FRENCH EPIC POETRY. 637 



Striking and truthful details, all this is brightly coloured and 

 sharply outlined; all this is full, of life, because the form in 

 which it is presented to us is so exquisitely beautiful. Alternately 

 familiar and humorous, or giving free scope to his lyrism and 

 eloquence, he seldom fails to rise to the diapason required by 

 the tale on which he is occupied. His lines of various lengths, 

 but so pregnant, so numerous and rich in melody, invariably 

 fit the ideas he wants to express. But the poet's great originality 

 in this huge production is shown by his discovery that our 

 modern world does not feel interested any longer in shipwrecks 

 and pitched battles, in roll-calls of armies, and descents into 

 Avernus, but in ideas ; and, further, by making it clearly under- 

 stood that the hero of an epic should not be a man, even if he be^ 

 an Achilles, or an ^neas, a Godfrey of Bouillon, or a Roland, 

 but mankind itself. 



By the universal interest roused by the contents, by the 

 supremely artistic disposal of rhythm and harmonious sonority, 

 by the force of high-wrought and thrilling images, by majestic 

 breadth of movement and winged periods, the author of the 

 Legende des Siecles has succeeded in achieving an imperishable 

 masterpiece, which entitles him to rank with the greatest of epic 

 poets. He has presented French literature with the only French 

 epic that can be placed side by side with any of the traditional 

 eight epics of the world. And if in time to come there is to be 

 such a thing as a revised list of world epics, we may rest assured 

 that Victor Hugo, with his Legende des Siecles, will appear on 

 that list as a representative for France not less noble and not less 

 glorious than John Milton for England. 



University of Capetown. 



SUGGESTION FOR THE EDUCATION OF PUBLIC 

 OPINION ON NATIVE AFFAIRS. 



By Maurice Smethurst Evans^ C.M.G., F.Z.S. 



{Not printed?) 



SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF NATIVES ON THE RAND. 



By Rev. Walter Francis Hill^ M.A. 



{Not printed.) 



PLACE NAMES OF AFRICA, No. 11. 



By Rev. William Alfred Norton, B.A., B.Litt. 



{Not printed.) 



