SANSCULLOTISi-ZD LITEUATURE IN FRANCE. T,7 -t 



en(iea\<)ure(l to define the psychological, or. rather, the psycho- 

 pathological, element of society between the years 1789-93. If 

 he had instituted an inquiry into the mentality of that societ_\- 

 and determined the factors of its actions, he would have agreed 

 that man has only a mere illusory power over the course of 

 revolutionary events, to which he has to suhmit without beir,;.^" 

 able to either control or direct them- Never, in literature as 

 well as in everything else, the spirit was less of a ruler and more 

 of a slave to inexorable and inevitable laws than during the- 

 ■period of the Revolution, when society was suffering on one 

 hand a notable diminution of its intellectual faculties, and in the 

 other manifested an appalliaig exaltation of the i^rimitive in- 

 stincts, by which it was kept tossing to and fro on the lumpy 

 sea cuf violent and reckless passions and impulses. Summing up 

 now, we may say that the eft'ect of the Revolutions on French 

 literature was absolutel}' annihilating. The reading ])uhlic had 

 for tW(T centuries running practically consisted of the Parisian 

 " beau monde." With the destruction of jjolite society, no 

 'educated reading public was left. It is true that the literary 

 output during the Revolution is immense, but it consists almost 

 entii'ely of pretentious rubbish, intended to appeal to an excited 

 mob full of vague ideas as to the exalted virtues of antique repub- 

 licaiis and the abject vices of antique and modern monarchs. 

 It may seem strange that so momentous a i^eriod should have 

 been so barren in literature, but one of the most strikinu- features 

 of the French Revolution is the almost ludicrous disparity be- 

 tween the greatness of its movements and the littleness of its 

 men.* 



( Read, July 3. 19 17.) 



The War and the Weather.— The writer of the 

 " Notes " in the Journal of the British Astronomical Associa- 

 tion A replying to a criticism by Mr. W. Campbell, of the theory 

 that artillery firing aft'ects the weather, says, " Probably Mr.. 

 Campbell has not been in the close vicinity of a modern Ix^mbard- 

 ment, or he would realise that the disturbance of the atmosphere 

 is considerable. Is it not probable that electric action is set up 

 by the concussions of the firing, by the passage of the projectiles, 

 and by the bursting shells ? If the atmosphere is near the point 

 of saturation it is likely that precipitation will follow, but if not, 

 the disturbance mav travel awav until it arrives into a resfion of 

 fa\ourable conditions, and there upsets the balance. It is pretty 

 well understood that bad earthquakes are (followed by immediate 

 heavy rain." 



* Ernest Weekle3\ " French Literature." 



t 28 ( 19(7), 77. 



