LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1875. 



445 



it never allowed the foreign relations of France 

 to be under the influence of unworthy or in- 

 capable statesmen. Among the various pub- 

 lications of real value bearing upon the Revo- 

 lutionary epoch, the Empire, and the Restora- 

 tion, we may name the " Souvenirs of Colonel 

 de Gonneville," the last two volumes of M. 

 Michelet's " History of France," the new and 

 revised edition of "Malouet's Memoirs," M. 

 Jules Claretie's " Biography of Camille Des- 

 moulins," including a detailed notice of all the 

 members of the Dantonist party, and M. Dau- 

 det's account of M. de Martignac's administra- 

 tion. There is no doubt whatever that, if we 

 study dispassionately the history of France 

 since 1815, we must come to the conclusion 

 that the fall of the Government, founded upon 

 the declaration of Saint-Ouen and upon the 

 charter which followed it, was an irreparable 

 misfortune both for ,the country and for the 

 cause of liberty. Certain critics are never 

 weary of quoting the names of M. de Polignac, 

 Marshal Marmont, and M. de Villele, to those 

 who venture to plead the cause of the Resto- 

 ration; but they forget that M. de Martignac, 

 M. Laine, and M. Royer-Collard also lived in 

 those eventful days, and that the noble banner 

 of constitutional freedom was upheld then by 

 the Duke de Richelieu, M. de Serre, Benjamin 

 Constant, and M. Decazes, in the face of a spu- 

 rious liberalism, which condescended to pur- 

 chase success by an alliance with the admirers 

 of imperial despotism. 



On the history of the middle ages we have 

 to notice a large number of excellent publica- 

 tions, and we would mention in the first rank 

 M. Wallon's " Histoire de Saint-Louis." Be- 

 sides the large work of Lenain de Tillemont, 

 we have also two volumes, by M. Felix Faure, 

 on the same interesting subject; but both 

 these monographs are far from being complete, 

 and the intellectual development of France, 

 left entirely unnoticed by Tillemont, occupies 

 a comparatively small portion of M. Faure's 

 otherwise estimable monograph. M. Wallon 

 has been able to study documents which his 

 predecessors could not avail themselves of; 

 his account of the Crusades thoroughly super- 

 sedes that of Michaud; and his appreciation 

 of Saint-Louis as a legislator is a remarkable 

 feature of his work. M. Jules Grauthier's 

 " Histoire de Marie Stuart " is another work 

 of rehabilitation ; like M. Wiesener, this new 

 champion of the unfortunate Queen of Scots 

 makes the best of the documents produced by 

 MM. Hosack and Charles de Flandres, and 

 attempts, with a great deal of vigor, to refute 

 not only Knox, Buchanan, and Robertson, but 

 the statements given by Mr. Froude and M. 

 Mignet. Public opinion is certainly beginning 

 to be shaken in its estimate of Mary Stuart ; 

 there are other historical characters respecting 

 whom no doubt seems possible, and we must 

 not suppose that M. de Barthelemy's " Filles 

 du Regent " is a brief for the daughters of the 

 Duke of Orleans. 



M. Guizot's " Histoire de France raeont6e a 

 mes Petits-Enfans " was left incomplete by the 

 author, and the last volume is the work of 

 Madame de Witt ; let us hope that another of 

 the most distinguished French historians will 

 be spared to finish the important publications 

 long ago begun by him ; we allude to M. Mi- 

 gnet, whose masterly account of the negotia- 

 tions connected with the Spanish succession 

 is still imperfect. The sixteenth century is 

 another epoch which M. Mignet has studied 

 thoroughly ; he has given us, at various times, 

 installments of a history of it, and we should 

 like to see him carry on his work as far at 

 least as the treaty of Chateau-Cambresis. This 

 book is certainly the most remarkable histori- 

 cal work published during the last year, and 

 many persons will consider it the best of M. 

 Mignet's productions. 



The political events of the last five years 

 still continue to be discussed with much bitter- 

 ness, and all those who have taken part in the 

 Prussian War or the Revolution which followed 

 it are anxious to justify themselves, and to 

 prove satisfactorily that they were amply war- 

 ranted in the course of action they adopted. 

 M. Saint-Rene Taillandier's " Dix Ans de PHis- 

 toire d'Allemagne " is a masterly analysis of 

 Baron de Bunsen's correspondence with Fred- 

 erick William IY. ; it takes us back to the year 

 1847. 



Works of erudition are plentiful this year, 

 and the various branches of criticism are ex- 

 cellently represented, with the single excep- 

 tion of Biblical literature, which is still neg- 

 lected : neither M. Renan nor M. Nicolas has 

 entered the lists ; on the Roman Catholic side, 

 we can only notice a few reprints of the 

 Fathers; and orthodox Protestantism still pre- 

 serves the silence in which it has persisted for 

 so many years. 



Next to history let us name geography, and 

 notice at once M. Elise Reclus's " Geographic 

 Universelle," with its liberal amount of pic- 

 torial illustrations, woodcuts, colored maps, 

 etc. The popular newspaper, Le Tour du 

 Monde, still pursues its successful career, sup- 

 plying materials for the splendid volumes of 

 travels which Messrs. Hachette issue every 

 year, and which are almost immediately trans- 

 lated into English. Greece is the land which 

 M. Reclus has taken as the subject of the early 

 chapters in his geographical work ; his de- 

 scription of that country is particularly inter- 

 esting at the present time, and the author's re- 

 marks on the political complications of the 

 East will be attentively studied. 



In the less explored field of mediseval Greek 

 we have still to praise the unflagging energy 

 of M. Legrand, who, assisted by M. Sathas, 

 has lately published, from the unique Trebi- 

 zond MS., a Greek epic of the tenth century, 

 celebrating the exploits of Digenis Akritas 

 a kind of Eastern Robin Hood. The intro- 

 duction and notes to this magnificent volume 

 throw greater light upon the history of the 



