‘6s 
‘thet capable of any atrocity?’ Do you 
think that a vengeance. coolly ripened, 
‘and prepared during a period of twenty+ 
five vears, isa masterpiece of ima- 
‘gination? Are you edified by be- 
holding robbers suddenly becoming vir- 
tuous and laborious? Do you like to 
read, without) knowing. what you are 
reading, until you have read the whole 
work? Is ita matter of indifference to 
spend two or three hours at a book, 
whence there results but one reflexion, 
that there are persons who waste a great 
deal of wit in proving that they do not 
possess comimon sense? In short, would 
you read a bad romance, which is not at 
all ill written? In that case, pray read 
L’'Urne dang le Vallée solitaire, the Urn 
in the solitary Valley. 
“Common sense is, however, still 
more common than some people think, 
and it js common sense which will at 
length produce a reform in taste. This 
is saying a great deal, but it will 
soon be proved, and is already proved in 
some stnall degree, by the success of 
Melanie de Réstange, a most excellent 
novel,:the production of Madame Ar- 
mande R*****, 
~~ © As to the Memoirs of Mademoiselle 
de Montpensier, you may read them if you 
please, and I shall not prevent you; but 
you will there find so many useless de- 
tails; so many little passions animating 
great personages; so many long intrigues 
which lead to nothing; so many great 
_ mames connected with such trifling af- 
fairs ; so thuch importance attached to 
such silly stories, that, after having pe- 
rused the whole, you will at length dis- 
eover you'have learned nothing, and you 
will demand, like me, what is there in 
this werk proper to form the minds of 
young females, or to inspire them with a 
taste for virtue?” 
After mentioning a number of other 
prose works, the author takes a review 
of modern French poetry; and laments, 
that no period was ever so favourable 
‘to, or produced so few, fine verses, 
“ But,’ adds he, “if the Muses lan- 
guished amidst ruins, they ought now to 
rejoice amidst the glorious trophies pro- 
duced by vietory, Already twa fine Odes 
have signalized the present epoch; the 
one written in Latin by M. Roémers ; the 
other in’ French, by M. d’Avrigny: both 
are yeplete with genius and enthusiasm. - 
The two following short passages have 
been selected as a specimen : 
S* Les Destins ont 
parlé, tout ctde a leur 
iSsance 5 ‘ 
Retrospect of French Lite ature—Miscellanies. 
Et, plus grand chaque jour, le héros de Ia 
France 
S’éléve triomphant des plus fiers potentats: 
Sous leur choc s’affermit son immortel em- 
pire 5 t 
Et de tant d’ennemls armés pour le détruirey 
Les torrens dissipés s*ecoulent sous ses pas. 
«¢ Mais quel dieu tout-& coup 4 la terre 
m’enléve, 
Sur les ailes des vents avec lui je m’éléve, 
Et le rivage au loin fuit mon eil éperdu. 
Cette ville, est Calais: ce roc fameux, est 
Douvre : ; 
Ce fleuve, la Tamise ; et la nuit qui me couvre 
Me cache en vain les murs ov je suis descendu. 
pry ea la ee wa ope er vedanta te 
‘* Tandis que des tombeaux* je parcours l¢ 
silence, 
Dans cette nuit lugubre, a mes regards s’a- 
vance 
De guerricrs chargés d’ans un cortége pieux. 
A leur téte est leur roi, le front couvert d’al- 
larmes: 
Il gémit ; et son cil obscurci par les larmes, 
Semble errer sur la pierre od dorment ses 
aleux.” 
The following exaggerated panegyric is 
addressed to the Empress, on her retura 
from Germany: ' 
«©O! vous, Vornement et l'amour 
De I’Italie et de la France, 
Paris chante votre retour, 
Et Munich pleure-votre absence. 
D’un fils que suivent tous les veux, 
C’est la que, mére fortunée, 
Pour lui d’un illustre hymenée_ - 
Votre main forma les beaux neuds, 
Ah! combien la France attendrie 
Aime 4 voir cette main chérie, 
Qui du front sacré d’un vainqueur 
Toujours maitre de la victoire, 
Essuyait la noble sueur, 
Au retour des champs de la gloire, 
Dans les jours plus doux de la paix, 
Des grandeurs oubliant les charmes, 
Parmi nous essuyer les Jarmes 
Du pauvre, heureux par vos bienfaits ! 
O! des Graces touchante image ! 
De ces vers ot ma faible voix 
Osa célébrer-tant d’exploits, : 
C’est a vous qu’appartient ]’hommage, ! 
Oui, tandis que nos ennemis 
Tombaient sous un bras invincible, 
Vers vous an charme irrésistible 
Entrainait taus les ceurs soumis. 
- Dun héros auguste compagne 3; ; 
Des malheureus auguste appul, 
Par d’autres armes, comme lui, 
Vous avez conquis PAllemagne.” 
* The poet here supposes himself at West- 
minster Abbey. 
y « Sur 
