1831.] The Popular Lilerature of France. 43 



works, and even deigned himself to revise the manuscript of the Merli- 

 nus Anglicus, and to promise to his loyal subjects a prosperity which, 

 were it but for his credit's sake as an astrologer, he ought at least to 

 have realized. His successor, affecting an implicit belief in the same 

 speculations, prompted, but, alas ! in vain, the voice of the same oracles. 

 Thanks to the Company of Stationers, who had obtained from the uni- 

 versity tlie monopoly of this branch of industry. The usurpation of 

 Cromwell was by no means deficient in that devotion to the moon and 

 stars which had cliaracterized the preceding reigns of legitimacy. These 

 heavenly bodies enjoyed in peace their full moral and political influence, 

 imtil the beginning of the eighteenth century, when a terrible annilii- 

 lator of magicians arose in Swift. His efforts, however, were fruitless 

 when opposed by ignorance and routine. John Bull did not lose his 

 confidence in the almanack ; and during the wars of the republic and 

 the empire. Napoleon was regularly killed every year by Poor Robin. 

 About the same period the French government included tlie almanacks 

 in its solicitude for the productions of the press ; and every one knows 

 the story of the luckless editor, who, by order of the Directenr de la 

 Librarie, was compelled to transfer to St. Petersburgh the plague Avhich 

 he had unthinkingly predicted to the territories of the roi de Rome. 

 The Restoration left the almanacks in peace, subject only to the general 

 formality of the depdl ; and it was not until 1 830 that the Double 

 Liegeois, printed at Paris, by M. Stahl, was seized on account of the 

 following passage : — 



" Those most disposed to indulgence will be compelled to admit the 

 conviction, that nothing can go on in a system in which words and 

 deeds are in direct opposition to each other." 



The date of this prediction renders it remarkable. It was fixed for 

 the 25th July. 



Doubtless this is a formidable ai'gument in favour of the infalUbility 

 of the Double Liegeois, but it must be admitted, that almost as much 

 magic science was required to foresee and punish the offence by antici- 

 pation, as to commit it. It, however, is not less true, that if the uneasi- 

 ness whicli a publication may occasion to those in power, be in proportion 

 to its influence and the number of its readers, no work ought to occupy 

 the attention of government more seriously than the almanack. 



The almanack is the basis of the popular literature of France. In 

 some departments they form the whole library of seven-eighths of the 

 population. And what almanacks ! Barbarous imitations of the sooth- 

 sayer of Basle, with his Oriental fatalisms, his absurd prognostications, 

 and his meteorological calculations, in which, as in the time of Dubartas, 

 the sun is designated as le due des chandelles. Then come the medical 

 prescriptions, in virtue of which, doses sufficient to kill a squadron of 

 cuirassiers, horses and men, on the spot, are administered to the most 

 debilitated patient. 



It would be almost impossible to ascertain the number of the alma- 

 nacks with which France is annually inundated, by the speculators 

 particularly devoted to this branch of commerce. This impossibility 

 arises from the extent and irregularity of their production, and more es- 

 pecially from the profusion of spurious editions. We can therefore only 

 assume, as the foundation of an approximate calculation, the result of 

 the operations of the great centres of [)roduction. Thus, Troycs, Rouen, 

 Paris, Beauvais, Lille, Montbelliard, Epinal, Nantes, and Limoges sup- 



G -2 



