3/2 SANSCULLOTISED LITERATURE IN FRANCE. 



scene the " Mariage " puts the vanity of human greatness on the 

 pillory, and levels a Spanish grandee down to being the absolute 

 equal ojf a mere barber. O lippi et tonsores! 



To conclude. I should like to say a few words a'bout the 

 poetry of the Revolution. As a rule, the poetry of a given 

 l)eriod symbolizes fairly well the character of that period, and 

 reflects more or less faithfully the mentality of society. Under 

 the Sun King, poetry is of a solemn cast, and gracefully moves 

 along in stately strains to the formal rhythm of its alexandrines. 

 Under Louis XV. and de Poinpadour. it babbles and chatters 

 merrily and ])reitily, playing its waggish quips and cranks in the 

 salons, the reditits, the riiellcs, and alcoves. With Marie Antoi- 

 nette it affects almost virginal candour and tmadorned sim- 

 plicity. It is then the heyday of little white and. woolly lambs, 

 with pink and light blue ribbons. Jean Jacques imposes the senti- 

 mentalism of his " Nouvelle Heloi'se," and the educational prin- 

 ciples of his " Emile," which subsequently suggest to Mme. de 

 Genlis her dull and tedious twaddle, and to the Abbe Baithe- 

 lemy the soporific peregrinations of his young Anacharsis. Con- 

 temporarily, again, a goody-goody kind of descriptive garden 

 pnetrv bucis forth in the flat and unprofitable " Georgics " of the 

 gentle Delille. Practically all this means already revolution of the 

 salons, of the manners, olf the fashions. Philosophy supersedes 

 the frivolous, sappy tittle-tattle, of which our modern flirting 

 societies remind us sometimes. The time is almost ripe for a 

 sweei)ing change in regimen, in manners and morals. As early 

 as 1783 Pebrun-Pindare had published an " Ode," in which he 

 demands tlie demolition of the Bastille. Lesser poets began to 

 forestall new times. They sang the unpleasantness of royalty, 

 but not daring to lay the fault on Louis XVI, they made- 

 Frederick II. of Prussia their scapegoat. Louis XVI. did not 

 hear Lebrun's categorical appeal, and on the 14th of July. 1789, 

 the mol) took the matter in hand, with the result we all know. 

 Since then the ])0])ular Muse had no end of the choicest ])abu- 

 lum to feed on. and this 14th of July was sung and celebrated 

 and solemnized in a hundred various strains. There was no 

 revolutionary event, however small, of which poetry did not 

 make its prey. It assumed all manner of forms; it was epic, 

 lyrical, and didactic at the same time ; it was original, extrava- 

 gant, fantastical, eccentric- Sublimity in it walked hand in hand 

 with ])latitude. In one inspiration rises to the very ])innacles 

 of Parnassus; in another it grovels in the dust like a whipped 

 dog. One versifex of the time ji'ot it into his head to write : 



" La libei'te d'ecrire enfante le genie !" 



and hundreds of petty prosy gradgrinds, deeming themselves 

 suddenly gifted with the divine afflatus, set to work and became 

 in their own eyes as many Pindaruses. The national and civic 

 festivities especially gave rise to sheer torrents of poetry, and 

 the feast of the Federation inspired a swarming host of trouba- 

 dours. On this memorable occasion no fewer than 4,200 ix)ems 



