
Plays. Fran9ois Villon is the immediate successor
of the author of Pathelin. Charles d'Orldans is
the representative of the old poetry of chivalry.
Phillippe de Comines is the real successor of Frois-
sart, whose spirit Monstrelet could not reproduce.
Charles d'Orle'ans, the near kinsmen of Louis
XI., and himself the father of a king, though cru-
elly used by that wily and wicked prince who is so
vividly painted for us in the Quentin Dumvard of
Sir Walter Scott, is an isolated flower of tender
and exalted sentiment. He does not belong to his
age, but to the elder times, and he is in his nature
almost a twin- brother of that good King Eene, the
last of the independent Dukes of Anjou and the
last of the Proven9al poets, whom Scott describes
for us in his Au^e of Geierstein. Indeed, these
princes resemble each other, not only in their pas-
sion for poetry anota(/e is
much better than your psalms;" Bertaut, who
survives in virtue of two short but exquisite pas-
sages of sweet melancholy. Desportes would not
have come down to posterity, had his fame de-
pended upon those psalms of which Malherbe spoke
so slightingly. It was to his earlier pieces, his
love-songs, that he owed his reputation; and Henri
de Guise was humming one of them but a short
time before he fell at Blois under the dagger of the
Valois prince. Of Bertaut's little pearls, one,
though bright, is so small that it may well be
strung here:
" Felicite passee
Qui ne peux revenir,
Tourraent de ma pens^e,
Que n'ai-je en te perdant perdu le souvenir!"
Sainte-Beuve says of this, that the mothers of
his generation knew it still and sang it.
Gamier, the dramatist, though of some merit,
has had the same fate of remaining little more
than a name on the roll-call of French poets.
Another of the same school was the Norman,
Yauquelin de la Fresnaye, a pastoral poet of some
grace and delicacy, a satirist and imitator of Hor-
ace's moral epistles of some seriousness and eleva-
tion of tone.
This group of would-be reformers, with Ronsard
at their head, though over-doing their work, were
a benefit to the literature and especially the poetry
of France. The minds of richest culture, whose
The Renaissance. f*9
store of Greek and Latin made them inclined to
despair of expressing themselves in the rude
mother-tongue, were encouraged by the popularity
of Ronsard and his fellows to engage in the task of
polishing it. Such an c&ort could not fail in the
end to enrich and ennoble the language.
French Literature,
VI.
FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO RICHELIEU.
THE massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day was the
most violent feature of a struggle, partly political
and partly religious, which made France a battle-
field for more than a quarter of a century. Torn
by contending factions, amid the horrors of a
dynastic and religious war, she was retarded in her
development, and, in the end, was stripped of many
of the best elements of national prosperity.
It was the news of this horrible massacre which
crushed the last hope for his country of her ablest
and most impartial statesman, the Chancellor,
Michel de 1'Hopital. It was his firm opposition to
the scheme of the Cardinal de' Lorraine for the es-
tablishment of the Inquisition in France that alone
saved his country from that curse. The States-
General had not met for eighty years. Eelying on
the support of the moderate Catholics, the Chan-
cellor convoked that body, and addressed it in a
discourse which deserves to hold a conspicuous
place in the literature of his country as a model of
eloquence, of equity, and of statesmanlike pru-
dence. He declares there the great principle that
religious belief cannot be coerced by force, but
must be won by persuasion. "Gentleness," said
he, " will avail more than rigor. Let us do away
with those diabolical words names of party, fac-
tion, and sedition Lutherans, Huguenots, Papists.
Let us not change our name of Christians."
After his retirement to his manor of Vignay,
when the civil war had broken out, he addressed to
the king a remarkable memoir, in which he warmly
pleaded the cause of the Reformed, and showed that
From the Renaissance to Richelieu. 71
the only remedy for the evils that threatened the
State, was to satisfy the rightful claims of a party
too strong for the royalists to hope to destroy it.
Geruzez closes his account of the life and labors of
this eminent man, after large citations from his able
state- papers, with these words:
"His high intelligence and the purity of his heart put
him, not outside, but above the parties of his time; the
firmness of his character kept him there. The law of
the Athenians against those citizens who held aloof from
the conflict of parties would not have reached him. As
long as it was possible, he remained in the arena and
gave it law. Too clear of vision, too virtuous, to follow
any of the banners spread abroad by the factions, he
raised his own, and around that flag he called all that
were right-minded, all that had hearts devoted to the pub-
lic welfare. He knew how to consummate the alliance
of politics and morals. He displayed the ability of a
statesman, without ever having recourse to perfidy. He
was altogether calm and inflexible."
L' Hopital had stood up, in the heat of the con-
test between mutually hating factions, impartial
and independent. There were others, whom the
heated atmosphere of conflict affected with as strong
a disgust for the violence of extremes, but who did
not, like the Chancellor, stand in the breach. Their
mission was to philosophize, since they did not find
a field in which to act. Of this number was Mon-
taigne's friend, fitienne de la Boetie, formed by his
studies of Greek and Roman literature into an en-
thusiastic republican. His doctrines were set forth
in his discourse De la Servitude volontaire, a very
youthful but impassioned and eloquent rhapsody in
the cause of liberty.
By the side of La Boetie in this labor of love,
though of an earlier day, was Jacques Amyot,
whose share in the task of kindling the passion for
freedom was the translation of Plutarch. Both La
Boetie and Michel de Montaigne imbibed not a lit-
72 French Literature.
tie of their love for antiquity from Amyot. How
much Montaigne admired him may be seen from his
express declaration : " I give the palm to Jacques
Amyot above all the writers of his time for fresh-
ness and purity of language."
Montaigne himself is the prince of doubters, op-
posing to the fanaticisms of his time a steady front
of calm, good-natured questioning. The old Gascon
country-gentleman is to this day a favorite with
men who know and care nothing abouth the disor-
ders of his time against which his half-pagan phi-
losophy was reasoned out to fortify his own spirit.
What is the secret of his charm ? Bulwer-Lytton
says, that it is his admirable knowledge of the
world, his knowledge of the human heart and of
his own heart. Others say, it is his easy, good-
natured, familiar tone, taking the reader, as it were,
into his confidence, and making him feel almost as
if he were holding conference with himself, all his
wisdom being what Blackstone describes the Com-
mon-Law to be, " the perfection of common-sense."
Others say, it is the Horatian mixture of sound
sense and sprightly wit and honest sentiment, nei-
ther too high nor too low for the better sort of
mankind. Perhaps it is all these, and the added
fact that he has stamped his individuality so strongly
upon his Essays, that we feel that we know him
better than we do many with whom we are thrown
almost daily. It is his style, his clear, fresh, nat-
ural style, that has done this. He really has noth-
ing to tell us, that we do not know already, and
better than he or any man of his century could
know it. But the inimitable manner in which he
says what he has to say, is the charm by which he
holds us. It is just the same with Horace. No
revolution of taste, no new discoveries can put these
men out of their rightful place among the small se-
lect band loved in every age by the reflective class
of readers as personal friends.
To his free discursive style the language owes a
From the Renaissance to Richelieu. 73
great debt. Had he been merely a devotee of the
classics, like Ronsard, or had he been as utterly
lawless in the use of provincialisms and the Aris-
tophanic coinage of new words, as was Rabelais, he
might have contributed far less to the language.
But his judicious importation of new terms, by good
derivation from the Latin, was in the main accepted
by his contemporaries and his successors. Le Clerc
gives words so common as gratitude, enfantillaye,
diversion, and enjoue, as among the very many in-
troduced by Montaigne. Several of those named
by Le Clerc as not ultimately received into the
language, have become good English. Such are
condiment, equanimite, improvidence, inanite.
A story is told by his contemporary, fitienne
Pasquier, in one of his letters, which illustrates the
confidence Montaigne had in the excellence of his
French, however sprinkled it might be with oc-
casional Gasconisras. The two friends were walk-
ing together in the court of the Chateau de Blois,
during the session there of the States-General in
1588, when during their talk on literary matters
Pasquier observed that there was many a trace of
Gascon speech in the Essays. " As he would not
believe me," says Pasquier, " I took him to my
room, where I had his book, and there pointed out
to him many words which are familiar, not to
Frenchmen, but only to Gascons, as un patenostre,
un debte, un recontre; and such phrases asces ouvrages
sentent a Vhuile or a la lampe. Especially I showed
him that he used the word jouir altogether after
the fashion of Gascony, and not according to the
practice of our Frencn tongue, as la santt que je
j'ouis jusques d present, Tamitie est jmiie a mesure
qu'elle est desiree, la vraie solitude sepeut jouir au
milieu des villes, &c. Many other phrases did I point
out to him, not only with regard to this word, but
to many others also. And I imagined that he
would order all these things to be corrected in the
next then forthcoming edition of his book. But
74 French Literature.
not only did he do nothing of the sort, but when it
came to pass that he was overtaken by death, his
adopted daughter caused everything to be printed
exactly as it stood, and in her preliminary letter
told us that his widow had sent her the MS. in the
condition in which he had intended that it should
appear."
Excellent adopted daughter ! She certainly under-
stood Montaigne much better than did his worthy
but somewhat pedantic friend. Montaigne was
proud of being a Gascon, and liked to keep the
Gascon flavor about his French. The purists would
take all destinctive flavors out of every noble and
highly individual style, if they could have their
way.
But the greatest merit of Montaigne a merit
which he shares with the Chancellor de 1'Hopital
was the spirit of tolerance. Toleration of the
opinions of others was the key-note of his whole
system of thought. It is an amazing fact in the
history of that age of bitter intolerance that two
such men as the Chancellor and the Gascon philoso-
pher should have been able to keep their rninds so
pure from all taint of this most contagious of dis-
eases. That they did so uniformly and courageously
is more to their credit than any other excellence
that can be found in the career or the writings of
either of them. Like de 1'Hopital, Montaigne's
place in the dissensions of his time was that of
mediator between the contending parties, and he
kept up friendly relations with men of all creeds.
That he was unable to keep that impartially inquir-
ing tendency of his mind, which expressed itself in
his favorite motto, Que sais-je? , out of the sphere of
religious dogma, is certain. But he was far from
being a professed unbeliever, and died in the act of
painfully raising himself in bed to receive the last
rites of his Church.
It remains to make some brief mention of his
personal history. He was of English extraction,
From the Renaissance to Richelieu. 75
which may account for that tinge of humor, which
is so unlike anything French, that pervades his es-
says.
His real family name was Eyquem, the surname,
de Montaigne, being taken from the little manor of
Montaigne in the department of the Dordogne,
which he inherited. His father, whose memory he
greatly revered and of whom he speaks as often
and as fondly as Horace does of his, brought him
up very carefully, having special instructors for him,
and suffering him to speak only Latin from his
earliest years. One of his masters was the famous
scholar, George Buchanan. He received in 1554
the appointment of Counsellor to the Parliament of
Bordeaux, and was in the reigns of Francis II. and
Charles IX. a follower of the court in several cities.
But, having in 1570 succeeded to his inheritance,
he gave up his appointment, retired to his chateau,
and devoted himself to his books and his writings,
varying this occupation by travels for his health in
Germany and Italy, where he studied men and
manners. Twice serving as Mayor of Bordeaux,
after his return from his travels, he continued to
write his Essays of which five editions were pub-
lished during his lifetime until his death in 1592,
in the sixtieth year of his age.
We have already seen something of Pasquier, in
his interview with Montaigne at Blois. He was a
friend worthy of the sincere and thoughtful Gascon
gentleman. His studies in the early history of his
country were made to bear fruit in his Recherches ;
and his Lettres, from which the passage lately
quoted was taken, are still of value as containing
the testimony of an acute and observing witness on
many important facts in the history of his times.
He bore no ignoble part in the events of a period
in which there were so many ignoble characters
and so many unworthy deeds. He deserves credit,
too, for raising his voice, along with the President
Claude Fauchet, against the universal depreciation
76 French Literature.
of the older literature of the country, of which Ron-
sard had set the fashion.
A man of considerable learning and member of
a family of famous printers and publishers, Henri
Estienne, took just the opposite course in his Apol-
ogie pour Herodole. He wrote, besides, two works
still read by philologists, his Precellence du Lan-
gage francais, and the Dialogues du frangais ital-
ianise. His father published the French Bible of
1545.
Among the writers of the sixteenth century must
also be mentioned Jean Bodin, the author of the
Republique, and Charron, the author of the Sagesse.
As both these writers were mere imitators, any de-
tailed criticism of them would be waste of time.
It is quite otherwise with Francois de La None,
the hardy and able soldier, the soul of honor,, be-
loved by the Huguenots and respected by the Cath-
olics, who called him the '"Protestant Bayard."
His impartial spirit and love of justice are as man-
ifest in his Discours politiques et militaires, com-
posed during his five years' imprisonment, as in his
conduct through the course of a most eventful life.
Nervous, energetic, and rhetorical in his style, like
De 1'Hopital, he resembles him also in his thought.
Both were just and high-minded men, though of
different creeds.
Opposed to La Noue, we have the equally gallant
soldier, the equally able narrator, but bitter Cath-
olic leader, Blaise de Montluc, of whose Commen-
taires Henri of Navarre, Huguenot chief as he was,
said, that it was la Bible des capitaines.
The religious and dynastic wars of this period
were accompanied by furious party pamphlets and
by the atrocious sermons of the preachers of the
League, inciting to assassination men, at a later
day, disavowed with horror by Bossuet, in the name
of the Church. These rancorous productions of
party-spirit were scathingly rebuked by the famous
Satyre Menippee, a work composed by a number of
From the Renaissance to Richelieu. 77
writers, at the head of whom were the canons,
Pierre Le Boy and Claude Gillot. During that con-
ference in which Henri IV. went through the form
of conversion from the Huguenot faith to the Cath-
olic, in the year 1593, these canons, with Florent
Chrestien, Nicolas Rapin, the learned Passerat, and
the profound jurisconsult, Pierre Pithou, sot about
their congenial task of confounding the extremists.
It is by a comedy in which the bitter Swiftian irony
plays the greatest part, that they accomplish their
object, of laughing down the zealots.
At the same time that these satirists were utter-
ing their eloquent prose, there came forward an-
other satirist, the poet Mathurin Regnier. He,
however, attacked the manners and morals of the
time, without meddling with affairs of State.
With fine passages, and abounding in clearly drawn
and vigorous pictures, choice in his language,
though capricious and irregular in the movement
of his thought, he is a powerful but unequal poet.
To the same period belongs Malherbe, whom
French critics exalt as a master in good taste and
as rather a moulder of French verse into careful
propriety than as a profound thinker or an impas-
sioned singer. The ode to Marie de Medici s on
the happy success of her regency is signalized as
the most finished of Malherbe's works. He was
more critic than poet, and had pupils to whom he
gave oral lessons in the art of poetry, among them
Honorat cle Bueil, Marquis de Racan, and the Pres-
ident Maynard. Boileau and La Fontaine, in the
next age, give high praise to Malherbe and Racau.
Demogeot, after commenting on their faults, sums
up his criticism by declaring their merits. "Mal-
herbe," he says, "introduced into the loftier class
of literary work the element of truth, Maynard
dexterity (finesse], Racan grace and sentiment."
The interminably drawn-out pastoral of Honore*
d'Urfe, the Astree, imitated from the Diana of
Montemayor, so immensely popular in that age
78 French Literature.
and long after, brought into vogue the affected and
highly sophisticated shepherds and shepherdesses,
that held so large a place in the literature, first of
Italy and Spain, and then of both France and Eng-
land. Racan followed this lead in his Bergeries,
but without attaining the success, or indeed the
merit, of d'Urfe. A pastoral drama, such as the
Beryeries, by putting into action on the stage the
unrealities of conventional shepherds, naturally
brought out in strong relief the absurdity of the
whole conception. Yet there are in this long-
winded, five-act play some fine lines of true poetry,
breathing a heartfelt love of the country.
Maynard had a more nervous and pointed style,
and, disappointed in his hopes of court-favor,
launched one sonnet at Eichelieu which is so
good as to be numbered among the few that rank
as really excellent.
Among the wild poets of the court, who, like
Maynard, produced some immodest pieces, was one,
who was so imprudent as to make enemies of men
capable of making his sins against morality a pre-
text for persecuting him. This was The'ophile
Viaud. For a collection, called the Parnasse
satirique to which Maynard was one of the con-
tributors Yiaud was burned in effigy on the Place
de Grre~ve. In his prison, however, he wrote de-
fenses of himself, which give him high rank as a
prose writer. As a poet, and especially as author
of the tragedy of Pyrame et Thisbe, he falls into
the vices of Spanish hyperbole and Italian con-
ceits.
We reach now a writer, whose influence upon
French prose has been very great. Balzac
has been called the Malherbe of prose; but
he was something more than this. It is true
that he laid great stress on cadence, on har-
mony, on purity of style, on choice and propriety
of diction, on pleasing the ear while enlightening
the mind. But he was also capable of lofty and no-
From the Renaissance to Richelieu. < 9
ble thought. Still, he did not possess a sufficiently
powerful mind, with force and compass of thought
and unity of design enough, to round and complete
a master- work. Tiiere is no big heart behind that
bright intelligence of his, to concentrate its rajs
and flash them into a steady stream of light or
warm them into a burning fire. Yet there is fine
and glowing rhetoric, especially in the Socrate chre-
l>' n, and strong polemical argument in the Entre-
tiens a Menandre. His great merit, indeed, is
rhetorical skill; and the language owes him much
in point of style. It is also his fault, as with Dry-
den and Macaulay among English writers, for Dry-
den's prose is like Macaulay's in respect to this
same monotony of brilliant and pointed finish.
In Guez de Balzac we have the note-mark of the
polish of the seventeenth century. At the close
of the century was to form, like mutually attracted
atoms that move into crystallized shape, that clus-
ter of men of genius which constituted the golden
age of French literature. Balzac is therefore a no-
table figure of the period. He is, moreover, as
Geruzez says, the link and the mediator between
the hotel Rambouillet and the Academic francaise.
Madame de Rambouillet, the " Arthenice " x)f that
affected coterie, whose pedantries were so easily
caricatured by Moliere, and whose influence was
yet so wholesome in removing filthy conversation
from the language of society, looked up to Balzac
as to an oracle. Equally was he so .regarded by
Richelieu's newly-founded Society of the Learned.
The dainty marquise and her friends, the fine
ladies called les Precieuses, shunning the camp-vul-
garized court of Henri IY., in their efforts to main-
tain a pure-thinking and pure-speaking society, did
succeed in giving elegance, delicacy, arid grace to
the spoken tongue. They even did some service
to morals in forcing vice, out of a new-born shame,
to pay virtue the homage of abstaining from ex-
pressing itself openly.
80 French Literature.
The first glory of the Hotel Ramlouillet began
with the mother of the charming marquise, Julie
Savelli, wife of the Marquis Jean de Vivonne, Ital-
ian by birth, and the child of a higher civilization
in point of manners than France had yet reached.
Her daughter, Catherine de Yivonne, who became
the Marquise de Eambouillet, inherited the winning
Florentine sparkle of the mother and the peculiar
sweetness of the southern manner. She was well
versed, too, in the rich literatures of Italy and
Spain. Demogeot, in citing the testimony of Talle-
mant des Eeaux to the charms of this queen of
society, remarks that Tallemant can find only one
fault iu her, and that is an excessive delicacy in
language ; to which he adds : " And when one reads
Tallemant, one cannot help recognizing the fact
that this ' fault ' is but one virtue the more."
Her influence on literature, however, aside from
her high regard for decency in thought and lan-
guage, was not good. Her preferences for foreign
models tended to encourage bad taste, the artificial
Marini being then the guiding star in Italian litera-
ture, and equally dangerous models in another
direction attracting French imitators towards Span-
ish literature. Inflated language was the mark of
weakness borne by the Spanish ; perpetual effort at
wit and point, that exhibited by the Italian.
The most brilliant period of the Hotel Eam-
bouillet was from the death' of Malherbe to that of
Voiture from 1628 to 1648. It owed much of its
fame to the wit and grace of one of the Marquise's
daughters, the celebrated Julie d'Angennes.
Around the brilliant mother and daughter were
gathered at those famous sessions, called the ruelles
in that day as later they were called salons, a daz-
zling band of women, fair and witty and high-born.
There were the Princesse de Conde, the last of
Henri IV.'s passions, that witty Charlotte de Mont-
morency, whose husband had to hurry her away
from the fascinated eyes of the old Bearnesej
From the Renaissance to Richelieu. 81
Mademoiselle du Vigeau, the great Condi's first
love ; Mademoiselle de Bourbon, afterwards the
famous Madame de Longueville ; Richelieu's niece,
the Duchesse d'Aiguillon ; that mistress of cookery
as well as of gallantry, the Marquise de Sable;
Madame de la Vergne ; the Corntesse de Fiesque ;
the Comtesse de Saint-Martin ; the Duchesse de
Chevreuse ; the young and brilliant Marquise de
Sevigne ; the Comtesse de Maure ; and that tawny-
tressed Mademoiselle Paulet, whose locks and
leonine spirit won her the sobriquet of " Lioness."
Quite as select were the masculine visitors, includ-
ing the Condes, the Contis, the La Rochefoucaulds,
the Bussys, the Grammonts, to whom were added
such literary men as Chapelain, Conrart, Cotin,
Pelisson, Segrais, Benserade, and, in the later days,
Corneille himself.
In paying his court to the "adorable Julie,"
Montausier devised a graceful tribute, which
brought all the poets together in an act of homage
to the young lady of the house of Rambouillet. On
the 1st of January, 1641, she found on her toilette, in
waking up, deux cahiers de velin, exactly alike,
each leaf of which contained a picture of a lovely
flower, painted in, miniature by Robert, and under
it a madrigal composed by one of the poets.
Chapelain, Godeau, Colletat, Scudery, Desmarest,
and Corneille were among the nineteen who wrote
the verses for the twenty-nine flowers of this Guir-
lande de Julie.
This delicate and intellectual style of compliment
was characteristic of the whole order of intercourse
between the sexes in that elegant mansion. The
lofty spirit and noble sentiments of Corneille's
heroes and heroines were born there ; the fine lan-
guage and even its over-strained stateliness, were
born there, too.
But no man can be monk, or woman nun, with-
out narrowing the whole nature ; no society can
isolate itself without suffering the penalty of be-
82 French Literature.
coming conventional in its ideas and frivolous in its
productions. This fate came to the Rambouillet
circle ; and the affectations it fell into were of
course greatly exaggerated by the circles that imi-
tated it, especially those in the provinces. It was
the absurdities of these imitators that Molire after-
wards ridiculed in his Precieuses ridicules. The
real Precieuses may be said to have disbanded
when Julie followed her husband, the Due de Mon-
tausier, in 1648, to his governorship of Saintonge.
It was also the date of Vincent Yoiture's death.
Voiture had been the special mouth-piece, in
prose and in verse, of this spirited little society of
purists. Euphuist in grain, he lavishes his wit in
prodigal display, playing with, words and ideas
alike, seeking far-fetched congruities and contrasts,
jesting and trifling pleasantly, sometimes with really
charming fancy, and yet not making too much of
his diverting trifles. He was, however, something
more than a mere literary man, for, with true
political foresight, he was among the first to appre-
ciate the policy of Eichelieu, and early became his
staunch supporter.
A friend of Voiture's and a writer in the same
light and pleasant vein, was Sarrasin, the author of
the Testament de Goulu, the Ballade d*Eulever,
the Ode sur la lataille de Lens. He was capable of
stronger things, and won fame as a good prose writer
in his Siege de Dunkerque. But Sarrasin belonged
to the circle of Mademoiselle de Scudery, which
was a sort of subdivision of that of the Hotel Ram-
bouillet, almost a secession from it, mere authors
being covertly a little laughed at by the great lady
who presided there.
But when we have reached Balzac, the Marquise
de Rambouillet, Mademoiselle de Scudery, Yoiture,
and Sarrasin, we have fairly touched upon the
beginning of Eichelieu's influence in the literary
sphere ; and this influence, with its far-reaching
effects, must give us a new starting point.
From the Renaissance to Richelieu. 83
One valuable part, however, of tlie literature of
Henri IV.'s time must be mentioned, before we
take up the writers of Richelieu's period. To the
beginning of the seventeenth century must be as-
signed those instructive and entertaining memoirs
of men who took part in the affairs of the troubled
period which coincides in the main with the closing
years of the sixteenth century ; and who have so
admirably painted for us the manners, opinions, style,
and minute historical details of their time.
The best of these memoirs are those of that bitter
partisan of the League, the Vicomte Jean de Ta-
vannes ; those of Henri IV.'s great minister, Maxi-
milien de Bethune, Marquis de Rosny and Due de
Sully; those of Henri's tutor, Pierre Palma Cayet;
those of Pierre de Lestoile ; those of Henri's first
wife, Marguerite of France ; those of the staunch
Huguenot captains, Agrippa d'Aubigne' and Du
Plessis-Mornay, the " Pope of the Huguenots." To
these must be added the memoirs of Brantome, the
greatest anecdote-teller of them all, the most amus-
ing, and personally the least worthy. Matthieu,
too, should be mentioned, as the author of several
histories of events in his own times. All of these
writers are grouped, in one way or another, about
the person of Henri of Navarre. De Thou, who
belongs to the same time, and whose History has
great qualities, unfortunately wrote in Latin, and
has therefore no claim to a place in French litera-
ture.
Among the other memoirs of from 1555 to 1650,
are those of Guillaume de Saulx-Tavannes, Antoine
des Puget, Jean de Mergey, Philippe Hurault, Henri
de La Tour d'Auvergne, Boivin du Villars, Charles
de Valois, and Nicolas de Neufville. They furnish
ample material for the thorough study of their
period, and contribute largely to the making up of
a true history of France. Demogeot warmly
praises the style and matter of Du Plessis-Moruay.
84 French Literature.
" The language of Mornay," he says, " resembles his
costume : it is still d la Coligny. It is the old language
of the 16th century with its archaisms and its labored
constructions. But all the energy, all the masculine
pride of his soul flashes forth every moment from the
cloud. His style is admirable in firmness and nobleness.
Deeply read and learned, with the sap of antiquity
quickening his intellect, made wiser to understand the
past by his experience in affairs, the vigor of his discourse
recalls that of the speeches in Thucydides. Writer and
soldier, his written thought shines and smites like a sword."
From Rididied, U\ Louis XIV.
VII.
FBOM RICHELIEU TO LOUIS XTV.
THE taste for poetry which led Maecenas to per-
;->etrate bad verses did not, fortunately, expend itself
solely in that direction. The same propensity in
the great statesman who ruled France for so many
years during a most critical period, was also allied to
a happy appreciation of the importance of linking his
career with the names and works of great men of
letters. It was his misfortune that he was not al-
ways able to distinguish between mere men of let-
ters and men of genius. Still, his influence on
French literature was beneficial. The establish-
ment of the Academic Francaise, for the mainte-
nance of the purity' of the language and the eleva-
tion of literary men to an order in the State, was
one of the most remarkable of the Cardinal de
Richelieu's achievements. To this glory, he added
another. This was the stimulus his patronage
gave to the dramatic art.
Armand du Plessis de Richelieu, made bishop of
Lugon by Henri IV., first attracted attention to his
genius for affairs by the very able speech which he
made as the representative of the clergy at the
meeting of the States-General in 1614. The court
became eager to secure the services of such a
man. Attached to the service of the queen,
Marie de Medici, he remained at court until the
fall of the Concini ministry. In his retirement
from public affairs, which lasted for seven years,
he produced a number of theological works, of no
extraordinary merit. The queen-mother, resum-
ing her influence at court, Richelieu was raised to
the dignity of Cardinal and became Prime Minister.
815 French Literature*
The great work which he accomplished of unifying
France, of strengthening the monarchy into actual
absolutism, and of making his country the greatest
power in Europe, we have nothing to do with here.
It is only of his share in the literary progress of
France that I shall speak. Of his own works, the cor-
respondence, and the accounts of his administration
entitled the Succincte narration des (jrandes actions
du roi, and the Testament politiqug, are all stamped
with the seal of his great political and administra-
tive genius. His Memoires, though full of tedious
passages and displays of bad taste, have great value
as material for history.
The work of ruling a great state and carrying on
difficult negotiations with foreign powers was not
enough for his active spirit ; even the added task
of compiling memoirs did not fill all his leisure.
He found time for attempts at purely literary work.
" What do you think I take the greatest pleasure
in doing?" he asked one day of Bois-Eobert.
" Monseigneur," was the courtier's reply, "it is in
making the happiness of France." " Not at all,"
said the Cardinal, " it is in making verses."
He loved to invent plots for plays, which he
would put into the hands of his poets to be worked
out. Sometimes he would furnish whole scenes,
sometimes a number of lines. His poets, Bois-
Robert, Colletet, L'Etoile, Eotron, and Corneille,
were known by the name of The Cardinal's Brigade.
He cut out their work for them, assigning an act to
each. Pelisson tells us that Mirame, which ap-
peared as the work of Des Marets, was wholly the
Cardinal's. He had built, expressly for its repre-
sentation, a magnificent hall in the Palais-Cardinal.
The same authority assures us that he wrote no
less than five hundred verses of the Grande Pas-
torale.
The numerous tragedies and pastorals put upon
the stage of the Hdtel Marais by that rapid impro-
viser of plays, Alexandre Hardy he wrote over
From Richelieu to Louis XIV. 87
six hundred had kept tlie taste of the public for
these entertainments from flagging, and had also
trained actors who were to be fit instruments for
expressing the genius of Corneille.
Theophile de Yiau, Racan, De Bourron, Bore'e,
De La Croix, Pichou, Du Cros, Rayssiguier, Gom-
bault, and Mairet, followed with various pieces
which made the theatre still more popular and at
the same time elevated the taste of the public.
Still, there was among scholars a felt want of order
and law in the French drama, and it was largely
this demand for authority over the new develop-
ment of literature which led to the founding of the
Academic Franraise. Ch apelain was foremost among
these reformers. He strongly represented to Riche-
lieu the necessity for the observance of the three
unities of time, place, and action, laid down by
Aristotle. Richelieu was delighted with the coun-
sel, gave Chapelain full authority over his poets,
and promised him a pension of a thousand crowns
as dramatic critic. Mairet wrote his Sophonisbe in
accordance with this regulation. It was the first
play in the French classic style.
There was a warm but short struggle between
the favorers of the free drama, such as Spain and
England recognized, and the regulated drama,
which became the form respected by the great mas-
ters of the French theatre. The public, the actors,
and most of the authors preferred the free drama.
But the Cardinal was too strong for them. On the
very eve of great public affairs, in 1635, when
France was about to engage in the Thirty Years'
War, shutting himself up with his Brigade, the five
poets, Richelieu dictated his plots to them, and set
them to work. Colletet especially worked to his
liking; but he was dissatisfied with Corneille, and
withdrew his favor from him. Des Marets took
his place. One of Des Marets' pieces, the Vision-
naires, long held the reputation of being the finest
comedy in the language.
88 French Literature.
But the withdrawal of the Cardinal's favor from
Corneille was the emancipation of a great poet. He
could never have produced his grand works under
the tutelage of another.
Pierre Corneille was born at Eouen in 1606. His
father being an advocate, he was intended for the
same profession ; but the bent of his genius drove
him to dramatic composition. His earlier pieces,
Mlite, performed with success in 1629, Clitandre,
La Veuve, La G-alerie du Palais, La Suivante, and
La Place Royale, secured him popular favor, but
gave little indication of his really great qualities.
Neither did the ftfedee, written in imitation of
Seneca, reveal his true power.
Meanwhile, he had earned Kichelieu's ill-will by
his audacity, it is said, in altering the plan of a
comedy which the Cardinal had suggested to him.
Giving his attention to the study of Spanish litera-
ture, he now produced the Cid, and enjoyed his first
great triumph. The public were wholly unprepared
for this intensity of passion, this outburst of thril-
ling poetry. There was an eager enthusiasm
kindled for the poet's new creations, and Chimene
and Eodrigue seized the hearts of all as if by storm.
The impassioned love of the South, which is so
sweet and fresh and always young the same that
charms us in Romeo and Juliet ; heroic sentiment,
worthy of Spain's chivalry ; tragic woe that wrings
the heart, stirred every soul and forced the convic-
tion on the nation that a great poet had arisen for
France.
But the triumph of the poet did not deliver him
from the envy of Eichelieu. Chapelain was detailed
to draw up a damnatory criticism which the reluctant
Academy was to be induced to publish as its own
decision. Mairet and Scuderi were arrayed against
the offending poet. But Chapelain, who is chiefly
memorable as having butchered poor Jeanne Dare
over again in his La Pucelle, was not the man to
stand before a giant like Corneille, now that he wag
From Richelieu to Louis XIV. 89
beginning to know himself. Nor was Scude'ri,
whose fatal facility was of the sort that Horace
laughs at in a poet of his day, and whose Lyyda-
mon and U Amour tyrannique and Alaric, and other
such improvisations have long since been dead, if
indeed they can be said to have ever lived. Nor
was Mairet, though there was some merit in that
Sophonisbe, which the Cid had cast into the shade.
The GUI appeared in 1636, and, in spite of the
jealousy of Richelieu's poets and the enforced cold-
ness of the Academy, was soon so popular with the
public, that "beautiful as the Cid" became a
proverb. His detractors having accused him of
plagiarizing the best parts of the Cid from Guillem
de Castro, Corneille now set himself the task of
writing his Horace, on the hint furnished by Livy's
brief story of the Horatii and Curiatii, no dramatist
having yet made use of the legend.
By some French critics Horace is regarded as the
most vigorous and -the most original effort of Cor-
neille's genius. The characters of Sabine and
Camille are as finely contrasted in this play as
those of Horace and Curiace, and the situations are
very moving, while the whole action of the piece is
powerfully wrought out. But the elder Horace is
as vigorously drawn as any of the characters brought
into immediate action, and the famous qii'il mourutf
the words regarded as of highest sublimity in the
whole range of French literature, proceed from the
stern lips of this proud .Roman father.
His next Koman play, Cinna, is considered by
others among the French critics as Coraei lie's mas-
terpiece. The impersonation in this piece of the
spirit of liberty is fimilie, the ward of Augustus,
but the beloved of Pompey's grandson. The scene
of the conspiracy, that in which the Emperor de-
liberates whether he shall retire from his exalted
post or hold it against all assaults, the heroic par-
don granted to the conspirators, are noble efforts of
the poet, in whom majesty of action and dignity of
90 French Literature.
sentiment found their best expression. But there
is an inconsistency forced both on the plot and on
the characters of the conspirators by the favorable
turn of events which prevents that which was
throughout most tragical in its spirit and prepara-
tion from turning out a tragedy at all.
Corneille's next play was Polyeucte, a tragedy
of Christian martyrdom. The hero and Pauline,
the heroine, draw the deepest sympathy from every
hearer or reader. No picture could be more pa-
thetic than that of these lovers giving up all, in the
bloom of their youth and the joy of their love, at
the call of duty.
In his next play, Corneille had the boldness to
fill the air of his stage with the glory of a dead
hero, the play, Pompee, bearing the name of the
great Eoman, but not presenting him in person.
" The dead Pompey," says Geruzez, "fills the whole
scene. He lives again in the virile face of Cornelia.
It is to satisfy his angry manes that the infamous
Ptolemy perishes, and the last words of his widow
promise against Ca3sar himself a thrilling ven-
geance." It was a strong conception, but it is
marred in the execution by an excess of declama-
tion and emphasis in the language put into the
mouths of the chief characters. The turgid rhet-
oric of Lucan makes him a peculiarly dangerous
author to draw one's inspiration from; and with
Corneille he was a great favorite.
Corneille produced these masterpieces in the
course of six years. He was now the acknowl-
edged master in the domain of tragedy. There was
no one to compete with him. Mai ret had done
nothing better than the Sophonisbe. Du Kyer had
in his Scevole brought out some of that same fine
old Eoman tone of heroic spirit, which Corneille
loved to make the stage ring with; but Du Byer
could not hope to rival the "noblest Roman of
them all." Tristan had touched a chord of pathos
in his Marianne, but not so thrilling in its notes of
From Richelieu to Louis XIV. 91
tender yet heroic anguish as that which the Chris-
tian martyrs in. Polyeucte had moved the hearts of
men with. Rotrou, Corneille's staunch friend, had
not yet produced anything of marked value, though
destined in after years to keep some hold on the
memory by his Venceslas and his Saint- Genest.
Cornille was thus alone, at a great height above
his contemporaries, in the sphere of tragedy. He
now surprised every one with a brilliant success in
comedy. As in the case of his first great triumph
in tragedy, he had drawn his inspiration from Spain,
so was it now in the case of his comic masterpiece,
the Menteur.
Dorante, that exquisite liar who gives name to
the comedy, is a masterly creation. There is an
easy grace and a naturalness in Corneille's merri-
ment, which strike us as really wonderful when we
contrast these traits with the grandeur of thought
and tone which is the dominant characteristic of
his nobler tragedies.
To these great successes in tragedy and comedy,
Corneille added some essays in the domain of the
opera, in his Andromede, the Toison d*or, and
Psyche.
Among his later tragedies, Rodogune, Heraclius,
and Nicomede are not without merit, though bear-
ing some traces of carelessness in style. These
plays also furnish examples of some of those qual-
ities which, though not so marked in Corneille as
his grand diction and elevated tone, are eminently
traits of genius. I refer to his variety of means
and motive, of characterization and plot. He is no
shoemaker with one last, no painter with one color.
If taxed, however unjustly, with plagairism from
Spanish authors, no one could venture to charge him
with copying himself.
As to the tone of his works, it is true that, in his
great plays, he has given expression to but one side
of human nature, the heroic. But to how many
varieties of the heroic has he given expression, and
92 French Literature.
in how many varying situations has he set the
heroic before us ! And, if it be complained that
after all it is a monotony of heroism, it is surely
glory enough for one writer that he has so nobly
portrayed the dignity of the human soul.
Evil times coming upon France during the
regency of Anne of Austria, Corneille seems to
have been affected by the general feebleness of the
political conflict around him. He produced works
greatly inferior to his Polyeucte during this period,
ceased after a time to produce at all, and lived to
see Racine take his place in popular estimation.
He died in 1684.
While the dramatic genius of Corneille was
adding noble treasures to the literature of France,
the philosophical speculations of Des Cartes, the
physical studies of Gassendi, arid the theological
controversies of the Jansenists were dividing into
different camps the reflecting minds of the age. As
the principal works of Gassendi and Des Cartes
were in Latin, we have nothing to do with them
here, except to say that both denied the authority
of Aristotle, and proclaimed the emptiness of the
scholastic philosophy, though differing widely from
each other in the views with which they sought to
replace the old system of thought. Des Cartes,
however, in his Discours de la Methode, which ap-
peared shortly after the Cid, brings himself within
our scope, as a producer in the mother-tongue. The
fundamental principle of his thought, as there
set forth, is to know himself in order that he may
arrive at the knowledge of Grod and of nature. He
pursues his speculations in clear and simple lan-
guage, severely simple and direct.
The Jansenist controversy led to the persecution
of the Port Royalists, and thia to the brilliant de-
fence of that school of religious belief by Pascal. It
wik) "be fitting, therefore, as an introduction to
Pascal's literary career, to give a brief account of
Port Royal.
From Richelieu to Louis XIV. 93
Port Royal, sometimes called Port Royal des
Champs, was in its beginning a convent about nine
miles south of Versailles, attached to the Benedict-
ine order, and founded in 1204. In the course of
time, its discipline, like that of many other such
establishments, had become greatly relaxed. About
the year 1608, Marie-Angelique Arnauld becoming
Abbess, reformed its discipline and gave it such
fame that many noble ladies began to reside in the
neighborhood, to share in its earnest devotions. In
the middle of the seventeenth century, Antoine
Arnauld, a learned doctor of the Sorbonne. accom-
panied by three of the famous Lemaistre family, as
well as by several other men of learning and purity,
took up his residence there. His mother, his sister
the Abbess, five other sisters, and six of his nieces
were already members of the establishment. The
Arnaulds, the Lemaistres, Nicole, and the Abbe de
Saint-Cyran, living near the convent, cultivating
their little gardens, teaching the young, and com-
posing valuable wo*ks, soon won for Port Royal the
reputation of being a school of virtue and learning.
Racine was one of the pupils of this school of puri-
tans in the bosom of the Church of Rome. Pascal,
whose sister and niece were members of the con-
vent, numbered himself as in spirit one of the little
fraternity outside its walls, though his work and
life were elsewhere.
For many years Port Royal had the highest
renown and success as a useful institution. But,
long before its arbitrary and cruel destruction in
1710, its troubles began, in the condemnation by
the Sorbonne, under the influence of the Jesuits, of
Saint-Cyran and then of Arnauld, as adherents of
the Jansenist school of religious belief.
Pascal now took the field in defence of Arnaukf,
producing his famous Lettres ecrites a un Provincial.
The first, second, and third of these letters are de-
voted to proving the identity of his friend's doc-
trine with that of St. Augustine. The others, how-
94: French Literature.
ever, are those which caught the attention of the
public and won him the fame of stinging and
withering irony which still clings to his name. In
these he attacks the system of casuistry expounded
by the great Jesuit doctors, and holds the order up
to ridicule as masters in sophistry and teachers of
immorality. " The Provincial Letters " I quote
from a paper in one of the English reviews " are,
on the whole, the most brilliant collection of con-
troversial letters extant. They have not the
rounded finish, the concentration, the red-hot
touches of sarcasm, and the brief and occasional
bursts of invective darkening into sublimity which
distinguish the letters ofJunius. Nor have they
the profound asides of reflection, or the impatient
power of passion, or the masses of poetical imagery
to be found in Burke's Letter to a Noble Lord, and
Letters on a Regicide Peace ; but they excel these
and all epistolary writings in dexterity of argument,
in power of irony, in light, hurrying, scorching
satire, a ' fire running along the ground,' in grace of
motion, and in Attic salt and Attic eloquence of
style."
Geruzez well remarks that the charm and power
of this work of Pascal's, even with the readers of
our own time, lie quite apart from the original dis-
pute, that no one cares now about the rights of the
discussion on the nature of grace, but that we can
all appreciate and enjoy the masterly appeal in
behalf of truth against error, which the eloquent
genius of Pascal, passing beyond the particular
thesis he has set himself to defend, utters in passage
after passage of transcendent beauty. As to the
j ustice of all his charges against the Jesuits, it is
not my province to decide that question, any more
than in the case of his bitter onslaught on the
memory of Montaigne as a teacher of skepticism.
Blaise Pascal, born in 1623, was, like his friends,
the Arnaulds, from Auvergne. As a mere boy he
distinguished himself by his amazing proficiency in
From Richelieu to Lords XIV. 95
mathematics, and in early youth as an experimenter
in physics. His intercourse with the distinguished
Jausenist preacher, the Abbe Guillebert, early led
him to join the ascetic school of which he later
became the ablest defender. The Provinciales, as
his famous letters are sometimes called, were writ-
ten under the pseudonym of Louis de Montalte. His
other great work, the Pensees sur la Religion, was
left unfinished ; but, even in their incomplete
shape, these fragmentary efforts to construct a body
of thought strong enough to cope with the argu-
ments of atheists have excited the admiration of
every generation of readers. The battering-ram
Pascal brings to bear against the stronghold of
atheism is framed of negations that confront and
crush the negations of human pride. He, the
brightest and acutest ef men in pure intellectual
force and subtlety, communes with himself, pushes
his thought back to its utmost bounds, sees and
marks the inexorable limitations, and forces his
mind to gaze into the impenetrable beyond, until it
shrinks back, aghast and appalled at the narrowness
of its range and the boundlessness and immensity
of what stretches beyond its grasp. It is thus that
he abases the human intellect and step by step
proves its littleness and the futility of its efforts to
penetrate the mystery that surrounds us. Bringing
his mathematics to bear upon the matter in and
around man, and forcing the imagination to compass
what it can of the infinitely great and the infinitely
small, he drives proud reason, beaten from all its
shelters, to plead to faith for help.
Pascal's wretched health prevented him from
grouping these wondrous Sibylline leaves into a
harmonious whole, and he died at the early age of
thirty-nine, in Paris, in the year 1662.
His friends, those Christian mystics who made
up the Port Eoyal school, deserve some special
mention. Antoine Arnauld was one of twenty
noble children of a famous lawyer. Jansenist,
96 French Literature.
heart and soul, be joined Nicole in writing a mas-
sive treatise on La, Perpetuite de la Foi. Afterwards
when an exile among Protestant fellow-exiles, he
assailed them in his Apologie des Cathotiques.
Nicole was Arnauld's faithful auxiliary. When
not compelled by the ardor of his friends to engage
in controversy, he pleased his own peaceful nature
by composing his Essais de Morale. Antoine Le-
maistre, son of one of the sisters of Araauld; his
brother, Lemaistre de Saci, translator of the Bible ;
Claude Lancelot, one of Kacine's instructors; to-
gether with De Pontis, Du Fosse, and Fontaine,
were all scholarly men, engaged in the production
of grammars and text-books on logic, besides their
other works.
Between the death of Kichelieu and the personal
reign of Louis XIV. that is, during the period of
Cardinal Mazarin's struggle with the leaders of the
Fronde and the years of his final triumph no
great literary event occurred, besides the publica-
tion of Pascal's great controversial work. There
was nothing about the court of Anne of Austria to
encourage literature, nothing in the nature of
Mazarin to evoke genius. Even the great soul of
Corneille seemed to shrink, and the works he put
forth at this time are not those by which posterity
knows him.
What really belong to this period are the inter-
minable romances of Mademoiselle de Scuderi, in
which history and passion are alike falsified; and
the sonnets and madrigals and abortive epics of an
age of artificial taste. But, laughable as the char-
acters and conversations of these long narratives are
to readers of our day, Madeleine de Scuderi, holds
an important place in the history of literature, as
the founder of the heroic romance. It is true, she
had fore-runners, but her stories were greatly su-
perior in many ways to theirs, and may be said to
have established that class of work as having a
just claim to a recognized place in literature.
From Richelieu to Louis XIV. 97
The pastoral romance of D'urfe was, in the
nature of things, succeeded by the heroic. To
translations from the old Greek romances and
the Spanish was added, in the days of the Queen
Mother, Marie de Medici, the Endymion of Gom-
bault, who in that strange idyllic romance allegor-
ized the favor with which the Queen-Regent her-
self looked upon him. After Gombault came Gom-
berville or, to give him the benefit of his name
and titles in full, Marin Le Roy, Sieur de Gorn-
berville et du Parc-aux-Chevaux who, between
1621 and 1651, published La Caritee, Polexandre,
La Cytheree, and Le Jeune Alcidiane. Polexandre
is considered the best.
There was still, however, an air of fairyland
about the prose romance. It was Gautier de Costes,
Seigneur de La Calprenede, who was to give it
more likeness to actual life. He was on duty at
court as a young guardsman when the public had
the first hint of his story-telling powers. It was
in the time of Anne of Austria, and this queen
complaining that her maids of honor were tardy in
their service, one of them excused herself and com-
panions by saying that there was in the first hall
a gentleman whom one could never tire of listen-
ing to. The queen had La Calprenede summoned
to her presence, and prayed him to tell her one of
those tales he told so well. The young Gascon
promptly complied with the request, the Queen was
delighted, and a pension was at once given him.
He who could please a queen naturally felt that
it would be easy for him to please the public. Ac-
cordingly he set to work, and it was not long be-
fore his teeming brain poured forth ten volumes of a
romance, the scene of which is laid in Persia during
the time of Alexander. This is his Cassandre.
There is no local color, no historic reality, but we
are treated to a long series of romantic loves, tre-
mendous combats, magnificent tourneys, the carry-
ing-ofF of princesses by ardent but respectful lovers,
7
98 French Literature.
and all manner of exciting incidents. The charac-
ters, it is true, are not people of the time of Alex-
ander, but they are real for all that, and they talk
well. La Calprenede wrote another, the Cleopatre,
which occupied twelve volumes; and he began a
Pharamond, of which he printed only seven vol-
umes. Pierre de Vaumoriere, the author of the
Grand Stipion, afterwards finished it with five
more volumes.
Madeleine de Scuderi came to Paris with her
brave but amusingly boastful brother, George, in
1630. She, though more sensible than he, was
also vain of a supposed family grandeur in the past.
Demogeot remarks : " She used always to say,
'Since the downfall of our house'; you would
have said that she was speaking of the overthrow
of the Greek Empire. She was tall, thin, and
dark, with a very long face. Madame Cornuel
used to say that Providence had made that girl
sweat ink, since she was to spread so much of it on
paper. For a long time her brother kept up the
most amusingly jealous practices about her. Some-
times he shut her up entirely, and would suffer no
one to see her. She was not able to see whom she
wished even when forty years old. Madeleine
took all this treatment with a good grace. Perhaps
she was flattered by it."
This brother and sister were really very much
attached to each other, and it was to the advantage
of their literary work that they were evidently
always living a romance in imagination before they
undertook to write one. Madeleine herself wrote
under cover of her brother's name. George was a
dramatic author. Madeleine published Ibrahim,
her first book, in 1635. It was no advance on
Gomberville, and did not reach the merit of La
Calprenede. But her study of the refined manners
and lofty thought of the Hotel Rambouillet, to
which she was admitted, gave her something real
to paint. In her Artam&ne, ou le grand Cyrus and
From Richelieu to Louis XIV. 99
CUlie, under the disguise of Persians and Romans,
she, to their great delight, painted the haunters of
the ruelles of "Cleomire," as she styled the brilliant
Marquise in the seventh volume of the Cyrus.
If Madame de Sevigne reproached herself, and
to no purpose too, for pouring over La Calprenede's
books, Madeleine de Scuderi's were to waste far
more time. They became the rage everywhere.
In England, we find old Samuel Pepys scolding his
wife and grumbling at her in his secret diary for
her devotion to them. There is, in truth, much in
the writings of this dark-skinned old maid, of
which a woman even in this age might well be
proud. To us, indeed, her stories are tiresome,
prolix, unnatural. But, besides her admirable por-
traiture of the choicest society of her own time,
she has some noble passages on the true place of
woman in society, some just and judicious reflec-
tions that have their value even now. Her style,
too, is flexible and flowing, with a grace and deli-
cacy about it from time to time which mark the
woman to whose ears the easy conversation of
the Rambouillet circle was familiar.
Chapelain's farcical epic, La Pucelle, I have al-
ready mentioned in passing. Another epic of the
sort that " neither gods nor men can abide," was
the Clovis of Desmarets, Richelieu's favorite. An-
other was the Moise sauve of Saint- Amant, who,
however, had some merit. Another was the Saint
Louis of the Pere Lemoyne, like the others full of
passages marked by wretched taste.
Amid the light literature of burlesque verse,
slashing lampoons, and bitter satires, provoked by
the war of the Fronde, were the letters of the doc-
tor Guy-Patin against Cardinal Mazarin, which
are still of some value as unconscious contributions
to contemporary history, as they were written
solely for private eyes. Mazarin, who did not con-
cern himself for literature, had but one defender
among literary men a man who did not like to
100 French Literature.
think with other men. This was Cyrano de Ber-
gerac. In -his Leltre aux frondevrs, he makes
an especial butt of Paul Scarron, the burlesque
assailant of Mazarin.
Poor Scarron, with liis deformed and suffering
body travesty was natural to him. The
Erieide travestie is not a great work, in any
sense of the word, but there is seme fun in it. The
trouble is that one grows very tired of rending
long in a caricature spun out to so inordinate a
length. But Scarron does better work in his
Roman coinique and his Nouvelles. His comedies
also were amusing, and the young King enjoyed
them so much that he had one of them, UHeritier
ridicule, performed three times in one day. It was
the widow of this poor old pain-tortured merry-
maker for the young prince, Fran9oise d'Aubigne,
who was to be in after days the secretly wedded
wife and the nurse of the worn-out King, under the
name of Madame de Maintenon.
But, before we begin with Louis XIV. and
Moilere, the special glory of his age, a few words
must be said of Mazarin's solitary defender, the
fore-runner of Moliere, Fontenelle, and Voltaire,
and a great admirer of the philosopher Des Cartes.
Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, one of those big
Gascons, to whom France has owed some of its
most characteristic types of wit, was born in the
same year with Moliere, 1620. From his single
comedy, Le Pedant Joue, Moliere, who had been
his schoolmate and friend, borrowed largely when
he came to write Les Fourberies de Scapin. It was
the earliest prose-comedy in the language, and has
at least the merits of great exuberance of mirth
and much lively action. Had Bergerac not died at
the age of thirty-five, he might have given the lit-
erature another writer of comedy, not perhaps
worthy to be placed beside Moliere, but at all
events ranking just below him. He had pre-
riously written his single tragedy, La Mort d'Agrip-
From Richelieu to Louis XIV. 101
pine, in which the "unities" are very carefully
observed. His really great works, however, were his
Histoire cwnique des Estats et Empires de la Lune,
and his Estats et Empires du Soleil, both of which were
in 1687 translated into English by A. Lovell, and are
said to have influenced Swift in his production of
Grulliver's Travels. These really able and most
entertaining satires are not, however, so cynical as
those of Swift.
De Bergerac's life-* was even better than his
books; for, though wild and dissipated at his first
coming to Paris, and engaged because of his great
strength and courage in numerous duels never,
however, as principal, the seconds in those days
fighting for their principals along with them he
became before his death a thoroughly noble and
unselfish character. He served also in the army, as
well as in duels for his friends, was shot through the
body at the siege of Mousson, and at that of Arras
was pierced in the neck. Indeed, he died from the
results of his wounds. His friend and old school-
mate, Le Bret, published his works after his death,
prefixing a sketch of his career. De Bergerac died
in 1655.
Two years after his birth, appeared a comic ro-
mance, which deserves some mention. This was
the Histoire comique de Francion, a book immensely
popular in its day. The author was Charles Sorel,
Sieur de Sauvigny, a fast friend of the satirical
Doctor Guy-Patin, Mazarin's inveterate enemy.
His book was a strong protest against the affecta-
tions and the "King Cambyses's vein" of the pre-
cieuse school of writers. In 1628, when the Astree
was at the height of its popularity, he returned to
the charge with a clever and piquant parody of that
romance, entitled the Berger extravagant. Later
still, when the Grand Cyrus appeared, full of care-
ful portraitures of the great people of the court
and the frequenters of Madame de Kambouillet's
ruelles; Sorel put forth his Descriptwn de Vile des
102 French Literature.
portraitures, making fun of the passion for sketch-
ing pen-and-ink portraits which had seized the
grandees and their imitators.
The personal reign of Louis XIV. begins with
Mazarin's death in 1661. Before that event, Cor-
neille's greatest works had been produced and the
French drama was an established fact. Pascal had
put forth his masterpiece of irony and of acute
reasoning. D'Urfe, Gombault, Gomberville, La
Calprenede and Madeleine Scude'ii had inaugurated
imaginative fiction. Sorel, De Bergerac and Scar-
ron had presented life and manners as looked at
from the comic and satirical side. Madame de
Eambouillet and her friends had purified conversa-
tion, and elevated the tone of society, besides cul-
tivating in the higher circles a taste for literary
skill. France, under the rule of Eichelieu, and to
some extent even under that of Mazarin, was pre-
paring for the days of peace and courtly leisure
which under the Great King were to shine with
more than ordinary brightness in many forms of
literature.
The Memoirs which belong to the time of Eiche-
lieu, are those of ' Lavieuyille, of Henri de Eohan,
of the mare'chal d'Estres, of Pont-Chartrain, of
De*agent, of Bassompiere (who wrote his in the Bas-
tile), of Monglat, of Conrart and of the Cardinal
himself.
Moti&rc. 108
VIII.
MOLIERE.
MOLIERE is the great master of comedy for
modern literature, as Aristophanes was for the
ancient. He is more than this: he is more purely
a comic writer than any other great master in the
history of literature. For, there are flashes of ex-
quisite poety in Aristophanes, while in Moliere all
is pure comedy. His business is to make you
laugh, and he does it. There are other writers, both
of the ancient and the modern world, whose works
are purely comic, Plautus and Terence in Latin,
Goldoni in Italian, Beauinarchais in French, Sheri-
dan in English ; but Moliere excels them all in the
power of producing laughter.
" Of all the French dramatists," says Bulwer-Lytton,
"he is the only one whose genius is as conspicuous to
foreign nations as it is to his own. Like Shakespeare, he is
for all time and for all races. A piercing observer of the
society around him, he selects from that society types the
least socially conventional. His very men of fashion are
never out of fashion. Where most he excels all that is
left to us of the comedy of the ancients is where his in-
vention most escapes from its influence, and reveals those
truths of a poetry almost tragic, which lie half in light,
half in shadow, on the serious side of humor. Here, the
comedy of the Misanthrope is without a rival as to con-
ception of character and delicacy of treatment, though in
point of dramatic construction and vigor of style the
Tartuffe has been held to surpass it, ' The exposition of
Tartiiffe,' says Goethe, is without its equal ; it is the
grandest and best of its kind ; ' '
But, without lingering to trace generalities, let us
sketch as rapidly as possible the career of this great
104 French Literature.
literary artist and unfold, as we go, the methods of
his work and the qualities it exhibits.
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, whom the world knows
as Moliere, was born in Paris, on the 15th January,
1622. His father was an upholsterer, and the son
was brought up with the view of succeeding him
in the business. His grandfather, however, had a
great fondness for the theatre, and used to take him
often to see the play. He soon grew into a passion
for studies of a more intellectual order than those
needed to qualify him for carrying on his father's
business. Aided by the support of his grandfather,
he gained permission from his father to devote him-
self to such studies at the College of Clermont,
superintended by the Jesuits. Here he not only
received a scholarly education, but formed associa-
tions of great value to him in after life. Among
his schoolfellows and warm friends was the Prince
Armand de Conti, brother of the great Conde. By
the intervention of Chapelle, his attached friend, he
was also able to take lessons from the philosopher
Gasseudi. The teachings of Gassendi bore fruit in
two directions. We find traces of Gassendi's in-
structions in the Femmes Savantes and elsewhere
among the plays of Moliere, while a more immedi-
ate result of this philosopher's influence was
Moliere's undertaking to translate Lucretius, which
he did partly in verse and partly in prose. This
manuscript has, however, been lost. Among other
schoolmates of Moliere were Bernier the traveler,
Hesnault the poet and satirist of the minister Col-
bert, and Cyrano de Bergerac the fore-runner of
Swift in the character of Gulliver.
Moliere's first employment on leaving college
was the place his father had held of valet-de-
chambre-tapissier to the king. In virtue of this
office he followed the court to Narbonne. But this
position was so distasteful to him, that he turned
away from it to the study of the law. His old
passion for the theatre, however, drew him away
Moliere. 105
me IAU, and in 1645 he is to be found in
Paris at the head of a troop of actors, of whom he
soon formed a permanent company.
A story is told of his first teacher's coming to
dissuade him from the life of an actor, and of Mo-
liere's so eloquently exalting that profession in his
defence of it as to induce the old man to join his
company and play those parts called lesperes nobles.
His friend, the Prince de Conti, also tried to dis-
suade him, offering him a place at court, but he
pleaded with him in vain. His vocation emphati-
cally called him. In going upon the stage, the
young comedian abandoned his paternal name of
Poquelin and adopted that of Moliere. So, in a
later age, did young Arouet take the surname of
Voltaire.
Performing at first in the faubourgs of Paris, and
then in the provinces, his company led the life of
strolling players; nor is anything known of the
plays produced in those early days by Moliere,
beyond the names of some of them. For twelve
years, only an occasional glimpse can be caught of
him in the records of the time. During all this
time of preliminary training, besides what his sharp
eye caught of men and manners, he must have read
much. For, his works show a thorough knowledge
of Plautus and Terence and of the Italian and
Spanish comedies.
But, at last, his old schoolfellow, Prince Armand
de Conti, sent for him to give representations at
the palace. The king does not seem to have been
present on the first occasion; and Moliere's players
had been patronized for some time by the Prince
de Conti, the Due d'Epernon, and Philippe d'Or-
leans, before Louis XIV. perceived the merit ot the
young comedian. The performance of the Docteur
Amonreux took the monarch's fancy, and he author-
ized Moliere to establish his company in Paris and to
perform at the Theatre du Petit -Bourbon, alternntely
with the Italian comedians.
106 French Literature.
Moli&re had meanwhile been going through some
of those love-experiences which he has so largely
painted in his plays. Like Goldoni, he had some
unfortunate haps in his affairs of the heart, and,
like him, he drew on his own personal experience
for some of the situations in his comedies. His
first passion, which was for an actress named Mad-
eleine Bejart, gave way to a deep and unreturned
devotion to another member of his company,
Mademoiselle Duparc, a heartless beauty, a wor-
shiper of rank, and a despiser of the comedian's
humble social position. This scorn of one to whom
he had poured out his whole heart filled Moliere
with profound sadness.
His solace was the devoted friendship of Mad-
emoiselle de Brie, who loved him with the same
hopeless passion with which he had been inspired
by Mademoiselle Duparc. She became, under his
teaching and with the motive of pleasing him and
doing his genius honor, an accomplished actress and
a great favorite with the public. She is described
as " tall, slender, and graceful ; noble in her car-
riage, and natural in all her attitudes, with some-
thing particularly delicate in her face and features,
which rendered her most fitting for the part of an
ingenue. Her eyes possessed a peculiar charm,
derived from their mingled expression of candor
and tenderness. She was more intelligent than
witty, and had not a shadow of coquetry."
She had the quickness to perceive the deep melan-
choly which oppressed Moliere under his calm ex-
terior, won him over to confide in her, and consoled
him so sweetly that in process of time he was
wholly cured of his passion for Mademoiselle
Duparc. More than this he had yielded to the
charm of his sweet consoler, and was now in love
with her. For several years they were very happy
in their mutual love, though for some unknown
reason they did not marry; and, in the end,
Moliere's heart was won away from her by
Moliere. 107
Armande Bejart, a younger sister of that Madeleine
Bejart for whom Moliere had felt so warm a passion
before.
This attractive but worthless coquette, witty and
gifced as an actress, completely stole away the
dramatist's heart. Mademoiselle de Brie, seeing
his total subjection to the charms of the younger
woman, sadly resigned herself to the painful sepa-
ration. Moliere, at the age of forty-one, married the
young girl, more than twenty years younger than
himself. Mademoiselle de Brie continued to be his
faithful friend, and after his death it was her
greatest pleasure to play those parts he had created
for her. She kept her youthful appearance to the
last, and on one occasion when at sixty she thought
it unfitting for her to play the part of a girl of six-
teen and gave up to another the part of Agnes in
the Ecole des Femmes, the audience insisted so
loudly on her resuming it that the manager was
forced to send for her.
It would have been well for Moliere had he re-
mained faithful to this faithful woman. His infatu-
ation was punished by the most shameless infidelity
on the part of the frail creature whom he had so
foolishly married. As an actress she brought all
the unprincipled gallants of the court to her feet.
About three years after the marriage, a violent
(|'iarrel ended in their separation for some six or
seven years. During all this time they met con-
stantly in the theatre, playing in the same pieces.
Some of his best plays many of them founded
on the misfortunes of husbands were produced at
this time. In the Afisanthrope, which was espe-
cially a revelation of his own troubles, Armande
played CelimZne, Mademoiselle de Brie, Eliante,
and Moli&re, Akeste. It is said that one night
Eliante was eo captivating that the dramatist quite
forgot his griefs as a betrayed husband in the re-
turn of his old tenderness for the first love. His
health failing for a time, Mademoiselle de Brie
108 French Literature.
watched over him with all the devotion his wife
ought to have shown. But a piece of double
treachery destroyed the small share of happiness
Moliere was now enjoying.
Baron, the finest actor of his day, brought up by
Moliere and hitherto hated and persecuted by
Armande, while acting the part of Cupid in the
ballet of Psyche, produced conjointly by Moliere
and Corneille, looked so handsome that he changed
Psyche's sentiments from hatred to love. Forget-
ting the gratitude he owed to Moliere, Baron re-
turned this sudden passion. What was worse, the
worthless wife was so lovely a Psyche, that Moliere
sank once more under her spells. They were
reconciled; but Moliere was soon forced to admrff
her utter worthlessness, and was more unhappy
than ever. His health declined, and soon gave
way altogether.
While these troubles of the heart were going on,
works of wonderful variety and unrivaled humor
were pouring from his prolific brain. LEtourdi
and Le Depit Amoureux he wrote during the five
years of his happy life with Mademoiselle de Brie,
before his marriage. Then came Les Prtyieuses
Ridicules, produced to satirize the absurdities and
affectations of those who were imitating the literary
coterie that gathered at the Hotel Rambouillet.
This was caught at directly as heralding the
coming of a new era in comedy. At its first repre-
sentation, an old man cried : " Courage, Moliere I
voila la veritable comediel " Menage, the critic, said
to Chapelain, the poet, as they were going out of
the theatre together: "Henceforth (as St. Eemi
said to Clovis) we must burn what we have wor-
shiped and worship what we have burned." This
was in 1659. The next year, appeared Sganarelle,
and, the next, .Uficole des Mar is, partly founded on
the Adelphi of Terence, with Don Garde de Navarre
and Les Fdcheux.
After his marriage he wrote LEcole des Femmes
Moltire. 109
and La Critique de Tecole des Femmes. Then came
the Impromptu de Versailles, Le Manage Force, and
La Princesse d 1 Elide. It was in this last piece
that his wife captivated the courtiers and brought
dishonor upon her husband. Between 1665 and
1672, he produced Don Juan ou le Festin de Pierre,
L* Amour Medecin, Le Misanthrope, Le Medecin
malgrt lui, Melicerte, Le Sicilian ou V Amour
Peintre, Tartuffe, Amphitryon, Les Amans Magni-
fiques, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Les Fourberies de
Scapin, and Psyche.
Tartuffe, his masterpiece in the opinion of most
critics, was written in 1664, but was not played
publicly until 1669, as its performance was prohib-
ited, the Jesuits making strenuous efforts to pre-
vent its representation. It proved a grand success
when brought at last before the public. "The
truth, the variety, the contrast of the characters,
the exquisite art shown in the management of the
incidents, the abundance of the sentiments, and the
wonderful alternatiors of feeling laughter, anger,
indignation, tenderness, make this," says one of his
critics, " truly a masterpiece."
" Tartuffe," says Bulwer-Lytton, " is not a comic
character he is almost tragic, for he creates terror ;
the interest he gives to the play is, in our vague
consciousness of a power, intense, secret, and unscru-
pulous." Marmontel calls attention to the fact that
" not one of the principal personages in the Tartuffe
is comic in himself. They all become comic by
their opposition."
In 1672 Moliere produced Les Femmes Savantes.
The Academie Franqaise now offered him a chair
in that learned body, on condition that he would
no longer appear as an actor. He declined, although
Boileau and his other friends urged him to accept.
" The Academy," said he to Boileau, " is rich
enough. It has Corneille, Racine, yourself, and
many other great writers. I am but a comedian,
and I will not insult a profession I like, however
110 French Literature.
humble it may be, by abandoning it after having
followed it for twenty -five years. My honor will
not allow me to do so."
The truth was, he felt himself near his end, and
had probably the true workman's wish to die at his
work. He wrote but two other plays, La Comtesse
d 1 Escarbagnas and the Afalade Imaginairt; the
most popular of all his pieces, this last. It was
written in February, 1673. On the 17th day of the
month, while playing the part of Argan in the
fourth representation of the play, and while pro-
nouncing the juro in the last scene, lie burst a
blood-vessel. Baron took him home ; and, before
his wife, whom he incessantly called for, could be
brought to his bedside, he died.
As he died in a state of excommunication, the
cure of St. Eustache refused him Christian burial.
His widow applied to the Archbishop of Paris, and,
on his refusal, to the King ; but the selfishness and
superstition of that monarch made him receive her
with marked coldness, though Moliere while alive
and able to amuse had been so great a favorite with
him. Still, he wrote to the Archbishop, desiring
him to permit burial of some sort in consecrated
ground. "It was decided that & handful of earth
should be granted, but that the body should be carried
immediately to the burying ground, and not remain
in the church. On the 21st of February, accord-
ingly, the coffin was transported at night, by two
ecclesiastics, to the cemetery of St. Joseph in the
Rue Montmartre, followed by more than two hun-
dred persons, each carrying a torch." In 1792, his
remains were removed, and again in 1817. They
were placed then in Pere-la-Chaise, after having
received the honors of high mass in the church of
St. Germaine des Pres.
His plays may be divided into four groups ; first,
the pieces with, music and dancing interspersed
among the parts, pastorals or masques like those of
Ben Jonson ; secondly, farces and pasquinades ;
Afoliere. Ill
thirdly, comedies of the simpler type; and fourthly,
the more complex comedies, where ridicule takes
the form of satire rather than that of caricature.
Tli3 striking features of Moliere's genius, the
more salient qualities of his art, are the merriment
that oozes at every pore, as it were, from his intel-
lectually joyous nature, the fertility of invention he
displays, his variety of situations, his facility of
production, his ease, grace, and harmony of versifi-
cation, and his readiness to catch at every fresh
incident or suggested character. An instance of
this mercurial quickness is given in the history of
that fine satirical comedy, Les Fdcheux ;
" At the first representation the scene of the chasseur
was wanting. After the performance, Louis XIV., ad-
dressing himself to Moliere and pointing with his finger
to Monsieur de Soyecourt, the Grand Veneur, said,
* There is an original you have not yet copied.' The next
day the incomparable scene of Eraste and Dorante was
added to the piece ; and it is amusing enough that Mon-
sieur de Soyecourt himself should have been the very per-
son to furnish Moliere with all the technical terms so
skilfully employed by him in that dialogue."
The pastoral of Melicerte is a fragment Moliere
being hurried by the impatience of the King, and
never finishing it. Had it been completed, it
would have taken high rank as a piece in the man-
ner of Theocritus, of Tasso in his Aminta> and of
Guarini in his Pastor Fido.
The farces are drawn mainly in motive and man-
ner from the Italian and Spanish dramatic litera-
ture of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in
which the amusing and clever valets play so prom-
inent a part. Such pieces are Les Fourberies de
Scapin, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, La Comtesse d?
Escarbagnas, Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, Le Medecin
Malgre lui, George Dandin, Le Sicilien, L* Amour
Medecin, Le Mariage Force, Sganarelle, and Les
Precieuses Ridicules, The Harlequin and Pantaloon
112 French Literature.
of tlie Italian stage, representing impuatJA. ji
ness and stupid credulity, recur again and again in
these pieces, and by their constant contrast give rise
to ludicrous scenes and awaken laughter in the
audience. As in the case of the Arlecchino and the
Pantaleone, the same names are used for the same
types of character in different plays and different
situations. Moliere's names for tiiem are generally
Mascarille and Sganarelle, though occasionally the
tricky valet bears a different name, as in the case
of Scapin.
These characters were borrowed, though in the
hands of Moliere they grew into creations in which
comic wit by the force of a rich imagination allied
itself with the very poetry of merriment. But in
his soubrettes Moliere was wholly original. The
clear, sharp wit of the French woman, so much in-
sisted on by Taine, in his contest between the
English and the French feminine character, sug-
gested to the great comic artist this expansion of
the comic field. He was the first to put on the
stage this type, and to this day the name of Les
Servantes de Moliere is the technical term for this
class of stage-characters. Keen perception, rough
matter-of-fact common-sense, hard-headed direct-
ness, and a simplicity in no way related to stupid-
ity, are their traits. Such is Nicole, the faithful
servant of Monsieur Jourdain.
Of the comedies proper, the Ecole des Maris, the
$cole des Femmes, the Etourdi, the Avare, Don
Garde de Navarre, the Depit Amoureux, and the
Malade Imaginaire may be named as the chief. In
these we generally find his Mascarille and Sgana-
relle still figuring, but it is as wholly subordinate
characters. The sensible servante is in them all,
under various names. Another character appears,
he who is styled by the French the Raisonneur,
and who represents the judgment of the intelligent
and cultivated part of the community. In the
$cole d" Maris, Ariste has this part to represent j
113
in the ficole dot, Femmes, Chrysalde ; in the Afalade
Imayinaire, Beralde.
But it is in the complex comedies, as I have
ventured to call them, that Moliere reaches his
highest excellence. In Don Juan, Les Femmes
Savantes, Le Tartuffe, and Le Misanthrope, we find
him exalting comedy into a philosophy of human
nature, a philosophy that laughs only because it
holds it to be wiser to laugh than to weep, but
which looks too profoundly into the human heart
not to see the darker side of its folly. The slighter
characters that people his other pieces pass out of
sight or make but a little show in these higher
manifestations of his now mature genius. For the
first time characters of a really complex structure
take their places on the stage, creations such as
Don Juan, the abhorrer of cant, pushed by his cli-
max of infamy into the very gulf of hypocrisy he
had always scoffed at; such as Tartuffe, the ser-
pent-like hypocrite, of hypocrites; such as Al-
ceste, the Misanthrope, wnose resentment against
his fellowmen springs from the revolt of an enthu-
siastic, generous, and truthful spirit against the
hollowness of society around him.
Moliere's style, always clear and direct, rises with
the strongly conceived characters and the energetic
movement of the plot in these plays. He writes
poetry both tender and strong in almost every line.
It is, however, the poetry of reasoned sentiment,
not the instinctive lyrical burst of song into which
Aristophanes rises so naturally.
Penetrating into the basis of his genius by study-
ing him in these plays where he is at his best, we
may confidently say that a warm and loving heart,
enlightened by sound judgment and working in
the interests of truth through the form of comedy,
is the power that gives unity and vitality to Mo-
liere's productions. There is, of course, much
more in his genius than this, an exquisite sense
of the ludicrous, wonderful powers of observation,
3
114 French Literature.
a fine perception of the proprieties of social life, the
large miscellaneous information which seems to be
a special gift with great poets, tact in the selection
of harmonious traits and effective contrasts, the en-
thusiasm of the satirist, timed and moderated by
the judgment of one who knew well king, court,
and people, and many other qualities of the master
in his art. It took many splendid qualities to
make a Moliere, but at the bottom of them all and
rising through them all was the good heart.
Racine. 115
IX,
RACINE.
CORXEILLE had taken Koman stories for his
subjects and Latin literature for inspiration. Kacine
was a good Greek scholar, and went to tlte higher
literature for models. Corneille, influenced partly
by the tone of the Spanish drama, which he studied
early in his career and to which he owed the con-
ception of his Cid, introduced into French dramatic
literature that grand and stately declamation which
is its main characteristic. Racine kept up this
tradition, but gave to his verse greater harmony
and grace. There is a singularly close resemblance
between the relation borne by Racine to Corueille
and that borne by Pope to Dryden, even though
Pope utterly lacked the dramatic element. Pope,
like Racine, was more polished and "correct."
Dryden, like Corneille, had more native force and
vigor. The resemblance is borne out by the fur-
ther facts, that Dryden drew much of his dramatic
inspiration from the Spanish literature; and that
Dryden translated Virgil, while ^Pope selected
Homer for his great experiment in translation.
They ought indeed to have exchanged their parts,
for the genius of Corneille and of Dryden had far
more affinity with the glowing energy of the Hel-
lenic mind than with the cold and orderly move-
ment of the Roman.
So much for the general place which Racine
occupies in French literature. Let us now take a
rapid survey of his life and works.
Jean Racine was born at Ferte* Milon, on the
21st December, 1639, of a respectable family.
Losing both his parents at the age of four, sent by
116 French Literature.
his maternal grandfather to the college of Beauvais,
going to Port Koyal at the age of sixteen and
remaining there three years, he finished his train-
ing for life at tl^e college d'Harcourt.
His characteristic tendencies showed themselves
first during his residence at Port Eoyal, the famous
seat of mysticism in France. His grandmother and
his aunt Agnes were recluses there, and the youth
was much beloved by the austere heads of that
singular institution, for he was a quick and eager
student and of an ardent and affectionate disposition.
But his passion for poetry and romance greatly
shocked those grave masters, religious zealots as
they were. It was all very well so long as he
showed that able scholar, Claude Lancelot, his
understanding and appreciation of Euripides and
Sophocles. But, when he was caught devouring
Bishop Heliodorus's Byzantine romance, The
Loves of Ttieagenes and Chariclea, the worthy sacristan
snatched the volume from his hands and threw it
into the fire. A second copy underwent the same
fate ; but the third young Jean brought himself to
the ascetic master, saying : u You may put this in
the fire too, for now I have it all by heart."
This little story is valuable, as indicating charac-
ter. It shows the eager bent of his mind toward
art, the sweetness of his temper, and the resolute-
ness of his wiU. It also indicates the natural revolt
of youth and warm blood against the spirit of as-
ceticism. Good men who unhappily lack imagina-
tion are still to be found setting their faces against
the healthy instincts of nature, under the delusion
that joy and sin are nearly related.
His first literary venture, being coupled with the
adroitness of the born courtier, was a success. On
the marriage of the young king with the Spanish
Infanta, he wrote an ode called La Nymphe de la
Seine, which struck the fancy of Chapelain, favorite
poet of the court, who recommended it to the notice
of the minister, Colbert. Racine received a purse
Racine. 117
of a hundred louis, and afterward a pension of six
hundred livres.
But, in spite of this invitation given him by
fortune to adopt the career of court-poet, his uncle,
who held a high ecclesiastical position at Uzes in
Languedoc, put before him such strong induce-
ments to wait for Church-preferment, that he yielded
and went to live with his kinsman. Systematic
theology, however, proved to the born poet as dry
a study, as the ascetic habits of Port Royal had
been uncomfortable practice. He returned to Paris.
There, with Boileau and La Fontaine already his
friends, he began his dramatic career.
His first acted tragedy was Les Frtres Ennemis,
played in 166-i. It is founded on that stern story
set forth by the great dramatists of Athens in the
Seven Against T/iebes and the Antigone, the fatal
struggle between Eteocles and Polynikes. But,
able as 'the play was, the representation of hot and
furious hatred did^not suit well Racine's essentially
tender spirit. If was the influence of Corneille
which dominated over this first offering to the
stage.
His next piece, Alexandre, gave too ample evi-
dence of the natural leaning of Racine's mind
toward the exhibition of tender passion rather than
vehement action. Corneille, to whom he read it
before representation, told him: "I judge by this
play that your talent is eminently poetic, not dra-
matic." Even Boileau, his devoted friend and
counsellor, did not scruple to criticise severely the
transformation of the splendid conqueror into a
love-sick and languishing young Frenchman.
About this time his relations with the Church
obtained him the presentation to the priory of
Epinay ; but, his claim being disputed, a lawsuit
followed, which he afterward found useful in fur-
nishing material for his comedy of the Plaideurs.
Hardly was he free from the entanglements
of the law, when he became involved in a quarrel
118 French Literature.
with the Port Royal community. Soic from a
letter of remonstrance on the life he was leading,
written him by his aunt, he took offence at a pas-
sage in a criticism of the Jansenist of Port Royal.
Pierre Nicole, on Desmaret's worthless work on
the Apocalypse, in which criticism the composition
of novels and plays was discredited as irreligious
and prejudicial to morality. Taking Nicole's cen-
sure as specially designed for him, so lately rebuked
by his Port Royalist aunt, he made a hot and able
reply to it. To this Nicole made no retort, but the
cudgels were taken up by three others of the Port
Royal community. Racine prepared a second letter,
but Boileau, his staunch friend, dissuaded him from
publishing it, saying: "This letter will do honor
to your ability, but not to your heart. You bitterly
attack here men of great merit, to whom you
owe no little of what you are." Boileau's warm,
frank friendship was through life verv useful to
Racine, and Racine repaid it with unceasing trust
and fervent gratitude. He said to Boileau on his
death-bed : " I look upon it as a happiness to die
before you."
He owed much more to Boileau than this moder-
ating touch of the satirist on his shoulder when he
was in the act of charging down upon the instruc-
tors of his youth. For Boileau was his able and
calm censor and critic, and to his judicious counsel
he owed that spirit of careful selection which made
his language so pure and at the same time so rich.
It is true, there are other charms about Racine
which native genius alone could form, but to the
constant watchfulness of Boileau over his style was
due some share even in that intellectual lucidity,
that exquisite delicacy of feeling which the clean
style so well expressed.
The first work which exhibited these high quali-
ties and the further gifts of orderly plot, consistent
characterization, and general fidelity to the man-
ners of the age portrayed, was the Andro?naque }
Racine. 119
which appeared in 1667. This was Racine's first
marked success, and it was the advent upon
the stage of the tragedy founded upon love.
Corneille had painted moral grandeur. Racine
painted now the heart's alternate transports and
agonies, exciting a pathetic interest which moved
even more deeply and universally than the lofty
themes of the elder dramatist. In the Hermione
of this play, that great actress, Mademoiselle
Champmesle for whom he afterwards created the
character of Phodre, made her first appearance.
Racine's next play was suggested by the amuse-
ment he had afforded his friends, Boileau, La Fon-
taine, Chapelle, and Furetiere, at an entertainment,
by his description of the trial which had put an
end to his project of taking holy orders. His re-
cital produced such merriment, that they insisted
upon his making a comedy of the incidents he had
described.
Thus was produced the Plaideurs. The plot of
the comedy runs thus : Monsieur Perrin Daudin,
a judge in Lower Normandy, is so much in love
with his profession that he has condemned his cock
to be beheaded for not waking him up one morn-
ing early enough, accusing the poor bird of having
been bribed to this act of negligence. His son,
Leander, convinced that he has a veritable craze,
persuades the porter, Petit Jean, to keep him con-
fined to the house and to let no law-pleadings
come near him. He escapes, however, out of the
window, but is secured again by his son, his secre-
tary, and Petit Jean ; and Leander now consults with
the secretary about delivering a letter in disguise
to Isabelle, daughter to Chicaneau, a client as crazy
as the judge. At this point Chicaneau enters, and
is soon joined by the Countess Pimbesche. Both
are anxious to consult the judge. The lady is very
litigious, has been at law forthirty years, and yet com-
plains that there now remain to her only four or five
trifling cases, one against her husband, one against her
120 French Literature.
father, one against her children, buo has ample
provision made for her, " but," she asks, " what is life
without Law ? " Chicaneau also tells his grievances,
beginning with the rolling of an ass's colt in his
meadow fifteen or twenty years back. Suit upon
suit, appeal upon appeal, had followed, until on his
finally losing his cause, he was condemned to pay
six thousand francs. They try to console each
other, but end in a quarrel and mutual insults,
which give rise to a new law-suit.
Meanwhile Leander's emissary, in the disguise of
a sheriff's officer, has contrived to deliver the note
to Isabelle. Her father, coming in as she is read-
ing it, asks what it is. She tears it up, saying it
is a summons. The messenger behaves so as to
get a beating from old Chicaneau, and begs him to
go on with further injuries, as the action he will be
able to bring will save him and his four small
children from want for the rest of their lives.
Chicaneau, alarmed, gets his daughter to write an
apology, which she words so as to make it a full
consent to her marriage with Leander.
Judge Daudin, shut up in the house, now appears
on the roof, and from that elevated position holds
a consultation with his clients in the street. Re-
moved from the house-roof, he holds forth to his
audience through the grating of his cellar. At last,
his son puts before him a case of a thoroughly
domestic character. The dog, Citron, has abstracted
a capon. Petit Jean prosecutes the case, the secre-
tary defends, Leander plays audience. Petit Jean,
not skilled in legal technicalities, although a
prompter has on that account been assigned him,
constantly makes blunders. The secretary's plead-
ing wanders off to Aristotle, Pythagoras, the
Corinthians, and finally to the creation of the world.
"Ah !" cries the poor judge, who has in vain been
trying to bring him to the point, "pass on to x Ti/rannus before him in
Greek, while he gave it out to them in ready and
eloquent French, llis only fault^was a tendency to
126 French Literature.
severe and satirical treatment of those who attacked
him.
His skill in depicting the tender passions, his
grace and purity of style, his facility and the ex-
quisite felicity of his easy-flowing verse, his com-
parative freedom from that monotonously declama-
tory rhetoric which disfigures French tragedy, his
masterly clearness, furnish reasons enough for the
high place which is universally conceded him by
his countrymen.
Jnder Louis XIV. 127
X.
UNDEE LOUIS XIV.
LA FONTAINE said, " Moli&re is my man ; " and
there was indeed the same vein of rich humor in
them both, though developed in different directions.
They were staunch friends through life, and they
lie at this day near each other in Pere la Chaise.
Geruzez says of La Fontaine's genius, " it is the
flower of Gallic wit with a perfume of antiquity.
He recalls Phcedrus and Horace, but he is also a
result of Villon and Rabelais. In him we find
blended all that is most exquisite in classic anti-
quity and in the Middle Ages, and that without a
trace of effort, so that he reproduces the charm of
a double tradition with the air of perfect orig-
inality."
Jean de La Fontaine was born at Chateau-Thierry,
in Champagne, in 1621. He was idle in his youth,
but became a great reader when he had once dis-
covered his taste for poetry.
Though selfish and immoral, there was a child-
like good-nature about his manner which seems to
have had a singular charm for many of his most
distinguished contemporaries ; and Moliere, Boileau,
Racine, and Fenelon were all fond of him. He died
at Paris in 1695.
His earlier works were Tales and Novels in
Verse (Contes et Nouvelles en Vers). But he is
chiefly known by his Select Fables in Verse
(Fables Choisies inises en Vers). The style of
La Fontaine is inimitable in its arch sim-
plicity, its merry, childlike malice, its air of
cool, sardonic effrontery. His very immoralities
seem like the irresponsible pranks of a Puck.
128 French Literature.
His narrative is limpid in ease and grace, and he
enters into the story with such zest as to give it a
marvelously lifelike naturalness. His fables are
such witty satires on humanity, that they have
always been a delight to all ages and classes ot
readers. Imagine Chaucer, in one of his merry moods,
passed by some process of transmigration into the
pungent spirit of Heine, and the result of the trans-
fusion would be just such a delicious sub-acid frmt
as La Fontaine makes among the dainties of litera-
ture.
In treating of the literary splendor of the age of
Louis XIV., I have taken the great masters of
tragedy and of comedy separately, and first after
them, as was just, I have named the great fabulist,
whom many French critics consider so unique as to
have no true analogue in any other literature. To
these must now be added a cluster of writers whose
relations to one another were peculiar.
There is the Due de La Rochefoucauld, whose
name calls upon that of Madame de Sevigne and
that of Madame de La Fayette. There is also that
Paul de Gondi, who became the famous Cardinal de
Retz and was the friend of Madame de Se'vigne',
Corneille, Moliere, and Boileau, as well as the
author of most valuable and entertaining Memoires.
Both La Rochefoucauld and the Cardinal were
formed, as thinkers and political writers, by their
share in the troubles of the Fronde.
Fran9ois, Due de La Rochefoucauld and Prince
de Marsillac, was born in 1613. When the tumult-
uous scenes of the Fronde were over, he gave
himself up to literary pursuits, and composed his
Memoires and also his better known work, called
Reflections or Moral Sentences and Maxims (Reflex-
ions ou Sentences et Maximes Morales), a work in
which the bitter experiences he bad had of human
selfishness and duplicity in a period of great dis-
order and corruption only too strongly pointed his
epigrammatic observations. It is to him that we
Under Lows XIV. 129
owe that striking definition of hypocrisy, as " the
homage that vice renders to virtue." It is to him,
too, unfortunately, that we owe many a pithy
maxim of Macchiavellian heartlessness, emphasiz-
ing the folly of putting faith in man. He was a
keen observer, but he had a wretched world
to observe in the days of the Fronde. It was
but natural then, that he should take the narrow
view of life and trace all the springs of human
action to the low motive of self-love. Setting out
from this philosophic basis, most of his maxims,
though often brilliant, witty, and amusingly tart, are
thoroughly cynical.
With all these Macchiavellian spurts of venom
against human nature, La Rochefoucauld, according
to the testimony of the best among his contempo-
raries, was in his own character singularly chival-
rous, high-minded, and honorable. One of his biog-
raphers said of him, " He gave the example of all
the virtues of which he would seem to deny the
existence." He ridicules bravery as a madness.
Yet in more than one hard-fought battle he showed
all the splendid courage of his race. He says that
men "in the adversity of their best friends always
find something that does not displease them," and,
again, " we have always sufficient strength to bear
the ills of another." Yet this man, who sneered
at friendship, was a devoted friend to those he
loved; and of this proclaimer of man's innate
selfishness, Madame de Sevigne' tells us, that in his
last painful illness, he thought more of others than
of himself. Cardinal de Retz, in his Memoires, tes-
tifies that, in all the relations of private life, he
was the honestest man of his age.
This contrast between La Rochefoucauld's charac-
ter and his writings is worth noting, as a warning
to every man to look into his own heart as Mon-
taigne did. as well as into that of his neighbor, for
in this instance the hearts into which the brilliant
duke looked wer far meaner than his own, and
9
130 French Literature,
the reflections they caused him to make worked
incalculable injury to his country. Voltaire tells
'is, that the book which most contributed to form
the taste of the French nation was these very Max-
ims of La Eochefoucauld ; and thousands of ob-
serving historical-critics concur in assuring us that
this taste for brilliant mockery of man's nature,
this spirit of disbelief in virtue, had more to do
with bringing on the great Eevolution than any
other one thing. In that time of horror La Roche-
foucauld's descendant perished.
One of La Rochefoucauld's dearest friends was
Madame de La Fayette (1623-1693), a woman of
charming wit and irreproachable character. Be-
fore knowing La Rochefoucauld, she had already
written Za'ide, a romance of pure imagination. In
her later work, La Princesse de C&ves, she mingled
with the fiction a large share of the life around her.
The scene is laid in the time of Henri II., but it is
really the court of Louis XIV. that appears under
thin disguises. Madame de Montespan is painted
in the character of the Duchesse de Yalentinois.
The Duchesse D'0rle*ans appears masquerading as
the young Queen of Scotland, Fran9ois II.'s wife.
La Fayette is masked as the Prince de Cleves, and
La Rochefoucauld as the Due de Nemours. Guizot
says: "This delicate, elegant, and virtuous tale,
with its pure and refined style, enchanted the court,
which recognized itself at its best and painted
under its brightest aspect." The Princesse de
Cloves had a great success. It was a new order of
romance. While the court and characters of
Louis XIV. have been transferred to the days of
Henri II. and Francois II., the historical events of
the earlier time have been kept unchanged, and
there is a tone of truth and nature about the work
which gives it a high place as an artistic creation.
Another friend of the brilliant duke's was that
Madame de Sevigne', whose letters are the most
famous in the world. She was herself famous in
Under Louis XIV. . 131
her day, without reference to those letters on which
her fame now rests. Sbe was full of charm ; lively,
tender, sympathetic, witty, good, perfectly natural
and unaffected, she kept many friends and made
no enemies. One of her critics says of her, that so
happy, pure, and sensible was her nature, Menage
and Chapelain could instruct her without making
her pedantic, the Hotel Rambouillet could enrich
her code of propriety with maxims of social manners
without spoiling her clearness of perception, the
friendship of Port Royal could be assured her with-
out her sharing in the austerity of that school, and
she could even undergo the slanders of Bussy-
Rabutin without losing her fair fame or her good
temper. Madame de La Fayette said that her wit
really dazzled the eyes. One can well believe even
this apparent extravagance, so charmingly does her
love of fun bubble up and sparkle as it runs over
every here and there in her letters, and her eyes
seem to dance with delight as she sketches with
felicitous touches some absurd scene that she has
witnessed and laughed at merrily. She must have
been a refreshing companion, so unquenchable was
her gayety, and so buoyant her spirits. In her
letters there is endless variety, sparkling wit, ani-
mated narrative, arch humor, keen observation,
warmth of feeling, force and weight of reflection.
She is never tedious ; whatever her subject, she is
always entertaining.
She was independent, too, and never ceased to
let fall thoughts that were little in accordance with
the air of that abject court in which despotism had
become firmly seated in the person of Louis XIV.
Her faithfulness to old ties was shown in her never-
concealed attachment to the Arnaulds, her prefer-
ence for Corneille when Racine had become the
popular idol, her constant kindness to Cardinal de
Retz. It is from a letter of hers to her daughter
in 1672, that we learn how the literary men of the
day gathered around the old hero of the Fronde
132 French Literature.
in spite of his political disgrace. ' Jorneille,"
says she, " has read him a piece which will be
played shortly, and which recalls the ancients.
Moliere will read him Saturday his Trissotrin,
which is a very merry thing. Despreaux [Boileau]
will give him his Lutrin and his Art of Poetry.
There is all one can do to please him."
Before we tarn to De Retz, it will be well for
me to gather in a brief paragraph the principle
facts of this gifted woman's life. Marie de Rabutin-
Chantal (1626-1696) was born at Paris. She was
the only daughter of Celse-Benigne de Rabntin,
Baron du Chantal, and his wife, Marie de Coulanges.
Left early an orphan, she was brought up by the
abbe de Coulanges, her mother's brother. Menage
taught her Latin, Italian, and Spanish; Chapelain
also assisted in training her mind. At eighteen she
was married to the Marquis Henri de Sevigne, of
an ancient family of Brittany. He was not a good
husband in any way, but she was not long troubled
with him, as in about seven years after their union
he was killed in a duel. She now devoted herself
to the education of her son and daughter. When
she at last returned to Paris, the most distinguished
men of the day paid their court to her ; but she
steadily declined all offers of marriage. Her affec-
tion for her daughter seems to have been her
strongest passion. This daughter having married
the Comte de Grignan, Governor of Provence, was
obliged to part from her mother. It is to this
separation that we owe that unrivaled series of
letters, which gives us so faithful a picture of court,
capital, and provincial life in that remarkable age.
The loving mother died of small-pox, while on a
visit to her daughter at the Chateau de Grignan.
At the time Madame de Sevigne wrote that letter
in which she related how Corneille, Moliere, and
Boileau were joining in the effort to entertain the
fallen statesman, Cardinal de Retz had given him-
self up to literary recreations. He had begun those
Under Louis XIV. .133
Memoires, which recount the events and depict the
characters of the Fronde.
Paul de Gondi (1614-1679) was not meant by
nature for an ecclesiastic. The traditions and rules
of a great family forced him into orders, that he
might be bishop of Paris in the place of a brother
who had died. It was to no purpose that he fought
duels, carried off an heiress, conspired against
Kichelieu ; he had to abide by his vocation. But
he devoted himself to politics, aspired to be the
chief of a party, conducted the intrigues of the
Fronde, and had finally to succumb to the growing
strength of the monarchy. His Memoires are full
of admirable reflections based on his experience in
politics. They abound also in finely drawn por-
traits of the characters of his time.
Having now given some account of the chief
literary lights of the age of Louis XIV., I have
reached the point where it is fitting to bring forward
the great critic of that period, whose satires were
to lay down the principles of good taste and to cast
ridicule upon the writers who violated them. This
was Boileau, who, while his genius bears some
resemblance to that of Horace, has on the whole
more points of affinity with Pope.
Nicolas Boileau-Despre'aux (1636-1711) was
born at Paris. He tried law and theology in suc-
cession, but finally gave himself up wholly to litera-
ture. His works were the Satires, the Epttres, the
Art poetique, and Lutrin. In the first, he declared
war on all bad writers, and especially covered with
ridicule the taste for Spanish emphasis, Italian
concetti and plays on words, the sentimental jargon
of the precieuses, and the buffoonery and license
which were defacing literature at the beginning of
his career, when Chapelain was still the leading
court poet and Scarron the favorite writer of
comedy.
Boileau, as a poet, lacks freshness, grace, and
joyousness. But he makes up for these deficiencies
134: French Literature.
by good sense, pure taste, and the propriety, force,
and correctness of Ins style. The Epistles are
superior to the Satires. Their versification is
stronger, sweeter, and more flexible. The Art of
Poetry is based on Horace's work of the same
name. It summed up the laws of poetry, and in-
deed of good writing in general, for that generation,
and formed the literary creed of the seventeenth
century. It is expressed in easy and elegant verses.
Boileau, less gifted than Corneille, Moliere
Kacine, and La Fontaine, possessing neither cre-
ative imagination nor lyrical enthusiasm, and lack-
ing also deep sensibility, was useful to his more
gifted friends in curbing their exuberance and di-
recting their taste. His Lutrin, a comic epic in six
cantos, may be compared with Pope's similar effort,
The Rape of the Lock, by many considered the
most charming of his poems.
Boileau's letters are also of great value, twenty
of them having been addressed to Racine, and all
of them giving much information about the liter-
ary history of the time. Their chief value, how-
ever, consists in the confirmation they furnish of
the high character which his contemporaries give
of Boileau. We see by these letters, how pure,
generous, and high-minded, how impulsive and
warm-hearted this keen satirist was. When, on
the death of the minister Colbert, orders were
given to stop Corneille's pension, Boileau flew to
the king, made an earnest remonstrance against
the ungenerous course of the government, and
threatened to resign his own pension, if Corneille's
were not restored. He was just as bold in his de-
nunciation of the persecution directed against the
nuns of Port Royal and the noble Arnauld. He
helped his friends out of pecuniary embarrassments,
reconciled some who had quarreled, gave good ad-
vice to Racine, nnd was on friendly terms with
the most opposite parties.
Among those whom Boileau satirized more se-
Under Louis XIV. 135
verelv than, in the judgment of some later critics,
their faults deserved were Br^beuf and Quinault.
Brebeuf had some ability. His Pharsale is still
considered the most faithful translation of Lucan's
historical epic. His religious poetry, too, is praised
by Geruzez. As for Quinault, his rivalry with
Racine had something to do with the rigor of
Boileau's criticism. His Aslarte was a tragedy of
great merit. His comedies, Les Rivales and La
Mere Coquette, still hold their place in collections
illustrative of French Comedy. His great operas,
Armide, Atys, and others, set to music by Lully,
were the productions of a master in that style of
dramatic production. His rank, according to mod-
ern critics, is just below that of the most eminent
dramatists. His skill lies in softening hearts, en-
chanting the imagination, delighting the ear with
the melody of his verse. Voltaire even goes so
far as to claim for him a place by the side of the
great masters. Brebeuf lived from 1618 to 1661;
Quinault, from 1637" to 1688.
A successor to the Countess de La Fayette as
romancer and to Moliere as dramatist was Jean
Fran9ois Regnard (1655-1709), who traveled exten-
sively in early life. In Italy he met the Eloise
whom he celebrates in his novel La Provenqale.
Taken by Algerine pirates, he passed two years in
Constantinople as a captive. As a dramatist his
rank is very high. His best plays are Le Joueur,
Les Folies, and Le Legataire universel. He also
wrote an account of his travels.
Another group that helped greatly to give lustre
to the age of Louis XIV. was that of the great
preachers. The Church at no period of French
history showed such splendor of eloquence as in
this reign. Churchmen of great intellectual power
had before this time found in politics a tempting
sphere for activity. But the instinct of monarch-
ical prudence now kept them out of this field, in
which Richelieu, Mazarin, and De Retz had so long
136 French Literature.
displayed their abilities. The result was the trans-
fer of all the ability in the Church to the more
legitimate domain of pulpit eloquence. It was
largely to this change in the social conditions that
France owed the magnificent prose of Bossuet,
Bourdaloue, Fenelon, and Massilon. In the order
of time, as well as in that of genius, Bossuet holds
the first place.
Jacques Benigne Bossuet (1627-170-i) was born
at Dijon. Profoundly versed in theology, trained
in the philosophy of Des Cartes, disputant against
the Protestants, main agent in securing the freedom
of the Gallican Church from the aggressions of the
Papal See, opponent of Fenelon in the controversy
about the Quietists, author of a great number of
polemical writings, and of a universal history down
to the time of Charlemagne, his life was one of
ceaseless activity. His master-pieces, however,
were his funeral sermons on the decease of great
personages, and these have always been held to be
magnificent specimens of pulpit eloquence.
Bourdaloue was of the school of Bossuet, and the
abbe Maury said of him that he was one of the fin-
est of Bossuet's works. Louis Bourdaloue (1632-
1704) was born at Bourges. Like Bossuet, he was
in character sound and true to the core, and his elo-
quence was such as to make men forget how great
had been that of his brilliant predecessor. Madame
de Sevigne' said that she went to hear him more
eagerly than she attended the grand festivals of the
court, though she leaned to the school of Port
Eoyal, and Bourdaloue was of the Society of Jesus.
Yet he had recourse to none of the means of attrac-
tion furnished by impassioned declamation or
ornate language. His style was simple and direct.
Clear reasoning and perfect order in the arrange-
ment of his thoughts formed his principal charm.
Voltaire styles Bossuet and Fenelon the Eagle
and the Swan. In treating of Bossuet, I have al-
ready mentioned, in passing, the contest between
Under Louis XIV. 137
the Eagle and the Swan. Let us see what a close
observer, whose memoirs were not published unti 7
many years after liis death, has to tell us of thi;
Swan, and try to seize the secret of his charm :
" That prelate," says the Due de St. Simon, " was a
tall thin man, well-made, pale, with a large nose, eyes
whose fire and intelligence shot out like a torrent, and a
countenance the like of which I have never seen any-
where and which no one who had once seen it could ever
forget. In it were gathered all things, and the contraries
it expressed were not at war with one another. There
was in it gravity and gallantry, seriousness and gaiety ; it
had a trace equally of the doctor, the bishop, and the
great lord ; what was diffused over it and over his whole
person, was refinement, wit, the graces, delicacy, and,
above all, nobility. It required an effort to cease gazing
upon him. One could not leave him, nor resist him, nor
fail to seek him again. It is this gift, so rare and which
he had in so high a degree, which kept all his friends so
attached to him throughout his life, in spite of his fall,
and which, when they were scattered, drew them together
again to talk of him, to regret him, long for him, hold
themselves more and more attached to him, with the love
of the Jews for Jerusalem, and to sigh for his return and
hope always, as that unhappy people still expect and sigh
for the Messiah."
Such a picture reveals to us a man of singular
lovableness, and is the best answer to the cvnical
philosophy of the good Due de La Rocnefou-
cauld.
The longing of Fenelon's friends for his return,
of which St. Simon speaks, was never to be grati-
fied. He died in exile from the court, being re-
stricted to the limits of his diocese of Cambrai.
Francois de Salignac de la Mothe Fenelon (1651-
1715) was born in the chateau Fenelon, province of
Pe'rigord. To beginners in the study of French he
is generally well known as the author of Telemaque,
that classical romance, which he wrote for the in-
struction of Louis's grandson, the young Duke of
138 French Literature.
Burgundy, in the duties of a prince to his people.
He was fond of this work of education, and his first
publication was a treatise on the Education of
Girls.
As to the Telemaque, Macaulay has well observed
that, low as its place may be in the list of prose
epics or of works on politics and morals, it is, when
we consider the spirit of the age in which it was
written, one of the most original works that have
ever appeared.
" No person," Macaulay goes on to say, " will do justice
to Fe'nelon, who does not constantly bear in inind that
Telemachus was written in an age and nation in which bold
and independent thinkers stared to hear that twenty mil-
lions of human beings did not exist for the gratification
of one. That work is commonly considered as a school
book, very fit for children, because its style is easy and
it morality blameless ; but unworthy of the attention of
statesmen and philosophers. We can distinguish in it, if
we are not greatly mistaken, the first faint dawn of a long
and splendid day of intellectual light, the dim promise of
a great deliverance, the undeveloped germ of the charter
and of the code."
Louis himself, at least, seems to have felt in-
stinctively the danger of such sentiments to absolute
monarchy, for Fenelon's final fall from court-favor
was due to the publication of Telemaque from a
copy stolen by a servant. Fenelon had outlived
the results of his contest with Bossuet about the
doctrines of Madame Guyon and her followers, the
Quietists. He had submitted to the decision of
Rome against him, and the storm had blown over.
But the appearance of Telemaque roused the jealous
king's hottest anger. He looked on the book as a
satire on his court. Sesostris was Louis himself;
Calypso, Madame de Montespan ; Protesilaus, the
minister Louvois ; Eucharis, Mademoiselle de
Fontanges.
Younger than Fenelon, and resembling nim some-
Under Louis XIV.
what in independence of thought, Massillon come*
on the stage of public fame as the immediate suc-
cessor of Bourdaloue in renown for pulpit-oratorj.
Bourdaloue, when he heard of his first brilliant
efforts, quoted from Scripture the passage: "He
must increase, but I must decrease."
Jean Baptiste Massillon (1663-1742) was born at
Hieres. Like Bourdaloue, he aimed to influence
his hearers by naturalness of style and impressive-
ness of manner. Louis XIV. gave a striking criti-
cism of his peculiar power as a preacher, when he
said that in hearing other preachers lie felt satisfied
with them, but in hearing Massillon he felt dissatis-
fied with himself. Physically as well as mentally
he was well qualified for his vocation, having an
imposing majesty in his manner, a penetrating voice,
and great animation in his delivery when he reached
the more impassioned passages of his sermons.
The name of Massillon closes the list of the great
preachers of this age. Fenelou did not preach as
often as Bossuet, Bourdaloue, and Massillon ; but
his few sermons were of great merit. There were
others, Mascaron, Flechier, La Rue, and Cheminais,
who, beside any less shining examples of pulpit-
oratory, would have borne the name and fame
of great orators. There were, also, among the
Protestants, Claude, Beausobre, and Saurin, whose
learning and eloquence were recognized even by
their opponents.
Esprit Flechier (1632-1710), besideshis deservedly
high reputation as a preacher, merits especial honor
for his gentleness to the Protestants, when, after the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes, he used hii
authority as Bishop of Nismes in the spirit of tolera-
tion, conciliation, and charity.
In philosophy, this period produced Malebranche
as the successor of Des Cartes, and La Bruyere as
its moralist.
Nicolas Malebranche (1631-1715) was born at
Paris. His great work was his De la Recherche de
140 French Literature.
la Verite, or The Search after Truth, in which h
built up a system of mystic idealism. In his view,
God is the place of spirits, as space is the place of
bodies; the human soul lives in Him, and from
Him draws its life and light, and according to its
purity of origin from this source does it see the
essence of truth. Whatever may be said of the
metaphysics of Malebranche, the critics are agreed
in commending his style as precise, luminous, and
flexible.
Jean de La Bruyere's fame rests upon a single
work, "The Characters of Theophrastus, translated
from the Greek, with the Characters or the Morals
of this Age" (Les Caracteres de Theophraste, traduits
du Grec, avec les Caracteres ou les Mceurs de ce
Siecle), in which he gives delicate and subtle deline-
ations of the characters of the men and women of
his day. He was born at Dourdan, in Normandy,
in 1639, and died in 1696.
The scholars of the period were Baluze, Monfau-
con, Mabillon, Tillemont, and Ducange. The his-
torians were Pellisson, author of the Histoire de
Louis XIV., Mezerai, author of the Histoire de
France; Perefixe, author of the Histoire de Henri
IV; Maimbourg, who wrote accounts of the Cru-
sades and of the League; Varillas; Saint-Re'al;
Daniel; Dorldans; Rapin Thoyras; Vertot; the
Comte de Boulainvilliers ; and the Abbe" Fleury.
It was in this age also, that Pierre Bayle (1647-
1706) put forth his remarkable Dictionnaire His-
torique et Critique. It had been preceded by Louis
Moreri's similar work, and also by Thomas Cor-
neille's Dictionnaire des Arts et des Sciences. Bayle
had passed from Protestantism to Romanism and
then back again to Protestantism ; had written
many controversial works, mainly in advocacy of
the principles of toleration; had become a professor
of philosophy in Rotterdam, and had there become
involved in controversies with leading Protestant
writers, especially with the theologian, Jurieu. He
Under Lout's XIV. lii
was an independent thinker, and the uncompromis-
ing bigotry of tbe rival Churches with which lie
had to deal led him to skepticism. His style is
clear, but he indulges in endless digressions. His
Dictionary, being proscribed in Holland and France,
naturally obtained a wide circulation in both coun-
tries. It has had a great influence on the literature
and philosophy of Europe. Bayle's private char-
acter was excellent.
During the latter years of this reign, the Due de
Saint-Simon was secretly writing his Memoires.
But, as he continued his observations into the next
reign, the consideration of them will be more fit-
tingly taken up in another part of this sketch.
Here should be mentioned Montfleury (1640-
1685), the son of an actor and himself a famous
actor, as well as author of several comedies, La
Femme Jv.ije et Partie, La Fille Capitaine, and
L'Ecole du Jaloux. La Fontaine, too, as a writer
of comedy, deserves a. separate mention. Le Flo-
rentin, a little piece written to sting Lulli, who had
rejected an opera of his in favor of Quinault's
Alceste, was his only comedy that took a perma-
nent place on the French stage. Boursault (1658
1701) had a great success with his Le Hercure
yalant, Esope a la cour, and fisope a la ville. His
Les Mots d la mode makes fun of words newly
brought in by fashion. Baron (1655-1729) has
been mentioned in the sketch of Moliere. He
wrote comedies with less ability than he played
them. Of seven, the Homme d bonne fortune alone
has kept the stage.
142 French Literature.
XL
UNDEE LOUIS XV.
Before taking a final leave of the age of Louis
XIV., it will be well to mention briefly a few
writers, not heretofore named, who properly belong
to it :
Charles Perrault (1628-1703) is chiefly known
now by his exquisite Fairy Tales. He was, how-
ever, the author of many other and more serious
works. His famous controversy with Boileau, on
the respective merits of the ancients and moderns,
originated in a poem which he read before his fellow
Academicians, entitled Le Sibcle de Louis le Grand
or The Age of Louis the Great, in which he con-
tended that modern authors were greater than the
most eminent of the Greek and Roman writers.
He seconded this poetical claim for the moderns by
the publication of a learned treatise, entitled Par-
allele des Ancients et des Modernes, or Parallel be-
tween the Ancients and Moderns. Boileau at-
tacked him and his propositions in his Reflections
on ^LoTLg\rms, (Reflexions sur Longin\ to which Per-
rault replied by his Defence of Women (Apologie
des Femmes). This controversy led Perrault to
make a special study of his contemporaries, which
induced him to write his Hommes Illustres du
Sttcle de Louis XIV., or Illustrious Men of the Age
of Louis XIV. This work contains two hundred
critical biographies. The silly controversy about
the merits of the ancients and moderns, having
passed over into England and engaged the pens of
Temple, Boyle, Bentley, Atterbury, and others,
finally gave us Swift's Battle of the Books.
In his old age Perrault produced the charming
Under Louis XV. 143
Contes des Fees, which he was stimulated to write
by the delight inspired in himself and his little
friends by the Neapolitan tales of Signer Basile's
Pentamerone. Bluebeard, The Sleeping Beauty,
Puss in Boots, Riquet with the Tuft, and Little Red
Hiding Hood are among these pleasant creations, or
rather revivals of old folk-lore.
Another author of pleasing fairy-tales was the
Comtesse d'Aunoy (1650-1705), to whom we owe
The Yellow Dwarf, The White Cat, and Cherry
and Fair Star. Her sentimental novels, Hippolyte
and Comte de Dug las have passed into oblivion, and
her historical memoirs are not considered trust-
worthy. Along with these should be mentioned
Madame Villeneuve's Conies Marines, published in
1740, in which appeare.d the charming story of
Beauty and the Beast.
Two oriental scholars, D'Herbelot and Galland,
deserve mention as aiding in the delightful task of
entertaining the young?
Barthelemy d'Herbelot (1625-1 695) was professor
of Syriac in the College of France. His Biblio-
thZque Orientale, or Eastern Library, was published
after his death by Galland. This work contained
a great store of information about the manners and
customs and legends of the Arabians, Persians, and
Turks, from which writers fond of the marvelous
drew their material for a vast number of oriental
tales. Among these may be mentioned the Persian
Tales, of Petit de la Croix, and Gueullette's Tartar
Tales, Chinese Tales, and Mongol Tales. But by far
the richest collection was Galland's translation of
the famous Arabian Nights' Entertainments.
Antoine Galland (1646-1715) was a distinguished
orientalist and numismatist. Accompanying the
French ambassador, Nointel, to Constantinople, he
made some travel in the East, and, after twice again
visiting those lands, he became professor of Arabic
in the College of France. Besides his great trans-
lation, he wrote several works on the East and on
144 French Literature.
numismatics, a collection of Eastern sayings, and
The Indian Tales and Fables of Bidpai and Lok-
man.
The wonderful tales of the Thousand and one
Nights were at first thought to be the invention of
Galland's own genius, in spite of his assertion that
they were translated from the Arabic. But it has
long ago been well ascertained that they are genu-
ine Arabian tales, though probably originating
from various sources, Indian, Persian, Arabian, and
even perhaps, in some cases, Greek. The Baron
de Sacy's opinion as to the origin of the book is
thus stated :
"It appears to me that it was originally written in
Syria, and in the vulgar dialect ; that it was never com-
pleted by its author; that, subsequently, imitators en-
deavored to perfect the work, either by the insertion of
novels already known, but which formed no part of the
original collection, or by composing some themselves,
with more or less talent, whence arise the great varia-
tions observable among the different MSS. of the collec-
tion ; that the inserted tales were added at different
periods, and perhaps in different countries, but chiefly in
Egypt ; and, lastly, that the only thing which can be
affirmed, with much appearance of probability, in regard
to the time when the work was composed, is that it is
not very old, as its language proves, but still that, when
it was brought out, the use of tobacco and coffee was un-
known, since no mention of either is made in the work."
Louis the Great left behind him a widow who
did not long survive him. This remarkable woman,
Francoise D'Aubigne, Marquise de Maintenon
(1635-1719), born in a prison; grand -daughter of
the great Huguenot captain, and destined to be the
greatest enemy of the Huguenots ; glad to escape
from poverty by marrying at the age of sixteen the
crippled Scarron ; in her widowhood rearing the
children of Louis XIV. by his mistress Madame de
Montespan ; fascinating the monarch and becoming
his wife because she would not be his mistress;
Under Louis XV. 145
unhappy in the midst of splendor and power this
singular child or varying fortunes and of a charac-
ter in which good and evil were curiously mingled,
belongs to literature through her letters, published
in nine volumes nearly half a century after death.
They are written with much skill and evince in-
tellectual powers of no common order, but differ
from most French letters in being serious and
reflective.
The Rtine de Golconde, or Queen of Golconda, of
the Chevalier de Boufflers (1644-1711) ought to be
mentioned, as well as his Lettres a sa Afore, as grace-
fully written and pleasing. He was also the author
of many little pieces of gay poetry.
David Augustin Drueys (1640-1733) renovated
the old farce of Patelin, and also, in conjunction
with Jean Palaprat, produced two works, Le Grand-
eur and Le Muet.
When Louis XIV. died (1715), his great-grand-
son came to the throne with the title of Louis XV.;
but the government was for seven years conducted
by Philippe, Due D'Orleans, as Regent. The Car-
dinal Dubois, who had been Philippe's tutor and
had corrupted his character, became prime minis-
ter. France was brought to the verge of ruin by the
Regent's folly in authorizing the financial schemes
of John Law, the Scottish adventurer. The de-
bauchery which the Regent had made fashiona-
ble continued to characterize the court of the King
after he began his personal reign. Ruled in succes-
sion by Madame de Pompadour and Madame du
Barry, Louis engaged in inglorious wars, made bad
alliances and humiliating treaties of peace, coerced
the Parlements, exhausted the resources of the
country to enrich vile favorites, and left his grand-
son, Louis XVI., a heritage of hatred which kept
steadily gathering into the storm which was to
sweep away all the old institutions of the land.
To this dissolute period belongs the poet, Jean-
Baptiste Rousseau (1670-1741), who must not be
10
146 French Literature.
confounded with the sentimental Jean Jacques. He
produced religious poems and licentious epigrams
with the same facility. He belonged to a school
which is traceable to Chapelle, the father of French
epicurean poetry. Chapelle (1626-1684), the con-
temporary of Moliere, Racine, and Boileau, indoc-
trinated into the taste for voluptuous song the
Abbe* de Chaulieu and the Marquis de la Fare, and
these led J. B. Eousseau astray.
Chaulieu (1639-1720) became a veritable pagan
in sentiment, and was called the Anacreon of the
Temple. There is much charm in his poems. La
Fare (1644-1712) was inferior as a poet to Chau-
lieu, but he wrote Memoir es, of which historians
have gladly availed themselves.
J. B. Rousseau, who followed these poets in their
epicurean vein, produced also fine odes of admir-
able harmony, and was the introducer of the can-
tata into French literature. He also attempted the
opera, but was driven from this field by the successes
of Danchet, La Motte, and Fontenelle.
Madame Dacier, the learned lady of this age who
edited so many classical works, had a hot contro-
versy with La Motte on the merits of Homer; and
La Motte is better remembered by the wit which
he displayed in this controversy than by his poetry.
Fontenelle came to La Motte's assistance in this af-
fair, while Rousseau warmly espoused the other
side. But this was an insignificant incident in the
career of Fontenelle. He was a man of much
greater force than those with whom I have just
grouped him.
Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657-1757),
the nephew of the two Corneilles, Pierre and
Thomas, at first followed them in the dramatic ca-
reer. But his Aspar and Idalie having failed, he
betook himself to other literary fields. Besides his
Entretiens sur la pluralite des Mondes, his Histoire
des Oracles, his Histoire de V Academic des Sciences,
his Eloyes des Savants^ and other scholarly and sci-
Under Louis XV. 147
entific works, he produced Psyche, Bellerophon, and
other operas, a musical and dramatic pastoral called
Endymion, and a number of comedies, fables, and
epigrams. At the age of ninety-two he still wrote
madrigals, and when he lay on his death-bed, hav-
ing almost completed his hundredth year, he uttered
his last bon mot, saying: "I do not suffer, my
friends; but I feel a sort of difficulty in living any
longer." He was a great social favorite. One of
those ladies, who delighted to be numbered among
his friends was Madame de Staal, whose piquant
Memoires reveal to us the life of that little court of
the Duchesse du Maine at Sceaux, which was in
opposition to the court of the Regent. Another
of his lady friends was that Marquise de Lambert,
whose salon was open to him in Paris, and whom
we know as a moralist through her Conseils ad-
dressed to her son and daughter.
Quite apart from these shunners of the dissolute
revelry of the Regent's court was one who had be-
longed always to that gay circle of which Bussy-
Rabutin and Saint- Evremond were fair specimens.
This was the Comte de Hamilton. He and Saint-
Evremond were both about equally French and
English at different periods of their lives. Saint-
Evremond's wit had got him into trouble and forced
him to spend his last years in England. Hamil-
ton's fate was also, from other causes, to make him
divide his life between France and England.
Antoine, Comte de Hamilton (1646-1720), sprung
from the illustrous Scottish family of that name,
was born in Ireland. Brought up in France during
the English Revolution, he returned to London
at the Restoration. The Revolution of 1688
drove him again to France, where he passed the
thirty years he was still to live. Although a for-
eigner, he is ranked with the leading French mem-
oir-writers, on account of his Memoires du Cheva-
lier de Grammont, his brother-in-law. This work
is a sprightly and witty picture of the dissolute
148 French Literature.
court of Charles II. of England. Hamilton carries
to perfection the art of relating little trifles in such
a way as to give them importance. His badinage,
less elegant than Voltaire's is perhaps more charm-
ing, because more natural. His style is character-
ized by French critics, as having all the ease and
grace of the best conversation. The coolness with
which he narrates the foul and sometimes inhuman
incidents, which made up the life of that shameless
court of the Kestoration, is perhaps the strongest
evidence we can have of the utter corruption of
heart and mind which then debased the society in
which royalty moved, both in France and Eng-
land.
Turning to the theatre, we find this intermediate
period which fills the gap between Moliere and
Yoltaire filled by Destouches, Crebillon, Lesage,
Lafosse, La Grange-Chancel, and Marivaux.
Destouches (1680-1754) was particularly success-
ful in the comedy of character. Le Glorieux is
pronounced by Geruzez to be almost a masterpiece,
and Le Philosophe marie to be but little inferior to
Le Glorieux.
Crebillon, the dramatist, must be distinguished
from his son, the romancer, whom Sterne bantered
for a contest in which each should try to shock the
public by indecency more strikingly than his rival.
The elder Crebillon made his sensations by an
appeal to another vulgar taste of human nature.
Prosper Jolyot de Crebillon (1674-1762) was
born at Dijon. His tragic vein was not deficient
in blood at least. He took pleasure in painting
crime, and his Electre, Atree, Idomenee, are all trag-
edies of the frightful kind. His Rhadamiste et
Zenobie had a great success, and is considered by
French critics as really fine, true to nature and ter-
rible at the same time.
About this time Lesage produced his Turcaret.
He had already written his satirical romance, Le
Diable boiteux.
Under Louis XV. 149
Alain Rene Lesage (1668-1747) was born at
Sarzeau, in what is now the department of Morbi-
han. From a lawyer he became a writer. Turca-
ret was so bitter a satire on the financiers of the
day, that he is said to have been offered 100,000
francs to suppress it, but he refused to do so. His
great work, however, was the immortal Gil Bias
of Santillane. There he paints human nature at
large, and the keenness of observation, wit, fertility
of invention, variety and picturesqueness of the in-
cidents, are only equaled by the ease and anima-
tion of the style.
But there was another student of human nature,
who was at this time recording in private his ob-
servations in a very different mood and in a differ-
ent manner, thougn with as trenchant a burin.
This was the Due de Saint-Simon, who spent his
last years in composing those Memoires, which are
among the finest in French literature.
Louis de Rouvroi, Due de Saint-Simon, (1675-
1755) belonged to a noble family which claimed
descent from Charlemagne. Pride was the master-
principle of his character, his ruling passion through
life. Fanatical on the subject of aristocratic rights
and privileges, he was as hostile almost to the
court as to the middle class of society. " He was
as nearly," says Macaulay, " an oppositionist as
any man of his time. His disposition was proud,
bitter, and cynical. In religion he was a Jansenist :
in politics, a less hearty royalist than most of his
neighbors. His opinions and his temper had pre-
served him from the illusions which the demeanor
of Louis produced on others. He neither loved
nor respected the King." If such were his feelings
toward Louis XI V., they were even more unfriendly
to the infamous governments which came after the
great monarch.
To such a man it was a dark joy to paint the
true characters of those whom he looked upon
daily with scorn. Pluming himself on his penetra-
150 French Literature
tion, and enjoying with an artist's rapture the skill
with which he could secretly transfer in burning
words to his manuscript the conceptions which his
mind had formed of the characters revealing them-
selves unconsciously before that questioning eye,
he produced for later generations a vast gallery of
pen-pictures which vividly illustrate that age of
vice and worthlessness.
"The Due de Saint-Simon," says Bulwer-Lytton, "is
partly the Tacitus, partly the Juvenal of the old French
regime. Of his style it may be said, as it was of Ter-
tullian's, that 'it is like ebony, ^at once dark and splendid.'
He stands amid the decay of a perishing social system.
The thorough rot of the old regime is clear to his sancti-
monious and solemn eye, through 4he cracks of the satin-
wood which veneers its worm-eaten substance and
bungled joinery. I am far from saying that men, on the
whole, were rather good than otherwise, and women, on
the whole, rather better than the men, in the world which
Saint-Simon knew; but his world was very contracted.
His personal vanity served to contract it still more.
Marmontel said of him, ' that all which he saw in the nation
was the noblesse ; all that he saw in the noblesse was the peer-
age; and all that he saw in the peerage was himself an
exaggerated judgment, as definitions of character con-
densed into sarcasms usually are, but not without a large
foundation of truth."
The Souvenirs of Madame de Caylus describe the
same society. Marthe Marguerite de Villette de
Murcay, Marquise de Caylus (1673-1729) was a
descendant of the D'Aubigne' family, converted to
Eomanism by her kinswoman, Madame de Mainte-
non. She was famous as a leader of society, and
was complimented by Racine in the prologue to his
play of Esther. Her worthless husband having
died, she offended tlie King then in his highly
moral stage under Madame de Maintenon's influ-
ence by becoming the mistress of the Due de Ville-
roi, but on the death of Madame de Maintenon
she was allowed to return to the court, over which
Under Louis XV. 151
the Regent and Dubois were by that time presiding.
In her memoirs she testifies to Louis the XIV.'s
excellence in language.
We have seen Port Royal destroyed against the
protests of Pascal. It left, however, three disciples,
whose virtues were to prove the excellence of the
school in which they were trained. These were
the younger Racine, Rollin, and Daguesseau, warm
friends and steady believers, in an age of faithless-
ness and skepticism.
Lonis Racine (1692-1763), son of Jean, was a
gentle poet, more remarkable for being one of the
first among his countrymen to study English liter-
ature, than for his own productions, which lack
vigor. He attempted the translation of Milton's
Paradise Lost.
Charles Rollin (1661-1741) was principal of the
College of Beauvais at the time of the elder
Racine's death, and it was to his care that young Louis
was intrusted by -iris father. Rollin's whole life
was passed in the business of education, and he
was twice Rector of the University of Paris. His
Histoire ancienne, though for several generations a
most popular work, has been wholly superseded by
the greater accuracy of modern methods in the
study of history, and a philosophic treatment of the
subject which never entered into the thoughts of
Rollin. His utter ignorance of the principles of
historical criticism makes him regard all ancient
authorities as of about equal value. Villemain,
however, praises him highly both as man and his-
torian.
Henri Frangois Daguesseau (1668-1751), Chan-
cellor of France, was the great jurist of his age.
He lost his high office on account of his firm oppo-
sition to the wild schemes of the speculator Law.
In his retirement he composed his Considerations sur
les Ifonnaies and the Mtmoire sur le commerce des ac-
tions de le compaynie des Indes, profound treatises on
political economy. When the Mississippi scheme
152 French Literature.
failed, Lh,guesseau was recalled and restored to his
place. Eesisting the Regent again, when Dubois
was allowed to take precedence of the Princes of
the Blood, he was a second time sent to his country
house at Fresne. He was, however, restored to his
functions, and exercised them until when more than
eighty years of age he retired from his high post.
His eloquence, learning, probity, and wonderful
memory are warmly praised by Saint-Simon, in a
passage in which he strongly censures him for those
very political virtues which to other minds and in
freer lands so greatly enchance the glory of his
character. To his works already mentioned should
be added his Meditetions, his Metaphysiques, the
Essai dune Institution au Droit Public, an unfin-
ished work called Reflexions diverses sur Jesus
Christ, and the famous Mercuriales.
These last were set discourses, delivered either
by the Procureur General or one of his substitutes,
the Advocats-Gene'raux, at the opening of the terms
of the Parlement. It was in the exercise of this
office that Daguesseau delivered the eighteen Mer-
curiales, which are published in his works. These
discourses were lectures on various points of official
duty, to which the Parlement was bound needfully
to listen. Daguesseau's subjects are the indepen-
dence of the advocate, the love of the profession,
the dignity of the magistrate, and other qualities
required of him. Hugh S. Legard, in the account
of him which he gave in the Southern Review says:
" His mind and his heart were equally and perfectly
well disciplined. He had received the sort of education
which metaphysicians have mentioned as the best practi-
cal fruit of mental philosophy. All the powers and ca-
pacities of his intellectual and moral being seem to have
been cultivated with a view to its highest perfection. His
was that harmony of character, the music of the well-at-
tuned soul, in which the Platonists in their dreams of that
perfection make it to consist. Truth and beauty eter-
nal truth, the unblemished form of ideal beauty which
Under Louis XV. 158
can neither vary nor fade away were never revealed in
greater purity and loveliness to the vision of any man.
In those admirable discourses the Mercuriahs Dagues-
seau has embodied, so to speak, his conceptions of excel-
lence, and not the mere naked conceptions, as a metaphy-
sician might have done, but glowing with life, radiant with
glory, clothed in such shapes and hues as genius is sure
to bestow upon the objects of its ' desiring phantasy.'
His works are justly pronounced, by his last editor, one
of the best courses of lectures on rhetoric and morals,
that is anywhere to be found. Throughout the whole
range of his inquiries involving all the subjects that are
most interesting to man as a social and responsible being
religion, ethics, jurisprudence, political justice, and po-
litical economy, literature, metaphysics the same en-
larged views, the same refined criticism, the same sound
judgment are everywhere displayed, in a style, which we
cannot better characterize than by saying that it is in
every respect worthy of the age of Racine and Boileau
and Bossuet and Fenelon.''
Pure as Daguesseau in character, but exceedingly
unlike him in judgment, was the abbe de Saint-
Pierre (1658-174:3). Romantic and impracticable
schemes were the dream of his life. He must not
be confounded with Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, the
author of Paul et Virginie, who lived a century
later. The Abbe de Saint-Pierre's numerous writ-
ings, setting forth all sorts of projects for the ad-
vancement of society and the furtherance of human
happiness, have all passed out of date. But some
of his ideas were carried out after the expulsion of
the Bourbons from the throne. These dreams of
political and social reform were supplemented by
Quesnay's dissertations on political economy and
Montesquieu's thoughts on the philosophy of his-
tory.
Frangois Quesnay (1694-1774), eminent as a phy-
sician, is noted as the earliest writer on political
economy and as the inventor of the term. His
principal works were Maximes Generales du Gou-
vernement Economique d'un Royaume Ayricole, Le
154 French Literature.
Droit Naturel, Probllmes Economiques, and Dia-
logues sur le Commerce et sur les Travaux des Arti-
sans. He was also one of the contributors to the
famous Encyclopedic, edited by D'Alembert and
Diderot.
Montesquieu's place in the thought of this age is
a high one. His views were noble and his scope of
view was wide. His learning was sufficient to
serve as a basis for his sound judgment to build
upon, and his imagination served him well in ena-
bling him to bring charmingly witty satire to the
aid of his good sense and just discrimination in the
sphere of political thought.
Charles de Sconedat, Baron de la B rede et de
Montesquieu (1689-1755) was born at his father's
chateau of Brede, near Bordeaux. He became
early in life President of the Parlement of Bor-
deaux. His first work was the famous Persian Let-
ters (Lettres Persanes), a satire still diverting to the
modern reader from its exquisite humor and the
pungency of its criticisms of contemporary man-
ners and customs, as well as from the variety of
its topics. These keen thrusts at folly, sometimes
taking the neatest epigrammatic form, are put into
the supposed correspondence of a Persian resident
in Paris.
Montesquieu had been anticipated, in this idea
of imagining a foreigner's surprise at the customs
of the country, by Dufresny (1648-1724), the writer
of comedies, in his Amusements serieux et comiques.
But Montesquieu's execution of the idea is far
richer, stronger, and more subtle. In invention,
wit, humor of contrast, political insight, compre-
hensiveness in scope of his satire, he has so enlarged
and enriched the conception as to have made it
fairly his own.
Travel abroad, especially in England, aided
greatly in enlightening Montesquieu's mind on
political questions. It was after his return from
England that he published the work which showed
Under Louis XV. 155
the thoughtfulness and vigorof his mind ; his Causes
of the Greatness and Decline of the Romans (Con-
siderations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains
et de leur decadence). The style of this work is
marked by a sententious precision of statement
which is brilliant and effective. A work, however,
of fur higher aim was his Spirit of Laws(s/?n des
Lois), which sought to examine and describe in a
systematic manner the relation between the laws of
different states and the genius and fortunes of the
races constituting them. The Spirit of Laws was
immensely popular, especially in England.
In one part of his subject, the origin of the
French monarchy, Montesquieu had been preceded
by two antagonistic writers, the Cornte de Boulain
villiers (1658-1722) and the Abbe Dubos (167* Metrornanie, is full of wit and
fire. Both he and Gresset wrote tragedies also,
but these were soon forgotten. Gresset's little
poem of Vertvert is a graceful and sportive effusion.
Some of his other pieces, La Chartreuse, Le Careme
Impromptu, Le Lutrin Vivant, and Les Ombres, are
lively and elegant poems, in which the verse flows
with great ease and naturalness.
Gilbert the satirist (1751-1780), who died at
twenty-nine, cannot be numbered among those
whom Voltaire assailed. He was an adversary to
whom, for some reason, the bitter controversialist
made no reply. Short as was Gilbert's career, his
satire was strong enough to take a place in litera-
ture.
But Voltaire did not show the same forbearance
toward Freron the critic (1719-1776), who in his
journal made weekly assaults on the philosophy
of the day, and especially on Voltaire. The epi-
grams of the wits are said to have killed poor
Freron, but this may be as apocryphal as the old
178 French Literature.
story of the death of Keats having been hastened
by hostile criticism.
' To the Abbe Guenee (1717-1803), who wrote
the Le.ttres de quelques Juifs, and to the writer of
comedy, Marivaux (1688-1763), Voltaire showed a
more forgiving spirit, looking upon them as men
of merit, whom he would be sorry to regard as en-
emies.
Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux was
the author of many comedies, the style of which
sinned by excess of fine points and straining after
wit. This mannerism gave the language a new
word, marivaudage. The best of his comedies
were Les Fausses Confidences and Le jeu de T Amour
et du Hasard. He is not deficient in depicting
character, but his dialogue lacks naturalness and
is too brilliant for truth to nature. In romance he
succeeded better, his Mariane taking high rank
among French works of fiction. He also wrote a
romance called Le Paysan Parvenu..
Besides these writers, who were associated with
Voltaire's career, either as mercilessly satirized by
him, or as his assailants whom he saw fit to spare,
there were others, younger men, whom he gener-
ously aided and drew to his side as friends. Among
these were Marmontel and La Harpe.
Jean Frangois Marmontel (1728-1799), after
making himself some reputation as a poet in
Toulouse, went to Paris on Voltaire's invitation in
1746. He had no great success, however, with his
tragedies and operas, but through Madame de Pom-
padour's influence got a secretaryship at Versailles,
and, later, was put in charge of the Mercure. In this
paper he began to publish his Gontes Moraux, which
have had great popularity, and have been translated
into many languages. lie wrote also a political ro-
mance called Belisaire, which contained a chapter
on toleration that raised the ire of the doctors of the
Sorbonne. Belisaire was condemned as heretical
and blasphemous. The tempest it raised gave rise
Rousseau, the Stage, and the Encyclopedists. 179
to a whole literature of pamphlets, epigrams, and
caricatures. Out of this tumult Marmontel emerged
as historiographer of France, the wits winning the
day at court against the clerical party. He was a
contributor to the famous Encyclopedic, being as-
signed the departments of poetry and general litera-
ture. This contribution he also published separa-
tely, under the title, Elements de Litlerature. This
is a body of judicious and able criticism. Another
work of his, which Geruzez classes with the Beli-
saire, calling them both " poems in prose," is Les
Incas. His Memoir -es are said to be very entertain-
ing
Jean Fran9ois de La Harpe (1739-1803) was
called the French Quintilian. He was an excellent
critic, and is now chiefly remembered by his Lycee,
on Cours de Litterature Ancienne et Moderne. His
first essays in literature were satirical verses, which
got him into trouble with the government. He
next tried dramatic writing, producing Warwick,
Philocttte, and Melanie, which had better success
than Marmontel's tragedies. But his success in
these efforts was not so great as to satisfy him, and
he abandoned the drama. He visited Voltaire at
Ferney in 1766, and was his guest for two years.
On his return to France, he devoted himself to
criticism, becoming a regular contributor to the
Mercure.
Both Marmontel and La Harpe lavished eulogies
on Voltaire. La Harpe was, in the closing years
of his life, a participant in the thrilling scenes of
the Revolution, and was at first a strong republican ;
but, suffering imprisonment under the Directory,
his views underwent some change.
Saint-Lambert (1717-1803) was still more ex-
travagant in his praise of Voltaire. He set him
above Corneille and Racine. This overstrained
homage occurs in a poem called Les Saisons, a work
of no great merit. His prose is still heavier. The
180 French Literature.
Catechisme universel is a work in which the hard,
materialistic philosophy of the age is formulated.
Les Saisons was the first swallow of a great flock
of descriptive poems, Delille's Les Jardins,
Lemierre's Les Pastes, Bosset's L 1 Agriculture, and
Boucher's Les Mois. Delille had already won some
reputation by his fine translation of Virgil's Georgics.
Lebrun (1729-1807) wrote odes inferior only to
those of J. B. Bousseau, while he perhaps excelled
him in his epigrams. He also paid homage to
Voltaire.
De Belloy (1727-1775), a tragic writer of no great
power, macle a great success in his Siege de Calais
by his fortunate choice of a subject which possessed
national interest.
Lemierre (1723-1793), besides that descriptive
poem of which mention has already been made,
produced tragedies that deserved their success.
Guismond de La Touche (1725-1760), in his
Iphigenie en Tauride; Saurin (17Q6-1781), in his
Spartacus; La Noue (1701-1761), in his Mahomet
II. and his much-applauded comedy of La Coquette
corrigee ; and Ducis, in his transfers to the French
stage of Shakspeare's Hamlet, Borneo and Juliet,
King Lear, Macbeth, and Othello, all deserve brief
mention. They were all admirers of Voltaire and
received his gracious approval, although he ex-
pressed some regret, in view of the irregularity of
Ducis's plots, at having made Shakspeare known to
his countrymen.
But the great effort of that age of free-thinkers,
in the way systematizing their philosophy, was the
Encyclopedic. Voltaire, who did not wholly sym-
pathize with its founders, declared that it was built
half of marble and half of mud. It was, indeed, a
sort of Tower of Babel. Its authors were of vari-
ous shades of revolutionary opinion and held differ-
ent degrees of skeptical doctrine. Their theories
were not harmonious. Besides the troubles caused
by their own divisions and discrepant views, their
Rousseau, the Stage, and the Encyclopedists. 181
essays as fast as published were vehemently assailed
from without. Still, the work was finally published,
in twenty-eight volumes, with a supplement, later
on, in five volumes, and, finally, an analytical index
in two volumes. Biography and History were
deliberately excluded. The topics which found
admission were discussed with greater originality
than any compilation of the sort had yet shown,
and the articles were prepared with great ability.
It was received with immense enthusiasm.
D'Alembert traced the plan, and Diderot in the
main charged himself with the task of editing.
The chief writers in it were, besides the editors,
Grimm, Rousseau, Voltaire, Dumarsais, D'llolbach,
and Jaucourt. D'Alembert's preface was consid-
ered a master-piece.
Jean-le-Rond d'Alembert (1717-1783) was one
of the most distinguished mathematicians of his
time. He was the illegitimate son of Madame de
Tencin and a M.^Destouches. Exposed by his un-
natural mother on the steps of the Church of St.
Jean-le-Rond, and put by the guard who found him
there in the hands of a poor glazier's wife, he was
brought up by her, the father secretly allowing him
a sum of 1200 francs a year. He lived for nearly
forty years with his good foster-mother, pursuing
his favorite studies in that humble home, and shar-
ing with her his slender income. She, though
loving him well, used to expostulate with him on
the subject of his studies, saying : " You will never
be anything but a philosopher ; and what is a phil-
osopher but a fool, who torments himself while
alive, that folk may talk about him after he is
dead ! " He did make an effort to seek a profitable
career for his abilities, trying first law and then
medicine ; but his passion for science was too strong.
His treatises on scientific subjects, however, soon
won him reputation. He was through life singu-
larly indifferent to riches and distinctions. Fred-
erick of Prussia offered him the presidency of his
182 French Literature.
Academy, but he declined the honor. Catherine
II. of Russia invited him to take charge of her
son's education, at 100,000 francs a year ; but he
declined this also. He never married, though he
was for many years greatly attached to Mademoi-
selle Espinasse, whose death was thought to have
hastened his. He was a man of great benevolence ;
and, though his views on the subject of Christian-
ity are well known from his private correspondence
with Yoltaire and Frederick the Great, he re-
frained from attacking religion in his published
writings.
It was not so with Diderot. Sincere, eloquent,
and outspoken, a fatalist, an eager talker, and an
unwearied worker, he proclaimed his infidelity with
the zeal of an apostle.
Denis Diderot (1713-1784), like D'Alembert,
practised that practical charity which the Gospel he
disbelieved so strongly enjoins, and which Chris-
tianity introduced into the spirit of society. Being
in his early life reduced to want, he made a vow
never to disregard the prayers of the needy. This
resolution he faithfully kept. When in compara-
tive wealth, he was thronged by applicants for
help in various ways, and he is said to have been
always ready to furnish the aid sought for. He
married while still very poor, and this forced him
to great exertions. A translation of the History
of Greece from an English work brought him a
hundred crowns. Finding himself successful in
literary work, he now wrote his Essai sur le Merite
et la Vertu, the Pensees Philosopliiques, the Inter-
pretation de la Nature, and the Lettre sur les
Aveugles. This last work sent him to the prison of
Vincennes for three months. He wrote also for the
stage, but was unsuccessful in his dramatic attempts.
His best work was what he did for the Encyclo-
pedie. Finding himself obliged, in his later years,
to sell his library, to provide for his only daughter,
he was urged by the impress Catherine to come to
Rousseau, the Stage, and the Encyclopedists. 183
Russia arid be librarian, at a salary of one thousand
francs, she purchasing his library on condition that
lie would accompany it. He went to St. Peters-
burg though merely to thank the Empress, while
declining to assume the offered post, and died on
his return the next year.
Among his romances, the most powerful are
Jaques le Fataliste, and Le Neveu de Rameau. His
writings are full of fire and passion, but have the
negligent style of an improviser. Indeed, he af-
fected conversational carelessness in writing, under
the conviction that naturalness was a virtue always
to be aimed at ; and it was this labored abruptness
and disconnectedness in the dialogue which chiefly
spoiled his plays, Le Pere de famille and Le Fils
naturel.
Friedrich Melchior, Baron Grimm,(1723-1807) was
born at Regensburg, (Ratisbon) on the Danube. Ac-
companying the yourg Count of Schonberg to the
University at Leipsic, and afterwards to Paris, he
became a permanent resident. in the French capital,
Rousseau introducing him to Diderot and other
eminent literary persons, and thus opening up to
him a brilliant future. Diderot and D'Alernbert
employed his pen in their Encyclopedic. Becoming
secretary to the Duke of Orleans, he acquired much
reputation in Germany by the literary bulletins
which he sent periodically to some of the petty
princes of the empire. But Diderot and the Abb6
Raynal supplied him with much of the material
used in these critical letters. He received his title
of Baron from the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
When the Revolution came, he took refuge in Goth a.
Besides what he supplied to the Encyclopedic, his
literary remains are Correspondance Litteraire, Philo-
sophique et CV ///>/'. with a suplement entitled Cor-
respondance inedite de Grimm et Diderot.
Paul Heinrich Dietrich, Baron von Holbach
(1723-1789) was born at Heidelsheim, in the Palat-
inate. He took up his residence in Paris early in
18-i French Literature.
life. He was a pleasant social companion, and,
having inherited wealth, was able to entertain in
fine style. His guests were the most eminent
literary men of his time, Diderot, Helvetius,
Raynal, Rousseau. Buftbn, and the like. He was
one of the extreme antagonists of religion. His
chief work was the Sys&me de la Nature, in which he
sought to deduce a moral scheme from natural
principles. The book advocated materialism and
atheism in their crudest forms. That he was kind-
hearted and unselfish must be granted even by those
who are most shocked at his doctrines. The
Jesuits were especially obnoxious to him; yet,
when they fell into disgrace, he made his house a
refuge for several of them.
Claude-Adrien Helvetius (1715-1771), sprung
from a family of Swiss origin, was born at Paris.
After leading the gay and profligate life of a
courtier for some two years, he grew disgusted with
its frivolity, married the charming daughter of the
Cornte de Ligneville, and retired to a little estate at
Yore", where he spent his time in bringing up his
children, caring for the welfare of the peasantry,
and writing his philosophical books. His De
VEsprit was devoted to his favorite theory, that
sensibility is the source of all the higher operations
of the mind, and that matter alone exists. The
Sorbonne and the Parliament of Paris condemned
the book. Helvetius also left a posthumous \vork,
De VHomme, d?. ses Facultes, et de son Education.
Guillaume Thomas Francois Raynal (1711-1796)
.was an abbe, whose sympathy with the skeptical
thought of the age soon drove him from the Church
into literature. He became one of the editors of
the ftfercure. In conjunction with Diderot, he
wrote the Histoire Philosophique et Politique des
fitablissements et du Commerce des Europeens dans
les deex Indes, a work which from its strictures on
superstition excited the ire of the clerical party,
who procured its condemnation by the Parlement.
Rousseau, the Stage, and the Encyclopedists, 185
To the student of English, literature this book is
perhaps known only from the extraordinary rhap-
sody into which Raynal bursts, when treating of the
birthplace of that Mrs. Draper, whom Sterne affected
to adore under the name of his " Brahmine." It
begins: "Territory of Anjinga, you are nothing;
but you have given birth to Eliza. One day these
commercial settlements founded by Europeans on
the coast of Asia will exist no more. The grass
will cover them, or the avenged Indian will have
built over their ruins ; but if my writings have any
duration, the name of Anjinga will remain in the
memory of men." There are three more pages of
this absurd rubbish.
Among these sentimental skeptics were Ma-
dame Du Deffand and Madame D'fipinay.
Marie de Vichy Chamroud, Marquise du Def-
fand (1697-1780), was born of a noble family of
Burgundy. She eflrly gave evidence of the bold-
ness of judgment which won her so many admirers
in her mature years. Massillon was deputed by
her parents to win her to acquiescence in their
creed. But the great preacher did not succeed in
this mission, though he was himself greatly im-
pressed by her beauty and intellectual charm.
Her marriage with the Marquis du Deffand was an
unhappy one, and they were soon separated. She
then plunged into all the gallantries and follies of
that depraved society which constituted the Re-
gent's court. She gathered about her all the bril-
liant men of her day. She kept up a correspondence
with some of the foremost thinkers in Europe. She
made her soire'es at her hotel in the Rue St. Dom-
inique the gathering-point for all that was select in
Parisian society, including the eminent foreigners
who visited that city.
Becoming blind when between fifty and sixty
years old, she chose Mademoiselle d 1'Espinasse as
reader and companion. But growing jealous aftet
a time of the attentions p." 1 id this young lady, she
186 French Literature,
parted with her. Her rival, however, took away
from the saloon of the marquise, D'Alembert and
many more of her admirers. The correspondence
of Madame du Deffand with D'Alembert, Henault,
Montesquieu, the Duchesse du Maine, Horace Wai-
pole, and Voltaire, is of great interest as making
part of the memoirs of that age of materialism in
philosophy and of corruption in society.
Louise Florence Petronille de la Live d'fipinay
(1725-1783) married her cousin, and, like the Mar-
quise du Deffand, failed to find happiness in mar-
ried life. Her husband was a debauchee. Her taste
was for men of genius. When Rousseau came to
Paris, she took a fancy to him and gave him the
Hermitage for a residence. This was a little
house in the woods of Montmorency on land of her
husband's. Rousseau and Grimm, however, quar-
reled and involved Madame D'fipinay in the dis-
pute, which ended in Rousseau's becoming again a
wanderer and eventually calumniating the woman
who had befriended him. She had, however, to
the last, a select circle of literary men around her.
Under the direction of Diderot, she took Grimm's
place, on his leaving Paris, in preparing for the
German princes, criticisms of French literature.
She also produced an educational work of some
merit, Conversations d*]Emile. To this must be
added her work called Les Confessions du Comte
de * * * , together with a large correspondence
carried on with Grimm, Diderot, Rousseau, and
others.
Another famous entertainer of literary men in
this period, and herself a little of an author was
Madame Geofirin.
Marie Therese Geoffrin (1699-1777) was born at
Paris. Her father was a valet-de-charnbre named
Rodet. But her marriage to a very rich manufact-
urer and his death soon after left her at an early
age the mistress of an immense fortune. She drew
literary men around her, and her wealth was of
Rousseau, the Stage, and the Encyclopedists. 187
great assistance in the publication of the Encyclo-
pedie. She is said to have contributed no less than
100,000 francs for that purpose. She was not only
liberal to men of letters, but bestowed her gifts
with a delicacy which gave them double value.
Her attentions to distinguished foreigners won h3r
their esteem and affection. Poniatowski, to whom
she had been particularly kind, announced to her
his elevation to the throne of Poland in the words:
'Mamma, your son is king." He afterwards in-
duced her to visit Warsaw, and received her there
with a truly royal welcome. Her treatise, Sur la
Conversation, and her Lettres were published after
her death by Morellet.
Madame D'Houdetot and Madame Suard should
also be mentioned as eighteenth century queens of
society. Some of Madame D'Houdetot's sweet-
verses still hold a place in collections of French
poetry. Madame Geoffrin, Madame d'Houdetot,
and Madame Suard were all famous in their day
for their salons, where all that was witty, elegant,
and distinguished found a glad welcome and con-
genial surroundings.
188 French Literature.
XIV.
ON THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION.
WE have not yet completed the roll of Voltaire's
and Eousseau's contemporaries. But the ablest of
them, Buffon, must be reserved until some minor
writers, not mentioned yet, have been disposed of.
Charles Pineau Duclos (1704-1772) was a Bre-
ton. As a writer of romance and history, he was
held in great estimation by his contemporaries.
His romances were Acajou et Zirphile and La Bar-
onne de Luz. His principal serious work was the
Histoire de Louis XI. He also produced memoirs
of the reigns of Louis XIV. and XV. He was cold
and mannered in his historical writings.
Dumarsais (1676-1756) was of note mainly as a
grammarian. Geruzez praises his method as supe-
rior to that of Duclos, who labored in that field
also. The same critic accords to another gramma-
rian, Beauzee (1717-1789), superiority in originality
and profundity ; and to still another, Court de Gebe-
lin (1725-1784), excellence in invention, whatever
that may mean. To Rulhie're (1735-1791) he also
accords superiority over Duclos, as historical writer,
eulogizing the Histoire de TAnarclne de Poloyne, in
which he thinks Rulhiere has shown himself an
able painter and profound political thinker. Duclos's
true title to remembrance, in Geruzez's judgment,
rests on his Considerations sur les Mceurs.
Vauvenargues (1715-1747) was a writer, like La
Rochefoucauld, of thoughts and maxims. De-
voted, in spite of frequent illness, to earnest inquiry
into moral truth and the nature of man, he might,
had he lived longer, have taken an eminent place
among moralists. The contrast in spirit and tone
On the Eve of the Revolution. 189
which he presents to the age in which he lived adds
to his merit, and it is refreshing to find so pure a
believer in virtue amid that throng of scoffers.
It is a credit to Voltaire, that he held Vauven-
argues in high regard and esteem. Duclos and
Van ven argues stand together in the unspiritual at-
mosphere of their age as almost the only sober
thinkers.
The Gomte de Tressan (1705-1783) led the way
in resuscitating the literature of the Middle Ages,
the fabliaux and the legends of the Round Table.
Classical studies were kept from utter decline by
the labors of the President de Brosses (1706-1777).
One of the first of the many attempts which
have been made to introduce the modern reader to
the inner life of antiquity, was the Voyage du
Jenne Anacharris en Grece, by Jean Jacques Bar-
tlielemy (1716-1795). The Abbe makes his Ana-
charsis journey from Scythia to Athens and there
observe the peculiarities of Greek life and manners.
Though full of anachronisms, the characteristics of
Greek life at several different periods being con-
founded together, it is a work of some charm,
helped greatly to popularize the knowledge of an-
cient life, and has been imitated in later times by
Becker in his Gallus for Roman and Charicles for
Hellenic life. Barthelemy was a man of extensive
learning. Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, and
Chaldee were among his studies. His first distinc-
tion was that obtained by his discovery of the Pal-
myran alphabet. The Revolution deprived him of
his offices, and rudely disturbed his studies.
Among his works were Reflexions sur I 1 Alphabet et
la Lanf/ue de Palmyre, Explication de la Mosaique
de Palestrine, and a romance entitled Caryte et
Poly 'dor e.
Another man of learning was the eminent phy-
sician, Paul Joseph Barthez (1734-1806). lie
founded at Montpellier a medical school which had
a great reputation all over Europe. He was ruined by
190 French Literature.
the Revolution; but Napoleon recalled him from
exile, and bestowed honors and dignities upon him.
His Nouveaux Elements de la Science de VHomme ad-
vocated a system founded on dynamical principles.
He wrote also Nbuvelle Mecanique des Mouvements de
I Homme et des Animaux, Traitement des Maladies
Goutteuses, and Consultation de Medicine. These are
purely scientific works ; but I shall more than once
have occasion to mention medical writers and other
specialists among the attractive writers in the French
language, for that clearness of statement and liveli-
ness of illustration, as well as enthusiasm of tone,
which have only in our day made science popular
with the great mass of English readers, were culti-
vated at a much earlier period by the French men
of science.
Another earnest worker in these times was
Thomas (1732-1785), a philosophical writer in the
manner of Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. There
is too much strain and emphasis, however, in his
sententious utterances. His Eloyes have too much
of the rhetorician's art about them to please, though
the sentiments are noble. In his verses the same
vice of self-conscious effort spoils the effect.
Among the scholarly minds of the period was the
Abbe de Mably (1709-1785), the author of Les En-
tretiens de Phocion and Observations sur VHistoire de
France. He compared, greatly to the discredit of
the moderns, the institutions of the ancient repub-
lics with those of his own day.
Of .writers for the stage, besides those already
mentioned, there were Mercier (1740-1814), and
Sedaine (1717-1797). Sedaine was an uneducated
genius. His Philosophe sans le Savoir, produced
for the Theatre Francais; Le Deserteur and Rich-
ard Cceur-de-Lion, written for the Opera Comique ;
arid Aline, Reine de Golconde, written for the Grand
Opera, were pieces characterized by excellent taste
and exquisite naturalness.
Jacques Cazotte (1720-1792), was first brought
On the. Eve of the Revolution. 191
into notice by a mock romance and a coarse song.
He afterwards wrote his Roman d 1 Olivier and Le
D table Amour eux. He also continued with admirable
skill Voltaire's account of the civil war in Geneva.
Suddenly he became notorious as a pretender to the
gift of prophecy ; and La Harpe tells a story of his
breaking out, in the time of his mysticism, at the
close of a gay banquet, into a rhapsody in which
he related to the carousers around him, with all the
precision of a Highland Scot's vision of second-
sight, the fate which awaited each one of them.
He himself, adhering to the royal cause during the
revolutionary storm, fell a victim to the rage and
fear of the bloody tribunals of that time.
I have mentioned La Harpe before, in treating
of the friends and eulogizers of Voltaire.
Jean Pierre Claris de Florian (1755-1794) was
one of those poets and romancers who pretend only
to amuse. Protected by the Due de Penthievre,
he was suspected of "incivism" on the outbreak of
the Revolution, and suffered imprisonment. His
first literary success was a poetical epistle called
Voltaire et le Serf du Mont Jura. His eclogue,
Ruth, was also crowned by the Academy. In his
Qalatee, he imitated Cervantes; and in his Numa
Pompilius, Fenelon. Other works of his were his
Fables; his GonsalvedeCordove; a romance founded
on the story of William Tell, which he worked
at during his imprisonment, but never finished;
and an abridgement of Don Quixote. His best work
was a pastoral entitled Estelle.
A poet imbued with thoroughly Hellenic tastes
and genius makes a marked contrast to the super-
ficially romantic tone of Florian. This was Andre-
Marie de Chenier (1762-1794). Born in Constanti-
nople, he traveled much in after years. His poems
were for the most part idyllic. Such are Le Men-
dicant, UAveuyle, and Le Jeune Malade. Shortly
before the Revolution, he produced his Elegies, the
Art d 1 Aimer, & Invention, Hermes, Susanne, andZa
192 French Literature.
Liber te. He took an active part in the Revolution,
opposing the Jacobins and the execution of the
King. Resisting the arrest of a lady in whose
house he was living at Passy, he was arrested and
imprisoned. Before his execution, he wrote some
striking poems.
Marie-Joseph de Che'nier (1764-1811), younger
brother of Andre", was also born in Constantinople.
His first tragedy, Azemire, was almost a failure.
His next, Charles IX., still keeps a place on the
stage. After these appeared Henry VIII., Anne de
Boulen, the Mort de Galas, Gains Gracchus, Timo-
leon, Fenelon, and Cyrus. He also put on the stage
a version of Lessing's Nathan the Wise, and trans-
lations of the (Edipus Turannos and CEdipus at
Colonos of Sophocles. His lyric poems are fall of
freshness and elevation of tone. His Epitres are
able, and one of them, the Epitre sur la Calomnie,
is considered by French critics as worthy of the
highest praise. His Satires are also ranked very
high by his countrymen. His imitations of Ossian
will recall to the minds of readers of history the
prevalence of a taste in France for that wild and
cloudy bombast, which marked the effort of the
revolutionary spirit to shake off even in literary art
the bonds of order, and which made Napoleon in
his early days an enthusiastic admirer of Macpher-
son's rhapsodies. Chenier was also eminent as a
prose- writer. His Tableau de la litterature frangaise
depuis 1789 enjoys a high reputation. He took a
more prominent part than his brother in the stormy
scenes of the Revolution, being at the head of
several of the public bodies so rapidly organized in
those ever-changing days. He, however, gave in
his adhesion to the Empire, and it was at Napole-
on's request that he prepared his work on recent
French literature. Among many odes of his was
the famous Chant du Depart.
Sjbastien Roch-Nicholas Chamfort (1741-1794)
was the illegitimate son of a strolling actress. He
On the Eve of the Revolution. 193
began life with only the name " Nicolas "; but,
getting into the College des Grassins, he worked
well and won prizes. Assuming the name of
" Chamfort," he began his literary career by writ-
ing sermons for lazy cure's at a louis apiece. Com-
peting successfully for one of the Academy prizes,
the gay world was henceforward, open to him. His
brilliant and bitter talk made him much admired.
Madame Helvetius entertained him for some years
at Sevres. He won other prizes, and finally went
to court under the protection of the Duchesse de
Grammont. Retiring to Auteuil, after attaining a
brilliant place in the world and experiencing only
disgust with it, he there fell in love with a lady of
the household of the Duchesse du Maine, and mar-
ried her. But, six months after the nuptials, his
wife died, leaving him more bitter than ever in his
views of life. When Mirabeau began to undertake
the perilous task of guiding the storm of the
Eevolution, Chamfort came heartily to his side, and
helped him with the literary part of his orations;
for, though Mirabeau was a marvel in delivery, it
was to Chamfort and Dumont, it seems, that he was
mainly indebted for his ideas and their form.
Chamfort took an earnest part in the struggle,
and was one of the storming party that broke first
into the Bastille. But, criticising the Convention
as bitterly as he had criticised the court, he fell
before that new tyranny. It was he who made
the political fortune of the Abbe Sie*yes, by giving
him the striking title to his pamphlet: "What is
the Third Estate? Everything. What has it?
Nothing." He left few writings. His fame rested
chiefly on his brilliant talk. His best works were
an IJJloge of Moliere and one of La Fontaine, as well
as a pretty comedy entitled La Jeune Indienne.
Over aprainst the pessimist, Chamfort, who de-
spaired of human nature and was always saying
bitter things of it, should be set the sweet temper
13
194 French Literature.
and joy in God and nature of Bernardin de Saint-
Pierre.
Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737-1814) was one
of those souls that remain optimist in spite of many
and long -continued trials. His imagination was
always pleasing itself with charming illusions, and
dissappointments had no power to embitter his
spirit. The justice and mercy of God, the consola-
tions of human love, and the ineffable charm of na-
ture were for him beautiful verities that took the
sting from all that was painful in the immediate
present. His Etudes de la nature is a work that re-
veals at once his key-note, belief in the possible
harmony of God, Nature, and Man. His style is
as beautiful, as his imagination is rich, pure, and
chaste. His Vceuxd'un Solitaire breathes the same
spirit, while it is to that dominant note of Christian
philosophy that his tropical tales, Paul et Virginie
and the Chaumiere indienne, owe their freedom from
the taints which like subjects handled by Eousseau
would infallibly have had. Paul et Virginie, the
delight of childhood, even in translated form, is
really a work of genius. As Geruzez says of it, " it
has that grace of eternal youth which time withers
not." Few prose idylls have ever been written with
a skill so poetic and artistic. The grouping, the
coloring, the atmospheric tone are all those of the
painter. Everything about the story is picturesque.
To the colder criticism of the mature mind it is too
much so; there is too much of that theatrical
grace and beauty for absolute truth to nature. But
to the guileless fancy of childhood it is true and
charming.
The Abbe" PreVost (1697-1763) ought not to be
forgotten when mention is made of the romancers
of this period. Kousseau's contemporary, he
painted in his Manon Lescaut a picture of passion
as glowing as that of the Nouvelle Helo'ise, yet free
from the over-strained sentiment and the disordered
morality of Kousseau. It is the most wonderful
On the Eve of the Revolution. 195
picture of single-minded devotion to an unworthy
mistress in all literature.
Among the scientific contributors to the Encyclo-
pedic was Condorcet.
Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis de
Condorcet (1743-1794), was one of the most emi-
nent scientists of his age. His Essai sur le Calcul
Integral gained him early in life a seat in the
Academic des Sciences. His Eloyes des Academi-
ciens Morts avant 1699 won him still higher
honors. He won also a prize from the Berlin Acad-
emy by his theory of comets. His Eloges et Pensees df.
Pascal does credit to his heart as well as his
head. During the Revolution he took a prominent
part, acting in general with the Girondists, and
falling with them when they fell. During his
time of concealment he wrote his Esquisse des Pro-
grbs de T Esprit Humain. He was finally arrested,
and one morning was found dead in prison.
The great master of style among the writers who
were now devoting themselves to that study of na-
ture which became so absorbing a passion in the
next century, was Buffon.
George Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, (1707-
1788), after traveling through France and Italy
with Lord Kingston and his tutor, a man of scien-
tific tastes, accompanied them to England, where,
to improve his English, he translated works of
Newton and Hales. Appointed in 1739 Intendant
of the Royal Garden and Museum, his mind was
directed especially to the study of zoology, which
resulted in his undertaking his Histoire Naturelle, a
work covering thirty-six volumes. It was from
this work that Oliver Goldsmith avowedly bor-
rowed the greater part of his Animated Nature.
The task to which Buffon devoted fifty years of his
life was no less than the description and explana-
tion of nature as a whole and in all its parts. His
work has no great scientific value now, but his
method is still esteemed by scientists. " Up to his
196 French Literature.
time," says Cuvier, "the history of nature had
been written with fulness only by compilers who
had no ability; the other general works offered
only dry nomenclatures. Excellent and very nu-
merous observations existed, but all upon parlk-u-
lar points. Button conceived the project of com-
bining, on a vast plan and with the eloquent dic-
tion of Pliny, the profound views of Aristolle with
the exactness and the minuteness of detail with
which the moderns had observed facts."
Button did not begin his life-work until he was
thirty-three years old. But he had early prescribed
for himself a system of study, which he would not
permit himself to deviate from, setting apart a cer-
tain number of hours each day for this purpose.
At six every morning it was a servant's duty to
wake him up. This duty was discharged by the
same man for sixty years, and this faithful valet's
testimony was that his master had never once
broken the rule which he had imposed upon him
self. Method like this tells. A vast deal of work
can be accomplished by the man who so regulates
his life. It goes far to sustain Button's own defini-
tion of genius, as "a long patience."
His account of the origin of the earth and the
growth of fauna and flora upon it, with their subse-
quent development from natural causes, is of
course in many points behind the present lights of
science. But, viewed as a whole, it is safe to say
that his theory is in the main that which the as-
tronomers and geologists of our day still hold. In-
stead of the nebular hypothesis, however, he sup-
poses the earth to have been brought into being by
the collision of a comet with the sun, a part of the
incandescent mass of that luminary having been
struck off' into space and by the laws of gravitation
and centrifugal force assuming its ultimate shape
and rotation.
Leaving this subject and his investigation of in-
organic matter, as well as the history of the vege-
On the Eve of the Revolution. 197
table kingdom which he handles very superfi-
cially we come to the animal kingdom, where he
is more at home. He begins by rejecting all sys-
tems of classification. He figures to himself a man
who sees for the first time the creatures around
him, animate and inanimate, without any precon-
ceived notions to embarrass his judgment. He
then traces the process of natural classification
which must go on in such a man's mind the sep-
aration of the animate from the inanimate; the
division of objects into animal, vegetable, and min-
eral; the division of the animals into quadrupeds,
birds, and fishes; the separation of the quadrupeds
into the domesticated and the wild. Buffon took
this method himself. Later, however, he modified
the disdain of scientific method with which he
had set out, notably in his natural history of
birds.
In truth, what Buffon really excelled in was his
eloquent manner of setting forth what he knew,
rather than in profound or accurate knowledge.
Yet his knowledge was beyond doubt copious and
extensive. He was aided, too, by Daubenton in
the preparation of the details of his work. Com-
bining the dry facts of anatomy and physiology
with an animated description of the habits of ani-
mal life and the homes and haunts of the creatures
whose framework Daubenton had just analyzed, he
made a long step towards popularizing science, a
rare feature of genius in his time, and one that con-
stituted no small part of his charm.
In his history of man, he is decidedly antago-
nistic to the school which in our day seeks to con-
nect man closely with the rest of the animal crea-
tion. "Man," says he emphatically, " is not more
reasonable, not more spiritual, for having abun-
dantly exercised his ears and his eyes. One does
not see that people of obtuse senses, the short-
sighted, the deaf, the defective in the sense of smell,
have less intelligence than others. This is an evi
198 French Literature.
dent proof that there is in man something more than
an interior animal sense." He declares for the ex-
istence of the soul. It is, he says, of a different
nature from matter, and thought is its form. As
a naturalist, he takes pains to deny to the brutes
any share in this unique possession.
Style was a study with Buffon. He labored
strenuously to express himself in the best manner,
correcting again and again, reading aloud what he
had written, to have the witness of his ears to the
perfection of his periods, and in his heart believing
that he improved in this matter as he grew older.
His supreme value for style made him even unjust
to extemporaneous oratory; nor is it likely that he
could really understand the fiery and impassioned
eloquence of an age less cold, didactic, and skepti-
cal than that in which he lived.
The corruption of the court, a ruinous financial
system, the wide spread of atheistic doctrines and
theories subversive of all government, the oppres-
sive privileges of the nobility maintained, in the
face of the growing wealth and knowledge of the
commons, were now rapidly driving the country
toward revolution. An eager, inventive, fertile,
and brilliant spirit, of boundless audacity, nerve,
and coolness, came to the front ; and, first by open
conflict with the corrupt judiciary of the land, and
then by bold dramatic lessons, did more to open the
eyes of the people to the true state of affairs than
any other one man. This was Beaumarchais. In
the course of his long law-suit against Goesman, a
Counsellor of the Maupeou Parlement, he clearly
set before the world the monstrous character of that
justice which should have been the last and sure
resort of the oppressed. He took to the theatre
the same gayly mocking, penetrating wit, taking
society to pieces with the scalpel of an Aristophanes
and showing the sores that were eating into every
vital part.
The philosophic spirit was already reigning on
On the Eve of the Revolution.
the boards, as in every department of literature.
Tragedy was full of tirades against fanaticism ;
comedy sparkled with epigrammatic sayings that
cut at the root of authority. But Beaumarchais
was bolder, wittier, more terribly iconoclastic than
his fore-runners. His Figaro was the very incarna-
tion of the spirit of revolution. It is amazing that
an arbitrary government tottering on the verge of
ruin should have been so mad as to have permitted
the representation of the Mariaye de Fiyaro.
Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-
1799) was the son of a watchmaker and began his
career in the same business. Inventing a new kind
of escapement, he had to maintain his right to the
invention before the Academy of Sciences. This
was his first law-suit. Making himself useful to
the King's daughters by his skill on the harp and
the guitar, he was recommended by them to Paris-
Duverney, one of Louis XV.'s ministers. Showing
himself gifted in the management of financial mat-
ters, he was warmly befriended by that minister,
whose kindness he rewarded by securing what Paris-
Duverney had during nine years been longing for,
namely, a visit from Louis to the tlcole Militaire,
which the minister had created and for which lie
desired the prestige of royal commendation. Beau-
marchais persuaded the princesses to visit the
school, and the apathetic monarch was then induced
to follow their example. In favor with the court,
and made wealthy by marriage, Beaumarchais now
began to devote himself to literature. His first
play, Eugenie, proving successful, he followed it up
with Les Deux Amis, which was not so well re-
ceived. They are serious pieces, very different in
spirit from those which we now most naturally as-
sociate with the name of the gay and brilliant
Beaumarchais.
He was interrupted in his dramatic writing by
his two famous suits, the one against De la Blache,
the heir of Paris-Duverney, the other against Goes-
200 French Literature.
snan, the Counsellor of the Maupeou Parlement.
Fifteen louis intended to bribe the Counsellor, and
imprudently retained by his wife, were the cause
of this last suit. Those wonderful JUemoires, in
which he convulsed the country with laughter or
moved it to bitter indignation, at will in which
he mingled all the witty turns of comedy with the
invective of a splendid eloquence in which he
ruined the reputation of his judges and made his
own, though he lost his case, taught Beaumarchais
where his true strength lay, and made him give up
forever the serious drama except in the third
piece of his Figaro trilogy, La MZre Coupable
and turn his attention to comedy.
Le Barrier de Seville was at first only a comic
opera, filled with pretty Italian and Spanish airs
which Beaumarchais had picked up in his travels.
The Italian comedians refused it, the chief actor
having once been a barber and objecting to appear
in the too familiar character of Figaro. The
French players accepted it, but it failed at the first
representation. Beaumarchais cut it down from
five acts to four, and then it had a brilliant success.
Few comedies are so amusing. Its successor, La
Folle Journee, ou le Mariage de Figaro, is also
amusing, but richer in intrigue, more definitely
political in its tone and allusions, and bolder in its
revelations of the ingrained immorality and invet-
erate clinging to the oppressive privileges which
characterized the French noblesse of that age. It
was immensely popular. There were more than a
hundred successive representations. This success
was perhaps as much due to the delight which the
public took in the many indecent situations which
occur in the play, as to their comprehension of the
political satire and sympathy with its bitter pun-
gency. The king and the court understood the at-
tacks on all existing institutions put into Figaro's
mouth ; and the play was at first prohibited. For
four years Beaumarchais, with his usual persever-
On the Eve of the jRevoi&tiicft. 2C1
ance, struggled against tliis resolution of the gov-
ernment. He was so persistent that at last the
government yielded ; and the laugh that Figaro
raised was in the course of a very few years
changed to the ringing notes of the Yz Ira and the
Marseillaise. " It is only little men who fear little
writings," he had made Figaro say ; and the king
and every courtier feared to be classed among these
"little men."
Not quite half a century later, Legare, then
United States' Minister at Brussels, jots down in
his diary a conversation with Prince Auguste
d'Arenberg about Goinon's Jfemoiret, in which
mention is made of the prodigious run of the Mar-
riage of Figaro. The Prince remarked: "The
other evening they acted this same piece, the im-
pression made by which, half a century ago, I so
well remember; on our boards, it fell lifeless as it
were. The subject was out of date. What was
bold then, is now banal what hit most forcibly,
has, through subsequent changes, become inappi'-
cable. In short nothing could be more flat. The
famous monologue of the great barber was received
without one token of effect."
The Kev? 1n .tion of the English Colonies in
America nov/ began, and Beaumarchais undertook
to furnish arms and supplies to the colonies. H<
carried on this financial operation under the dis-
guise of a Spanish mercantile house, and was ex-
ceedingly useful to the Americans at a critical
period. He never recovered the whole of the sum
due him in this business, and it was not until many
years after his death that the Congress cr '.ho
United States paid the amount to his heirs.
A few years before the Revolution of 1789, he
undertook a complete edition of Voltaire's works,
and lost an immense sum by it. During the Revo-
lution, he lost the rest of his fortune by bad specu-
lations, came very near losing his life, was impris-
oned for a time, and afterward became a refugee.
202 French Literature.
Returning to France when a time of comparative
quiet had come, he wrote an account of his experi-
ences in Mes Six Epoques and a powerful but rather
painful comedy of intrigue almost a tragi-com-
edy entitled L'Autre Tartuffe, ou La Mere Coup-
able, in which the Almaviva family, Figaro, and
Suzanne are once more introduced. Tins vvns rep-
resented for the first time at Theatre du Marais the
26th of June, 1792. Nearly seven years later
Beaumarchais died suddenly and without sickness.
His Tarare was an opera of no great meri t. He
was not skilled in verse-making, and all his plays
are in prose. He made some songs of which the
best is Robin, but he was only moderately success-
ful in this department. His fame must rest on the
pleadings in the Goesman case and the wit and
boldness of Figaro in the two comedies produced be-
fore the Revolution, in which he figures. Even
Figaro is not himself in La Mere Coupable.
Among those who made their reputation be-
fore the Revolution and perished under Jacobin
rule, was Bailly.
Jean Sylvain Bailly (1736-1793), born in Paris,
was eminent in science and literature. His earlier
works were on astronomical subjects. He also pro-
duced for the Academy of Sciences eloquent Eloges
on Charles V., Moliere, Corneille, Lacaille, Leib-
nitz, Cook, and Gresset. He was prominent in the
early stages of the Revolution, as President of the
National Assembly and afterwards as Mayor of
Paris; but, refusing to give way to the populace
when they proceeded to violence, he became un-
popular. While with his friend, La Place, at
Melun, he was seized, brought to Paris, accused of
being a royalist, condemned, and executed. His
Memoirs were published after his death.
Jean Baptist Louvet de Couvray (1760-1797),
the author of Faublas, that romance of ill-fame,
but also of a remarkably pure tale, Emilie de Ver-
mont, barely escaped the guillotine in Robespierre's
time.
Chateaubriand and Madame de StaeL 203
XV.
CHATEAUBRIAND AND MADAME DE STAEL.
I HAVE nothing to do here with the stormy
scenes of the French Eevolution. Nor need I stop
to dwell upon the metaphysical oratory of the Gi-
rondists and the blood-thirsty declamations of the
Mountain, the horrible Carmagnoles of Barere, and
the paper Constitutions of the Abb Sieyes. The
successive oratorical triumphs of Mirabeau, of Dan-
ton, and of Eobespierre belong to the province of
the historian. Such men have no place in a sketch
of literature. Only those actors in the scenes of
revolutionary change, such as Bailly and General
Dumouriez, who left Memoirs behind them, are en-
titled to literary mention.
The great literary names of the Napoleonic
period are those of the Emperor's declared enemies,
Chateaubriand and Madame de Stael. Napoleon
gathered eminent scientific men around him; and
of these something must be said. But we can
better pursue the thread of literary development by
taking up first the purely literary producers of this
transitional period.
Fnm^ois- Rene, Vicomte de Chateaubriand (1768-
184:8), was born at St. Malo, in Bretagne, and
was educated at the College of Eennes. In his
Memoirs, he describes vividly the terrible life of
isolation in which he grew up, under the stern dis-
cipline of his father, in the sombre castle of Com-
bourg. Born and bred in that province in which
more than anywhere else in France the noble still
maintained unquestioned state and the priest still
commanded reverence, he was to witness more
204 French Literature.
strikingly than most men the contrast between
feudal and revolutionary France.
In early life he was procured a commission as
sub-lieutenant in the regiment of Navarre. He took
leave of his father at the old castle, never to see him
again. Arrived in Paris, his brother insisted on
presenting him at Court, and he records in his
Memoirs the impressions made on him by his first
sight of that Court, which was so soon to be
brought face to face with the prison and the guillo-
tine. After a brief stay in Bretagne, he was once
more in Paris and at Court after the opening of the
States-General in the fatal year, 1789. He gives a
graphic picture of the confused and disorderly con-
dition of Parisian society at this time. The army
sympathizing with the people, the regiment of Na-
varre soon became involved in the general defec-
tion. Its colonel, the Marquis of Mortemart, with
most of the officers, emigrated ; but Chateaubriand
withdrew from the service, took up a scheme for
getting up an expedition to search for the North-
west passage, and set out for America.
Wandering in the wilds of America, and at the
same time poring over the kindling rhapsodies of
Kousseau, he received profound impressions both
from the grandeur and awful wildness of nature in
the primeval forests of the New World and from
the impassioned fervor of the wandering Genevese.
But both impressions swayed his genius too much
in one direction, and produced in him that straining
after effect which was his bane. The result was
that in all his works he gave way so much to the
temptation to make fine pictures that, on the whole,
he must be regarded as no more than a grand rhetori-
cian. His political pamphlets, with all their in-
consistencies, must be considered his ablest produc-
ions, as they are in the main free from the rhapsod-
ical finery with which, in the effort to embellish,
he really marred the purity of his style in his more
Chaleauhriaad aneen planned and the outline of it written on the
backs of packs of playing cards. As a supplement
to this, he wrote his Du Polytheisme Romain, con-
sideree dans ses Rapports avec la Philosophic
Grecque et la Religion Chretienne.
He seems to have had the same faculty of tiring
out the patience of his English friends, as his be-
loved paragon, Madame de Stae'l ; for Thomas
Moore tells an amusing story, in one of his journals,
of Lord Lansdowne's escape from hearing him read
a novel, by adroitly making use of Madame Con-
stant's cat to cover his abrupt departure.
There were other exiles, besides these more emi-
nent ones, who did literary work of some impor-
tance. Among these were the brothers De Maistre
and General Dumouriez.
The Comte Joseph De Maistre (1753-1821) was
born at Chambery, of a noble French family which
had settled in Savoy. During the occupation of
Savoy by the French in 1792, he withdrew from
the country. "When his king retired to the island
of Sardinia, the only part of his dominions where
he could still exercise sovereignty, De Maistre joined
his court there, and was sent as ambassadorto Saint
Petersburg in 1803. There he remained until 1817,
when he was recalled to Turin, to fill high posts at
home. His later years were spent in his native
country. His only title to a place in the history of
French literature rests on the fact that his excellent
works were written in French.
His first work was his Considerations sur la
France, which appeared in 1796. Later, he pro-
duced an essay Sur le Principe Generateur des Con-
stitutions Politiques, his work Du Pape, that De
T K'jlise Gallicane, and the work by which he is now
chiefly known, Les Soirees de Saint -Petersbourg.
This last work is full of elevated thoughts and is
written with great spirit and liveliness. It has done
^ooil service in the cause of the religious party; but
the defect of De Maistre, as an influence on the
15
226 French Literature.
Catholic side, is that he represents the most arbi-
trary and inflexible school of thought. Toleration
and conciliation are ideas beyond his sphere. To
the works already mentioned, must be added a
posthumous publication, Examen de la Philosophic
de Bacon, as well as the Lettres et Opuscules.
His brother, Xavier De Maistre, (1764-1852),
who was also born at Chambery, took refuge in
Russia during the revolutionary storm, and entered
the Russian military service, in which he rose to
the rank of general. Literature, science, and the
fine arts were, however, the chief occupations of his
life. He was successful in both prose and poetry,
was a fine landscape painter and an able chemist
and physician. During a visit to Italy in 1794,
while busying himself with studies in water-color
painting and India-ink drawing, he began, as a sort
or relaxation, the work on which his fame chiefly
rests, his Voyage autour de ma Chambre, in which
the thoughts are no less charming than the style.
He also wrote Le Lepreux de la Vallee d'Aoste, Le
Prisonnier du Caucase, Prascovie ou la Jeune Sibe-
rienne, and L' Expedition nocturne autour de ma
Chambre. He died at Saint-Petersburg.
General Dumouriez belongs to literature only
through his memoirs, which are indeed very en-
tertaining.
Charles Fran9ois Dumouriez (1799-1823) was born
at Cambrai, served in Germany during the Seven
Years' War and in the occupation of Corsica by the
French; held the office of commandant of Cher-
bourg under Louis XVI.; joined the Jacobin Club
during the revolutionary period; led the French
revolutionary army in its earlier campaigns;
won the victory of Jemappes, in which the Austrians
were badly defeated ; began to distrust the political
heads of the revolution in Paris ; opened negotia-
tions with the Austrian general; tried to bring the
army over to his views when ordered by the home
government to return to Paris and stand his trial ;
The Scientific Period. 227
failed in this effort, and escaped to the ranks of the
enemy. The Convention set a price of 300,000
francs on his head. He wandered about Europe,
and finally settled in England, where he died. His
later years were employed in writing his Memoires.
Dumont, the pupil of Bentham after having been
the co-adjutor of Mirabeau, also spent a large part
of his life in England.
Pierre fitienne Louis Dumont (1759-1825) was
born at Geneva, became a Protestant minister in
that city ; went to Saint Petersburg to take charge
of the French Protestant church there ; passed from
there to England; formed a strong alliance with
the Whigs ; repaired to Paris at the outbreak of
the Eevolution; became very intimate with Mira-
beau and wrote the ablest speeches delivered by
that brilliant declaimer; returned to England in
1791 ; attached himself to the famous utilitarian
philosopher and legislative reformer, Jeremy Ben-
tham, and ultimately translated to the world into per-
spicuous French the incoherent and involved Eng-
lish in which that strong thinker, but most muddy
writer, put his ideas.
Dumont published in Geneva, successively, his
Traite de Legislation Civile et Penale, his Theorie
des Peines et des Recompenses, his Tactique des As-
semblees Legislatives, his Preuves Judiciaires and
his Organisation Judiciaire et Codification, the last
appearing after his death. Another posthumous
work was his Souvenirs sur Mirabeau et sur les deux
premieres Assemblies Legislatives. He died at
Milan. Macaulay, in reviewing Dumont's Recol-
lections of Mirabeau, pays him a handsome trib-
ute:
" M. Dumont," he writes, " was one of those persons,
the care of whose fame belongs in an especial manner to
mankind, for he was one of those persons who have, for
the sake of mankind, neglected the care of their own
fame. . . . Possessed of talents and acquirements which
made him great, he wished only to be useful. In the
228 French Literature.
prime of manhood, at the very time of life at which amb*
tious men are most ambitious, lie was not solicitous to pro-
claim that he furnished information, arguments, and
eloquence to Mirabeau. In his later years he was per-
fectly willing that his renown should merge in that of
Mr. Bentham."
The literary strength ol' France, as has lieen seen,
lay in this age with those whom Napoleon could
not win to his side. Those who submitted to the
Empire could point to no such literary names as
Chateaubriand, Madame de Stael, and the De Mais-
tres, among their number. But there was some
literary ability enlisted on the side of the Empire
also. If Napoleon failed to propitiate Madame de
Stael and Madame de Kecamier, he had 011 his
pension list a literary woman of very different
character in Madame de Genlis. If he could not
command the eloquence of Chateaubriand and the
grace of the De Maistres, he had the science of
Champollion, Cuvier, Fourier, De Sacy, Arago, Gay-
Lussac, Fresnel, and Ampere, and the dramatic
skill of Andrieux, Legouve, Arnault, fitienne, Des-
augiers, and Lemercier, to give splendor to his
reign.
Stephanie Felicite', Comtesse de Genlis (1746-
1830) was born at Champ9^ri, near Autun, in Bur-
gundy, of an old but impoverished family. Born
Mademoiselle Ducrest, she married at fifteen the
Cornte de Genlis, and became a member of the
household of the Duchesse de Chartres, wife of that
prince who was afterwards known as Eyalite. Ap-
pointed to train his children, she wrote a number
of works for them, Theatre a V usage des Jeunes
Personnes, Adele et Theodore ou Lettres sur V Edu-
cation, Les Veillees du Chateau on, GOUTS de Morale a
T usage des Enfants. Like that scandal of the house
of Orleans, for whom she compromised her reputa-
tion, she showed sympathy with the revolutionary
party in the early stages of the great movement;
but she was soon obliged to take refuge in Belgium.
The Scientific Period. 229
Going later to Switzerland, and from there to
Altona in Germany, she wrote during her stay there
a romance called Les Chevaliers du Gygne ou la
Cour de Charlemagne, and a pamphlet entitled Precis
de la Conduite de Madame de Genlis pendant la
Revolution.
On Napoleon's becoming Consul, she returned to
Paris, and accepted a pension. Residing in Paris
until her death, she produced a number of sketches
of fashionable life : her Observations Critiques pour
servir d VHistoire Litteraire du 19me si&cle, her
Dictionnaire Critique et Raisonne des Etiquettes de
la Cour, des Usages du Monde, etc., and her Diners
du Baron d'Holbach. After reaching her eightieth
year, she composed her Memoires. There is much
malicious gossip in all these later works; and her
" moral " stories, once so popular, are as far from
being immaculate as was her private character.
Jurisprudence, practical science, and the stage
were all given a considerable share of Napoleon's at-
tention. Assembling the chief lawyers of the land,
with Cambaceres at their head, he committed to
them the great undertaking of compiling a code
for France. Their deliberations produced the Code
Civil des Francais, the Code de Procedure, the Code
Penal, the Code d 1 Instruction Criminelle, and com-
mercial and militar}'- codes. Much of this legis-
lation is still in force.
Cuvier, though submitting to the Empire, was in
no sense a partisan, but simply an eminent scientist
who lived calmly through that period and worked
on undisturbed after the fall of Napoleon.
Georges Chretien Leopold Dagobert, Baron Cuvier
(1769-1832), was born at Mompelgard, then a town
of Wurtemberg. Early evincing a passion for
natural history, educated at Stuttgart, becoming
private tutor in the family of the Comte d'He'ricy
near Fecamp in Normandy, making the acquaint-
ance of Geoffrey St. Hilaire and other eminent
Parisian scientists, appointed through their in-
230 French Literature.
fluence professor in the ficole Centrale of the Pan-
the'on, becoming soon after assistant to Mertrud in
the study of comparative anatomy at the Jardin
des Plantes, he rose to distinction as a master in
scientific investigation. Succeeding Daubenton in
the College de France, and becoming Perpetual Sec-
retary of the Institute, he soon stood high in the
Emperor's favor, and was commissioned by him in
1808 to superintend the institution of academies in
the countries newly acquired by France. Later, he
became a member of the Council of State.
After the fall of Napoleon, he was made Chancel-
lor of the University of Paris, became a Cabinet
Minister under Louis XVIII., opposed, under
Charles X., the government measures for restrict-
ing the freedom of the press, was made a peer of
France under Louis Philippe, and died shortly after
being named Minister of the Interior.
His scientific work consists chiefly in creating
the modern method of classification in zoology, and
in raising comparative anatomy to the dignity of a
science. His chief writings were his Legons d'Ana-
tomie Comparee, Memoir e pour servir a VHistoire de
VAnatomie des Mollusques, Recherches sur les Osse-
ments Fossiles des Quadruples, Discours sur les
Revolutions de la Surf ace du Globe et sur les Change-
ments qu'elles ont produits dans le Rbgne Animal,
and a number of eulogies delivered by him on scien-
tific men. Both his valuable works on natural his-
tory and his eulogies on men of science are distin-
guished by the precision, clearness, ease, and ele-
gance of their style.
But his genius was not confined to that branch,
which he may almost be said to have created. His
retentive memory, profound legislative knowledge,
and judicial cast of mind enabled, him when Presi-
dent of the Council of State, to sum up the deliber-
ations of his colleagues with a rapidity and succinct-
ness which often amazed them; and his own contri-
butions to legislation were exceedingly valuable.
The Scientific Period. 231
"Once," says De Vericour, "in the Chamber of
Peers, when a military question was mooted, and
confusion ensued in the debate, Cuvier rose and
solved the difficulty with the ease of a man who
had passed his life in the study of tactics."
Nor was he famous only as a student of nature
and a masterly writer on his special subjects.
" Nothing," says De Vericour, " could surpass the
elaborate eloquence of his lectures. Whether lec-
turing at the Jardin des Plantes on comparative
anatomy, at the College de France on the history
of natural philosophy, or at the Athenee Royal on
subjects selected for a cultivated audience, accus-
tomed to hear Chenier, Ginguene, Guizot, and
others, he was always profound and never tedious.
His great understanding seemed for the time to be
communicated to his hearers ; and he led them,
without fatigue, to the comprehension of the most
elevated and recondite views."
There were two Champollions. The elder, who
lived to edit the manuscripts of his more distin-
guished brother, is known as Champollion-Figeac.
Jean Jacques Champollion-Figeac (1778-1867)
was eminent, like his younger brother, as an ar-
chaeologist. He was born at Figeac in the depart-
ment of Lot. Librarian and Professor of Greek
Literature at Grenoble, afterwards Conservator of
MSS. in the Imperial Library at Paris, and then
Librarian under Louis Napoleon of the palace of
Fontainebleau, he published successively Anti-
quites de Grenoble, Annales des Lagiades et figypte,
Ancienne, Les Tournois du Roi Rene, and Notice
sur les Afanuscrits Autographes de Champollion le
Jeune. He left a son, who has worked in the same
field of research, and published antiquarian and
philological works.
The greater Champollion, the famous Egyptolo-
gist, Jean Francois Champollion (1790-1832), was
also born at Figeac. Early interested in Egyptian
antiquities by Baron Fourier, studying in Paris,
282 French Literature.
made Professor of History in the Lyceum at Greno-
ble, publishing in 1811 his figypte sous les Phara-
ons, publishing in 1821 his essay, Sur V ficriture
Hieratique des Anciens figyptiens, he was still some-
what in the dark as to the true principle to be em-
ployed in deciphering the ancient Egyptian inscrip-
tions, until he became aware of the views of that
great English Egyptologist, Dr. Thomas Young.
Young lacked grace and perspicuity as a writer, but
his scientific genius was amazing." Admired by
Arago, Gay-Lussac, and Fresnel for his successful
effort to establish the undulatory theory of light, he
showed the same lightning glance of intuitive per-
ception when he turned his attention to the great
work of deciphering the Eosetta Stone, given up in
despair even by Silvestre de Sacy, the great orient-
alist Young began by ascertaining the original
identity of the demotic, enchorial, or abridged char-
acters with the sacred. He also divined the fact
that phonetic characters were often interspersed
with the symbolic. To these discoveries he added
the important one, that the characters enclosed in
an oval ring were proper names. The Greek text,
which had been easily read and the mutilated parts
supplied by Person and Heyne, helped at this point.
The phonetic principle was discovered, and a fair
beginning of analysis made.
At this stage, Champollion took up Young's
methods, and with masterly ingenuity interpreted
monument after monument, and constructed a more
perfect alphabet than Young's. The works on
Egypt, after he had fairly got on the right track of
investigation, were his celebrated Lettre a Monsieur
Dacier, the Precis du Systime Hieroglyphique, the
Pantheon jfigyptien, the Lettres au Due de Slacas,
and his posthumous Orammaire figyptienne.
Charles X. appointed him in 1828 to accompany
a scientific expedition to Egypt and on his return
to Paris he filled the new chair of Egyptian An-
The Scientific Period. 233
tiquities in the College de France, but died soon
after beginning his course of lectures.
Antoine Isaac, Baron Silvestre de Sacy (1758-
1838), another great orientalist, was born at Paris.
Early in life he began his oriental studies with He-
brew, to which he added in the course of time a
knowledge of Syriac, Aramaic, Samaritan, Arabic,
Persian, and Turkish, besides the European lan-
guages, ancient and modern. His first elaborate
work was the Annales de Mirkhond, a translation
from the Persian. He refused the chair offered him
in 1795 in the newly-founded ficole des Langues
Orientales, being unwilling to take the oaths re-
quired of him. But, in 1803, he became Professor
of Persian in the College de France. In 1808 he
became a member of the Corps Le'gislatif. Other
high positions were filled by him after the fall of
Napoleon. In 1822 he founded, with Abel Remu-
sat, the Societe Asiatique. He produced a prodig-
ious number of essays, memoirs, and pamphlets,
besides his larger works. Of these the chief were
his Grammaire Arabe ; his Chrestomathie Arale ;
his Antholoyie Grammaticale Arabe; his Memoires
sur Diverses Antiquities de la Perse, translation of
Abdollatis's Egypt, and editions of various oriental
books ; his Memoires sur TEtat actuel des Samari-
tans ; and his Expose de la Reliyion des Druses. His
son has been an able journalist.
Jean Pierre Abel Remusat, (1788-1832), the dis-
tinguished Chinese scholar, who founded with De
Sacy the Societe Asiatique, was born at Paris. His
first publication was an essay Sur la Lanyue et la
Litterature Chinoises. While serving as a surgeon
in Napoleon's military hospitals, he produced his,
Uranographie Monaole and his discourse Sur la
Nature monosyllabique attribute Communement a la
Langue Chinoise. On the Restoration, he became
Professor in the chair of Chinese newly founded in
the College de France, delivering a brilliant inaugu-
ral address, which De Sacy made haste to bring
234 French Literature.
before the journal -reading public in the form of an
analysis prepared for the Moniteur.
After publishing numerous and able works on
his special studies, Remusat died at Paris of chol-
era. His chief works were his Recherches sur les
Langues Tartares, Elements de la Grammaire Chin-
oise, Recherches sur V Origine et la Formation de
VEcriture Chinoise, Etude historique sur la Medecine
des ChinoiS) Tableau Complet des Connaissances des
Chinois en Histoire Naturelle (which, however, he
did not complete), Sur la Pierre lu, Notice sur la
Chine et ses Habitants, Sur V Extension de V Empire
Chinois en Occident depuis le Premier Siecle avant
Jesus- Christ jusqu 'd nos Jours.
Frangois Arago (1786-1853), the famous scien-
tist, was born at Estagel, near Perpignan, in the de-
partment of the Eastern Pyrenees. He early made
his reputation as an astronomer, and was employed
by the government, with other eminent men of
science, to measure an arc of the meridian. During
his solitary residence in the little island of Ivica,
while engaged in extending the arc from Barcelona
to the Balearic Isles, war broke out between France
and Spain, and he had a series of trying adventures,
ending with his capture and slavery in Algiers.
On his return to France, what he had endured in
the cause of science won him unusual honors from
the Academy of Sciences. In 1812, he began his
fascinating lectures on astronomy, which drew listen-
ers of all classes. Four years later, he established,
along with Gay-Lussac, iheAnnales de Chimie et de
Physique; and the two scientists, ignorant at that
time that Dr. Thomas Young had already done it,
proved the undulatory theory of light. A year or
so later, Arago published his Recueil d 1 Observations
geodesiques, astronomiques, et physiques. His next
work was in the department of electro-magnetism,
in which he discovered the development of mag-
netism by rotation.
Two visits made to England gave him early rec-
The Scientific Period. 235
ognition abroad. He also acquired special renown
as a writer by the eloges which he delivered in his
capacity of Perpetual Secretary of the Academy.
These biographical sketches have great literary
merit. He also took part in the political move-
ments of his time ; held office as a republican min-
ister ; was an actor in the revolutions of 1830 and
1848 ; and refused to take the oath of allegiance to
Louis Napoleon on the establishment of the Second
Empire.
His chief works were the Astronomic populaire
and the Notices scientifiques et biographiques, in
which the clear style, the precise and rapid de-
scriptive power, and the tact in putting salient
points in a picturesque grouping have contributed
to render science at once attractive and intelligible
to the ordinary reader.
Louis Joseph Gay-Lussac (1778-1850), the great
chemist and physicist, is naturally named in the
same breath with Arago. He was born at St.
Leonard, in the department of Upper Vienne. He
early worked, in concert with Biot and Alexander
von Humboldt, on magnetic and chemical prob-
lems. In 1808, he announced his discovery of the
law of volumes for gases. By Napoleon he was
directed to give special attention to chemical inves-
tigations ; and, with The'nard, he published the re-
sults of these inquiries in the Recherches Physico-
chimiqncs. His discoveries belong to a history of
chemical progress, and need not detain us here.
He continued his scientific work uninterruptedly
after the Restoration, and in 1839 was made a
peer of France.
Augustin Jean Fresnel (1788-1827) was born at
Broglie, in the department of Eure. Receiving a
thorough education as an engineer, he was employed
by the government in that capacity until 1815. He
was busy during the Hundred Days in making in-
vestigations into the polarization of light. Una-
ware of what Young had published on the subject
236 French Literature.
of the transmission of light, he too proved th<
undulatory theory, refuting the corpuscular theory
advanced by Newton. His chief work was the
memoir jointly produced by himself and Arago on
this subject.
Fourier, whom Arago succeeded in the secre-
taryship of the Academy of Sciences, was eminent
as a mathematician. He must be carefully distin-
guished from Fourier the Socialist.
Jean Baptiste Joseph, Baron Fourier (1768-1830),
was born at Auxerre. After completing his educa-
tion in military schools, he accompanied Napoleon to
Egypt, and wrote the fine historical introduction to
the Description de VEyyple. As prefet of the de-
partment of Isere, he drained the marshes in Bour-
goin, near Lyon, which had long been an engineer-
ing problem. After the Eestoration, he devoted
himself wholly to scientific research, producing the
Theorie Analytique de la Chaleur, the Memoire sur
les Temperatures du Globe Terrestre et des Espaces
Planetaires, and a work published after his death,
entitled Analyse des Equations Determinees.
Guillaume, Baron Dupuytren (1777-1835), famous
as surgeon and anatomist, was born at Pierre-
Bumere, in Limousin. He was not only a skillful
practitioner, but also the inventor of methods of
surgical operation and of valuable instruments.
He wrote little, however, his chief works being his
Lemons or ales de Clinique Chirurgicale faites a
V Hotel- Dieu, and his Triate Theorique et Pratique
des Blessures par Armes de Guerre.
To these must be added the elder Ampere.
Andre Marie Ampere (1775-1836), born at Lyon,
was a scientist of great merit. His electro-dynamic
theory and his early suggestion of the identity of
electricity with magnetism have set him high in
the roll of savants. His father perished under the
guillotine in 1793. Young Ampere devoted him-
self then wholly to the study of nature. His first
work was an essay Sur la TJieorie Matliematique du
The Scientific Period. 237
a calculation of the chances in gaming. The
results of his studies in electricity appeared in his
Recueil cT Observations Electro-dynamiques, and his
Theorie des Phenome'nes Electro-dynamiques. An
account of his son, so famous as a philologist, must
be reserved for another part of this sketch.
The Michaux, father and son, may well close
this list of scientists.
Andre Michaux (1746-1802) studied under the
botanist Jussieu and the astronomer Lemonnier.
He traveled for botanical purposes in England, in
the region of the Pyrenees, and, later, into Persia.
There he was so fortunate as to cure the Shah of a
dangerous disease, and hence the two years he spent
in Persia were spent to great advantage. Later
still, he traveled in North America at the expense
of the government; but, on his way back, was ship-
wrecked, and lost most of his specimens. The
Directory did not treat him well, and in 1800 he
sailed for Madagascar, still intent on botanical re-
searches. There he died, two years after. His
chief works were Histoire des Chenes de TAmerique
Septentrionale, a work on the flora of North
America.
His son, Franyois Andre Michaux (1770-1855),
visited this country three times on governmental
service. His chief work was Histoire des Arbres
fores tiers de VAmerique Septentrionale. He suc-
ceeded in introducing a number of our forest trees
into France.
Another botanist, Ambroise Marie Francois Jo-
seph Beauvois de Palisot (1752-1820), ought also to
be named here. He had adventures in Africa and San
Domingo. His works were Flore d'Oicare et de
Benin, Insects recueillies en Afrique et en Amerique,
and Muscoloyie, ou Traite sur les Mousses.
Eminent as a naturalist, especially in ichthyol-
ogy, was Bernard Germain Etienne de Laville,
Count de Lacepede (1756-1825), a friend of Buf-
fon's. He produced works on the natural history
238 French Literature.
of Reptiles, of Fishes, of the Cetacea, and of Man.
An elegant writer, and an accomplished musician,
he added to these an aesthetic work, La Poetique de
la Musique. He also wrote two romances. In his
habits simple and domestic, kind and amiable in
social intercourse, he was an honor to the great body
of scientists which France produced in this age.
Tlie Socialists and their Contemporaries. 239
XVII.
THE SOCIALISTS AND THEIR CONTEMPORARIES.
IF this was eminently a period of scientific ad-
vance, it was also as markedly a period of social-
istic speculation, based upon a materialistic philos-
ophy. The metaphysics of Condillac and Helvetius
being in vogue, that school of thought which looks
to the physiological nature of man as accounting for
all his faculties worked out steadily its logical re-
sults. The chief exponents of this philosophy were
Cabanis and Volney.
Pierre Jean Georges Cabanis (1757-1808) was
born at Cosnac, in the department of the Lower
Charente. A liberal in politics and a friend of
Mirabeau, he took* a prominent part in the revolu-
tionary period, but abhorred the extremes to
which his party went. His philosophical work,
written from the standpoint of his medical studies,
was entitled Rapports du Physique et du Moral de
THornme. He traces all ideas to sensation, and re-
gards the brain as performing its functions under
identically the same laws as those which regulate
the processe of digestion.
Some years after the death of Cabanis, his friend,
De.stutt de Tracy, put his system into more detailed
metaphysical form, in his Elements d 1 Ideologic.
Antoine Louis Claude Destutt de Tracy, Comte de
Tracy (1754-1836), was a sharer in the councils of
the revolutionary party in 1789, served the Empire
as Senator, and opposed re-actionary measures after
the Restoration. Besides his metaphysical work
and several writings on political economy, he pro-
duced able Commentaires sur 'IS Esprit des Lois' de
Montesquieu, in 1828,
240 French Literature.
The most pronounced of the materialists, in car-
rying the metaphysical doctrine to its legitimate
results in the field of religious thought, was Volney,
the ardent traveler and student of Eastern tongues.
Constantin Fra^ois Chassebceuf, Comte de
Volney (1757-1820), was born at Craon, in Anjou.
He assumed the name of Volney, in addition to the
family name of Chassebceuf, after reaching man-
hood, just as Arouet had assumed that of Voltaire.
After attaining a thorough education and studying
successively both law and medicine, he went travel-
ing in Egypt and Syria, having inherited a suffi-
cient fortune from his mother. The work of
Travels which he published on his return gained
him great reputation. He took an active part in
the great Eevolution, was imprisoned in 1793, and
only set free by the fall of Robespierre. Soon after,
he published his famous work, Les Ruines, in which
he set forth his political and religious creed, the
latter being a disbelief in all religions. His con-
tribution to the materialistic philosophy was his
Catechisme, which teaches that morality is a purely
physical science, to be mastered by the same meth-
ods as the other natural sciences. He was made
professor in the ficole Normale, and his brilliant
discourses were eagerly listened to ; but that school
was soon suppressed, and he came over to this
country, returning to France, however, after a few
years' absence. Napoleon had once regarded him
with favor ; but, as he opposed the Empire, he was
always during its existence sneered at by the
Emperor as one of the "ideologists," who, whatever
their abilities, were impracticable. He was forced
to keep his seat in the Senate, but his work was
mainly literary, most of his writings, indeed, being
purely linguistic. After the Restoration, he was
called to the House of Peers, having already been
made Count by Napoleon.
A direct outcome of these ideas in philosophy
was that school of socialistic thought which ex-
Vhe Socialists and their Contemporaries. 2-il
pounded its views in the doctrines of Saint-Simon
and Charles Fourier.
Claude Henri, Comte de Saint-Simon (1760-
1825), was born at Paris of a family that boasted
descent from Charlemagne through the Counts of
Vermandois. He was cursed from early youth
with the same inordinate pride which characterized
his singular kinsman of an earlier generation, the
Due de Saint-Simon. His disciples declare that
before he was seventeen, he was used to have his
valet wake him up every morning with the words :
" Arise, my Lord Count, you have great things to
do." He received a fair education, D'Alembert
being one of his teachers. He served when quite
young among the French volunteers under "Wash-
ington, reaching the rank of colonel, and distin-
guishing himself at the siege of Yorktown. Made a
prisoner while on his way home, he was taken to
Jamaica, where he remained until the declaration
of peace. Two years later, he resigned from the
army, traveled in Holland and Spain, took a warm
interest in various industrial schemes, came back to
France on the outbreak of the Revolution and voted
for the abolition of titles of nobility,butin the main
took no share in the tumults of the period.
He bought up confiscated property, began to
conceive his project of establishing a new social
system, undertook the study of the sciences by
listening to the talk of learned professors, married,
and lavished in profuse hospitalities the fortune he
had made by speculation. It was at this time that
he is said to have visited Madame de Stael at
Coppet and proposed marriage to her, having first
divorced his wife, addressing the Baroness in these
strange words : " Madame, you are the most extra-
ordinary woman in the world, as I am the most
extraordinary man in it ; we should without doubt
have a child more extraordinary still." But the
lady treated it as a jest.
Finding himself by this time in want of means,
16
242 French Literature.
he published at Geneva a Lettre d*un Habitant de
Geneve a ses Contemporains, proposing the found-
ing of a subscription list for the benefit of men of
genius. As this brought in no funds and he began
to suffer great privations, his career would have
soon been cut short by starvation, had not Diard, an
old friend, taken pity on him and given him shelter
in his house. Here he produced his Introduction
aux Travaux Scientifiques du Dix-nouvieme Siecle.
Diard's death plunged him again into misery, and
his sufferings forced him to write to Cuvier and
others: "I am dying of hunger. For a fortnight
my only fare has been bread and water. I work
without fire, and I have had to part with even my
clothes to get means to continue my work."
It is not easy to get at the cause of his failure to
take advantage of the great name he bore, when
the Kestoration had brought back the prestige of
the old nobility. His disciples claim that he
scorned such vulgar ambition. Others suppose
that he had offended too deeply to win forgiveness.
In 1819, he put forth a pamphlet called Parabole,
reflecting bitterly on the aristocracy. For this he
was indicted and narrowly escaped severe punish-
ment. But he had already won admirers and
followers. Augustin Thierry assisted him in pre-
paring his Reorganisation de la Societe Europeenne.
His disciples also helped him in his IS Industrie ou
Discussions Politiques, Morales, et Philosophiques,
the third volume being by Comte. To these suc-
ceeded Le Systtme Industriel and Le Catechisme
Industriel. His publications having exhausted his
finances, he tried to commit suicide by firing a
pistol at his head. He lost an eye, but recovered
life and reason. He now wrote his most remark-
able book, Le Nouveau Christianisme. In this
work, he claims that all his ideas on progressive
social development are based on the words of Jesus
Christ, that Christianity has been cramped and
distorted by rigid dogmas and ecclesiastical organ-
The Socialists and their Contemporaries. 243
izations, that Protestantism and Catholicism alike
have gone astray from the purpose of the Founder,
that the great duty of humanity is to ameliorate
the condition of that vast majority the poor.
After finishing this work, Saiut-Sirnon eank into
a languor, and died. Rodrigues, Comte, and others
of his disciples were around him in his last mo-
ments, and reported his dying utterances with the
same spirit of reverence with which Plato and
Xenophon recorded those of Socrates. Soon after
his death, the periodical he had hoped to establish,
Le Pro'lucteur, appeared. Olinde Rodrigues was
editor ; the contributors were Bazard, Enfantin,
Cerclet, Buchez, Michel Cavalier, Carnot, Fournel,
Barroult, Chasles, Duveyrier, Annand Carrel,
Reynaud, Pierre Leroux, Saint-Cheron, Gueroult,
and Charton. It died soon, however, for want of
funds.
Some of the leading Saint-Simonians then began
to put forth the new doctrines in lectures They
proposed the adoption of a system of rewards as a
reform in jurisprudence, the abolition of the death-
pena'lty and the substitution of reformatory dis-
cipline, the adoption of civil-service reform, the
enfranchisement of women, the abolition of mar-
riage, and the eventual division of property according
to the share of each man or woman in promoting
social welfare.
All agitation, though its aim be destruction of
existing organizations, tends to produce organiza-
tion of its own. The Saint-Simonians soon or-
ganized a hierarchy, claiming that they were restor-
ing the true religion and that Saint-Simon was a
veritable prophet. They even adopted a peculiar
costume.
When the Revolution of 1830 came, Bazard and
Enfantin, the chiefs of the new Church, had all
Paris placarded with a scheme for the salvation and
regeneration of France. Members of the govern-
ment, however, denounce' I their sect as advocates
244 French Literature.
for community of property and community of
women. Proselytes to the new doctrine meantime
became numerous. The prospects of the society
seemed brighter than ever, when discord came, at
the first blush of prosperity, to blight all the fair
promise. Bazard died broken-hearted. Enfantin
estranged many of the best men in the society.
The funds were squandered in the great " Festival
of Sanctification." Government prosecuted the
chiefs, and troops were sent to break up their
meetings and shut up their churches and schools.
Enfantin retired to his house at Menilmontant with
forty disciples, put forth from that retreat his
Catechisme et Gendse du Saint- Simonisme, admitted
the public to witness the worship of the sect, and
drew down once more the interference of the police.
After a short imprisonment, he went to Egypt with
some few followers. Returning in the course of
two years, he settled in the neighborhood of Lyon.
Appointed in his later years a member of the Scien-
tific Commission for Algiers, he wrote on his return
from Africa a sensible book, called Colonisation de
TAlyerie. He also appeared before the public after
the Revolution of 1848, editing a paper in which
he again brought forward Saint-Simonian doc-
Barthe'lemy Prosper Enfantin (179 6-1864) had
fought, when a mere boy, against the allies on the
heights of Montmartre and St. Chaumont, and had
on this account been expelled from the ficole
Poly technique. His chief works were Doctrine d(
Saint-Simon (written with others), Traite de V Econ-
omic Politique,La Religion Saint- Simonienne, Moral,
Le Livre Nonveau, Correspondance Philosophique
et Religieuse, Correspondance Politique, and La Vie
Eternelle, Passee, Presente, Future.
Charles Fourier was before the public in advance
of Saint-Simon. But it was not until the Saint-
Simonians had attracted the attention of the public,
that Fourier's speculations excited remark.
The Socialists and their Contemporaries. 245
Fran9ois Marie Charles Fourier (1772-1837) was
oorn at Besangon. His father, who was a merchant,
gave him a good education. He then lived, as mer-
chant's clerk, at Lyon, Rouen, Marseille, and Bor-
deaux. He also traveled on commercial business in
Holland and Germany. Being a close observer and
having a remarkable memory, he acquired a vast
amount of useful knowledge during these journeys.
The fine fortune left him by his father was lost in
the Revolution. He was forced into two year's ser-
vice in the cavalry, which bad health released him
from, at the end of that time. Going into business
again, he employed his leisure in studying social
problems.
His books, developing his system, were Theor'ie
des Quatre Mouvements et des Destinees Generales,
Traite d 1 Association Domestique Ayricole, Le Nou*
veau Monde Industrial et Societaire, Pidyes et Char-
latanisme des Deux Sectes Saint-Simon et Owen,
promettant V association et progre~s, and La Famse In-
dustrie, Morcelee Repugnante, MensonyZre, et I An-
tidote, T Industrie Naturelle, Combinee, Attrayante,
Veridique, donnant Quadruple Produit.
Fourier based his system upon a wild theory of
the constitution of the universe, which need not be
stated here, as he himself bitterly complained that
these speculative notions were selected for ridicule,
while his main scheme was ignored by the critics.
This, stated in his own words, was a practical sys-
tem embodying " the art of organizing a well-com-
bined industry, from which will result morality,
harmony amongst the three classes^the rich, the
poor, and the middle class the impossibility of
revolutions, universal unity, and perfectibility." He
proposed an equal division of men, the smallest sub-
division being a group, comprising from twelve to
sixteen families: from twenty-four to thirty-two of
these groups were to constitute a phalanx. Each
phalanx, comprising about 1800 people, was to live
in a building called a Phalanstery, in the middle of
246 French Literature.
a large and highly cultivated domain, supplied with,
workshops, studios, and all the appliances requisite
for industr}', art, comfort, and amusement. His cal-
culation was that such a Phalanstery would not
require greater expense than four hundred cottages
in an ordinary French parish of the same number
of inhabitants, and that a well-built Phalanstery
would outlast such cottages six or seven times. The
institution was to be a grand co-operative concern,
thus minimizing expenses. Distribution was to be
regulated according to the capital brought into the
common stock and to the labor performed. So
many Phalansteries were to form a city, and these
again one great metropolis; the Bosphorus being in
his view the most convenient site for this metrop-
olis. There were also to be special corporations,
called Industrial Armies, commanded by those ex-
celling in each branch of industry, art, or science,
and destined to march to each point where their
services might be immediately required, whether to
build, to dig canals, to drain lands, or for any other
great work needing concentrated action. The chief of
the whole federal body was to be styled " Omniarch."
Fourier's idea, it will be seen, is that of compre-
hending all humanity in one great industrial asso-
ciation, the members of which are all to hold shares
in the common stock a monster co-operative so-
ciety, in short.
Fourier's views were taken up after his death,
and attained more importance eventually than any
other socialist system. La Phalange, a periodical
edited by Victor Considerant, author of La Destinee
Sociale, became the exponent of Fourierism. With
the financial aid of a young Englishman, named
Young, Considerant established in 1882 a Phalan-
stery on the model planned by his master ; but the
experiment failed. Later in life, he established a
similar community in Texas ; but this also proved
abortive.
Both the Saint-Si monians and the Fourierites
The Socialists and their Contemporaries. 247
have passed away. But the great question of the
organization of labor remains as difficult to settle as
ever. The worst forms of discontent with the rela-
tions subsisting between capital and labor have been
the crude and brutal Communism and Nihilism of
recent times. These, however, can hardly be said
to have a literature.
Having now treated of those philosophical and
socialist elements which sprung up in the soil of
the French Revolution and produced literary fruit
either during the Empire or soon after, I find it
fitting to proceed to the stage "as it was under
Napoleon.
As has been said, the Emperor favored the stage,
at least so far as the ancient tragedy was concerned.
Plays on the classic model and on classic subjects
were the order of the day ; and they had the great
advantage of being acted by that great tragedian,
Talma, ably assisted by Mademoiselle Duchesnois.
The play-writers of this period were Andrieux,
Raynouard, Legouve, Arnault, fitienne, Desaugiers,
and Lemercier.
Fran9ois Guillaume Jean Stanislas Andrieux
(1759-1833) was born at Strasbourg. After being
a short time in public life, he was removed by
Napoleon from the presidency of the Tribunal, and
then devoted himself to literature. His chief pro-
ductions were the comedies, Les fitourdis, Anaxi-
mandre, Molibre avec.ses Amis, Le Vieux Fat, the
tragedy of Brutus, and some pretty tales in verse,
of which Le Afeunier de Sans-Soiici is the best. As
Professor of Literature in the College de France,
he charmed his classes by his easy, familiar style
of lecturing. Some of his lectures were published
under the title of La Philosophic des Belles Lettres.
As Perpetual Secretary of the Academy, he was an
active worker in the preparation of its famous
Dictionary.
Fran9ois Juste Marie Raynouard (1761-1836),
born at Brignoles in Provence, attained greater
248 French Literature.
fame as a philologist than as a dramatic writer.
After practising law with great success ; escaping
during the Revolutionary troubles the fate of his
friends, the Girondists, by being forgotten in prison ;
and, on the fall of Robespierre and his own release
from confinement, resuming the practice of his pro-
fession, he fir.ally retired from it with a competency
secured, and, betaking himself to Paris, gave him-
self up to literary work. Besides a poem called
Socrate au Temple d 1 Aglaure, lie produced a number
of plays. These were Eleonore de Bavibre, Les
Templiers, Sctpio, Les $tats de Blois, Don Carlos,
Charles 1., Debora, and Jeanne $ Arc a Orleans. Of
these, Les Templiers was the most successful.
Before the Restoration, he had begun to take an
absorbing interest in the Provencal language and
the old literature of his native country ; and to the
study of these he devoted himself through the rest
of his life. His researches have proved very valu-
able to linguists, however subsequent investigation
has been forced to modify and even wholly set
aside some of his theories. His chief linguistic
works were Elements de la Orammaire Romane,
Choix de Poesies Originales des Troubadours, Oram-
maire comparee des Langues de VEurope Latine
dans leur Rapports avec la Langue des Troubadours,
Observations Philologiques sur le Roman du Rou,
Influence de la Langue Romane, Lexique Roman
ou Dictionnaire de la Langue des Troubadours.
Of Marie Joseph de Chenier I have already given
an account, in connection with the sketch of his
brother Andre, who perished in the Revolution.
Here, it need only be mentioned that he takes rank
among the most distinguished of the play-writers
of the period.
Gabriel Marie Jean Baptiste Legouve' (1764-
1812), born at Paris, devoted himself wholly to
literary pursuits. Among his poems, La Sepulture,
Les Souvenirs, La Melancolie, and La Merite des
Ferames, the last is a graceful tribute to the ex-
The Socialists and their Contemporaries. 249
cellences of the sweeter part of humanity. His
successful tragedies were La Mort d'Abel, Epicharis
et Neron, and La Mort de Henri IV.
Antoine Vincent Arnault (1766-1834) produced
a great number of tragedies, the best known of
which are Marius a Minturnes, Les Veniticns, and
Germanicus. His residence in Venice on diplo-
matic business helped him to make his " Venetians"
effective. Napoleon was greatly pleased with this
play, and his favor was prejudicial to Arnault when
the Bourbons came back. Arnault also wrote in
prose Vie Politique et Militaire de Napoleon, and
Les Memoires d'un Sexayenaire. He was one of the
contributors to the Nouvelle Bioyraphie des Con-
temporains. His Fables have some merit from their
vivacity and mischievous wit.
Charles Guillaime lltienne (1770-1845), born
in the village of Chamouilly, came young to Paris,
and plunged at once into literary efforts. A lively
comedy, Brueys et Palaprat, brought him immedi-
ate reputation. He was censor of the press under
Napoleon, but, losing his post at the Restoration,
became an opposition journalist. After the Revolu-
tion of 1830, he was made a peer of France. Of
his many dramatic works, the finest are Les Deux
Gendres, one of the best comedies of the Empire,
and Joconde, a work that was produced for the Op-
e*ra Comique.
Marc-Antoine Desaugiers (1772-1827) was a
joint-producer, with many writers for the stage, of
comedies, operas, and vaudevilles ; but he is best
known by his songs. They have a gaiety so fresh
and companionable, so much dash, and so hearty a
swing, that they have always been popular. His
being like Tom Moore, in singing as well as writing
his songs, gave the same kind of personal charm to
his society. He warmly befriended Beranger, his
country's greatest song- writer, in the beginning of
the latter's career.
Nepomucene Lemercier (1772-1840) was born
250 French Literature.
at Paris. His chief plays were the tragedies of
Agamemnon and Fredegonde et Brunehaut, the
dramas of Richelieu and Pinto, ou la Journee des
Dupes, and some comedies which had but slight
success. A very remarkable work of his was Ins
satirical poem called La Panhypocrisiaae. He also
put forth a Cours de Literature Dramatique, which
gives evidence of fine powers of observation, as
well as of a delicacy of taste far from being so
perceptible in his dramatic works.
I have mentioned, above, his dramas separately
from his tragedies ; and this is a fitting place to ex-
plain what the French mean by the Drame as dis-
tinguished from the Tragedie. The whole differ-
ence may perhaps be best summed up in the state-
ment that the Tragedie is the play of the classical
taste and is subject to the rules of classic art ;
while the Drame is the play of the romantic school,
disregarding the unities and combining at will the
elements of comedy with those of tragedy.
The other literary men of this period, not hitherto
mentioned, were the historians Daru, Michaud, and
Sismondi; the poets, Fontanes, Viennet, and
Millevoye ; and some of the members of the Bona-
parte family, including Napoleon himself.
Pierre Antoine Noel Bruno, Comte Daru (1767-
1829) was born at Montpellier. He entered the
army while still a mere boy. Hs was one of the
many prisoners of the Reign of Terror whom the
fall of Robespierre released. During his imprison-
ment he employed himself in translating Horace,
subsequently publishing this Traduction en Vers
des Poesies d'Horace. At the same time appeared
his Cleopedie, on la Theorie des Reputations en
Litterature. Napoleon held him in high favor, and
employed him as one of his most trusted ministers.
After the Restoration, he devoted himself wholly
to literary work. His chief productions were the
Histoire de la Repiiblique de Venise, the Histoire de
Bretagne, his poetical Discours sur les Facultes
The Socialists and their Contemporaries. 251
Oe I'Homme. his Discours sur la Liberte de la Presse,
his Elopes, and a criticism of Chateaubriand's
" Genius of Christianity."
Count Daru's great work was his History of
Venice, in seven volumes. He had peculiar facilities
for making this a thorough work. The removal
of the republic's archives by the French revolution-
ary government to Paris, and Daru's position as
Napoleon's favored minister, enabled him to make
use of abundant materials which had hitherto been
carefully kept concealed from the world. De
Vericour gives this history very high praise for
accuracy and judgment, though he remarks that
the style lacks animation.
Joseph Michaud (1767-1839) was born in Savoy,
and wrote in early life a Voyage au Mont Blanc.
Finding his way to Paris through the influence of
the Comtesse de Eeauharnais, he there became an
associate of the revolutionary leaders; but, remain-
ing at heart a conservative, lie ventured after the
fiill of Eobespierre to advocate in La Quotidienne
the restoration of the monarchy. Condemned first
to death and then to exile instead, he set out to
find a refuge in the Jura mountains. Eeturning to
Paris in 1799, he published some years later his
Printemps d'un Proscrit, a poem which has some
fine passages. In partnership with a younger
brother, who was a printer, he undertook next the
Biographic Moderne, which comprised sketches of
the revolutionary leaders. On the return of the
Bourbons, he sided heartily with the government
party, published Le dernier Kegne de Bonaparte^
resumed the editorship of La Quotidienne, and
began to write his great work, L'Histoire des
Croisades.
His friend, Madame Cottin, who was then writing
her novel of the Crusading days, Malek Adhel, having
begged him to look up some authorities for her, he
became interested in the subject, and his study of
the period ended in his seriously setting to work
252 French Literature.
at a history of it. De Vericour gives him credit
for a graceful, fluent, and figurative style, but
charges him with great lack of perspicuity and
accuracy.
Michaud's other works were his Correspondance
d 1 Orient, his Histoire de V Empire de Mysore, a Col-
lection de Memoires sur V Histoire de France, and the
Biibliotheque des Croisades.
Jean Charles Leonard Simonde de Sismondi
(1773-1842) was born, of a house sprung from
Italian ancestry, at Geneva, in Switzerland. His
education was still in progress when the necessities
of his parents forced him to enter a counting-house
at Lyon. He did his work fairly, and in after-life
regarded this practical training as of great value to
him. The Revolution came, and he had to return
to Geneva. But the family soon ceased to feel safe
there, and took refuge in England, soon however to
return. Still feeling uneasy, they bought a little
farm near Pescia, in Tuscany. Here Sismondi be-
gan to prepare materials for his History of the Italian
Republics. Meanwhile, he had seen something of
the society which gathered around Madame de
Stae'l, and had been classed by Napoleon as one of
those " ideologists " whom he so constantly sneered
at.
Before his history was finished, he put forth a
work on political economy entitled De la Richesse
commerciale. His Histoire des Republiques itali-
ennes, in sixteen volumes, when it did appear, estab-
lished his reputation. This was confirmed by his
Histoire de la Litterature du Midi de V Europe, and
his greatest work, the Histoire des Frangais. De
Vericour eulogizes his learning, research, and
penetration ; the purity of his style ; and the
picturesqueness with which he has succeeded in in-
vesting the scenes of his first subject, the Italian
city-commonwealths. But he charges him with
inequality of style and with the obtrusion upon the
narrative of philosophical reflections which break
The Socialists and their Contemporaries. 253
the spell of illusion for the reader and chill his in-
terest. Guizot also, in his History of Civilization,
while criticising Sismondi's History of the French
closely, gives it very high praise.
We turn now to the poets. Louis, Marquis de
Fontanes (1757-1821), sprung from an old Huguenot
family of Languedoc, was born at Niort. He early
won at Paris a reputation for elegant and graceful
poetry, publishing there, before the Eevolution, Le
Cri de Mon Coeur, Le Verger, and translations from
English poetry. He took the popular side when
the great crash came, became famous as an orator,
warmly admired Napoleon, and kept his favor to
the last. After the Restoration, he was raised to
the peerage by Louis XVIII.
Jean Louis Guillaume Yiennet was born at
Beziers in 1777. Intended for a priest, he became
a soldier on the outbreak of the Revolution, and
after the Restoration betook himself to literature.
He was successful S journalist, satirist, dramatist,
and romancer. Among his works may be named
La Philippide, his Promenade philosophique au
Cimetiere du Pere La Chaise, his Satires, his
Epitres, his play of Michel Bremond, and his
Fables.
Charles Hubert Millevoye (1780-1816) attempted
every branch of poetry, but did not succeed in
works of the highest order. In little poems of
pure sentiment he proved himself a poetic artist of
exquisite charm and grace. La Chute des Feuilles
is considered his finest poem. Among the others,
in which his chaste and melancholy sweetness show
to best advantage, are L' Amour maternel, UAn-
niversaire, La Demeure abandonnee, Le Poele mou-
rant, and Les Souvenirs. His dramatic attempts
and his more ambitious poems, the Charlemagne
and the Alfred, will not be remembered.
The Ernperor himself has some claim to a place
in the literature of his age. Napoleon Bonaparte
(1769-1821), born at Ajaccio in the island of
254: French Literature.
Corsica shortly after it fell under French rule,
received a French education and used the language
always with power, if not with accuracy. The
great events of his life belong to history, and need
not be recounted here. His literary works consist
of tliose brilliantly eloquent proclamations to his
soldiers and bulletins of his campaigns, which are
certainly the productions of a very high order of
oratorical genius; his messages and addresses to
various state bodies ; his correspondence private
and public ; and his Memoires historiques, written
under his dictation at St. Helena. In these cam-
paign memoirs, his style is simple, precise, and
direct.
His brother, Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Canino
(1775-1840), was also born at Ajaccio and educated
in France. He was President of the Council of
Five Hundred, when that 18th Brumaire dawned
which was to see his military brother all powerful
over the destinies of France ; and it was to Lucien's
help on that occasion that Napoleon owed his suc-
cess. For a time he continued docile to the will of
the more imperious Bonaparte ; but, opening his
eyes at last to Napoleon's arbitrary character and
boundless ambition, he began to oppose him.
Matters were brought to a crisis by Lucien's re-
fusal to divorce his second wife, Madame Jouber-
thon, the widow of a stockbroker, even for the
bribe of the crowns of Italy and Spain. Retiring
to his estate of Canino, in the province of Viterbo,
Lucien devoted himself to art, science, and litera-
ture. It was by the Pope that he was created
Prince of Canino and Musignano, and Rome was
his favorite resort. Pursued by Napoleon's hostil-
ity, he at last set sail for America, but was cap-
tured by the English and taken to England. On
Napoleon's retirement to Elba, Lucien was allowed
to return to Rome, where he had been living at the
time of his attempt to get to America. His
abilities might have given him a fair place in
The Socialists ami lh>ir Contemporaries. 255
literature, had he not made the mistake of trying
to produce epic poems. His Charlemagne ou Vfiglise
delivree, in twentj'-four cantos, which was written
and published in London ; and his La Cyrneide ou
La Corse Sauvee, were both tedious efforts. The
pretended memoirs of Lucien are not considered
authentic by modern critics.
Lucien's eldest son, Charles Lucien Jules Laurent
Bonaparte (1803-1857), born at Paris, won some
fame as a naturalist, and especially as an orni-
thologist. He wrote one or two works on natural
history. Another son, Louis Lucien Bonaparte,
attained some eminence as a chemist, mineralogist,
and linguist.
Louis Bonaparte (1778-1846), Napoleon's third
brother, whom he made King of Holland, and
forced to marry his adopted daughter, Hortense
Engenie Beauharnais, lived in retirement after the
fall of the Empejor, and formally separated from
his wife. This brother of one emperor and father
of another wrote a novel, descriptive of Dutch
manners and customs, Afarie, ou les Hollandaises ;
Documents sur le Gouvernement de la Hollande;
Histoire du Parlement Anglais ; and a criticism of
Norvins' Napoleon.
Hortense Eugenie Beauharnais (1783-1837), the
daughter of Josephine by her first husband, Gen-
eral Beauharnais, was born at Paris. Her father
was one of the early victims of the Revolution.
Her mother was protected by Barras, and after her
marriage with Napoleon, soon rose to the highest
position in the State. Hortense perferred General
Desaix, but the will of Napoleon forced her to marry
Louis and become Queen of Holland. After suffer-
ing great anxieties about her two sons during the
risings of the Carbonari in Italy, where one of the
young men died, she settled permanently in the
residence at Arenenberg, in the canton Thurgau,
which had been her habitual resort since the over-
throw of Napoleon. She was a good song- writer.
256 French Literature.
Her best known song is that Partantpour la Syrie,
which her son afterwards made the national air of
France. She also wrote La Heine Hortense en
Italic, en France, et en Angleterre, pendant I'Annee
1831.
In connection with the Bonapartes, may be men-
tioned Madame de Remusat, whose Memoirs, pub-
lished by her grandson in 1879, give so intimate a
view of the Napoleonic court.
Claire Elisabeth Jeanne Gravion de Vergennes,
Comtesse de Remusat (1780-1821) was a grand-
niece of Louis XYI.'s minister, Vergennes. Her
career is fresh in the minds of the readers of the
Memoirs and Letters lately before the public. She
also wrote an essay Sur V Education des Femmes.
The sprightly but superficial Memoirs of the
Duchesse d'Abrantes, and the Memoirs of Las
Cases should also find a place here. The title of
the well-known work by Marshal Junot's wife is
Memoires ou Souvenirs Mstoriques sur Napoleon, la
Revolution, le Directoire, le Consulat V Empire, et la
Restauration, and is certainly full of promise, but
there is really little in the book of historic value.
Emmanuel Auguste Dieudonne, Comte de Las
Cases (1766-1842), was born in the chateau of Las
Cases, near Revel. He was in the naval service
when the Revolution broke out, served later in the
Prince of Conde's army, was an exile in England,
supporting himself by teaching, and came back to
France on Napoleon's settling a firm government.
Getting the Emperor's attention by his fine
Atlas historique, he was employed by him. After
Waterloo, on the dethroned Emperor's sentence of
imprisonment, Las Cases offered to share his fate.
During his stay at St. Helena, he acted as aman-
uensis for Napoleon ; but he was removed some
time before the Emperor's death. After that event,
he published the Memorial de Sainte-Helbne. He
was in public life for a time after the Revolution
of 1830.
The Socialists and their Contemporaries. 257
To these may be added the Memoirs of the Comte
Miot de Melito, diplomatist under the Empire, and
an acute and cool observer of persons and events ;
as well as the Letters, recently published by Pallain,
of that singular being, the Machiavelli of modern
times, Charles Maurice de Talley rand-Peri gord,
Prince de Benevento, so often master of the destinies
of France, subtlest of diplomatists, and keenest of
wits.
Some mention may be made here also of Memoirs
of a very different kind those of Vidocq, the de-
tective. Fran9ois-Jules Vidocq (1775-1850), born
at Arras, successively thief, swindler, soldier, galley-
slave, highwayman, informer, spy, chief of police,
and autobiograplier, put forth his book when Sue's
novel was most in vogue, with the title, Les Vrais
Mys&res de Paris. In these Memoirs of Vidocq
occurs a song in the flash dialect, which Marginn
translated into the corresponding English thieves'
dialect. Both versions may be found in the
"Noctes Ambrosianae."
17
258 French Literature.
XVIII.
AFTER THE RESTORATION.
THE philosophers and the socialist dreamers of
whom I have already spoken were an outcome of
the French Revolution. But there was at the same
time an under-current of thought and feeling, which
began shortly after the Restoration to take definite
form as a powerful re-action against the tendencies
and forces which at once produced and followed
the Revolution. Especially was there a re-action
against infidelity, helped into its earlier literary,
expression by the somewhat vague religious senti-
ment of Chateaubriand and the Protestant con-
victions of Madame de Stael, and carried to ultra-
montane extremes by Joseph De Maistre. Similar
views to those of De Maistre, but expressed more
temperately and with more emphasis given to the
political side of the question, were at about the
same time strongly brought forward by De Bonald.
Louis Gabriel Ambroise, Vicomte de Bonald
(1753-1840), was born at Monna, near Milhau, in
Aveyron. He was one of the emigrants, when the
fury of the Revolution burst upon society. His
first work of note, Theorie du Pouvoir Politique et
Religieux, foretold the Restoration. When Na-
poleon had established a strong government, De
Bonald returned to France, and entered the public
service. After the Restoration, he was raised to
the peerage by Louis XVIII. He refused to take
the oath of allegiance to the new government after
the Revolution of July. Besides the work men-
tioned above, he published Legislation Primitive,
and Recherches Philosophiques sur les Premiers
Objets des Connaissances Morales. His style is con-
After the Restoration. 259
fused, and his views, as already stated, were ex-
treme ; but he did good service against the mate-
rialism of the physiological school.
Another, but a much more gentle advocate of the
claims of the church than De Bonald, De Maistre,
or De Lamennais, was Pierre Simon Ballanche
(1776-1847). According to De Vericour, Ballanche
was as full of charity and Christian unction as Fene-
lon, and might be classed as a Catholic transcendental -
ist. He styles him " the most poetic philosopher and
prose writer of the nineteenth century," and states
that " all his works are marked by the most touch-
ing sympathy for his fellow-creatures ; and the en-
couragements he gives them glow as if with pro-
phetic fire." His works were Du Sentiment considere
dans la Litterature et dans les Arts, a prose poem
called Antigone, an essay Sur les Institutions sociales
dans leur Rapport av ec les Idees nouvelles, Le Vie.il-
lard et le Jeune Homme, a novel entitled Uhomme
sans Nom, the Vision d'Hebal, and, above all,
Palincjenesie Sociale.
But the greatest, and at one time apparently the
most hopeful movement in the bosom of the Catholic
Church, because it aimed at reconciling the author-
ity of the Church with the yearning of the age for
free government, was the Liberal Catholic move-
ment headed by Montalembert, De Lamennais, and
Lacordaire. Montalembert was much the youngest
of these; but his position, his genius, and his undy-
ing hopefulness of nature identify him with the
movement as its especial protagonist.
Charles Forbes, Comte de Montalembert (1810-
1870), was of an ancient family of Poitou. A bom
orator, and an admirer of the English Constitution,
of Burke and of Grattan, he was fated to spend his
life and his glowing energies in the tormenting task
of trying to reconcile his love of liberty with his
devotion to the Holy Roman Church, and to con-
tend in vain for a basis of compromise between the
church and the state.
260 French Literature.
His whole career was greatly influenced by those
two able men, the Abbe de Lamennais and the Pere
Lacordaire. These two men planned and published
UAvenir as the exponent of their views. Their
great object was to place the Church at the head
of the liberal movement. They were cordially
joined by Montalernbert. But it was not long before
they contrived to embroil themselves with both the
Government and the Church. UAvenir was con-
demned at Rome. Montalembert and Lacordaire
submitted , but De Lamennais broke away in wrath
from the Church, published his famous Paroles dun
Croyant, wildly and fiercely renouncing a body
which he now believed to be at war with liberty.
Montalembert turned to literature for solace, pub-
lished his Du Vandalisme en France, a plea for the
old cathedrals; and his Histoire de S. Elisabeth, a.
devout and enthusiastic study of holy life in the
" Ages of Faith." On reaching the age which per-
mitted his joining in the debates of the Chamber as
a peer of France, he began that wonderful oratorical
career in which his genius showed itself at its best.
Sainte-Beuve thus describes him :
"When he re-appeared in the Chamber, [his first ap-
pearance had been when he stood his trial before his peers
for opening a school in defiance of the law, along with
Lacordaire and De Coux.] he had the right to say any-
thing, to dare anything, so long as he retained that ele-
gance of aspect and diction which never forsook him. He
could utter with all freedom the most passionate pleadings
for that liberty which was the only excess of his youth.
He could develop without interruption those absolute
theories which from another mouth would have made the
Chamber shiver, but which pleased them from his. He
could even give free course to his mordant and incisive
wit, and make personal attacks with impunity upon poten-
tates and ministers. In one or two cases the Chancellor
called him to order for form's sake ; but the favor which
attends ability carried everything before it. His bitterness
and he was sometimes bitter from him seemed almost
After the Restoration. 261
amenity, the harshness of the meaning being disguised by
the elegance of his manner and his perfect grace."
In 1837, Montalembert married the beautiful
and accomplished daughter of Count Felix de Merode,
a nobleman of an ancient Belgian house, and with
her he lived a happy and contented home life, at
the same time enjoying as an orator many public
triumphs. He resolutely opposed to the last the
arbitrary measures of the Second Empire, and the
efforts of that party in the Church which aimed at
establishing the doctrine of Papal Infallibility,
though on his deathbed, soon after the success of
that party, he gave in his adhesion to what he said
he did not pretend to understand. Besides his works
already mentioned, he published, among other
writings, Les Moines d 1 Occident depute $. Benoit
jusqu 1 d S. Bernard, L'Eylise libre dans VEtat libre,
and Le Pape et Ed Pologne.
One of the most touching incidents in Monta-
lembert's life was that related of his daughter's
announcing to her parents her desire to become a
nun; and, on their tenderly seeking to know what
secret sorrow might be prompting the wish, her
pointing to a passage in one of her father's worka
in which he eloquently declared that blighted
hearts were a poor sacrifice to offer to God.
Hughes Felicite Robert de Lamennais (1782-
1854) was born at Saint Malo. He took the ton-
sure in 1811, going into the little seminary of Saint
Malo, and being ordained priest some years later
by the Bishop of Rennes. A tract against Na-
poleon obliged him to take refuge in England.
Other works of his had already given him some
reputation as an assailant of the materialistic phi-
losophy of the day ; but the appearance in 1817 of
the first volume of his Essai sur I 1 Indifference en
Matibre de Religion gave him at once European
celebrity. The remaining three volumes were
equally successful, and, when, he went to Rome,
262 French Literature.
Pope Leo XII. declared him to be " the last Father
of the Church." His later course I have already
described. After the Paroles d\m Croyant, which
proclaimed his rupture with the Church, he put
forth a series of works, advocating the most extreme
democratic doctrines. He ceased to believe with
the Church on many vital points, and tried to con-
struct from his natural lights a system of Christian
metaphysics. His most labored production of this
peroid was his Esquisse d'une Philosophic.
Jean Baptiste Henri Lacordaire (1802-1861) was
born at Eecey-sur-Ource, Cote-d'or, the son of a
village doctor. Montalembert, in his short biog-
raphy of Le Pbre Lacordaire, says :
" He had, like all the young people of his day, lost the
faith at school, and had not recovered it either at the law
school or the bar, in which he was enrolled for two years.
To all outward seeming, nothing distinguished him from
his contemporaries. He was a deist, as all the youth was
then ; he was, above all, liberal, like the whole of France,
but without excess. He had said it again and again : no
man or book was the instrument of his conversion. A sud-
den and secret flash of grace opened his eyes to the
nothingness of irreligion. In a single day he became
Christian, and the very next day from Christian he
wished to be priest."
He soon became famous as a great preacher, pro-
foundly in earnest and of a brilliant eloquence. I
have already the story of his association with Mont-
alembert and De Lamennais in the publication of
L'Avenir. From the time of the papal condemna-
tion of that journal, he devoted himself to his pul-
pit duties. His sermons at Notre Dame drew im-
mense audiences. He produced a Life of Saint-
Dominic, and, moved by his enthusiasm for that
order, became a Dominican friar. This led to his
preaching in different parts of France. After the
Eevolution of 1848, he for a short time went into
political life, as one of the representatives from
After tht Restoration. 263
Marseille. Preaching, at various times, again at
Notre-Dame, he finally gathered a number of his
sermons of both the earlier and later periods, and
published them under the title, Conferences de Notre
Dame de Paris. His Oraisons funebres are also
esteemed by French critics as worthy to be placed
beside those of the great preachers of the seven-
teenth century.
"We have now reached the point at which it will
be fitting to take up those metaphysical thinkers
who have mainly directed the thought of France
in the last generation. These are Cousin,
Jouffroy, Damiron, and Comte. Cousin was pre-
ceded by Eoyer-Collard, whose busy share in politi-
cal life has somewhat obscured his claims to notice
as a philosopher.
Pierre Paul Eoyer-Collard (1763-1845) was born
at Sompuis, Maine.- He was at first prominent in the
agitations of the Revolution, but was forced to live
in obscurity during the Reign of Terror, even follow-
ing the plough to escape the sharp-eyed messengers
of the Jacobins. When Napoleon came into power,
Royer-Collard was placed in the chair of philosophy
in the University of France, and devoted himself
with great singleness of purpose to the study of
metaphysics. He rejected the system of Condillac,
studied by preference the Scottish philosophers
Reid and Dugald Stewart and began that system
of eclecticism which Cousin afterwards developed
with so much brilliancy. The Restoration broke
in upon these studies, as Royer-Collard was soon
drawn into political life. After 1842, however, he
lived in retirement. He published little ; but his
influence on both political and philosophical
thought was very great. His library-room served
as a sort of salon in which were to be met men like
Cousin, Guizot, the Due de Broglie, Casimir Perier,
De Barante, Villemain, Ampere, and De Remusat.
His earnest and upright character, his moderate
and sensible views, the simplicity of his life, and
264 French Literature.
his love for books caused him to be highly esteemed
by such men as these.
Victor Cousin (1792-1867), the head of the school
of Eclectic Philosophy, was born at Paris, the son
of a clock-maker. He was at first Greek tutor in the
ficole Norm ale, but before long was appointed as-
sistant to Royer-Collard, and, on the retirement of
the latter from his professorship, became his suc-
cessor. He expounded the doctrines of the Scottish
metaphysicians with great clearness and power,
added to them with discreet eclecticism principles
borrowed from the great German thinkers Kant,
Fichte, Jacobi, and Schelling; and finally drew
largely from Hegel 'also, combining them all into a
symmetrical whole, equally brilliant and seductive
as seeming to harmonize views at first sight discord-
ant. His audiences were large and enthusiastic.
As a lecturer he was always a splendid success.
Eare lucidity of exposition, a style recalling tliat of
Plato, extraordinary powers of generalization, ad-
mirable taste and skill in illustrating the deepest
metaphysical subtleties from history, art, science,
and daily life, were qualities which gave a new
charm to a study commonly reputed dry and repul-
sive. He took some part in public life when the
Revolution of 1830 made his friend Guizot Prime
Minister. His chief works were the Histoire de la
Philosophie auXVIIP SiZcle; Fragments litter air es ;
Fragments philosophiques ; a translation of Plato ;
literary studies of Pascal, Jacqueline Pascal, and
J. J. Rousseau ; the Du Vrai, du Beau, et du Bien;
an Introduction a T Histoire de la Philosophie ; Etudes
sur les Femmes Illustres et la Societe du XVII 6
Sibcle ; Des Principes de la Revolution fran^aise ;
and Lemons de Philosophie sur Kant. His ablest
scholars were Jouffroy and Damiron.
Theodore Simon Jouffroy (1796-1842) became a
professor in the College de France. He published
translations of Reid and Stewart. His best known
original work is the Melanges Philosophiques.
After the Restoration. 265
Jean Philibert Damiron (1794-1862) was also a
Professor of Metaphysics, and published several
philosophical works, among them a Cours de Phil-
osophic and an essay on Philosophic en France an
19* Siecle. Another of Cousin's pupils was Louis
Eugene Marie Bautain (1796-1867), born at Paris.
He wrote La Morale de VEvanyile comparee a la
Morale des Philosophes, Philosophic-psychologic ex-
perimentale, Philosophic morale, Philosophic du
Christianisme, La Religion et la Liberte considerees
dans leurs Rapports, and La Morale de VEvanyile
comparee aux divers Systemes de Morale.
Others of this school were Bouillet, De Cardail-
lac, Mazure, Ozaneaux, Hippeau, Tissot, Gamier,
Poret, Caro, Paffe, Caunes, and Geruzez.
Among the opponents of eclecticism was Pierre
Leroux (1798-1871), once a Saint Simonian. His
Refutation de TBclectisme was the ablest of the
many attacks made on the system of Cousin. Pierre
Leroux, after separating from Enfantin, joined
Reynaud in editing the Revue Encyclopedique, and,
on its failure, the Encyclopedic Nouvelle. About
the time of his attack on eclecticism, he published
also his work De THumanite, de son Principe, et de
son Avenir, in which he set forth his own philo-
sophical views, a sort of modified eclecticism with a
belief in the old anima-mundi theory of the ancients
superadded to it. Later, he associated himself with
Viardot and Madame Dudevant in the publication
of the Revue Independante. He was also the author
of a philosophic poem, of a drama called Job, and
of a translation of Goethe's Werther.
Auguste Comte (1796-1857), the founder of the
Positive Philosophy, was another of those who had
once been Saint-Simonians. After breaking away
from that school, he became Professor of Mathe-
matics in the ficole Poly technique. His works
were Cours de Philosophic Positive; Discours sur
V Ensemble du Positivisme ; System* de Politique
Positive ; and Catechisme Positiviste, ou Sommaire
266 French Literature.
Exposition de la Religion Universelle. He produced
also works on analytical geometry and on astron-
omy. His main idea was that Theology was the
law of man's childhood, Metaphysics the law of his
youth, and Positivism the law of his maturity, this
Positivism being the search of humanity after the
laws that produce phenomena. Positivism, then,
limits all legitimate speculation to observed facts.
It makes a religion of science, and ignores all that
park of nature within and without us which science
can not grasp and analyze.
The great question of the organization of labor
which the socialists brought into prominence was
treated with especial attention by two antagonistic
thinkers, Louis Blanc and Michel Chevalier.
Jean Joseph Louis Blanc was born in 1813. In
a Socialist Review, which he founded in Paris in
1838, he brought out his chief work on Socialism,
the Organisation du Travail, afterwards publishing
it in a separate form. This book won him great
popularity among the industrial classes. He next
published his Histoire de dix Ans, which overthrew
the government. His Histoire de la Revolution
frangaise followed, in which he prophesied the
triumph of Socialism. When the Revolution of
1848 came, Blanc was put at the head of the com-
mission on the labor question. Involved in the
insurrections which followed the attempt to inaugu-
rate national workshops, he was forced to escape to
London. During his exile, he wrote his Appel aux
Honnetes Gens and his Catechisme des Socialistes.
These were followed by Pages d> Histoire de la
Revolution de Fevrier, Plus de Girondins, and La
Republique Une et Indivisible. On the fall of the
Second Empire at Sddan, Blanc returned to France.
His French Revolution is an able work.
Michel Chevalier was born at Limoges in 1806.
He was educated to be an engineer. In his early
life, he was an active Saint-Simonian; and, when
the division took place in that sect, he followed
After the Restoration. 267
Enfanwii, helped in preparing the Livre Nouveau,
and suffered imprisonment for his ardent advocacy
of that cause. Later, however, he retracted all
that he had advanced against Christianity and the
institution of marriage. He was sent by the gov-
ernment to the United States, on a special mission
of inquiry into our canal and railroad system. He
also visited England with a similar purpose. Pub-
lishing works of industrial information based on
these travels of investigation, and pursuing a career
of earnest devotion to his profession, he gained in
time a position of distinction in the state. In reply
to Blanc's work, he wrote his Lettres sur T Organ-
isation du Travail. He also published works on
political economy and on Mexico.
Among the writers on political philosophy must
be classed Charles de Remusat, De Tocqueville,
Guizot, De Cormenin, and the Emperor Louis
Napoleon.
Fra^ois Marie Charles, Comte de Remusat
(1797-1875), the son of a Proven9al gentleman,
Auguste Laurent, Comte de Remusat, and of that
Madame de Remusat whose Letters and Memoirs
have lately been put before the world, was born at
Paris, and began his political career as a journalist
under the influence of Guizot; but at a later period
he pursued a more independent course. The most
important of his earlier essays were Sur la Re-
sponsibilite des Afinisteres, Sur la Liberte de la
Presse, Sur la Procedure par Juris en Afattire
Criinindle, and Sur les Amendements a la Loi des
Elections. He figured among those journalists
whose protest emphasized the popular discontent
with the governmental measures which produced
the Revolution of 1830. He went then into public
life and held some important offices, continuing to
serve the State in such capacities after the Revolu-
tion of 1848. When Louis Napoleon overthrew
the republic, De Remusat was exiled for a time.
During the Second Empire he devoted himself to
268 French Literature.
literature and science. His works on non-political
subjects were Essais de Philosophic, Histoire d" 1 Abe-
lard, Saint Anselme de Canterbury, UAnyleterre au
dix'huitieme Siecle, Passe et Present, Bacon, Hart-
ley, Histoire de la Philosophic anglaise de Bacon d
Locke, and a philosophical drama entitled Abelard.
Charles Henri Alexis Cleret de Tocqueville
(1805-1859) was born at the chateau of Verneuil,
near Mantes, in the department of Seine-et-Oise.
In 1831 he came to the United States with Gustave
de Beaumont on a mission from the Government to
examine and report on the practical working of the
penitentiary system. He used the occasion to
study the influence of a democratic form of gov-
ernment on the institutions, social manners, and
literature of a country. On returning, besides
publishing with his colleague a report Du Systeme
penitentiaire aux Etats- Unis, he put forth the result
of his studies in his great work, De la Democratic
en Amerique. Royer-Collard styled this work " a
continuation of Montesquieu." A great sensation
was produced by it, and De Tocqueville at once
took rank as the greatest thinker of his day in the
science of political philosophy. The clearness and
keenness of his vision in a sphere of observation
where the facts are exceedingly complex, the fair-
ness of his judgments, the thoroughness with
which he had digested the vast array of facts before
him, and the sirnplicitj^, force, warmth, and vivacity
of his style won him golden opinions from the
most judicious critics on both continents. When
he visited England, he received an enthusiastic
welcome from the Whig leaders. There he mar-
ried an English lady. Later, though at first de-
feated, he was in the end sent to the Chamber by
the people of that Norman department in which
the old family estate of Tocqueville lay. He was
one of the strongest opponents of the Socialist
movement. When Louis Napoleon destroyed the
liberty of the people, De Tocqueville retired to his
After the Restoration. 269
Norman estate and devoted himself to agriculture.
There be wrote Uancien Regime et la Revolution. He
died at Cannes, whither he had gone for his health.
In 1860, De Beaumont published his friend's
(Euvres et Correspondance inedites, with a biograph-
ical notice.
Gustave de Beaumont (1802-1866) was born at
Beaumont-la Chartre, in the department of Sarthe.
His course was, throughout, that of his friend, De
Tocqueville. He was Lafayette's grandson, and he
married his cousin, the daughter of Georges La-
fayette. Besides the Penitentiary Eeport which he
prepared in conjunction with De Tocqueville, he
produced J/an'e, ou VEsclavaye aux Etats- Unis, and
Ulrlande, sociale, polilique, et reliyieuse.
Franyois Pierre Guillaume Guizot (1787-1874)
has Avon his greatest literary distinction as a his-
torian. But he was also a remarkable orator,
statesman, and publicist. He was born at Nirnes,
of Protestant parents. His father, a lawyer, per-
ished on the revolutionary scaffold. By his mother
he was then taken to Geneva. He betook himself
to Paris in 1805, and devoted himself to literary
pursuits. His first important publication was a
Didionnaire des Synonymes fran^ais, after which
he put forth the Vie de Corneille et de Shakspeare,
and a translation of Gibbon, with valuable histor-
ical notes. In 1812, he was appointed Professor of
History, and began that series of historical works
on which his fame chiefly rests. After the Resto-
ration he took part in politics, writing his Histoire
des Orifjines du Gouvernement Representatif, and
other works on the philosophy of political in-
stitutions.
In conjunction with other men of letters, he pub-
lished two most valuable collections of Memoirs
throwing light on French history, numbering in all
fifty-seven volumes. Besides, also, editing several
works, he published his Histoire de la Revolution
d Anyleterre, and his Histoire de la Civilisation en
270 French Literature.
France. After the Eevolution of 1830, he stren-
uously supported Casirnir Perier, held several high
offices in the State, and labored earnestly for im-
provements in education. After serving as ambas-
sador to England, he became Prime Minister until
the fall of Louis Philippe. His restrictive measures,
his cold and austere manner, and his rigid impassi-
bility, together with the general offensiveness to
the nation of the government which he represented,
made Guizot at this time one of the most unpopular
men in France.
Escaping to London when the crash came, he
was there well received, in spite of his identifica-
tion with the selfish policy which the " Citizen-
King " had pursued both at home and abroad.
His pamphlet entitled Guizot a ses Amis failed to
restore the confidence of the French people. The
violent seizure of the government by Louis Na-
poleon in December, 1851, put an end to Guizot's
intrigues to bring about a restoration of the mon-
archy ; and he returned to his literary labors,
writing Memoires pour servir a THistoire de mon
Temps, Meditations sur Vfitat actuel de la Religion
chretienne, Melanges biographique et litteraires, and
Melanges politiques et historiques. Besides these
works may also be named his Monk, ou Chute de
la Republique et Retablissement de la Monarchic en
Angleterre; Washington, son Caractere et son In-
fluence dans la Revolution d 1 Amerique, Etudes sur
les Beaux-arts, and a History of France as told to
his grandchildren. This last-mentioned work was
published after his death.
Politically, Guizot's position was that of a Con-
stitutionalist,equally opposed to absolute monarchies
and to republican governments. His horror of dis-
order led him to prefer authority to liberty, when
there was strong danger of liberty's degenerating
into anarchy. His style of oratory was incisive
and impressive ; he kept steadily to his subject,
and allowed nothing to draw him away from it.
After the Restoration. 271
His speeches were wholly impersonal, in spite of
the temptation which must often have assailed him
to indulge in recrimination when Berryer, Barrot,
Thiers, Arago, and Mauguin rained upon him their
fierce philippics.
As a writer, his chief qualities are great erudition,
a passion for order and for generalization, elevation
of sentiment, loftiness of view, impartiality, and
closeness of analysis. His style is defective. It
lacks the charm which we look for when reading a
great French writer. Nor does Guizot impress the
reader as one who knows the human heart. The
vast fund of knowledge displayed has all been
drawn from books. There is nothing to indicate
personal observation as the source of anything he
has written, or to point to his possession of that
gift of sympathy by which imaginative men of
genius are able to re-animate the people of the past
and set them vividly before us.
We turn now to an agitator in behalf of popular
rights, who left behind him the reputation of hav-
ing been the greatest of pamphleteers. This was
Courier.
Paul Louis Courier (1772-1825) was born at
Paris. He served in the Italian campaign, resigned
from the army after the battle of Wagram, acquired
some literary reputation as a translator from the
classics ; but directly after the Restoration began
his brilliant career as a pamphleteer. Living on a
small estate in Touraine, he poured forth one after
the other caustic criticisms on the course of the
government, the keen and cutting irony of which
recalled the masterly style of Pascal. For one po-
litical diatribe the government had him prosecuted
and condemned to imprisonment. His inimitable
wit and the Attic simplicity of his style give his
productions high literary value. His last piece,
put forth the year before his assassination, with
the title Pamphlet des Pamphlets, was styled by
272 French Literature.
Armand Carrel who published in, 1835 a complete
edition of his works The Swan's Death -song.
Beranger, with his pungent sarcasm and biting
scorn, was about the same time making his politi-
cal songs as dreadful to the Ministry as were
Courier's pamphlets. But in one respect Courier
differed widely from Beranger as a political agita-
tor : he abhorred the Napoleonic legend which with
Beranger had become the natural rallying point
against the evils of Bourbon rule.
Another of the formidable enemies of the re-
actionary government was De Cormenin.
Louis Marie de la Haye, Yicomte de Cormenin
(1788-1868), was born at Paris. He had an im-
mense political influence through the whole period
which elapsed from the time of the Restoration to
the day of his death. His pamphlets were almost
as famous as those of Courier. His work, Le Droit
Adtninistratif, his Etudes sur les Orateurs Parle-
mentaires, and his Le Droit de Tonnage en Algerie
were all works of merit. Les Entretiens de Village
was another work of his.
Another historian, who was also orator and
statesman, was Thiers.
Louis Adolphe Thiers (1797-1877) was born at
Marseille. Studying law at Aix, he formed there
a close intimacy with Mignet the historian, and
with him sought Paris to begin his career there as
political journalist. His Histoire de la Revolution
frangaise by its clearness of narration, accuracy,
and vigor of style, at once gave him reputation.
His fatalist theory, by which he justified all the
excesses of each party in its hour of triumph,
detracts greatly from the philosophic value of this
work. When the struggle began which led to the
overthrow of the government in 1830, Thiers by
working heartily 'with the Liberals had no small
share in bringing about the revolution. He now
became one of the leading public men of France, in
spite of the ludicrous appearance which he presented
After the Restoration. 273
in the Chamber with his diminutive person and
huge spectacles. His parliamentary oratory, how-
ever, soon won him attention, and he was always a
prominent member of the government or of the
opposition. When the republic, set up in 1848,
was overthrown by Louis Napoleon in 1851, Thiers
was banished. He was soon, however, allowed to
return. He had been working for many years on
his Histoire du Consulat et de TEmpire. At last
this work was published in 1860. A few years
after, he again entered public life, this time as a
member of the party in opposition. On the down-
fall of the Second Empire, he once more came into
prominence, was put at the head of the Provisional
Government, made peace with Prussia, and became
President of the new republic, giving way in 1873
to Marshal MacMahon.
Narcisse Achille, Comte de Salvandy (1796-
1856), born at Condom, was another of those
engaged in political life who also wrote history.
He put forth many political pamphlets ; wrote,
after a travel into Spain, a romance styled Alonzo ;
and published, in 1829, his Histoire de Pologne
avant et sous le Roi Jean SobiesTci. The style of
this history, according to De Vericour, is too often
declamatory and pompous.
Among recent historians, one of the most emi-
nent was Pierre Lanfrey (1828-1877). He was
born in Savoy. His first work was UEglise et les
Philosophes du 18* Siecle. After this came his
Histoire politique des Papes and Le Retablissement
de la Pologne. But the great work of his life was
his Histoire de Napoleon /., published in six
volumes. It is a very thorough study of the
imperial period, and exposes with unrelenting clear-
ness of narrative and fulness of detail the selfish
character of the first Emperor. When the Franco-
German war came on, Lanfrey took the field with
the garde mobile, and fought like a true Frenchman.
Later, he was appointed by Thiers ambassador to
274 French Literature.
Switzerland. On MacMahon's election to the
presidency, Lanfrey resigned this post. Some two
years before his death, he was elected life-senator.
The Emperor Louis Napoleon must be classed
among those writers who have written history from
a political motive. With the startling and roman-
tic events of his life we have nothing to do here.
His career belongs to history. His literary work
may be summed up in a few words.
Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (1808-1873)
was born in the purple, in the palace of the Tuile-
ries. Daring his wandering life, before the Revolu-
tion of 1848 opened the way for him to gain a
political foothold in France, he published at various
times his Reveries Politiques, Projet de Constitution,
Deux Mots U M. de Chateaubriand sur la Duchesse
de Berri, Considerations Politiques et Militaires sur
la Suisse, Manuel d 1 Artillerie, and Idees Napoleoni-
ennes. While imprisoned in the fortress of Ham,
he wrote his Aux Manes de TEmpereur, Fragments
Historiques, Analyse de la Question de Suisse, Reponse
a M. de Lamartine, and Extinction du Pauperisme,
besides assisting in editing the Dictionnaire de la
Conversation. While Emperor, he published his
Vie de Jules Cesar, intended to set forth the
Napoleonic theory of politics, already announced
in that famous passage of the first Napoleon's on
Les Saitveurs des Nations.
Another political writer, and one of marked
ability, was that PreVost-Paradol, whose suicide
while ambassador at Washington was believed to
have been caused by his despair when the Emperor
allowed the war-party at court to force his judg-
ment.
Lucien Anatole Prdvost-Paradol (1829-1870)
was born at Paris. Distinguished as journalist, he
published at different times an JKloge de Bernardin
de Saint- Pierre, Revue de THistoire universelle, Du
Role de la Famille dans I 1 Education, Etudes sur les
Moralities, Precis de VHitfoire universelle, De la
After the Restoration. 275
Liberte des Guiles en France, Essais de Politique et
de la Litterature, and Quelques Pages d 1 Histoire con-
temporaine.
Turning now to those historians, not so closely
connected with the political history of their times,
we find, among those whose fame had begun before
the liestoration, Philippe Paul de Se"gur, who was
born at Paris in 1780. His father, the Comte
Louis Philippe de Segur, was for many years
ambassador at St. Petersburg and a great favorite
with the Empress Catharine II., and was himself
the author 'of many works, among them Pensees
Politiques, Histoire de Frederic Guillaume II.,
Contes, Fables, Chansons, et Vers, and Memoir es ou
Souvenirs et Anecdotes. The son was one of Napo-
leon's generals, and wrote the history of the disas-
trous Russian campaign in which he shared. This
work is entitled Histoire de Napoleon et de la Grande
Armee en 1812. ft was a great success. He after-
wards wrote a Lettre sur la Campayne du General
Macdonald dans les Grisons ; and two histories,
Histoire de Russie et de Pierre le Grand, and His-
toire de Charles VIII., Roi de France.
Antoine Guillaume Prosper Brugiere, Baron de
Baraute (1782-1866), was born at Riom. He was
early employed in diplomatic service. On the
Restoration, he was still employed in various pub-
lic capacities, but kept up throughout his state
service his devotion to letters. After the Revolu-
tion of 1830, he was again an ambassador, but
retired from public life on the establishment of the
republic in 1848. His great work was his Histoire
des Dues de Bourgogne. Among his other writings
were La Litterature franchise pendant le dix-huitieme
Si&cle, Les Etudes litteraires et historiques, and Le
Parlement et la Fronde. In his History of the
Dukes of Burgundy, he gives a simple, clear, and
elegant narrative of events in a lively, dramatic
style, telling his story without stopping to investi-
gate and explain in tiie presence of the reader. It
276 French Literature.
is a bright, busy, and picturesque recital full of
stirring incidents, luminously put before the mind
in a most attractive manner.
Augustin Thierry and his brother Amede'e were
both historians, though the former has left a repu-
tation far more brilliant and solid than the latter.
Jacques Nicolas Augustin Thierry (1795-1856)
was born at Blois. His first work was De la reor-
ganisation de la Societe Europeenne. This work
considers the question of uniting all Europe under
one government. Starting with so close an approx-
imation to the Saint-Simonian doctrines, Thierry
was soon a declared advocate and assistant of Saint-
Simon. Later, he worked with Comte and Dunoyer.
Having published in 1820 some letters, in a journal,
on French history, he became interested in historical
subjects, and in 1825 published his Histoire de la
Conquete de VAngleterre par les Normands, which
at once gave him high rank among historians. His
Lettres sur I 1 Histoire followed ; but, after that, he
became nearly blind in consequence of his arduous
studies. Going to Hyeres for his health, he met
there and married Julie de Querengal, a lady who
had herself some literary reputation. His eyesight
being partly restored, and his wife aiding him faith-
fully in his work, he next published Dix Ans
deludes historiques, and Recits des Temps Mero-
vinyiens. His last work was an essay Sur V Histoire
de la Formation et du Progres du Tiers IJJtat. His
researches threw great light upon early French
history and dissipated a host of errors which had
been repeated without investigation by writer aftei
writer.
Ame'dee Thierry was born at Blois in 1797. Besides
his Resume de V Histoire de Guyenne, he wrote a book
of profound historical research which gave him
great reputation. This was his Histoire de la Gaule
sous la Domination des Romains. Of this work his
brother wrote, in his history of his own historical
ideas and labors, given as a preface to his Dix
After the Restoration. 277
Ans oT fitudes historiques: " He was preparing to give
to the public one half of the prolegomena of the
history of France the Keltic origins, with an
account of the Gallic migrations, and a picture of
Gaul under the Roman administration. For my
own part, I undertook to give the other part, that
is to say, the Germanic origins, and a picture of the
great invasions which caused the ruin of the West-
ern Roman empire. I experienced a heartfelt
delight at the idea of this fraternal association at
the hope of fixing our two names on the double
basis upon which must be placed the edifice of our
national history."
I have already had occasion to mention Mignet,
in speaking of Thiers, who studied law with him
at Aix, whence they went to Paris together, to
engage in literary life.
Frangois Auguste Alexis Mignet was born at
Aix in Provence in 1796. He began literary work
as a journalist. Having given lectures on history
which were well received, he was encouraged to
undertake his Histoire de la Revolution Franchise,
which treated that great series of events from a
philosophical point of view. He takes, however,
the same fatalist views which his friend Thiers held
and expressed. After the Revolution of 1830,
Mignet held office for a time; but that of 1848
drove him into private life. His later works were
Notices historiques, Memoir es sur des Questions
d'Histoire, 'Histoire d 1 Antonio Perils, Histoire des
Negociations relatives a la Succession (VEspagne,
Histoire de Marie Stuart, Histoire de V Abdication et
des demises Annees de Charles- Quint, and Rivalite
de Francois I. et de Charles V. His style is firm
and pure, his matter the result of profound research
and penetrating insight into the entanglements of
politics. Conciseness is a marked characteristic
of his style. The Eloges pronounced by Mignet
must also be mentioned. They are striking pictures
of a number of eminent men.
278 French Literature.
We come now to a historian of a different order.
Michelet, the disciple of Vico and Niebuhr. the
seeker after symbolic truths in historical facts, is a
marked contrast to men like Thiers, Mignet, and
the Thierrys. A poetic imagination, a rare ability
in painting individuals and masses, a brilliant and
glowing style, and a great fund of knowledge united
to form in Michelet, in many respects, a model his-
torian. But his visionary theories made his nar-
rative too often unsound in its general tenor.
Jules Michelet (1798-1874) was born at Paris,
studied under Villemain and Leclerc, and early be-
came a Professor of History. His chief works
were a Precis de VHistoire moderne, a translation of
Vice's works, Introduction a VHistoire universelle,
Histoire romaine, Les Memoires de Luther, Les Ori-
gines du Droit franc, aise, Histoire de France, Histoire
de la Revolution fran^aise, and Les Femmes de la
Revolution.
Entering into controversy with the Jesuits, he
brought out against them Des Jesuites ; DuPretre,
de la Femme, et de la Famille ; and Du Peuple. He
took no part in the stir of the Eevolution of 1848,
which swept so many literary men into the vortex
of politics. But when the republic fell, he refused
to take the oath of allegiance to Louis Napoleon.
Besides his historical and controversial works, he
wrote those fanciful and rhetorical and somewhat
hysterical books by which perhaps he is best known
in this country, V Oiseau, L'Insecte, L* Amour, La
Femme, La Mer, La Sorci&re, La Bible de THuman-
ite, and Nos Fils. The Memoirs of his wife may
also be given a place here.
Merle D'Aubigne, as the historian of the Kefor-
mation, holds a high rank in the estimation of many
in England and this country. His work, however,
in the judgment of impartial critics, is as full of
prejudice in one direction as Audin's bitter life of
Luther is in the other.
Jean Henri Merle d'Aubigne (1794-1872) was
After the Restoration. 279
born at Eaux- Vives, near Geneva. Studying under
Neander at Berlin, he afterwards became pastor of
the French Protestant church at Hamburg. Later,
he lived in Brussels, and, later still, returned to
Geneva and became Professor of Church History
there. His great work was the Histoire de la Refor-
mation au seizilme Sibcle. He wrote also Le Protec-
teur, ou la Republique cFAngleterre aux Jours de Crom-
well; Trois Slides de Lutte en Ecosse ; Histoire de la
Reformation en Europe au Temps de Calvin.
In closing the sketch of historical writers, I must
merely mention such works as Dulaure's history of
Paris ; other writers on the Revolution besides those
already mentioned Lacretelle, Tissot, Labaume,
Montgaillard, Cony, and De Norvins ; Bignon's
history of France under Napoleon ; and the volumi-
nous productions of Capefigue his history of Philip
Augustus; of the Restoration; of France in the
Middle Ages; of .the Reform, the League, and
Henri IV.'s reign; of Richelieu, Mazarin, and the
Fronde; of Louis XIV.'s reign; of the Regent
Philip of Orleans ; and of Europe during the Con-
sulate and Empire of Napoleon.
Just as briefly must be named Mazure's History
of the English Revolution of 1688 ; Armand Car-
rel's History of the English Restoration ; Fauriel's
History of Southern Gaul under the dominion of the
German conquerors ; Delecluze's History of Florence ;
St. Hilaire's History of Spain ; and General Foy's
History of the Peninsular War.
Duret, Wallon, Jung, Double, Jonquiere, and
Lacroix have also produced historical works.
Mention should also be made of three valuable
works on the subject of the Huguenots : Peyrat's
Histoire des Pasteurs du Desert ; Coquerel's Histoire
des figlises du Desert ; and Crottet's Histoire des
^Jglises Reformees de Pons, Gemozac, et Montange, en
Saintonge.
Able histories of the civil war in the United
States have been produced by the Comte de Paris
and by Ernest Grasset.
280 French Literature.
XIX.
POETS AND PLAYWEITEES.
THE Restoration opens with two lyric poets, whose
influence dominates the age. The one, the Poet of
the People, is Beranger. The other, the Poet of
the Sentimentalists, is Lamartine.
But, before we take up these poets, some men-
tion must be made of the Hymn of Revolution, La
Marseillaise, and its author, Rouget de Lisle. In
the year 1792, a young officer of engineers, who had
been a teacher of music, was urged by the Mayor
of Strasbourg, a noble Alsatian, the Baron Dietrich,
to compose a patriotic song for the ceremonies
about to be observed in that city. He composed it
that night, both words and music, and called it
Chant de Guerre de I'Armee du Rhin. It was sung
with great enthusiasm by the volunteers; but the
song did not make its way to Paris, until Barbaroux
and the young men of Marseille poured into Paris,
chanting it. The Parisians named it the "Mar-
seillaise Hymn." Heine wrote of this song, during
the revolutionary year of 1830 :
" A strong joy seizes me, as I sit writing. Music
resounds under my window, and in the elegiac rage of
its large melody, I recognize that hymn with which hand-
some Barbaroux and his companions once greeted the
city of Paris. What a song! It thrills me with fiery
delight. It kindles within me the glowing star of enthu-
siasm, and the swift rocket of satire. Swelling, burning
torrents of song rush from the heights of freedom, in
streams as bold as those with which the Ganges leap
from the heights of Himalaya ! I can write no more.
This song intoxicates my brain. Louder and nearer
advances the powerful chorus Aux armes, citoyens \ "
Poets and Play writers. 281
It is indeed a martial chant of wonderful power.
Few songs have so stirred the souls of men.
"When we come to Beranger, we find that he is to
be viewed under two aspects, as a political power, and
as a poet. We have already seen how strong a
force was arrayed against Bourbonism in the par-
liamentary eloquence of such men as Constant^
Foy, and Royer-Collard, by the socialist ferment,
and by the stinging pamphlets of Courier and De
Cormenin. But the songs of Beranger made their
work tenfold easier by creating a political atmos-
phere in which the fire of free speech could live.
Pierre Jean de Beranger (1780-1857) was born
at Paris in the house of his mother's father, a
tailor in the Rue Montorgueil. He seems to have
been early indoctrinated in republican principles by
his aunt with whom he lived fora time at Peronne.
A born song- wri tor, he early began to pour forth
his thoughts and fancies in verse. His songs not
finding a market, he sent some of them to Lucien
Bonaparte, already famous for his devotion to liter-
ature. By him he was warmly encouraged and
helped in the most delicate manner, for which Be-
ranger was always deeply grateful. By Desaugiers,
the then acknowledged lyrist of France, who recog-
nized his merit, he was introduced to the choice
spirits of the day, constituting the Caveait, a social
club of poets, dramatists, journalists, painters, and
musicians, meeting at a cafe near the Palais Royal.
This was in 1809. Desangiers had read Beranger's
little satire, Le Roi tfYvetot, and predicted his
future fame. By Lucien Bonaparte's influence,
Beranger received a small governmental appoint-
ment which gave him a sufficient support and left
him leisure for literary work. During the Hun-
dred Days, Napoleon offered him the post of censor,
but this he declined.
In 1815, he published his first collection of songs,
which brought him at once great popularity.
When he next published, some of his songs brought
282 French Literature.
down upon him the vengeance of the government.
One in particular, Les Adieux a la Gloire, Decembre
1830, was too bitter not to awaken the resentment
of the Ministry. He was sentenced to three
months' imprisonment in the debtor's prison of
Sainte-Pelagie and to pay a fine of live hundred
francs. His works, however, were so popular as to
yield profits which fully indemnified him for all
losses. His next publication brought him again
under the frown of the government. This time his
sentence was nine months in the prison of La Force
and a fine of ten thousand francs. His friends paid
the fine, and the government only succeeded in
advertising him as a political martyr. The songs
of Beranger became a great power in France and
one of the agencies which expelled the Bourbons
for the second time.
Under Louis Philippe, Beranger's friends became
the rulers of the state. But the poet refused to
profit by the change. It was an age of literary
statesmen, and Beranger was one of the very few
men of literary fame who did not take the political
fever. His publisher, Perrotin, treated him gener-
ously, and the poet lived at his ease and was con-
tent. After the Kevolution of 1848, he was elected
a member of the Constituent Assembly, but he
soon resigned this public trust. When Louis Na-
poleon overthrew the republic, feeling how much
he owed to the work Beranger had done in keeping
the memory of the first Empire in the hearts of the
people, he urged the poet to accept some reward at
his hands. But Beranger, though tempted by the
charming importunity of the Empress Eugenie,
resolutely kept his independence. He had not flat-
tered the first Emperor during the time of his
power, and he refused to bind himself in his old
age to the support of the nephew. He died at the
ripe old age of seventy-five, honored at the last by
a funeral escort of a hundred thousand men in
Poets and Playwriters. 283
arms, the government fearing the excitement of the
people on such an occasion.
His songs are of many kinds, the frivolous and
impure, the deeply feeling and impassioned, the gay
and joyous, the keenly satirical, the tender, and the
lofty in tone. Sometimes he sings his country's
glory and misfortunes, the grandeur of the Empire,
and the woeful fall of the soldier Emperor. Some-
times his strain is of liberty and equality, the rights
of man, individualized into the right of the French-
man to rule himself. Sometimes his theme is purely
of practical politics under a corrupt and corrupting
government, and takes the form of a bitter satire
like Monsieur Judas. Sometimes his songs are gay,
sprightly, and humorous, such as Roger Bonttmps
or Le Petit Homme Gris. Sometimes the sharns
and oppressions of the passing time make every
line thrill with revolutionary throbs. His higher
strains are real odes. Nothing can be finer than
Mon Ame, or Le Dieu des Bonnes Gens, or Le Cinq
Mai, or La Bonne Vieille, or Mon Habit. Such noble
effusions condone the offense of his shocking Madame
Greyoire, Ma Grand 'mere, and similiar outrages on
decency.
He knew what he could do, and wisely confined
himself to that. When urged by Lebrun to apply
for a chair in the Academy, he declined in a grace-
ful letter in which he said : "I am only a singer,
gentlemen; let me die a singer." It would have
been better for his fame, had he restricted himself
to even less than what he could do, and blotted
many a ribald song before it reached the hand of
the printer. His works furnish an apt illustration
of the truth, that there are cases in which a part is
greater than the whole.
Lamartine was a literary worker of greater pre-
tensions, but the quality of his work was neither so
fine nor so strong. Still his writings were im-
mensely popular in their day, and have warm ad-
mirera even in this generation. In spite, too, of a
284 French Literature.
taint of vanity which was his most marked weak-
ness, his character was a right noble one.
Alphonse de Lamartine (1790-1869) was born at
Macon. In his Memoirs he gives a charming recital
of the simple home-life in which he grew up, and of
the troubles which his family underwent during the
Keign of Terror. He traveled in Italy in his
youth, and again after the fall of Napoleon. In
1820, the publication of lui&Meditattons Poetiques
won him renown and a position on the staff of the
French embassy at Naples, and, later, at Florence.
He married an English lady ; published his Nou~
velles Meditations Poetiques, his Mori de Socrate, and
his Dernier Chant de Childe Harold; fought a duel
with Colonel Pepe ; produced his Harmonies Poe-
tiques et Religieuses ; and travelled in the East. On
his return from the Levant, he entered public life,
became a distinguished orator in the Chamber,
published in his Voyage en Orient, an account of his
Eastern pilgrimage, and put forth successively his
narrative poems, Jocelyn and La Chute d'un Ange,
and his confused and rhetorical Histoire des Giron-
dins. When the Revolution of 1848 came, he was
perhaps the foremost man in France ; but he nobly
threw away his popularity by refusing to authorize
the violence of the anarchists of that critical period.
The overthrow of the republic by Louis Napoleon
put an end to his public career. His other works
were his Elegies, Epitres, Confidences, Histoire de la
Revolution franchise, Cour familier de la Litterature,
Fior d'Aliza, and Histoire de la Restauration.
There is undoubtedly both passion and imagina-
tion in his poems, and the lyric vein is strong in
him. But to a foreign ear the sentiment does seem
overstrained, arid the tender melancholy too often
savors of affectation. To the modern Frenchman the
muse of Lamartine seems almost as insipid as to the
foreigner; and the criticism of our day detects a
flavor in almost all the fine writing admired by
that generation which our taste stamps as " not
Poets and Playv:riters. 285
genuine." His verse, however, has great charm
from its melody and its elegant smoothness. The
prevailing element in his earlier poems was their
deep seriousness, their expression of religious
ecstasy in the presence of nature's loveliness in
fine, the blending of religious sentiment with
aesthetic sentiment, both very vague and somewhat
crude. Such are Le Lac, Le Vallon, Le Golfe de
Baia, and Le Temple. The success of Jocetyn
adds one more instance to the many proofs
literature furnishes us of the charm for the ordi-
nary reader a story has that is told in verse.
The taste for romance and the taste for poetry
are gratified at the same time. Walter
Scott's, Moore's and Byron's romantic poems, Mrs.
Browning's Aurora Leiyh, and the younger Bul-
wer's Lucile are all evidences of the value of a dis-
tinct story in making poetry acceptable to the
masses. For this peason, Tenm-son's Princess and
Idyls of the King will always be the most popular
of his poems.
By different sections of the public both Beranger
and Lamartine were idolized during a great part ol
their lives. But, if Lamartine's fame as a poet has
undergone great obscuration for a number of years,
the day will never come when his conduct during
the Revolution of 1848 shall not be set down to hia
honor as man and patriot. Of that splendid
action Bulwer-Lytton happily says:
" When Alphonse Lamartine, by an immortal speech,
in which there is no wit and no sparkle, struck down tc
his feet the red flag, we recognize intuitively the differ,
ence between the maxim-maker's knowledge of the con.
ventional world [He has been speaking of La Rochefou.
cauld's cynical Maxims] and the poet-orator's knowledge
of the universal human heart. Honor to Alphonse
Lamartine's knowledge of the heart in that moment
which saved the dignity of France and the peace ot
Europe, no matter what were hi.s defects in the knowl-
edge of the world defects by which rulers destined to
286 French Literature.
replace him learned to profit ! Honor to that one tri-
umph of poetry put into action! "
The passion of regret for the glories which France
had won under the star of Napoleon, and lost with
the return of the Bourbons, had inspired Beranger
to fire the hearts of his countrymen with indigna-
tion against the new order of things. The same
impulse produced the Messeniennes of Delavigne,
and the same popular sympathy went out to meet
and to welcome his strains.
Jean Fra^ois Casimir Delavigne (1793-1843)
was born at Havre. He published his elegies when
the soil of France was still humbled by the presence
of the allied armies, borrovving his title from Bar-
thelemy's account in the Voyage (VAnacharsis of
how Tyrtasus had stirred the souls of the Lacede-
monians in their wars with the Messenians. De
Vericour says of these elegies, that many of them
are remarkable for their rich coloring, splendid
imagery, energy of thought, and metrical harmony;
and he specifies the Waterloo, Parthenope, and
Napoleon as among the finest. La Parisienne was
written under the impulse of enthusiasm awakened
by the July revolution. Casimir Delavigne refused
employment under Louis Philippe, and devoted
himself to the production of plays. The chief of
these were Les Vepres Siciliennes, Les Comediens,
Marino Faliero, Louis XI., Les Enfants d 1 Edouard,
Don Juan d'Autriclie, and La Fille du Cid. In
his dramatic works he tried to blend the principles
and spirit of the classic tragedy with those of the
romantic drama. But Victor Hugo, Alexandre
Dumas, and Alfred de Vigny had, after the Kevolu-
tion of 1830, boldly forsaken the old school and
declared war with its whole spirit and method, and
put upon the stage dramas conceived in the roman-
tic spirit ; and the efforts of Casimir Delavigne were
not able to restore the popularity of the older sys-
tem. He was successful, however, in comedy. His
Poets and Play writers. 287
$cole aes Vieillards, brilliantly performed by Talma
and Mademoiselle Mars, brought him a triumph,
which ought to have tempted him to renewed efforts
in that branch of literary art. Retiring to Lyon
for change of air, when his health began to give
way, he died in that city. After his death ap-
peared his Ballades italiennes, which revealed the
fine lyrical ability he possessed.
Among the poets of this period must also be
named Madame Desbordes-Valmore (1787-1859),
whose literary labors comprised elegiac and idyllic
verse, fables, and romances. Tenderness and
pathos, gentle piety, and sweet consolation are her
special qualities. Her romance, Une Raillerie de
V Amour, has its scene in the days of the Empire.
Others were Les Veillees des Antilles and IJ Atelier
d"un Peintre. The poems were published under
the titles of Elegies et Romances, Pleurs, and Pau-
vres Fleurs.
Alexandre Soumet (1788-1845), another poet of
this period, produced elegies, tragedies, and epics.
La Pauvre Fille is considered a masterpiece in
delicacy of sentiment and beauty of style. His
tragedies were Saiil, Clytemnestre, Jeanne d*Arc,
Elisabeth de France, Cleopatre, and Norma. His
epics were Jeanne d'Arc and La Divine Epopee.
Alexandre Guiraud (1788-1847) wrote a great
number of tragedies, the finest of which was his
Macchabees ou le f Martyre. He also produced
Pof-mes et Chants Eleyiaques.
fimile Deschamps, who was born at Bourges in
1791, translated some of Shakespeare's plays, Schil-
ler's "Bell," and other works, and published a book of
original poems, Les Poesies des Creches, which are
graceful and elegant.
Arsene Ancelot (1794-1854), born at Havre,
was successful on the stage with his plays of Louis
IX., Le Maire du Palais, Fiesque, and Olga. He
gained some distinction also by his poem of Marie
de Brabant, his romance of Lllomme du Monde,
288 French Literature.
and his Epitres Familttres. His style is 'pure and
elegant.
Jean Eeboul (1796-1864), the baker-poet of
Nimes, was a follower of Lamartine. Besides his
Odes and his Elegies, he produced a poem in ten
cantos, called Le Dernier Jour du Monde.
Madame Amable Tastu was b9rn at Metz in
1798. She won fame first by her Eloge de Madame
de Seviyne. Her Education Maternelle and her
Histoire de la Litterature have also taken rank
among the standard works for the young. Her
finest poems were La Vieille de Noel, L'Etoile de la
Lyre, Le Retour h la Chapelle, and Le Dernier Jour
de VAnnee, the last being regarded by French critics
as a masterpiece of touching thought expressed in
most harmonious verse.
But it was the romantic school of poets who
carried everything before them in the great revolu-
tion which literary taste began to undergo about
the time of the political revolution of 1830. The
chief of these were De Vigny, Hugo, and Dumas ;
and the stage was their field of battle with the old
classic taste.
The new school, as has been said, inspired by
the strong spirit of reaction against the taste of the
old Bourbon period and by the study of English
literature, insisted upon the free representation of
mingled comedy and tragedy, as they are found in
life. They also forsook the fields of ancient his-
tory and mythology, which had furnished materials
for most of the productions of the earlier play-
writers, and ransacked all history for suitable dra-
matic situations. Unfortunately, there was too
often a preference for the horrible and the grotesque.
Alfred Victor, Comte de Vigny (1797-1863)
was born at Loches in Touraine. He served in
the army for a time; but, marrying in 1826 a
wealthy Englishwoman, he withdrew from the ser-
vice and gave his time to litera-ture. His taste is
pure and refined. In the war with the classic
Poets and Play writers. 289
school, his course was moderate. Before 1830, he
had published several volumes of poems and his
famous historical romance of Cinq-Mars. After
that period, he published one or two novels; but,
in the year that followed the Revolution, he put on
the stage a play which had a powerful influence in
winning popularity for the romantic drama. This
was his Marechale (TAncre, the scene of which be-
longs to the same period as that of his romance of
Cinq- Mars the age of Louis XIII. He also pro-
duced Le More de Venise, taken from "Othello,"
and Chatterton, founded on his story of Stello ou
Les Diables Bleus.
Cinq Mars is an able delineation of the condition
of France under the rule of Richelieu, and still
retains its place among the recognized classics of
French literature. De Vigny's Servitude et Gran-
deur Militaire, hovtever, is regarded by the critics
as a still abler work than Cinq-Mars. It is a col-
lection of stories illustrative of military life, and is
full of admirable reflections. It is tinged too with,
a tone of melancholy which makes it very attrac-
tive to meditative minds. Another work of De
Yigny's was his Consultations du Docteur Noir.
After his death some poems of his entitled Les
Destinees were published.
But the foremost spirit of the romantic school
was that versatile writer, Victor Hugo, poet, drama-
tist, romancer, pamphleteer, and politician, who
has been well styled "half-charlatan, half genius."
Victor Marie, Vicomte Hugo, was born at Besan-
9011 in 1802. His father was a soldier of Napoleon.
His mother was a native of La Vendee and hence a
devoted royalist. Victor Hugo was early in the
field as a poet. His genius being essentially lyric,
his first important productions were Odes et Ballades,
the Odes being royalist in tone and the Ballads
medieval in subject. To these succeeded with
many other works intervening his poems of Les
Orientales, Les Chants du Crepuscule, Les Rayons
19
290 French Literature.
et les Ombres, Les Voix Interieures, and Les Feuilles
cFAutomne. Bold in imagery, picturesque, defiant
of all the old rules of restriction, these poems had a
singular effect upon the age and did more than per-
haps anything else, except his plays, to secure the
triumph of the principles of the romantic school.
His play of Marion Delorme, which appeared on the
eve of the Revolution of 1830, was the strongest
agent in bringing about this change in public taste.
He had before put on the stage Cromwell and Her-
nani ; but these were greatly inferior dramas to
Marion Delorme. His other plays were Le Roi
s'amuse, Ruy Bias, Marie Tudor, Lucrece Borge,
Angelo, Les Burgraves, and Torquemada, in all of
which he takes great liberties with history and is
often offensive to common decency of feeling, but
never fails in a certain spasmodic power which
strikes the imagination. The evident straining after
effect ; the delight in conceiving monstrosities ; the
crudity of perpetual antithesis in style, character,
and situation; the lavish use of lurid tints; the
tedious working over and over the meaningless
parts of the picture, and putting in minute and in-
significant details, are blots that must make the
greater part of his work forfeit the title of really
high art.
His romances were written on the same system.
Originality was too often sought at the expense of
good taste. Yet there is power in them all, a wild
erratic genius that one must admire in some sort,
even while condemning. The chief of these were
Hans d'lslande, a grotesque romance of the North-
ern regions; Les Derniers Jours d'un Condamne ;
that great, wild creation, Notre-Dame de Paris, a
romance of Paris in the fifteenth century, a real
prose- poem of fantastic but wonderfully picturesque
conceptions ; Claude Gueux ; Bug-Jargal, an amus-
ingly incredible negro story ; the five-fold romance
of the angelic convict, Jean Valjean, Les Miserables ;
L'Homme Qui Bit ; Quatre-vingt-treize ; and Les
Poets and Ptaytoriters. 291
Travailleurs de la Mer. In spite of the extrava-
gance of thought, conception, and language, these
are all works of remarkable power.
Meanwhile, he was living a life of mingled storm
and sunshine. Louis Philippe made him a Peer of
France. But he sympathized with the Revolution
of 1848, and became one of the leaders in the short-
lived republic. Prince Napoleon warned him of
the designs of Louis Napoleon, and urged him and
his party to take measures to prevent the coup
d'etat. But Victor Hugo declined to move, on the
ground that illegal measures to prevent illegality
are not justifiable. The threatened evil came, and
Hugo remaining irreconcilable was banished by the
Emperor. The exiled poet went to live in the isle
of Jersey, and from that retreat launched the bit-
terest pamphlets against the successful criminal.
Napoleon le Petit, the book of poems called Les
Chdtiments, and EHistoire (Tun Crime were all in-
spired by his wrath at this event. On the fall of
the Second Empire, he came back to France.
Notes made upon his original manuscripts which
he has carefully preserved show, it is said, that
Victor Hugo has always written with great rapidity.
His drama of Cromwell, written at the age of twenty-
five, was finished in three months. Notre-Dame de
Paris cost him four months and a half. Marion
Delorme was written in twenty-four days ; Hernani,
in twenty-six ; Le Roi s'amuse, in twenty ; Ruy
Bias, in two months and three days ; and Les Bur-
graves, in thirty-nine days. His death made a
greater impression than that of any man of our
time.
The success of the romantic school on the stage
was aided materially by Vitet's historical plays,
written for the closet and not intended to be
acted.
Louis Vitet was born at Paris in 1801. His
fame rests chiefly on his art-criticism, in which his
excellent taste and the clearness and precision of
292 French Literature.
his style make him an acknowledged master. He
published also besides his Histoire de Dieppe and
his Vie de Le Sueur, a drama of the time of the
League, called Les Barricades, in which Henri
III. and the Due de Guise appear as promi-
nent characters ; another drama of the same period,
called Les Etats de Blois ; and still another, called
La Mort de Henri III.
Among the minor poets of the period before the
Second Empire must be briefly named Porch at,
author of the dramas, Jeanne d 1 Arc and Winlcelried;
the novels, Les Colons du Village and Trois Mois
sous la Neige ; and poems published under the title
Fables et Paraboles.
Under the same head comes Julien Auguste
Pelage Brizeux (1803-1858), author of Marie, a
graceful fiction in which the simple life and pic-
turesque features of the Breton peasantry are por-
trayed, and of a poem called Les Bretons.
Here also comes Joseph Mery (1798--1866), born
at Marseille, an improvise! 1 of odes, satires, romances,
dramas, comedies, and criticisms. He worked at
first in concert with Burthelemy. His natural gifts
were remarkable, but he lacked the patience to
produce finished works. His brightest productions
were Nuits au Glaises, Heva, La Guerre du Nizam,
Les Confessions de Marion Delorme, Nuits d 1 Orient,
Un Carnaval de Paris and Poesies intimes.
By the side of these must be placed Edgard
Quinet, born in 1803, translator of Herder, author
of an ambitious epic novel called Ahasverus and a
poem entitled Napoleon, neither of which met with
marked success. He attained distinction, however,
as a historian by his work, Les Epoques chevaler-
esques du XI I e Si&cle.
It was to the elder Dumas that Hugo and De
Vigny owed most for able help in fighting out the
battle of romanticism with classicism. By himself,
and also with the aid of co-workers, he issued a
host of pieces for the stage, as well as of romances,
Poets and Play writers. 29$
wonderful in their vivacity and brilliancy, and by
reason of their sensational incidents, lucidity, lively
coloring, and brisk dialogue admirably suited to
win popularity.
Alexandre Dumas (1803-1870) was the son of
General Dumas and the grandson of the Marquis
de la Pailleterie and a negro woman. He was
born at Villers-Cotterets. His first appearance
as a writer was in a volume of Nouvelles ; but it
was three years later and just on the eve of the
Revolution of 1830 that he acquired fame by the
production on the stage of his first and best play,
Henri III. et sa Cour. The characters are presented
in this piece with great force and originality, and
the plot is admirably developed. From this time
he became a great man in the eyes of the Parisians,
and one of the greatest of men in his own estima-
tion for his vanity was prodigious.
He produced also for the stage Antony, Christine,
Therese, Anyele, ifean, Don Juan de Marana, Calig-
ula. Some of these plays are wretched stuff, and
others are stolen goods. His system of using hack-
writers to work up a book, which he would then
embellish with some of his characteristic passages,
lifted into gaiety by sheer flow of animal spirits,
enabled him to flood the market with literature of
very varying quality. His best romances were
Les Trois Moitsquetaires. Le Comte de Monte- Or is to,
and La Reine Maryot. Thackeray speaks warmly
of these books, as engaging companions of the
youthful imagination.
" Of your heroic heroes," he says, " I think our
friend Monseigneur Athos, Count de la Fere, is my favor-
ite. I have read about him from sunrise to sunset with
the utmost contentment of mind. He has passed through
how many volumes ? Forty ? Fifty ? I wish for my part
there were a hundred more, and would never tire of him
rescuing prisoners, punishing ruffians, and running scoun-
drels through the midriff with his most graceful rapier. Ah,
Athos, Porthos, and Araniis, you are a magnificent trio."
294 French Literature.
As to Dumas' Memoir es, the reader will find those
pleasantly garrulous and amusingly coxcombical
revelations as entertaining as his romances. His
vivacious and slightly impudent manner makes
him always amusing.
But of all writers for the stage under the restored
Bourbons and the Second Empire, Scribe was the
most sparkling and the most unwearied. His
pieces were chiefly vaudevilles; and, as he had
many collaborators, they were produced with amaz-
ing rapidity. The plots were taking; the dialogue,
quick, light, and bright; the air of the scene deli-
cately mocking; and there was just enough sensi-
bility to move a merry audience to a momentary
tenderness without exciting deep emotion.
Augustin Eugene Scribe (1791-1861) was born
at Paris. His most striking pieces were Bertrand
et Raton, Le Manage d 1 Argent, Une Chame, Le
Verre dEan., La Camaraderie, La Bataille de
Dames, Adrienne Lecouvreur, Les Contes de la
Reine de Navarre, and Les Doigts de Fee. In the
composition of more than four hundred pieces
which bear his name he was aided by Brazier,
Carmouche, Delavigne, Delestre, Durnersan, Dupin^
Duveyrier, Legouve, Lemoine, Mazeres, Mesleville,
Eougemont, Varner, and others. He wrote also
the libretti for a number of operas, besides writing
several novels.
Among the poets who stood side by side with
Hugo in the struggle for the principles of the ro-
mantic school was Henri Auguste Barbier (1805-
1882), born at Paris. He came into notice just
after the Revolution of 1830 by the publication
of his lambes, satirical poems of great wildness and
vehemence. Later, he put forth, in his Pianto, a
harmonious and elegant poem, his impressions of
Italy. To this succeeded his Lazare.
Leon Gozlan (1806-1866), born at Marseille, may
be classed among the play writers, as he produced
many dramas, comedies, and vaudevilles, which were
Poets and Playwriters. 295
well received. He was, however, also the author
of a vast number of novels and romances. French
critics find fault with, his style, as injured by mere-
tricious graces to an extent which good taste must
condemn.
Madame de Girardin, born Delphine Gay, at Aix-
la-Chapelle (180-1-1865), is another who may be
classed among the contributors to the literature of
the stage, although she won fame as a novelist also.
She was in her day the pet of French literary so-
ciety, having many personal charms, not the least
among which was her unaffected simplicity and
sweetness of character. Here was one of the last
of the salons, after her marriage with the journalist,
fimile de Girardin. Hugo, Lamartine, Dumas, Sainte-
Beuve, Mery, Gautier, Sue, and Balzac were all at dif-
ferent periods frequenters of her house. She gave
to the theatre, besides lively comedies like Le
Chapeau cfun H&rloger, one piece of graceful senti-
ment and a quiet vein of pathos, which still keeps
the stage. This is La Joie fait Peur. She also
published a collection of poems. But her novels
were her most important works. Many of these
were solely her own work ; but one, La Croix de
Berny, she wrote in concert with Gautier, Mery,
and Sandeau. Her most striking romance was one
entitled Le Lorgnon. Her Lettres Parisiennes, pub-
lished, as well as the novels, under the pseudonym
of the Vicomte de Launay, are very lively, and are
regarded as giving a perfect picture of French so-
ciety from 1836 to 1848.
Both Theophile Gautier and Sainte-Beuve were
responsible in their time for some poetry ; but the
one is so much better known as a story-teller and
the other as a critic, that they hardly belong among
the poets. The same thing may be said of Edmond
About, his failure as a writer of comedy and his
success as a teller of stories relegating him to
another part of this work than this which treats of
playwriters.
296 French Literature.
Ernest Legouve is therefore the next on our list.
He was born at Paris in 1807. Alone, or in con-
cert with others, he produced a number of success-
ful dramatic works, of which the most striking were
Guerrero, MMee, and Un Jeune Homme qui nefait
JRien. He wrote also the romances of Beatrix and
Edith de Falsen, as well as a work entitled Histoire
morale des Femmes.
Gerard de Nerval (1808-1855) was born at Paris,
and produced Elegies nationales et Satires politiques,
a translation of "Faust," and, in prose, his Voyage
en Orient, besides some romances.
Charles Lafont (1809-1864) was born at Lie'ge.
His two tragedies, Ivan de Russie and Daniel, were
much praised for elegance of style. He wrote
also a poetic drama entitled Un Chef-d'oeuvre in-
connu, some vaudevilles, and his Legendes de la
Charite.
Madame Louise Revoil-Colet was born at Aix in
1810. Besides publishing a great many romances,
translations, and dramatic pieces, she wrote poetry
of graceful elegance.
Leonard Sylvain Jules Sandeau was born at
Aubusson in 1811. He began his literary career by
working in concert with Madame Dudevant, and
when they parted, she used the half of his name as
her nom de plume. Besides many charming ro-
mances, he wrote a great number of able comedies.
The principal romances of his workmanship were
Madame de Somerville, Mademoiselle de la Seigltire,
Catherine, Mariana, Valcreuse, Sacs et Parchemins,
and La Maison de Penarvan. The best comedies
included several of these tales dramatized, and also
Le Gendre de M. Poirier.
Victor de Laprade was born at Montbrison in
1812. His poems were a collection called Odes et
Poemes, the chief of which was Psyche ; another,
called Poemes evangeliques ; and still another, called
Idylles heroiques.
Joseph Autran was born at Marseille in 1813.
Poets and Playwriters. 297
His first poem was an ode in honor of Lamartine,
entitled Depart pour V Orient. His later poems
were Ludibria Ventis, Poemes de la Mer, Melianah,
Laljoureurs et Soldats, and La Vie rurale. His
tragedy of La Fille d'Eschine was a success. He
also wrote in prose a work called Italie et Scmaine
sainte h Rome.
Madame Anai's Segalas was born at Paris in
1813. Her poetry is likened by the critics to that
of Madame Tastu.
Fran9o'is Ponsard (1814-1867) was born at
Vienne in Dauphine. His first publication was a
translation of Byron's " Manfred." He next wrote
a tragedy called Lucrtce, which was brought out as
a re-action in the classic taste against the romantic
school. It had a great success, and is still ranked
as a standard work. Later, he produced Aynh de
Meranie, Charlotte Corday, and a comedy called
Horace et Lydie, 'to which Rachel's acting gave
brilliant success. L'Honneur et T Argent again
brought fame to him after the failure of his tragedy
of Ulysse and his poem of Hombre. It was remark-
able for its purity and high tone. His comedy of
La Bourse was too hastily produced, and did" not
sustain the reputation he had won. His last works
were Le Lion Amoureux and the drama of Galilee.
It is with design that I have sketched rapidly
the places of these minor poets in a general account
of French literature like this, before taking up
Alfred de Musset, who, as a perfect representative
of the blase type of brilliant young Frenchmen of
the Restoration period, deserves more extended
notice.
Louis Charles Alfred de Musset (1810-1857)
was born at Paris. "At twenty he came before the
public with his Conies en Vers, which at once gave
him high rank among the poets of his day. The
sensuousness of these poerns was as noticeable as
their elegance. Later, he published Nouvelles in
prose, Comedies et Proverbes^ and two Recueih de
298 French Literature.
Poesies, consisting of elegies, tales, satires, songs,
sonnets, and other forms of verse. His comedies
still hold the stage and are full of grace and wit.
Few writers for the theatre command with such
ease the graceful tone of the best society. In
skepticism, and license he has been compared to
Byron and to the younger Bulwer; but none deny
the exquisite beauty, tenderness, and power of the
greater part of what he has written. There is a
quality in his best work, hard to define but full of
attraction to the cultivated taste, an airy lightness
of touch with the suggestion of strength in its very
ease. His liaison with Madame Dudevant, and its
subsequent rupture, was the occasion of several
books on both sides by themselves and their friends;
but the literature of Elle et Lid and Lui et Elle is
not particularly edifying.
Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) should be men-
tioned along with De Musset, as an extreme type
of the same pessimist spirit. He was the chief of
those poets outside of society who delighted in the
name of " Bohemians." There is a sombre beauty
in many of his poems, which entitles them, in spite
of their grossness and affectation of diabolism, to
some share of that admiration which genius in any
form must always elicit. He had a great admira-
tion for Edgar Allan Poe, and made an exceedingly
able translation of his works.
Octave Feuillet, one of the most delightful of
living authors, was born at Saint-Lo in 1812. He
has been best known in this country as a romancer.
But he has also been brilliantly successful with
comedies, vaudevilles, and other stage pieces, rival-
ing Alfred de Musset in that exquisite grace in
which he excelled. Feuillet's finest romances were
Bellah, La petite Comtesse, Le Roman d'un Jeune
Homme Pauvre, Sibylle, M. de Camors, and Le
Journal cTune Femme. His best pieces for the
stage were dramatizations of some of these ro-
mances, and La Nuit Terrible, Le Bourgeois de
Poets and Playwriters. 299
Pome, La Crise, Peril en la Demeure, La Fee, Le
Village, Dalila, La Tentation, Montjoye, La Belle
au Bois Dormant, Le Cas de Conscience, Julie, and
La Cle d'Or. His latest play, just announced, is
Un Roman Parisien.
Smile Augier was born at Valence in 1820. His
little two-act comedy, La Cigue, first brought him
into notice. With Ponsard he then stood forth as
ready to form the nucleus of a reaction against the
excesses of romanticism on the stage. His princi-
pal pieces have been Un Homme de Bien, L'Aven-
turiZre, Gabrielle, Philiberte, Les Effrontes, La
Pierre de Touche, Le Oendre de M. Poirier, and, above
all, La Jeunesse, one of the best of modern comedies.
Lively wit, skilful art, strong and piquant language,
are his most marked qualities.
Pierre Dupont was born at Lyon in 1821. A
book, called Les Paysans, containing six songs,
gave him popularity, the airs as well as the words
being his own composition. He wrote also the
text for the Legend of the Wandering Jew, illus-
trated by Gustave Dore.
Henri Murger (1822-1861) was a Bohemian after
Baudelaire's own heart. His Le Bonhomme Jadis
is one of the pieces most frequently played at the
Comedie fra^aise. Adeline Protat, Le Pays latin,
Les Baveurs d'Oau, and LesVacances de Camille are
considered his best productions. He is most famous,
however, for having produced La Vie de Boheme,
which describes the reckless, miserable, and yet
from time to time wildly and desperately gay life
of the literary gipsies of Paris.
Victorien Sardou, still the inexhaustible caterer
for the stage-loving public of Paris, was born at
Paris in 1831. Representing at the Ode"on, when
still quite young, La Taverne des fitudiants, a three-
act comedy, he suffered the discouraging experience
of an ignominious failure. Working then for six
years before again trying his fortune with the pub-
lic, he brought out a comedy called Les Pattes de
SOO French Literature,
Mouche, which was received with great applause.
He was from that time a favorite with the Parisian
public. His best pieces were Les Femmes Fortes,
Nos Intimes, Les Ganaches, La Perle noire, Les
Vieux Gar^ons, La Famille Benoiton, and Nos bons
Villayeois.
Most of the popular novelists of our day have
put one or more pieces on the stage. But they will
come more fitly before us in another place, es-
pecially as their plays are generally dramatized
from their novels. Such, for instance, is Jules
Claretie's Monsieur le Ministre; and such is the
Pere de Martial, of the Louisianian Albert Delpit.
Adolphe Belot and Jules Verne are among these
romancers, who are also producing plays and fairy-
pieces for the stage. Other living dramatists who
may be named are Ferdinand Dugue, Emile Ber-
gerat, Auguste Vacquerie, Frangois Coppee, Edouard
Pailleron, Eugene Guiraud, Grangeneuve, and
Marras.
Something must be said of the extraordinary re-
vival of Provengal poetry. The ancient poetry of
Provence was in no sense a part of French litera-
ture. The race which created it was not under the
dominion of French, kings. The language in which
it took form was a cultivated tongue before the
Trouveres had composed a single lay in the old
French tongue. It is different, however, with the
Provengal literature of recent production. The
race from which the modern Provengal poets spring
has long been a component part of the French
nation ; the language in which they express them-
selves is as recognized a patois or dialect of French
as the Lowland Scottish is of English. The Pro-
vengal poets, then, have the same place in French
literature as that held in English literature by
writers like Burns and Hogg.
Th'e most eminent of the Provengal poets of
modern times, the "last of the Troubadours," as he
has been called, was Jacques Jasmin (1798-1864).
Poets and Playwriters. 301
He was born at Agen. In his Soubenis he gives a
humorous account of his early life, stating that he
was of humble birth and was taught the trade of a
hair-dresser, which he considered not amiss, as it
was concerned, as well as his other business of mak-
ing poems, with head-work. His poems possess both
pathos and wit; and that peculiar quality of rustic
or childlike archness and freshness, which is the
charm of dialect, is of course largely present in a
poetry that springs so directly from the soil and
has suffered no sophistication from books or the
society of cities. Jasmin's chief works were Lou
Chalwari, LSAbuylo de Castel-Cuille, and Las Papil-
lotos de Jasmin.
Another of these Provencal poets, Frederic Mis-
tral, was born near Saint-Remy in 1830. His poems
have been numerous, the chief of them being his
Alireio, of which a fine translation has been made
by our American poet, Mrs. Margaret J. Preston.
302 French Literature.
XX.
ROMANCERS.
IN no field of literary labor has the harvest been
so abundant in modern France, as in that of prose
fiction. I shall not attempt to arrange and classify
the writers of romance, but give them for the most
part in chronological order. Some have been
named already, because their productions entitled
them to be ranked as poets or as workers for the
stage, as well as romancers. Of this class were
Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and Octave Feuil-
let.
The first on our list must be Nodier, Paul de
Kock, and the writer who called himself Saintine.
Charles Nodier (1783-1844) was born at Besan-
9on. He was an eminent philologist, a graceful poet,
and a charming story-teller. Besides two linguis-
tic works, the Dictionnaire des Onomatopees and the
Elements du Linguistique, he produced Jean Sbogar,
Thertse Aubert, Adtte, Smarra, Trilby, Les Souvenirs
de la Revolution et de T Empire, and Les Contes
fantastiques.
To Saintine we owe the exquisite moral and
religious romance of Picciola. His real name was
Joseph Xavier Boniface (1797-1865), a native of
Paris. His romances and poems were put forth
under the pseudonym of Saintine, while to his
comedies and vaudevilles, of which he wrote a vast
number in concert with Scribe, he signed the name
of Xavier. The story of the little prison-grown
plant, which converts Charney from skepticism, is
his finest romance, and it is a masterpiece. Among
his other stories may be named Mutile and Les
Soirees de Jonathan.
Romancers. 303
Charles Paul de Kock (1794-1871), born at
Plassy, near Paris, besides stories in verse and
vaudevilles, wrote upwards of fifty novels. His
romances are frankly coarse, but their gayety, their
racy humor, and their truth to life the sort of life
led by fast young men in Paris have given them
a longer lease of life than they really deserve.
Still, they are not so demoralizing as the more
subtly depraving sentimental romances which came
later from more powerful pens. Among his books
may be mentioned Les Enfants de Boulevard, Une
Grappe de Groseille; Ninie Guignon, La Fee aux
Amourettes ; Les Petits Ruisseaux, Ma Petite Con-
sine, Le Demon de V Alcove, Ni Fille, ni Femme,
Friquette, and Un Jeune Homme mysterieux.
His son, Henri de Kock, has followed in the same
path. La Dame aux Emeraudes, Minette, and
L'Amant de Lucette may be named as samples of
his writings.
Rodolphe Toepffer (1799-1846), the son of an
able painter, was a Genevese writer and professor
of literature. His moral romances, Nouvelles gene-
voises, Rosa et Gertrude, and Le Presbytere, won
him much reputation. His Voyages en Ziy-Zag
was a book of travel-sketches, which he illustrated
himself. His essay on the Beautiful, under the
title Reflexions et Menus propos dun Peintre Gene-
vois is an assthetic treatise of great value.
Balzac deserves more extended mention than
this sketch can afford him. Not only were his
romances very numerous, but they were careful
art-studies which entitle him to a higher place
among French romancers than perhaps any other
can justly claim.
Honore de Balzac (1799-1850) was born at Tours.
He wrote at first under various assumed names, and
was long unsuccessful and very poor. Giving up
at last the manner which he had borrowed from,
Pigault and Lebrun, and writing in an original
style his Les Derniers Chouans, ou la Bretagne ev$
304 French Literature.
1800, he found his work for the first time well re-
ceived by the public. After this book came his
Physiologie du Manage, Scenes de la Vie Privee,
Scenes de la Vie de Province, Scenes de la Vie Paris -
ienne, Le Medecin de Campagne, Le P&re Goriot,
La Peau de Chagrin, Histoire Intellectuelle de Louis
Lambert, La Recherche de VAbsolu, Les Parents
Pauvres, Eugenie Grandet, Le Lis dans la Vallee,
Le Cure de Village, Histoire de Cesar Birotteau, and
a mystico- metaphysical novel entitled Seraphita.
He is considered to have shown wonderful penetra-
tion into the mysteries of the female heart. In his
Contes Drolatiques, he imitated the wild, fantastic
humor of Rabelais, using also the quaint style of
that author. He aspired to group all the varieties
of human character into a complete whole, and de-
scribed his romances under the general title of
Comedie humaine. There can be no question as to
his wonderful grasp of the methods of analysis in
observing human nature. His fault lay in over-
working minute details and losing sight of that
symmetry which is essential to perfection in form.
His literary habits were eccentric, and many curious
stories are told of his mode of working after hav-
ing gathered material for a novel. He married in
later life [a Polish lady, who had long lived with
him.
Melchior Frederic Soulie' (1800-1847) was born
at Foix. His romances glow with imagination,
and have a fresh and sparkling style. Among the
best were Les Deux Cadavres, Le Comte de Toulouse,
Le Vicomte de Beziers, Le Conseiller d'Etat, and Les
Memoires du Didble.
Prosper Merimee (1803-1870) took high rank as
romancer, but he was also historian, playwriter, and
archaeologist. He was born at Paris, the son of a
distinguished painter. Merimee made early ac-
quaintance with English and Spanish literature,
and came forward as an enthusiastic adherent of the
romantic school. His first work, Le Theatre de
Romancers. 305
Clara Gazul, purporting to be dramatic pieces trans-
lated from the Spanish, did not meet with success.
His next, La Guzla (the name, an anagram of the
earlier nom de plume) was an effort to popularize
the folk-song of Illyria and Montenegro. It was
much admired in Germany, but its popularity was
confined to literary circles.
After the Revolution of 1830, Merime'e entered
public life, like so many of the literary men of the
day. Meanwhile he kept writing for the reviews a
series of wild and thrilling tales in a strong, clear
condensed style, a style of restrained power which
made all his stories very fascinating. The chief of
these was Colomba, a Corsican tale of horror.
Others, equally well-told, were Matteo Falcone and
L'Enlbvement de la redoute. Besides these, his
other most striking tales were Arsene Guillot and
Carmen. The opera of Carmen is founded on this
tale. His historical studies bore fruit in works on
episodes in Roman history ; an episode in Russian
history, worked up in Les Faux Demetrius ; and
his Chronique du Regne de Charles IX. One of the
ablest of these historical studies was his La Jacque-
rie, a study of one of the most frightful outbursts
of ignorant and oppressed humanity in French his-
tory, a series of occurrences which was at once a
prelude though at a great distance in time to the
Revolution of 1789, and a prophecy of that tremen-
dous convulsion.
Among the works of this polished cynic, but
most gifted artist in word-painting, must also be
named his fantasy-piece, Venus d llle ; Le Double
Meprise, a picture of modern society; and the sin-
gular Lettres d Une Inconmie, which made so great
a stir when they appeared shortly after his death.
They seemed to have been addressed to some
woman who possessed the fascinating qualities,
though probably not the beauty, of Madame de
Recamier, and who enjoyed the adoration of her
admirer, but was able to be as obdurate to him as
20
306 French Literature.
that lady was to Benjamin Constant. She was an
Englishwoman.
Eugene Sue, though now known best by the
Mysteries of Paris and The Wandering Jew, began
his fame by the production of sea-stories. In this
line he ranks with Cooper and Marryatt, showing
great fertility of fancy and that boyish spirit of fun
and frolic which is so natural to the sailor. De
Vericour names Corbiere and Lecomte as other
writers of nautical novels during the same period.
Marie Joseph Eugene Sue (1804-1857) was born
at Paris. Becoming an army-surgeon, he served
under the Due d'Angouleme in the expedition into
Spain. Transferred thence to the navy, he was
present at the battle of Navarino, and saw enough
of life at sea to fit him for writing those stories
with which he began his literary career. Of his
earlier works the chief were Atar Outt, a frightful
story of revenge; Salamander, also full of horror;
and Vigie de Koatven, the story of a prosperous vil-
lain. This indeed is the blot upon Sue's fiction.
His villains always triumph.
After leaving the ocean as the scene of his tales,
Sue, in the new field which he chose and in which
he developed a socialist tendency, first showed his
peculiar power in Mathilde, ou les Memoir es d'une
jeune Femme. But his Mystires de Paris and Le
Juif Errant were the works which really estab-
lished his fame. They created wild excitement, and
enriched their author, so large were the sales. His
power in these romances is that acquired over the
reader's imagination by complicated, intricate, and
exciting plots, appealing strongly to the passion of
curiosity. No English novelist has ever shown
this art in anything like the same degree of skill as
it is to be found in a goodly number of French
romancers. These thrilling romances of Sue's were
followed by Martin, V Enfant Trouve ; Les Sept
Pechees Capitaux; and Les My stores du Peuple. In
his later works he developed socialist tendencies.
Romancers. 307
He was in public life when the Second Empire
came; and, being identified with the extreme wing
of the republican party, he was banished by Louis
Napoleon.
We now reach the most remarkable woman of
recent times, the "George Sand" of literature.
Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, who became the
Baronne Dudevant by her marriage, was born (180-1
1876) at Paris. Her father was descended from
the famous Marshal de Saxe. While still Made-
moiselle Dupin, she was moved at one time to take
the veil, but the reading of J. J. Eousseau's works
changed her purpose. Married to the Baron Dude-
vant at an early age, she lived with him for nine
years'. At the end of that time, finding her wedded
life intolerable and discovering that her husband
had neither love for her nor confidence in her, she
got him to consent to a formal separation, and went
to Paris to engage in literary work. In concert
with Jules Santleau, she wrote Rose et Blanche.
After parting with Sandeau, she kept by the advice
of Delatouche, the editor of the Figaro, for which
she wrote her earlier romances, the first half of
Sandeau's name and signed her works George Sand,
Delatouche holding that the public would not give
a woman due credit for her writings. Her Indiana
gave the first indication of her splendid powers.
In these earlier works, her pent-up wrath at the
broken illusions of the woman-heart thrown upon
a cold, heartless, and corrupt world, found vent in
a reckless plea for passion and a scorn for the mar-
riage-tie, which would have utterly condemned her
works with the moral part of the French reading
public, had it not been for the fascinating style and
enchanting glow of feeling which showed a fresh-
ness of heart that seemed incompatible with real
depravity.
Indiana was followed by Valentine, Lelia, Jacques,
Andre, Leone Lenni, and ftimon. The delirium of
passion and of outraged feeling seemed to pass
308 French Literature.
away with these earlier romances. Her travels in
Italy and Spain may have had something to do
with soothing her mind. The influence of Lamen-
nais, too, who was then engaging her services as
a writer for his journal, Le Monde, may have had
some effect in awakening her to that spirit of
Christian resignation which her Lettres h Marcie
breathed. Certainly, the whole atmosphere of her
literary work became purer and sweeter. Andre
and Simon were a definite contrast in spirit to
works like Indiana and Lelia. But she seems
at all times to have been remarkably susceptible
to influences from without, the influence of scenery
and the influence of society. Many writers have
spoken of her masculine tastes and masculine type
of mind. No greater mistake, it seems to me,
could be made. Few women have ever possessed
in a higher degree than she the essentially femi-
nine gift of assimilating through sympathy all
the spirit, thoughts, and qualities of every man in
whom she became deeply interested, and reproduc-
ing with definitely feminine art what she had thus
absorbed. She was a highly gifted woman, doing
in literature what every superior woman does in
society, the written sexual transmutation of the
one answering to the spoken and acted of the
other. Her travels suggested L 1 Uscoque, Les Mai-
tres Mosa'istes, Mauprat, and La Derniere Aldini.
Her studies in philosophical speculations bore fruit
in the mystical Spiridion, and her essay in prose-
poetry, Les Sept Cordes de la Lyre. Her political
ideas took form in Le Compaynon du Tour de
France and Pauline.
About this time, her literary success having
secured her a comfortable maintenance, she obtained
a divorce. In the Revue Independante, which she
started with Viardot and Leroux, she published
Horace, Consuelo, and La Comtesse de Rudolstadt.
These were followed by Jeanne and Le Meunier
tfAngibault. In all these later works, the political
Romancers. 309
tone is strongly democratic, and in the last-men-
tioned her views are decidedly socialistic.
She went back, however, at a later date, to purely
literary romances. Such were Isidora, Teverino,
La Petite Fadette, Francois -le-Champi, Les Maitres
Sonneurs, La Filleule, and, above all, that charm-
ing little prose idyll, La Mare au Diable.
Her Letters dun Voyageur described " with pathos
and animation the reminiscences of her youth, the
course of her affections, the blight and desolation of
her soul under accumulated sorrows; but she
no longer speaks in a wrathful and .passionate tone;
her spirit is subdued and chastened ; and she pours
forth the natural and plaintive effusions of one
wounded in the tenderest sensibilities, stricken as a
mother, a friend, a lover, and a wife. The countries
she has visited in her travels are also sketched
with great force and vigor of delineation, which
leaves a vivid impression on the mind of the
reader." This is the judgment of De Vericour.
After the Revolution of 1848, she produced some
pieces for the stage. Among her successes were
JFrangois-le-Champi, Claudie, Le Pressoir, Le Man-
age de Victor ine, and Maitre Favilla. Especially
was Le Marquis de Villemer a striking dramatic
success. Among her later works we may cite also
Les Beaux Messieurs de Bois-Dore, Jean de la Roche,
Mademoiselle de la Quintinee, and La Confession
cTune Jeune Fille. Among those autobiographical
pieces which, taken together, would make a large
group of memoirs, were her Histoire de Ma Vie,
Journal d'un Vogageur pendant la Guerre (published
in 1871), and Impressions et Souvenirs.
Respecting her relations with a succession of
men eminent in different spheres of art and litera-
ture, I choose to say nothing here, though there
is quite a literature on that single subject.
The writer, whose works go by the name of De
Stendhal, is stated by De Vericour to be Bayle,
French Consul at Civita Yecchia not long before
310 French Literature.
1848. The pessimist view of life is that taken in his
novels. They were Rouge et Noir, La Chartreuse
de Parme, and L'Abbesse de Castro. Besides these,
he produced biographies of Haydn, Mozart, and
Metastasio, a descriptive work, called Promenade
dans Rome ; a work on Italian painting, called
Histoire de la Peinture en Italic, and a book of
travels.
fimile Souvestre (1806-1854) was born at Morlaix
in Bretagne. His amiable and cheerful spirit
makes him a marked contrast to De Stendhal.
His romances illustrate Breton life, with its roman-
tic scenery, its rugged coast, and its simple people.
Les Derniers Bretons was the first of these. It was
followed by his ficlielle des Femmes, Riche et Pauvre,
and the Memoires d'un Sans-culotte. This last
deals with the struggle in La Vendee between the
royalists and the republicans. Les Confessions d'un
Ouvrier, Au Coin du Feu, Memorial de Famille, Le
Foyer breton, L'ffomme et V Argent, and Pierre et
Jean were others of his works. But that which is
most readily mentioned when the name of Souvestre
comes up, is his Philosophe sous les Toils.
Leon Gozlan (1806-1866) already mentioned
among the play- writers born at Marseille, besides
furnishing the theatre with numerous dramas,
comedies, and vaudevilles, was the author of an
archaeological romance of history, entitled Les
Tourelles ou Les Chateaux de France. Another
romance of his was Le Notaire de Chantilly.
Theophile Gautier (1811-1872) was born at
Tarbes. One of the most original and one of the
most productive, both in prose and verse, of recent
French authors, he belongs, like most of the
modern artists in fiction, to the sensuous school.
Trained to be an artist with pencil and brush, he
has carried the qualities proper to that form of
production into literature. There is wonderful
picturesqueness in his visions of the past, a fine
taste for classic beauty in all his work. But his
Romancers. 311
fancy is pagan, sensual, and impure in too many of
bis romances. The voluptuous visions he sets
before the mind are powerful creations; but, as is
so apt to be the case with an imagination so un-
restrained, there is a monotony in his passion for
portraying the naked form of woman, which in-
evitably narrows the sphere of his genius. His
most famous novels were Mademoiselle de Maupin,
Le Capitaine Fracasse, and Spirite. Shorter sketches
of Poesque fancy were La Morte Amoureuse, Une
des Nuits de Cleopatre, Clarimonde, Arria Marcella,
Le Pied de la Momie, Omphale, and Le Roi Can-
daules.
Both Ernest Feydeau and fimile Bergerot wrote
memoirs inspired by their admiration for Gautier ;
and Maxime du Camp has recently given in the
Revue des Deux Mondes interesting reminiscences
of literary and artistic life in Paris at the time
when he and Gautier and Arsene Houssaye were
publishing the Revue de Paris. It was in the pages
of this review that Baudelaire, Flaubert, and
Eugene Fromentin first became known to the
public.
Gautier's place as journalist critic was as high as
that which he attained as a romancer. But he had
to submit to a great deal of over- work, harassed as
he was by his creditors and hardly dealt with by
his family. During this period, his literary work
was done altogether in the printing-office ; and he
once said : " Schiller, in order to set his fancy
working, inhaled the odor of rotten apples ; I be-
lieve I could not write without smelling the stench
of printer's ink."
Among his poems may be named La Comedie de
la Alort and fimaux et Camees. It was from ex-
perience gathered from the fate of his first poem,
that he warned Flaubert against indulging his
passion for following his own theories of art. "I
know all about that," said he to Flaubert. " Every-
body goes through that phase, just as children have
312 French Literature.
the measles. When I used to live with Arsena
Houssaye, Camille Rogier, and Gerard de Nerval,
we had just such ideas. I know what it is to write
chefs d'oBuvre: I wrote La Comedie de la Mort ; I
gave away two volumes of prose in order to have
my verses published, of which seventy-five copies
were sold. Everybody can write chefs d'ceuvre, if
he will only believe in them."
In his youth, Gautier was one of the most ex-
travagant of the romantic school, emphasizing his
artistic and literary creed by wearing a flaming
crimson waistcoat and keeping his hair in long
waving masses. Of course he outlived these
follies, and his genius was evident in masterly
creations and polished language even in his most
fantastic days. In few literary works is the artist
so manifest as in his. He was also a remarkable
instance among recent French writers of perfect in-
difference to political life and complete devotion to
the literary profession. He traveled a good deal,
and his travels bore fruit in his Voyage en Italic,
Voyage en Russie, Voyage en Espagne, and L* Orient.
Jean Alphonse Karr was born at Paris in 1808.
He has published many romances, in a style
remarkable for clearness and precision, and with a
singular vein of humor running like an oddly tinted
thread through all that he has written. He began
with Sous les Tilleuls, the story of his first dis-
appointment in love. This, being well received,
was followed by Une Heure trop tard. After these
came Fa Dttze, Vendredi Soir, Le Chemin plus court,
Einerley. Grenevi&ve, Clotilde, Hortense, Am Rauchen,
Pour ne pas etre Treize, De Midi a Quatorze Heures,
Feu Bressier, Voyage autour de mon Jardin, La
.famille Alain, Histoire de Rose et de Jean Duchemin,
Le& Fees de la Mer t Clovis Gosselin, Agathe et Cecile,
Fort en Theme, Soirees de Sainte-Adresse, Les
Femmes, Raoul, Lettres ecrites de mon Jardin, Au
Bord de la Mer, Promenades hors de mon Jardin, La
Penelvpe Normande, La Peche en Eau douce et en
Romancers. 813
Eau salee, the last being a treatise on fishing, of
which he is very fond, as he is also of gardening.
Xavier Marmier, famous for his travels as well
as for his numerous translations from the German,
was born at Pontarlier in 1809. Being a master
of most of the languages of northern Europe, be
was made professor of foreign literature at Eennes ;
but he has traveled since in all the continents,
studying languages, manners, and literature every-
where. His romances were Les Fiances de Spitz-
berg, Gazida, HelZne, Suzaine, and others.
Bon Louis Henri Martin was born at St. Quentin
in 1810. His first publication was a novel entitled
Tour du Loup, written in concert with a young
friend. After this, he produced many other ro-
mances, among them Tancrede de Rohan. He con-
ceived, with Lacroix, the idea of compiling a his-
tory of France, made up of extracts from different
authors, which Lacroix assisting him only with
the first volume he carried on alone to its com-
pletion. His other important works have been
L'Abbaye au Bois, ou la Femme de Chambre ;
Histoire de Soissons ; De la France, de son genie
et deeses destinees ; Daniel Mauin; IS Unite
Italienne et La France ; Jean Reynaud ; Pologne et
Moscovie ; Vercingetorix ; La Russie d 1 Europe ; His-
toire de France populaire ; and Etudes d'archeologie
Celte.
Edouard Kene Lefebvre Laboulaye, born at Paris
in 1811, is one of the ablest and most versatile of
modern French writers. He was first known in
letters by his Histoire du droit de propriete en
Europe. Later, he published an essay Sur de
Savigny, a work entitled Des Recherches sur la Con-
dition civile et politique des Femmes, and an essay
Sur les Lois criminelles des Romains. Besides the
works on jurisprudence, which are very learned and
very clear in style, and his Histoire politique des
Btats Unis, he has produced imaginative and satiri-
cal works of a high degree of humor and power.
314 French Literature.
His best works of political satire are his Paris en
Amerique and that exquisite satirical fairy-tale, Le
Prince Caniche, with its inimitable exposition of
the " Gobemouchian " theory of government. He
has also written, in his Contes bleus, some of the
best of modern fairy-tales for children; an Arabian
romance of much charm entitled Abdallah ; and a
collection of tales, called Souvenirs (Pun Voyageur.
Louis Veuillot, a writer on the clerical side, was
born at Baynes in 1813. He returned from a visit
to Rome in 1838 a vehement ultramontane journal-
ist. Among his works, polemical, political, and
satirical, were Les Libres Penseurs, LEsclave Vin-
dex, Les Franeais en Algerie, Les Odeurs de Paris,
and Parfum de Rome. He also wrote a strikingly
original romance entitled Corbin et d 1 Aubecourt.
Auguste Maquet was born at Paris in 1813.
Dumas was struck with the ability displayed in his
drama, Bathilde, and proposed that they should
work together. Many of Dumas's romances were
thus composed. But in 1851, Maquet began to
write under his own name. Among these romances,
which Dumas did not retouch, are Histoire de la
Bastille; Prisons de T Europe; Belle Gabrielle ; Le
Beau d'Argennes ; Dettes de Cozur ; L'Envers et
LEndroit ; La Maison du Baiyneur ; and La Rose
blanche. He also put upon the stage the opera, La
Fronde; and the plays, Le Chateau de Gautier, Le
Comte de Lavernie, and La Belle Gabrielle.
Louis Amedee Bngene Achard was born at
Marseille in 1814. His stories make up more than
thirty volumes. Among them may be named the
pretty romance of Belle Rose and La Robe de Nessus,
Maurice de Treuil, Madame Rose, Le Clos-Pommier,
L Ombre de Ludovic, La Famille Guillemot, Le Due
de Carlepont, Histoire d'un Homme, L 'Eau qui Dort,
La Mis^re d'un Millionaire, and Madame de Sareus.
Jean Mace", born at Paris in 1815, ranks among
the story-tellers only by his Contes du petit Chateau,
fairy-tales which in my opinion are very far from
Romancers. 315
being first-rate, although commended by so high att
authority as Laboulaye. While educating the girls
of Alsace, Mace' conceived the idea of simplifying
and popularizing science for children, and began by
his Bouchee de Pain, which he followed up by a
number of other educational works of the same
sort. This notion of always instructing, of making
very sure to " point a moral," is what makes his so-
called fairy-tales so very far away from the ideal
type.
Arsene Houssaye was born in 1815. He appeared
as an author first in a romance entitled Couronne de
Bluets. His later work has been principally that
of journalist and art-critic. Among his works are
L 1 Histoire du Quarante-et-untime Fautenilde V Acad-
emic franr ais ; L'eventail brise; Une histoirc
etranye ; Les larmes de Jeanne ; Lucie ; La robe de
la mariee ; Roman des femmes qui ont aimee ; Une
trayique aventure;' Les trois Duchesses ; and Vie de
Leonardo da Vinci. I have already mentioned his
engaging with Theophile Gautier and Maxime du
Camp in the revival of the defunct Revue de Paris.
This was in October, 1851, and the monthly was
kept up until January, 1858.
Paul Henri Corentin FeVal was born in 1817.
Of his numerous novels, always lively and entertain-
ing, may be named Alizia Pauli ; Les Amours de
Paris ; Les Fanfarons du Roi ; La Maison de
Pilate ; Les Nuits de Paris ; Le Roi des Gueux
and La Fontaine aux Perles.
Erckmann and Chatrian are two writers, whose
works have attained great popularity both in France
and abroad, on account of their real merit and the
freshness of the scenes and simplicity of the life
depicted, as well as the pathos of the stories told,
but partly also from the sympathy lately aroused
for Alsace, and largely too from the circumstance
of constant copartnership in the production of their
romances. The marriage of two minds has always
been an interesting fact in the history of literature.
316 French Literature.
ftmile Erekmann was born at Phalsbourg in
1822 ; Alexandra Chatrian^ at Soldatenthal in
1826. Since 1847, they have worked together in
the composition of their Alsatian tales, signing
them with the double name, Erckmann-Chatrian.
Their works first attained popularity on the publica-
tion of Llllustre Docteur Matheus in 1859. Among
their best romances may be named: Conies des
bords du Rhin ; Le Fou Yegof ; Le Joueur dt Clar-
inette ; La Maison Foresti^re ; Le Consent de 1813;
Madame There'se ; L 'Invasion et Waterloo ; Le
Grand-pbre Lebigre ; Lami Fritz ; Les Deux Fibres
and Brigadier Frederic. Some of these stories
have also been thrown into the form of comedies.
Their play of Rantzan, produced by the Come'die
frangaise, is a sort of bourgeois Romeo and Juliet.
It is a dramatization of Les Deux Fr'eres.
The younger Dumas, born at Paris in 1824, made
his reputation by that immoral but very popular
story, La Dame aux Camelias, from which the op-
era of La Traviata was afterwards taken. Among
his other romances are, Le Roman d'une Femme ;
La Dame aux Perles ; Diane de Lys ; La Femme
du Claude ; Les idees de Madame Aubray Une
Visite de Noces ; Le Bijou de la Reine ; and La Prin-
cesse de Bagdad. He has also written plays.
One of the most vivacious and fantastic of
French romancers, Edmond About, who of late
years betook himself wholly to political journalism,
is but lately dead. He died in 1885.
Edmond Francois Valentine About was born at
Dieuze, Meurthe, in 1828. His La Grtce Contem-
poraine, an extravagantly satirical sketch of mod-
ern Greece, brought him at once into notice. It
was followed by the publication in the Revue des
Deux Mondes of his autobiographical romance,
Tolla. He now tried the stage ; but his comedy of
Guillery ou I'Effronte was a failure. He returned
to romance ; and Les Manages de Paris, Le Roi
des Montagnes, Gcnnaine, and Les Echasses de
Romancers. 817
Jfaitre Pierre showed where his true powers lay.
Others of his romances are L'Homme a I'oreHle
cassee, T rente et Quarante, Le nez d'un notaire, La
Viei-lle Roche, Madelon, and 'LInfame. Some of his
political pamphlets, such as La Question Romaine,
and La Rome Contemporaine, made a great noise
in their day.
As a story-teller, About reminds me of two
very dissimilar writers in English literature, the
English satirist Peacock and our own Poe in his
quality of fantastic romancer. There is no poetic
imagination in About's whimsical fancies, however,
nor any of that air of a reserved force, which is
manifest in the artistic creations of Poe.
Another political writer who has used romance
as the vehicle of satire is Rochefort. Victor Henri,
Comte de Rochefort-Lucay, was born at Paris in
1830. His father was a great royalist, but his
mother taught the-" youth democratic principles.
As a journalist, he was a thorn in the side of the
Napoleonic government, and spent much of his time
in prison or in exile. After the fall of the Empire,
he was involved in the proceedings which resulted
in the temporary establishment of the Commune.
For complicity in their atrocities, he was tried with
other Communists by the government of Thiers,
condemned, and imprisoned. Escaping from the
penal colony in the Pacific, to which he had been
transported, he returned by way of the United
States to Europe, was allowed to go back to Parts,
on the declaration of amnesty in 1880, and has since
then written his story of Mademoiselle Bismarck, in
which Gambetta and other political leaders are said
to figure under fictitious names.
Victor Cherbuliez was born in 1832. After a
fantasy-piece entitled Un Cheval de Phidias, he
published a series of romances. Among these are
Le Comte Kostia ; Le Prince, Vitale; Paule Mere;
Le Roman dune honnete Femme ; L'idee de Jean
318 French Literature.
Teterol; Les Amours fragiles ; and Noirs et Rouges.
There is a good deal of artistic power in his works.
Ludovic Halevy, the son of Leon HaleVy and
nephew of the great composer of music, was born
at Paris in 1834. His father, born in 1802, was in
his youth a Saint-Simonian, and, later, a professor
of literature and author of Fables, La Grece Tra-
gique, and a play entitled Electre. The son wrote
the libretti for many well-known operas, and a
number of romances. Among these is L'Abbe
Constantin, a story of exquisite simplicity and
sound moral tone. The light touch of Halevy is
an artistic gift which all can feel the charm of, but
which only trained critics perceive and appre-
ciate.
One of the most delightful purveyors of amuse-
ment for children in these days is Madame la Com-
tesse de Segur (nee Kostopchine), who has written
a host of amusing books, always bright and im-
aginative, sunny and sweet, with never a taint of
evil about them. Her Nouveaux Contes de Fees is
one of the best of fairy-tale books. Her other
books are Apres la Pluie le beau Temps; Come-
dies et Proverbes ; Diloy le Chemineau; Frangois le
Bossu ; Jean qui grogne et Jean qui rit; La For-
tune de Gaspard; La /Swur de Gribouille; L'Au-
berge de I'Auge gardien; Le General Dourakine;
Les bons Enfants ; Les deux Nigauds ; Les Mal-
heurs de Sophie; Le Mauvais Genie; Les Petites
Filles Modeles; Les Vacances ; Memoir es d'une
Ane; Pauvre Blaise; Quel Amour d Enfant!
and Un bon Petit Diable.
I have but space to touch lightly upon other
romancers of note. The passion for crude art,
taking form in pictures of coarse and depraved life,
in sensual passion untinged by any light of wit or
coloring of humor, in minute studies of horrors,
seems to have taken possession of- those who cater
for the public taste in our day.
Ernest Feydeau's Fanny, with its "sickly and
Romancers. 319
an wholesome sentimentality ; " Flaubert's Madame
Bovary, with its revolting scenes ; Adolphe Belot'a
Femme de Feu, with its debasing tendencies ; Zola's
Rougon-Macquart family, in the whole of the abom-
inable series in which those brutal specimens of
humanity figure, are types of the worst features of
the prevailing "realism," so much vaunted by the
admirers of that school.
Charles de Bernard, Jules Claretie, Smile Gab-
oriau, Jules Verne, Alphonse Daudet, make another
and a very varied group. I can only mention a
few of their stories. De Bernard is responsible for
Les Ailes d'leare; Un Reau-Pere; Gerfaut; Le
Nozud Gordien; Le Paratonnerre ; Le Paravent;
La Peau du Lion. Among Claretie's works may
be named Une Maitresse ; Les Amours d'un In-
terne; and Le Renegat.
Gaboriau, who died some years ago, wrote a vast
number of police-court stories, with intricate plots
woven about crime. The names of some of these
are L' Affaire Lerouge; L* Argent des Autres ; La
Clique doree ; Les Comediennes adorees ; La Corde
au Cou ; Le Crime d'Orcival; Le Dossier, No. 113;
Les Esclaves de Paris; Manages dAventure ;
Monsieur Lecoq; La Vie Infernale ; and Petit
Vieux des Batignolles.
Verne's flighty and fantastic stories amusing, if
there were any end to that string of extravagancies
are so well known by translations, that it will be
enough to name one or two, such as Autour de la
Lune ; De la Terre a la Lune ; Vingt-mille Lieues
sous les Mers ; Voyage au Centre de la Terre ; and
Uih Mysterieuse.
Daudet, who plumes himself as much on realistic
pictures as Zola, though he refrains from sinking
quite so low, that is, into utter filth, has acknowl-
edged that his characters are taken from the. life,
many being drawn from persons now living. This,
he states, is the case with all the characters in Fro-
rrwnt jeune et Risler aine, except Zizi Delobelle.
320 French Literature. .,
Among his other books may be named Jack ; Les
Lettres de mon Moulin; Les Hois en Exile; Le
Nabob ; and Nwna Roumestan. His Tartarin de
Tarascon is an amusing extravaganza, much en-
joyed by children. His brother Ernest has written
Le Mari and Henriette, and, recently, a memoir of
t'ne youth of himself and Alphonse, entitled Mon
Frere et Moi: /Souvenirs d'Enfance et de Jeunesse.
Of Zola, it would be superfluous to say more than
is contained in these words from a review of his
Pot-Bouille in an American journal, as they apply
with equal fitness to all his books:
" There is not one decent character in the book ; not
one redeeming trait of manhood ; not one pure woman ;
not one touch of humor ; not even an innocent child. It
reeks with filth. It is a veritable hot-bed of indescribable
grossnesses and will besmear every one who touches it."
This vile literature comprises La Conquete de
Plassans ; La Faute de VAbbe Mouret; Nana;
Venire de Paris ; L'Assommoir ; and one or two
more, the latest being Pot-Bouille.
Turning from this reeking atmosphere to pure
air, we find it in the sweet society to which Mad-
ame Durand introduces us. This is the writer who
puts to her books the name of Henry GreVille.
Her stories have been mainly of Eussian life. But,
whatever her theme, she gives always delightful
pictures of domestic life and hearty, natural char-
acters. A criticism in the same journal quoted
above well says :
" A keenly sympathetic temperament, a pure and lim-
pid style, and the easy flow of natural and graceful dia-
logue unite in the charm of her work. There is some-
thing idyllic in the sweet lessons of self-devotion to
another vvliich she is continually teaching, and which,
however often they may be told, never lose their original
freshness and simple eloquence. . . . And there is not one
of her books that is not pure in motive, word, and deed
which is suying a great deal as French novels go."
Romancers. 321
Her books are numerous. Among them I may
name Cite Menerd, La Niania, Sonia, Dosia, Ariad-
ne, and La Princesse d'Ogheroff.
Nor is Madame Durand the only pure romancer.
Madame Craven's religious novels, Recit d'une
Soeur, Fleurange, and Anne Severin are also entitled
to respect from the lofty tone and untainted atmos-
phere which they breathe. To her literature also
owes Une Annee de Meditations, Le Travail dune
Ante, La Sceur Nathalie Narlschkin, and Eliane.
One of the most popular of living romancers is
Andre* Theuriet, the author of La Chanson du Jar-
dinier and Madame Heurteloup. He lias also
written Sous Bois, Mademoiselle Guignon, Le Man-
age de Gerard, Ondine, La Fortune dAngele, and
Itaymonde.
Edouard, Vicomte de Beaumont- Vassy, a kins-
man of Gustave de Beaumont, has written, besides
a historical work, several romances of some merit,
among them Une Marquise d Autrefois.
To the Marquis de Chennevieres we owe some
pretty stories about peasant life in the province of
Perclie. These are told in his Contes de Saint-
Sautin.
Among other novelists may be mentioned Delpit,
the author of Le Mariage d'Odette and Le Fils de
Coralie; Brehat, of whose numerous tales we may
mention LAuberge du Solett d'Or, La Cabane du
Sabotier, and La Sorcie~re Noire, Capendu, the
author of La Popote and LePre Catelan ; Berthet,
the author of Le Val d'Andorre and La Bastide
rouge ; Xavier de Montepin, who wrote among
other tales La Compare Leroux, Viveurs d' Autrefois,
Les Viveurs de Paris, and Les Viveurs de Prov-
ince; and De Goncourt, the author of Les Fibres
Zemganno, Gavarni, and La Maison dun Artiste.
Arrnand de Pontmartin, who is more famous as
a critic, wrote about a dozen novels, of which the
most striking were Or et Clinquant, Les Jeudis de
Madame Charbonneau, Les Memoires dun Notaire,
322 French Literature.
Pourquoi je reste a la Camqagne, and Entre Chien
et Loup.
Madame Charles Eeybuad wrote Mademoiselle
de Malepeire, Mise Brun, and Le Cabaret de Gau-
bert. Ponson du Terrail is responsible for a host of
sensational stories, such as Un Crime de Jeunesse,
Les Fils de Judas^ Memoires dun Gendarme, Les
Mysferes des Bois, Nuits du Quartier Breda, and Le
Secret du Docteur Rousselle.
There are also Georges Ohnet, whose Le Maure
de Forges is, I believe, his masterpiece ; Jacques Vin-
cent, with his Le Cousin Nott ; fimile Kichebourg,
with his Le Missel de la Grand m^re ; and Lucien
Biart, with his Jeanne de Maurice.
The opposition of the French Society for the Pro-
tection of Animals to the abuses of the practice of
vivisection has given origin to a special form of
fiction, that devoted to inculcating humanity to the
dumb creatures under man's protection. The So-
ciety gave a gold medal a few years ago to Aure-
lieu Scholl for his pathetic little story, Le Roman
de Follette.
A charming story of a wandering troupe of per-
forming animals by Hector Malot, entitled, Sans
Famille, and translated into English with the title,
" No Relations," seems to have been inspired by the
same gentle motive. Malot has written a number
of novels. Romain Kalbris is a romance for chil-
dren. Of his other works I may name Cara, Le
Docteur Claude, La Boheme tapdgeuse, and Une
Femme d Argent.
Pleasing tales have been written by Louis ^nault,
Daniel Lesueur, and A. Gennevraye.
Critics and Scientists. 32(5
XXL
CRITICS AND SCIENTISTS.
D'IsRAELi's epigram on the critics has no appli-
cation in the case of the best French critics. They
have been remarkably able men, who have, besides
producing original works of merit, raised criticism
into a powerful, attractive, and useful branch of
literature. The excellence to which French criti-
cism has attained in modern times is largely due to
the new direction given to it by Villemain. His
criticism was a great advance upon that of Laharpe
and Diderot. His lectures on literature were
eloquent and fascinating, delivered in a style of
elegant and graceful ease, that possessed all the
elasticity which characterizes the best conversation.
Abel Fran9ois Villemain (1790-1780) was born at
Paris, and became in early life a Professor of Liter-
ature. His lectures, with those of Guizot and
Cousin, always drew immense audiences, and counted
among the most brilliant and fruitful intellectual
events of the Restoration period. Besides his Eloges
of Montaigne and Montesquieu, his History of Crom-
well, his drama entitled Lascaris, ou les Grecs du
XV. Siecle, translations from Cicero and Pindar, and a
history of lyric poetry, he produced Discours et
Melanges litteraires, Tableau de V Eloquence chreti-
enne au IV e Siecle, tudes d'Histoire Moderne,
Etudes de Litterature, and Chateaubriand, sa Vie,
ses crits, et son Influence litteraire et politique.
Two delightful volumes were all put forth by him,
entitled Souvenirs contemporains d'Histoire et de la
Litterature.
He mingled for a time, like m^st or ihe literary
men of the day, in political life, was minister under
324 French Literature.
Louis Philippe, became a Peer of France and Per'
petual Secretary of the Academie Fran$aise; but
all his earlier and most of his later years were given
up to literary labor. One of the weightiest influ-
ences which he applied to the discussion of literature
was that derived from his study of English literature.
Amply stored with all the arsenal of knowledge the
past could give, his mind was enabled to keep a just
poise between the claims of the classic and the ro-
mantic schools and to act as mediator between them.
He might justly be styled the first great historical
critic.
In the order of time, Patin, Vinet, Chasles,
Ampere, Girardin, and even Janin may be entitled
to mention before Sainte-Beuve. But his is the
great name in criticism, easily the superior of them
all, and the artist and poet among critics. He
stands naturally by the side of Villemain.
Charles Augustin Saint-Beuve (1804-1869) was
born at Boulogne-sur-Mer after his father's death.
His mother, a woman of fine education and char-
acter, took great pains with his education. Her
family was of English origin, and through her he
early acquired a knowledge of the English language
and literature. Beginning life as a medical student,
he was easily drawn into literary circles and critical
work by his enthusiasm for Victor Hugo's Odes et
Ballades and the principles of the romantic school.
He was soon moved to try his own powers in the field
of poetry. His Poesies de Joseph Delorme won the
plaudits of Beranger and other literary men, though
it did not hit the taste of the public. Les Conso-
lations, his next poetic effort, was more successful.
With Pensees dAout, he retired from the domain
of poetry. His poetry is, in the main, an imitation
of the mild muse of Crabbeand Wordsworth, familiar,
grave, and self-communing verse for which the
French have no great taste fortunately.
Besides these three collections of poetry, he pro-
duced several volumes of Portraits litteraires,
Critics and Scientists. 325
Jlistoire de la Potsie francaise au XVIe Stide, His-
toire de Port Royal, a romance entitled Volupte ;
and, above all, his delightful series of biographical
and critical sketches which appeared under the title
of Causeries de Lundi.
Sainte-Beuve was especially a student of the en-
vironment of the writer he was criticising. He
made it his first business to inquire who and what
the author was ; what produced, what developed,
and what modified him. He was sympathetic and
appreciative in his judgments, but at the same time
a little cynical ; impartial, tolerant, and inclined to
skepticism in religious matters ; subtle in analysis ;
piquant, animated, richly descriptive in style ; and
remarkably gifted in combining biographic details
and suggestive allusions with purely literary criti-
cism.
Henri Joseph Guillaume Patin was born at Paris
in 1793. His main claim to a place in literature is
his Etude sur les Tragiques Grrecs.
Alexandre Vinet (1797-1847) was born in the
village of Grassier, Canton de Vaud. He was Pro-
fessor of French Literature successively at Bale and
at Lausanne. His principles led him to infuse into
his literary studies Christian and philosophic ideas,
while his taste for art enriched and beautified the
moral conceptions with which he inspired his essays.
Etudes sur Pascal, Histoire de la Litterature Fran-
qaise au XVIII Q Stide, Etudes sur la Litterature
Francaise au XIX* iSiecle, Essais de Philosophic
Morale et Religieuse, Discours Religieux, Etudes
jZvangeliques, and Ecrits Polemiques constitute his
contributions to literature.
Victor Euphemion Philarete Chasles (1798-1873)
was born at Mainvilliers. He wrote Etudes sur les
Homrnes et les Mceurs au XIX e Sttcle and other
critical works, besides an account of his travels. His
specialty was English literature. The articles making
up the books issued by Philarete Chasles were
326 French Literature.
originally contributions to the Revue des Deux
Mondes and the Journal des Debats.
Jean Jacques Ampere (1800-1 864),, the son of
that Andre Marie Ampere who has been spoken of
already in this work as an illustrious scientist of the
Napoleonic period, was born at Lyon. He soon won
a brilliant reputation for large and comprehensive
literary research, traveling as he did in Italy, Ger-
many, and the Scandinavian lands, and, later, in the
eastern Mediterranean, and studying language and
literature wherever he went. He was very success-
ful as a professor in inspiring enthusiasm for lin-
guistic and literary studies, and at the same time he
wrote on many subjects. His Litterature et Voy-
ages told the story of his travels and studies. The
brilliancy of his style and the correctness of local
coloring and historic fact give great interest to
his La Grece, Some et Dante; Etudes Litteraires
d'apres Nature; VHistoire Romaine d Rome; and
Cesar. His Histoire Litter air e de la France avant
le douzieme Siecle is a careful and philosophic resume
of the great work of. the Benedictines on the same
period, giving an account of literary work done on
the soil of Gaul before it became France, and at the
same time treating of the influence of the Latin,
Germanic, and Keltic languages upon the formation
of the French tongue.
Jules Gabriel Janin (1804-1874) was born at St.
fitienne, in the department of the Loire. Thackeray,
in that satirical little sketch on "Dickens in France,"
which was after his death re-published in " Early
and Late Papers," describes our critic thus :
" Who is Janin? He is the critic of Prance. J. J. in
fact the man who writes a weekly feuilleton in the
Journal des Debats with such indisputable brilliancy
and wit, and such a fine mixture of effrontery, and
honesty, and poetry, and impudence, and falsehood,
and impertinence, and good feeling, that one can't
fail to be charmed wilh the compound, and to look
rather eagerly tor tlie Monday paper; Jules Janin is the
Critics and Scientists. 327
man, who, not knowing a single word of the English
language, as he actually professes in the preface, has
helped to translate the Sentimental Journey"
And, then, Thackeray goes on to abuse him
heartily for not liking Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby.
But, in spite of this fierce little satire, Jules Janin,
the " King of the feuilleton," as Heine called him,
is not to be despised. He was for Paris the sort of
piquant, racy, jolly old gossip that not Aristoph-
anes, but some human counterpart of his Dionusos
might have been for Athens. There was just the
sort of flavor about his wit and wisdom that the true
Parisian has a relish for ; and the favor of Paris
made Janin a rich man before he died.
He wrote a goodly number of novels, among them
EAne mort et la Jeune Femme guillotinee, that ill-
omened title with which Thackeray jeers him at
every turn in the paper just cited. He wrote also
accounts of his little trips. But nothing else that
he wrote got him anything like the kind and amount
of reputation which he gleaned from his weekly
feuilletons, brimming with high spirits and kind,
hearty, good feeling, as well as much ready wit and
some tenderness. Pontmartin, his fellow critic, said
that he could not withhold his affection and sym-
pathy from one " gifted with that faculty of vibration
which responds to every incident of public life, to
every episode of literary life, by a page, a line, a
word the page true, the line piquant, the word
just." It is Pontmartin who gives in eloquent
words the story of Janin's creation of the feuilleton,
and then adds : " It was in September, 1830, that
this dramatic and literary royalty, which still
endures, began ; and since that time there has never
been a play, a book, a work of art, an actor, a great
man, an event, a success, a misfortune, a fashion,
an absurdity, a caprice, an illustrious death, which
has not been reflected in these rapid pages, steno-
328 French Literature.
graphed by a hand which nothing wearies, under
the dictation of each day."
Such and so various was Janin's matter. His
manner was all his own. Never was there just such
a style, quaint, inverted, fantastic, grotesque, run-
ning through the whole gamut of tones with a sort
of Merry Andrew lightheartedness, even as the birds
sing. In any other man's work it would be rightly
thought affected, as would Charles Lamb's; but it
was the natural expression of that " fat and witty
child," as Dumas called him, just as Lamb's letters
show how little affectation there was in the printed
Elia. Janin's principal feuilletons were collected
and published under the title, Histoire dramatique
et litteraire.
Nisard stands apart from these critics, as a bitter
assailant of the principles of romanticism.
Jean Marie Napoleon Desire Nisard was born at
Chatillon-sur-Seine in 1806. He began as a jour-
nalist in opposition to the government of Louis XVIII.
After the Eevolution of 1830, he at first supported
the new government, but was soon once more in
opposition. He changed again, however, and in the
end was a zealous supporter of Louis Philippe's
government. When that government fell, he was
for a time in obscurity, but emerged with the rise
of Louis Napoleon to power, and thenceforward was
somewhat notorious as an advocate of arbitrary
measures. Meanwhile, as a critic, he avowed loy-
alty to the literary spirit of the past, especially
ridiculing the excesses of the romantic school in his
criticisms of Victor Hugo and De Lamartine. His
Poetes Latins de la Decadence seems to have been
purposely written to point the resemblance between
the Latin literature of the age of Lucan and the
literature of modern France. His other works, be-
sides translations from the Latin classics, where
Histoire de la Litter ature Fran^aise, Souvenirs
d 1 Angleterre, and a volume of Melanges.
Gustave Planche (1808-1857) was an austere and
Critics and Scientists. 329
bitter critic. He wrote, however, in a pure and
elegant style ; and his essays on English literature
were particularly useful to his contemporaries at a
time when the French were only beginning to take
some interest in the great body of literature produced
on the other side of the Channel. His articles
appeared in the Artiste, the Revue des Deux Afondes,
the Journal des Debats, and the Chronique de
Paris.
Ange Henri Blaze de Bury was born at Cavaillon
in 1816. He was the son of a celebrated composer
of music, and seems to have always taken a great
interest in music and musicians. Besides translating
" Faust," and other poems of Goethe, he wrote a
volume of Poesies, Etudes on Mozart, Eossini, Beetho-
ven, and other contemporary musicians, and an
eloquent and enthusiastic account of German litera-
ture, called Eerivaina et Poetes de I'Allemagne.
Sainte-Beuve's greatest rival was the Comte
Armand de Pontmartin, born in 1811, and living
alternately at Paris and at his estate of Les Angles
near Avignon. Sainte-Beuve denied that Pont-
martin was a critic at all in the true sense of the
term, and described him as " an amiable talker and
literary chronicler after the fashion of good society
and the drawing-room." I have already spoken of
De Pontraartin's novels. His critical essays were
republished, from the journals in "which they first
appeared, in several series, with such titles as
Causeries Litteraires, Cauteries du Samedi, and
Nouveaux Samedis. His religious, moral, and
political character remains steadfast in its attach-
ment to the old principles of the aristocratic race to
which he belongs. His style is rich, animated,
flexible, and impassioned. His literary criticism is
keen and earnest, based upon great underlying
principles which force him to condemn much that
he admits to be forcible and seductive. To Balzac
he objects that his art is morbid and corrupting,
and that he destroys pure and noble illusions ; to
330 French Literature.
Victor Hugo, that he stirs up animosity between
class and class, and that his genius is too often
delirious ; to Sainte-Beuve, that he lacks genuine-
ness, has no convictions, and is a time-server, un-
happy, irascible, and sour in temper beneath his
fine phrases. There is bitter satire in all this, but
enough of truth to have made it very telling.
fimile Montegut was born at Limoges in 1826.
His article in the Revue des Deux Mondes on the
philosophy of Kalph Waldo Emerson gave him his
first reputation. His criticisms were extended over
the field of contemporary French, English, and
American literature. He also translated Macaulay's
History of England and Emerson's Essays.
One of the youngest and most brilliant of French
critics is Taine. He has the credit, even among
English and American critics, of having produced
the best of all histories of English literature. His
knowledge of this subject is far beyond that pos-
sessed by Chateaubriand, Philarete Chasles, and
others who have treated it in French.
Hippolyte Adolphe Taine was born at Vouziers,
Ardennes, in 1828. His earlier works were essays
on La Fontaine and Livy, and a work entitled Les
Philosophes Francois au dix-neuvieme Siecle. Later
on, he brought out his Essais de Critique et d'His-
toire, his Philosophic de I' Art, and his famous His-
toire de la Litterature Anglaise. In this last he
carries to its extreme the doctrine of environment
and of original race-characteristics, and with the
most brilliant diction heaps up facts upon facts, with
a breathless prodigality of circumstance and of
illustration, to build up the theory that is to
account for every phenomenon of genius. It is all
very fine and philosophical, but perhaps ignores too
readily the force of individual character and gifts
quite irrespective of any known or knowable cause
in past or present. Taine has since written Notes
sur I' Angleterre, Les Origines de la France Contem-
Critics and Scientists. 331
poraine, Voyage aux Pyrenees, Voyage en Italie,
and Vie et Opinions de M. Graindorge.
fimile Gigault de la Be'dolliere, born in 1814, was
in early life a favorer of Saint-Simon's doctrines ;
but he outgrew those notions. Becoming a jour-
nalist, he produced a great number of essays, ro-
mances, poems, and translations. His Soirees
d'Hiver, Les Industriels, Histoire de la Garde
Nationale, and Mceurs et Vie privee des Franqais
are his most important original works.
Many of the professors of literature in French
colleges have written excellent histories of French
literature, either in whole or in part. Among these
I should name fimile Chasles, who wrote a Histoire
Nationale de la Litterature Franchise, divided into
four books of Origines, namely Le Genie Gaulois, ou
la Race; Les Gallo-Romains, et la Civilisation;
Les Gallo-Francs, et V Epopee; and Les Gallo-
Bretons, et V Esprit' Romanesque. This work was
published in 1870.
To Geruzez we owe La Litterature Francaise du
Moyen Age aux Temps Modernes and La Littera-
ture Francaise pendant la Revolution. He is a
spirited and agreeable writer.
To Demogeot we are indebted for Tableau de la
Litterature Franqaise au 17 e Siecle. Demogeot
lays especial stress upon the revelations which the
old memoirs give of the inner social life.
To De Vericour we owe Milton et la Poesie
Epique and a valuable work in English on Modern
French Literature, bringing us down to the Revolu-
tion of 1848. De Vericour gave especial weight to
philosophical and political developments.
Other historians of French literature besides those
already named are Aubertin, Baron, Saint-Marc
Girardin, Godefroy, Nettement, Albert, and Char-
pentier. Baret, Bida, Fauriel, and Gaston Paris on
old French and Proven9al literature ; Villemarque on
that of Bretagne ; Assailly on the Minnesingers ;
Bossert on German literature down to the Middle
332 French Literature.
Ages , Courriere on Slavonic literature ; Gidel on
modern Greek literature ; Roux on modern Italian
literature, represent some of the authorities in the
critical study of literatures.
In the field of biography, Sainte-Beuve supplies
sketches of Boileau, Chateaubriand, Chenier, De
Comines, Courier, Delavigne, Diderot, Fenelon,
Hugo, LaBruyere, La Fontaine, La Harpe, Lamar-
tine, Lamennais, La Rochefoucauld, Lebrun, Lesage,
Littre, Malherbe, Marivaux, Marmontel, Massillon,
Millevoye, Moliere, De Musset, Racine, Reynard,
Renan, Saint-Pierre, Saint-Simon, Scribe, George
Sand, Madame de Stael, De Tocqueville, and De
Vigny.
Lomenie gives us Beaumarchais et son Temps ;
Littrt), Comte et la Philosophic Positive; Guizot,
Corneille et son Temps and a number of other lives ;
Flourens, lives of Buffon and Cuvier; Levallois,
D'Haussonville, and Pons, each a work on Sainte-
Beuve ; Walkenaer, Memoires sur Madame de
Sevigne ; and De Falloux, Madame Swetchine, sa
Vie et ses (Euvres.
Here will fitly come the consideration of a few
essayists on moral, religious, or philosophical subjects,
whose works cannot be conveniently classed under
any general head.
fimile Edmond Saisset (1814-1863) was born at
Montpellier. Besides furnishing a great many arti-
cles on philosophy to the Dictionnair.e des Sciences
Philosophiques and the Revue des Deux Mondes,
he produced an essay Sur la Philosophic et la Re-
ligion au XIX e Siecle, and another De, Philosophic
Religieuse which have been highly commended.
Jean Charles Leveque was born at Bordeaux in
1818. His work entitled La Science du Beau
Etudiee dans ses Principes, ses Applications et son
Histoire; his fitudes de Philosophic Grecque et
Latine ; and his Du Spiritualisme dans I 1 Art, have
all won high honor.
Jules Francois Suisse Simon was born at Lorient
Critics and Scientists. 333
in 1814. He was a follower of Cousin in philosophy ;
but, having entered political life, he has made a
greater name there than in literary work. He re-
fused to take the oath of allegiance to the Second
Empire, but after its downfall became a prominent
personage in the political world. Among his works
are Le Devoir, La Religion naturelle, La Liberte
de Conscience, La Liberte, L'Ouvriere, EEcole, and
L'Ouvrier de huit Ans. He is remarkable for inde-
pendence of thought, for his steady maintenance of
the rights of the people, his defense of liberty of the
press, and of the interests of the laboring class,
especially women laborers.
Pierre Jules Hetzel, whose pseudonym was P. J.
Stahl, was born in 1814. He has been called the
French Sterne. His chief works are Scenes de la Vie
des Animaux, Le Diable h Paris, Tom Pouce, His-
toire dun Homme enrkume, Le Voyage dun Etudi-
ant, and Bttes et Geni. His sketches were highly
praised by Madame Dudevant and Louis Ratisbonne.
Among the friends and ardent admirers of La-
mennais was a young poet, Georges Maurice de
Guerin, who died before reaching the age of thirty.
His memory was kept sacred even more than by
the few remains of his published a generation later
through the charming journal and letters of his
sister, Mademoiselle Eugenie de Guerin, whose
devout and poetical soul shines sweetly in the naive
style which was so natural to her. The book issued
with the literary remains of Maurice de Guerin is
entitled Journal, Lettres et Fragments de M. Gue-
rin. His sister's writings are issued with the same
title, except that Mademoiselle Eugenie takes the
place of M.
One of the greatest names in the France of our
days is that of Renan. Unquestionably a great
thinker in many fields of thought, his attitude
toward Christianity has done much to obscure the
real merit of his character and writings for those of
us who believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is indeed
334 French Literature.
the Son of God, and that he came into the world to
save sinners.
Joseph Ernest Renan was born at Fre*guier in
1823. He early won distinction in linguistic studies,
and was especially noted for his acquaintance with
the Semitic languages. His first work of impor-
tance was his Histoire generate et Systemes compares
des Langues Semitiques. This was followed by his
Etude de la Langue Grecque au Moyen Age. His
other historical, linguistic, and ethical works were
his Sur Averroes et VAverroisme, his Mission de
Phenice, Etudes d'Histoire Heligieuse, Essais de
Morale et de Critique, La Reforme Intellectuelle et
Questions Contemporaines, Dialogues et Fragments
Philosophiques, and Melanges d' .Histoire et de Voy-
age. He has also written a singular satirical poem
called Caliban.
But the writings by which he has most stirred
the world are those which make up a series to which
he gives the name, Origines du Christianisme.
The first part of this was La Vie de Jesus. This
was followed by the Histoire des Apotres, Saint
Paul, Antichrist, and La seconde Generation Chre-
tienne : Les Evangiles,
Renan began with a proneness to dissent from
recognized religious and political creeds, with a
scorn for mere utilitarian or materialistic conceptions
in philosophy, and with a vague elevation of senti-
ment, which powerfully drew him towards the
moral side of Christ's teachings. Sympathizing
rather with the transcendental school of thought
than with materialist skepticism, he was essentially
an idealist, and, like all gifted idealists from Plato
to John Ruskin, a great word-painter.
Rejecting miracles, however, with as firm a belief
in the immutability or the secularly slow mutability
of nature as the narrowest of our modern philoso-
phers, and trying to explain the presence of the
miraculous element in the narrative that has come
down to us, not by the theory of imposture, but by
Critics and Scientists. 335
that of reverent wonder producing innocent distor-
tion of the facts, he attempts on this hypothesis to
reconstruct the history of Christ and the early
Church. Of course, it all results in his calling on
us to believe far greater wonders in the moral sphere
than any recorded miracles are for us in that of the
intellect. There is also something so illogical and
uncritical in the arbitrary rejection of one statement
of a series of authors some of them stating facts as
eye-witnesses to accept other statements made at
the same time, and to build huge inferences upon
them, that one is apt to refuse Renan credit for the
really fine things he does say, and the good inten-
tion which prompts him throughout. Some good-
will is due for his persistent protest against the mate-
rialistic tendencies of the age.
Renan takes high rank among philologists, and
may well lead us to name a few of his compeers in this
field. Perhaps the most distinguished of them was
Littre, who died in 1881.
Maximilien Paul mile Littre was born at Paris
in 1801. He early gave himself up to linguistic
studies. He had, however, also studied medicine ;
and his first publication, (Euvres d' Hippocrate, was
in that field. Taking a great interest in Comte's
doctrines, he next put forth a lucid exposition of his
system in De la Philosophic Positive. Master of the
old French used by the Trouveres, he published in
the Revue des Deux Mondes an article called La
Poesie Homerique et VAneienne Poesie Francaise,
in which he gave a translation of the first book of
the Iliad into old French, it opens thus :
" Chante 1'ire, 6 deesse, d'Achile fil Pelee,
Greveuse et qui douloir fit Grece la louee
Et choir ens en enfer mainte ame desevree,
Baillant le cors as chiens et oiseaus en curee
Ainsi de Jupiter s'acomplit la pense*e,
Du jour ou la querelle se leva primerin
D' Atride roi des hommes ? d'Achile le divin."
836 French Literature.
Other books of his, besides the " Dictionary,"
which was the great work of his life, were Histoire
de la Langue Frangaise, Paroles de Philosophic Pos-
itive, Auguste Comte et la Philosophie Positive,
Auguste Comte et /Stuart Mill. His article in
the Revue des Deux Mondes, Des Origines organ-
iques de la Morale, brought on him the accusation of
atheism. But the work which gave him his greatest
renown was his Dictionnaire de la Langue Frangaise,
the most complete thing of the kind in any language.
Other eminent philological writers are Alart, Bar-
bier de Meynard, Boissier, Chatelain, Cornu, Bida,
Cosquin, David, D'Herbomez, Godefroy, Gras,
Luchaire, Gaston Paris, Holland, Senart, Thomas, and
Tournier. Graux and Paulin Paris have recently
died.
Turning to writers dealing with religion on the
philosophical and historical side, we have Jean Joseph
Franois Poujoulat (1808 1880), who began his
career by travelling and laboring with Michaud,
when the historian was studying the scenes of the
Crusades, His principal works were Histoire de
Jerusalem, Histoire de St. Augustin, and a review of
Kenan's Vie de Jesus.
fitienne Vacherot was born in 1809. He was,
under the ban of the Second Empire for refusing to
take the oath of allegiance, and was also imprisoned
for his La Democratic^ His principal works were
Histoire critique de TEcole d 1 Alexandrie, La Meta-
physique et la Science, Essai de Philosophie critique,
and La Religion.
An able writer on the history of the Early Church,
J. B. Charpentier, was also a writer on literary his-
tory. The work I refer to is entitled Les Etudes
sur les Peres de I'Eglise. The literary works are
Histoire de la Renaissance des Lettres en Europe au
XV e Siecle, Essai sur I Histoire litteraire du Moyen
Age, and Tableau de la Litterature Franqaise aux
XV e et XV I e Siecles. He also published in 1853 a
Logique Franchise.
Critics and Scientists. 337
One of the most eminent of Protestant theologians
is Pressense. Edmond Dehoult de Pressens^ was
born at Paris in 1824. He studied in Swiss and
German universities, became the friend of Neander
during his student life at Berlin, took high rank as a
prsacher, writer, and legislator, and became widely
known as a vigorous advocate of moderate principles
in government, free education, and liberal views on
most subjects. His works are Conferences sur le
Christianisr.ie dans son Application aux Questions
sodales, Du Catholicisime en France, Histoire des
Trois Premiers Siecles de VEglise Chretienne, L'ficole
Critique et Jesu- Christ, La Liberte religieuse en
Europe depuis 1870.
Bishop Dupanloup was a vigorous writer on the
Catholic side. Felix Antoine Philibert Dupanloup
(1802-1878) was born in Savoy. He was much
interested in the subject of education. Among his
works are De V Education, La femme studieuse,
L' Enfant, and Le Mariage Chretien.
Naming now a few of those who have been most
remarkable in science or in writings on industrial
progress, we have to consider the works of a great
surgeon like Velpeau, of a master in archaeological
research like Quatrefages, of a microscopist and
discoverer of the germs of disease like Pasteur, of an
authority in architecture like Viollet-le-Duc, and of
an authority in taste and the philosophy of digestion
like Brillat-Savarin.
Alfred Armand Louis Marie Velpeau (1795-1867)
was one of the greatest of surgeons. Among the
works which he found time to write, in the midst of
his arduous duties, the most valuable are his Traite
de FAnatomie Chirurgicale and his Nouveaux Ele-
ments de Medicine Operatoire.
Claude Fra^ois Lallemand (1790-1854), born at
Metz, was also a famous medical authority. His
most important work was Recherches anatomico-
pathologiques sur T EncephaJes et ses Dependances.
Felix Archimede Pouchet (1800-1872), born at
338 'French Literature.
Rouen, was a most prolific writer on medical matters.
His experiments on spontaneous generation were
made in opposition to those of Pasteur. His most
important works were Theorie Positive de V Ovulation
spontanee et de la Fecundation des Mammiferes et
de I'Espfae humaine, Histoire des /Sciences naturelles
au Moyen Age, Traite de la Generation spontanee,
Les infiniment Grands et les infiniment Petits.
Claude Servais Pouillet (1791-1868) was a much-
admired lecturer. He also invented instruments
for measuring the varying compressibility of gases,
originated a theory of the cause of the sun's heat,
and invented an instrument for measuring its heat.
He wrote many scientific works on electricity, the
elasticity of fluids, the latent heat of vapors, the
height, speed, and direction of clouds, and other
subjects of kindred nature. His principal work was
Notions generates de Physique et de Meteo^ologie.
- Louis Pasteur, the great chemist, was born at
Dole in 1822. His discoveries have been exceed-
ingly valuable to mankind, and there is good rea-
son to hope that through his researches measures
may be taken by which many terrible scourges of
humanity will cease to ravage civilized lands, even
as the advance of smallpox has been checked by
inoculation and vaccination. His writings have
been Nouvel Exemple de Fermentation, Etudes sur
le Vin, Etudes sur le Vinaigre, Etudes sur la Mala-
die des Vers de Soie, and a few other works. His
controversy with Pouchet on the subject of sponta-
neous generation has already been mentioned. Pas-
teur argued against spontaneous generation, and his
experiments have proved that all fermentation and
many forms of disease are due to the development
of germs of microscopic minuteness. Pasteur was a
pupil of the famous chemist Dumas; and his first
step in the great discoveries he made was taken in
conducting the investigation, committed to him by
Dumas, into the disease which threatened to destroy
all the silk- worms of France and Italy.
Critics and Scientists. 339
One of the most eminent of living scientists is
Jean Louis Armarid de Quatrefages de Breau, born
in 1810. His essay entitled Theorie dun Coup de
Canon, his work Sur les Aerolithes and that De
I' Extroversion de la Vessie, his Etudes sur les Types
i /' rieurs de V Embranchement des Anneles, his
J*hysiologie comparee, Metamorphose de rHomme et
des Animaux indicate the variety of his studies.
He has also written Les Polynesians et leur Migra-
tions, Charles Darwin et ses Precurseurs Francois,
La Race Prussienne, and L'EspZce humaine.
One of the greatest of recent French geologists
was Jean Baptiste Elie de Beaumont (1798-1874),
born at Canon. In conjunction with Dufrenoy, he
devoted many years to the preparation of a geologi-
cal map of France. His chief writings were Coup
d'CEil sur les Mines, Observations Geologiques sur les
. differentes Formations sur le Systime des Vosges,
Recherches sur quelquesunes des Revolutions de la
Surface du Globe, and Voyage Metallurgique en
Angleterre.
Here, perhaps, though somewhat out of place,
may be mentioned a writer in French, who takes
rank as the father of geology as a science, the great
Swiss investigator, Horace Benedict de Saussure
(1740-1799), born at Conches near Geneva. Four
years before his death Geneva was annexed to
France. Hence he may in more than one sense be
considered as entitled to a place in French litera-
ture. His Voyages dans les Alpes marked an era in
the history of modern science. Besides this work
and sveral in Latin, he wrote Observations sur
r Ecorce des Feuilles et des Petales, and Sur'lHy-
' grometrie. This last Cuvier considered one of the
' most important contributions to science in that age.
One of the ablest chemists and writers on chemi-
cal subjects France has produced is Jean Baptiste
Dumas, born at Alais in the department of Gard in
1800. Lavoisier, about 1787, when he gave it its
1 earlier nomenclature, may be almost said to have
340 French Literature.
organized chemistry into a science. Other French-
men, Berthollet, Fourcroy, Vauquelin, Gay-Lussac,
Becquerel, Ampere, Decandolle, and Provost, did
much to further its progress. Dumas's contributions
to the advance of the science have been very impor-
tant. His chief works are Traite de Chimie appli-
quee aux Arts, Lemons sur la Philosophic chimique,
and Essai sur la Statique chimique des Etres
Organises.
A writer who has done much to popularize scien-
tific studies is Jean Francois Elisee Keclus, born in
the Gironde in 1830. Driven into exile by the
establishment of the Second Empire, he traveled in
many parts of the world. Returning to France in
1857, he became successively editor of several im-
portant periodicals, and wrote his books of travel and
his La Terre. He was implicated in the disorders
of the Commune, and again became an exile, to
return however under the general amnesty. His
Les Continents and L' Ocean are handsomely illus-
trated books.
Figuier and Flammarion also have been prolific
writers on scientific subjects.
Guillaume Louis Figuier was born in 1819. His
works are La Terre avant le Deluge, La Terre et les
Mers, Histoire des Plantes, Zoophytes et Mollusques,
Les Insectes, Les Poissons, Les Mammifires,
L'Homme primitif, Les Races humaines, Savants de
I'Antiquite, Savants du Moyen Age, Savants de la
Renaissance, Savants du 12 e Siecle, Savants du 18 e
Siecle, Le Savant du Foyer, and Les grandes Inven-
tions.
Camille Flammarion, eminent as an astronomer,
was born in 1842. He has been, like Reclus, an
expert in balloon ascensions. His principal works
are La Pluralite des Mondes Habites, Les Mondes
imaginaires et les Mondes reels, Les Merveilles ce-
lestes, Dieu dans la Nature, Histoire du del, Contem-
plations scientifiques, Voyages aeriens, L" 1 Atmosphere t
Critics and Scientists. 341
Histoire dun Plaritte, Les Terres du Ceil. His
style is very animated and picturesque.
Guillemin is another author of illustrated scientific
books, such as Les Cometes, Le del, Les Phe7iomenes
de la Physique, Les Applications de la Physique.
In architecture we have Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-
le-Duc, born at Paris in 1814. Besides his His-
toire dune Maison, and other works on architectural
subjects, he has written a Memoir e sur la Defense de
Paris.
In literature on the arts we have Auguste
Alexandre Philippe Charles Blanc (1813-1882),
born at Castres and trained to be an engraver. He
held for many years the post of Director of the Fine
Arts. He has published many works on artists,
among which is his finely illustrated Histoire des
Peintres de toutes^ les Ecoles : Ecole Franchise,
Ecole HoUandaise, Ecole JenVne 2;'.
Beaiiuiont Kiel 26entier 336
349
350
INDEX.
PAGE
Charriere (Madame de) ~2l
Charron 70
Chat-tier 53
Chasles (Pliilarete) 325
Chasles (fimile) 3:;i
Chateaubriand (de) ....20, 203, 210
Chaulieu U'Abb6 de) 146
Cheaier (Andre) 191
Chenier (Marie Joseph) 192
Chennevieres 321
Cherbuliez 31"
Chevalier 200
Chrestien '.. ... 77
Chrestien of Troyes 40
Christine de Pisan 53
Claretie 300, 319
Code Napol6on 229
Comities (de) 10, 50
Comte 205
Condillac 10
Condprcet 195
Considerant 240
Constant 21 0. 221 , 225
Constant, on Mud. de Stael. . . . 220
Coqnerel 27'.)
Cormeiiin 272
Corneille (Pierre.) 13.88
Corneiile (Tin. mas) 14 J
Cottin (Madame) 220, 251
Coney (tie) 41
Courier 2',i
Court de Gebelin 188
Cousin 29. 2tJ3
Craven (Madame) 21), 321
Crebillon (de) 10, 1-18
Crottet 279
Crusades, changes produced by 4S
Cnvelier 53
Cmier 229
Cnvier, on Buff on 19.~>
Cyrano de Bergerac 100
Dacier (Madame) 146
Daguesseau 151, 153
I>am iron 205
Danehet 240
Darn 250
Daubenton 197, 230
D'Anbigne, 07
D'Aubign-HMerle) 278
Daudet 27, 319
Daurat 03
Deffand (Madame du) 185
D.-luvigne 280
Delery 344
Delille 180
Demogeot Si. 331
Delpit 300,321
Desaugiers 219
Desbordes-Valmore (Madame). 287
Descartes 92
Deschamps 52
Desmarets 86, 87, 99
Desportes 68
Destouches 148
Diderot 10, 182
Drneys 145
Ducis 180
Duclos 188
Dudevant (Madame). . . .26, 307-309
Uupuytren
f!lie de Beaumont,
ftnanlt
PAGE
Dufour 34.-)
Dugue 344
iManarsais. li^8
Dumas (Alexandra) 24, 293
iJiimas (:e Jeiine) 316
Dumas (ehemis-t) 339
Dniiiont Ai7
Dmnoiiriex 203, 226
iHipanloup 337
Dupont i 29'J
Durand (Madame) 320
230
339
322
180
244
186
815
76
45
332
279
138
298
315
318
310
340
31!)
139
110
279
191
253
205
146
23(i
246
49
1
Kn fan tin
itpinay ( Madame de)
KrckmaiiP-Chatrian 27,
fitienne (fistienne)
Kabliaux
Fallonx (de)
Kauriel
Fenelon 14,137,
Feuillet
Ft''val
Feydeau 27.
Fignier
Flammarion
Flaubert
Fleuhier
Fleury (I'Abbe) ....
Florence (Deleelnze's Histoiy
of).
Florian
F'ontanes
Fontaues, on Chateaubriand...
Fontenelle
Fourier
Fourier (Charles)
Frangoisof Rues...
Franks
French People
Language
" Heroic Metre
" Fiction
Freron
Fresnel
Froissart
Gaboriau
Galland
Gamier.
.241-
Gautier of Coinsv
Gautier (Theophile) 295,
' on Art
Gayarre
'Gay-Lussac
Geiee
Genlis (Madame de)
Gennevraye
Geoffrin (Madame)
(ierson...
310-
Gt'-rnzez
Geruzez, on 1'Hopital
"La Fontaine
Gilbert
Gillot
Girard
Girardin (Madame de)
Gotnbault ,
168
23
177
235
50
319
143
6S
46
312
312
343
49
228
322
186
53
331
71
127
177
340
295
97
IXDEX.
351
PACK
Gomberville 'J7
Goncourt (de) 321
Gondi (Paul de) 13-3
Gournay i Mademoiselle de) 74
QoKlan. 294, 310
Graindor of Douai 39
Grasset 279
Grebau (the brothers) 54
-t 177
Greville 28,320
Grimm 183
Gueneed'Abbe) 178
Guerin (Maurice de) 333
Gueriu (Eugenie de) 333
Guillaume of Lorris 47
Guillemiu 341
Guiraud 287
Guizot 29, 269
on the Crusades 48
" la Princesse de Cleves.130
" " Philippe de Comines, 56
Guy-Patin 99
Halevy 318
Hamilton (de) 147
Hardy 86
Heine, on the Marseillaise. ... 280
Helvetius 184
Herberay des Essarts 62
Herbelot (d') 113
Heroic Age 3* 1
Hetzel 883
Hoi bach (d') 1*3
Houdetot (Madame d'.i 187
Hugo 25,289-291
Hundred Years' War 49
Houssaye 315
Huon of Villeneuve 39
Huon le Roy 46
Jacquemart 341
Jacqueuiart GelSe 49
Janin 28,326
Jasmin 300
Jean Borel 40
Jean of Boves 46
Jeau of Flagy 39
Jean of Meuug 47, 48
Jean Michel of Angers. 54
Jodelle 66
Join ville (de) 47
Jouffroy 29, 264
Karr ( Alphonse) 312
Hook (Paul del 26, 302
Kock (Henri de) 303
Laboulaye 29, 313
La Bruyere 139
Lacepede 237
Lacordaire 29, 262
La Fayette (Madame de) 130
Lafont 296
La Fontaine 14,127,141
La Harpe idei 179
Lallemand 337
Lally-Tollendal 167
Laniartine (de) 28, 29, :>S4
Lambert the Short 40
Lamennais (de) 29, 261
Lamotte 14C
Lancelot 96
Lanfrey 273
PAGE
Language, French 1
Langue d'Oil 9
Langue d'Oc .....' 9
La Xoue 180
La Noue (de) 76
La Prade 296
La Touche 180
Las Cases 256
Lays of Exploits . . . 32
Lebrun ... 180
Legare, on Daguesseau 152
Legare. quoting Prince d'Aren-
berg on Figaro 201
Legouve (E.) 296
Legouve(G.) 248
Lemaistre 93
Lemaistre de Sacy 96
Lemercier 249
Lemierre 180
Lemoine (Le Pere) 99
LenonnaBt 29
Lepouse 346
Leroux 265
Leroy ( Pierre) 77
Leroy ( Huon) 46
Lesage 17, 148
Lesueur 322
Leveque 332
L'Hopital (De) 70
Lingua-Franca 47
Lisle. Rouget (de) 280
Littre 335
Lomenie (de) 332
Lome'nie (de), on Chateaubri-
and 210
Louis Napol6on ~'74
Louvet 202
Lovers of Provence (The) 42
Mably (1'Abbe de) 190
Macaulay, on Provence 8
" Feneion 138
" Saint-Simon 143
" Voltaire 161. 164
' " Dumont 2\!7
Mace 3!4
Mackintosh, on Mad. de Stael.. 217
Maillard 54
Maimbourg 140
Mainteuon (Madame de) 144
Mairet 87
Maistre (Joseph de) 225
Maistiv i Xa vier de) 2^6
Malebrauclie 140
Malherbe 77
Malot 322
Maquet 314
Marguerite of Navarre . . .10, 60, 62
Marivaux (de.) 178
Marmier 313
Blarmontel 109, 178
Marot CO
Marseillaise, La 280
Martin 313
Mascaron 139
Massillon 14, 139
Maynard 77, 78
Mazure 279
Menage 108
Blenot 54
352
INDEX.
FAGS
Mercier 346
Merimee 304, 305
Mery 292
Mezerai 140
Michaud 251
Michaux 237
Michelet 29, 278
Mignet 277
Milievoye 253
Miotde M61ito '. 257
Mirabeau 193, 203
Mistral 301
Mole ei7
Moliere 14, 103, 1 14
Monstrelet 51
Montegut 330
Montepin 321
Montaigne (de) 12, 72
Montaigne, on Amyot 72
Montalembert (de) 29, 259
" on Lacor-
daire .... 262
Montesquieu (de) 15, 154, 155
Montfleury 141
Montluc (Blaise de) 76
Montausier 81
Moore, on French Heroic Verse, 168
" " Constant 225
Mornay, Philippe de 83
Murger 299
Musset (de) 28, 297
Mystery and Miracle Plays 54
Memoirs of Bernard Palissy. . . 61
the Leaguers 83
" the Huguenots 83
" Richelieu 86
" Richelieu's Time.. 102
" Cardinal de Retz.. 132
" the Due de Saint-
Simon 141,149
" La Fare 146
" Mad. de Staal 147
Voltaire 170
" Rousseau 174
Bailly -. 202
" Chateaubriand .... 206
Madame de Stael.. 219
" Dumouriez 226
Dumont 227
Madame de Genlis, 229
Arnault 249
Napol6on 254
Mad. de Remusat. . 256
Mad. d'Abrantes.. 26b
" Las Cases 256
" Miot de Melito .... 257
" Vidocq 257
" Madame Michelet. 278
" Dumas 294
Napoleon 253
Napoleon (Louis) 273
Necker 21 1
Nerval (de) 296
Nicole 96
Nisard 328
Nodier 302
Ogier le Danois 38
Ohnet 322
Orleans (Charles of) 55
PAGE
Palisot 237
Palissy 61
Paris, le Comte de 279
Pascal 14,93
Pasquier 75
Pasquier, oil Montaigne 73
Passerat 77
Pasteur 33tf
Patin 325
Pellisson 140
Pereflxe 140
Perrault 14;i
Perrotin, the publisher 38J
Pey rat 27n the French stage.. . 22
Sar-inii 299
sarrnzin 82
Sa;yre Menippe 76
Siimin 180
SiinsMire (del 339
S:i i] vijriiy (de) 101
Soarrori 100
Srh"ll '.. 322
Scribe 294
8cuderi (George) 88
Scnderl (Mile, de) 82,96,98
Sc.iaine 190
Sf.gala* 'Madame Anals) 297
St'^ur i dei 275
Segur (de) Madame 29, 318
S.'-j.'iir 343
Seville i Madame de)...9, 130-132
Sieyes 193,203
Simon 332
Sismondi (de) 250
PAGE
Sorel 101
Souli6 304
Soumet 287
Souvestre 310
Spain (St. Hilaire's History of i. 279
Staal (Madame de) 147
Stael HolsteiinMad.de), 20, 211-220
Stahl 333
Stendhal (de) .309
Suard (Madame; 1ST
Sue 25,306,307
Taine 28,330
Tallemant desReaux... f-0
Talleyrand 257
on Mad. de Stael.. 219
Tastu Oladamei 288
Terrail (Du) 322
Thackeray, on Dumas 293
" Janin 326
Theophile Viaud .. 78
Theuriet 321
Thierry 29,276.277
Thiers 29,272
Thomas 190
Tillemont 140
Tissot 265,279
Tocqueville (de) 268
Toepffer 303
Tracy (de) 239
Tressan (de) 189
Troubadours and TrouTeres..9, 52
Turold 39
Urfe(d') 77
Vacherot... 336
Varillas 140
Vaudeville, Origin of 53
Vauquelin de la Fresnaye 68
Vauvenargues 188
Velpeau 337
Vericour(de) 331
" " on Chateaubriand 'M6
" " Cuvier 231
Vertot 140
Verne (Jules) 27, 319
Veiiillot 314
Viaud 78
Vidocq 257
Viennet 253
Vignaud 345
Vigny (del 28, 288
Villehardoum 41
Viilemain 3-J3
Villemain, on Beaumarchais. . JH
" Froissart 51
Villeneuve (Madame) 143
Villon 55
Vincent 322
Vinet 325
Viollet-le-Duc 341
Vitet 291
Voiture 82
Volney 240
Voltaire 15, 156-171
AValkenaer 332
Zola 30, 27,319,320