156 



THE CENTURY BOOK 6F FACTS. 



cultivated poetry under Francis I., whose 

 sister, Margaret of Valois, published a collec- 

 tion of novels, called the Heptameron ; Ron- 

 sard was the first French poet who showed 

 strong original genius, and, with Regnier, gave 

 the national poetry a freer and more character- 

 istic tone. The drama was improved by 

 Etienne Jodelle, who imitated the Greek 

 tragedians ; Claude de Seyssel wrote the His- 

 tory of Louis XII. ; and Brantfime and Agrippa 

 d'Aubigne* left behind them many memoirs 

 and historical essays. But the boast of the 

 age is the names of Malherbe, Rabelais, and 

 Montaigne. Malherbe, born in 1554, is con- 

 sidered the first French classic, in poetry ; his 

 language is most inflexibly pure and correct. 

 Rabelais was born in 1483, and his romance of 

 Gargantua and Pantagruel was first published 

 in 1533. Notwithstanding its grossness it is 

 one of the most lively, humorous, and brilliant 

 books in the language. It satirizes the clerical 

 and political characters of his time. Mon- 

 taigne, whose life extended from 1533 to 1592, 

 wrote three volumes of essays, on moral, polit- 

 ical, and religious subjects, which on account 

 of their elegant style no less than the treasures 

 of thought they contain, have always held their 

 place among French classics. 



The seventeenth century is the glory of 

 French literature. Under the auspices of 

 Richelieu, Colbert, and Louis XIV. all de- 

 partments of letters, science, and art reached a 

 height unknown before. The French Academy 

 was founded by Richelieu in 1635, and the 

 language, at that time unrivaled in clearness, 

 perspicacity, and flexibility, gradually became 

 the polite tongue of Europe. Dramatic poetry, 

 especially, founded on the principles of the 

 Greek theater, attained a character it has never 

 since reached. Corneille, born in 1606, was 

 the father of the classic French drama. His 

 first play, The Cid, belongs rather to the 

 romantic drama, but through the influence of 

 the Academy his later works, the most eminent 

 of which are Les Horaces, Cinna,Polyeucte,&nd 

 Mort de Pom pee, are strictly classical. His 

 dramatic works amount to thirty-three. Ra- 

 cine, who was born in 1639, brought the 

 classic drama to perfection. His language is 

 the most elegant and melodious of all French 

 dramatists, while he is inferior to none in his 

 knowledge of nature and his command of the 

 sentiments and passions. His plays, though 

 constructed on the classic model, are not con- 

 fined strictly to classic subjects. The most 

 celebrated are Andromaque, Bajazet, Mithri- 

 date, Phedre, Esther, and Athalie. After these 

 two authors ranks Moliere, the father and 

 master of French comedy. His Tartnffe has a 

 universal celebrity* He died in 1673. Cr6bil- 



lon, sometimes called the French JOsdiylus, 

 was a writer of tragedies. Legrand, Regnaid, 

 and Scarron distinguished themselves as drama- 

 tists of secondary note. To this age belong 

 Le Sage, the author of Gil Bias ; La Font nine, 

 the greatest fabulist since yEsop ; and Boileau, 

 the satirist and didactic poet, whose Art /''< 

 ique and Lutrin or " Battle of the Books " have 

 been made classic. Mademoiselle de Scudery 

 wrote many chivalrous romances, and Pernuilt.'s 

 fairytales soon became household words. Thf 

 Telemaque of F6nelon was also produced during 

 this period. This author, with Bourdaloue, 

 Bossuet, and Massillon, were celebrated as 

 theological writers and pulpit orators. Madame 

 de Sevign^'s letters are unsurpassed as speci- 

 mens of graceful and spirited epistolary writ- 

 ing. As historians, Rollin is the most dis- 

 tinguished, but Mezeray, author of the national 

 Chronicles, the Jesuit D 'Orleans, author of 

 Histories of Revolutions in England and 

 Spain, and Bossuet's theological histories are 

 worthy of notice. 



During the eighteenth century, when the lit- 

 erature of Spain, Italy, and Portugal were on 

 the decline, and England and Germany re- 

 mained stationary, France still maintained her 

 supremacy. In 1694 was born Voltaire, who 

 in the course of his life made himself master 

 of nearly every department of literature. His 

 first play, CEdipe, was successfully performed 

 in 1718, though his epic of the Henrinde, writ- 

 ten at the same time, was not published till 

 1729. Many of his succeeding plays were un- 

 successful, and his satires and philosophical 

 essays produced only banishment. His prin- 

 cipal plays are Zaire, Alzire, Brutus, Ore.xtc, 

 Mahomet, and Tancre.de. After his return from 

 Germany, he settled at Ferney on the Lake of 

 Geneva, where for twenty years he devoted 

 himself to literature. His principal works are 

 History of Charles XII. of Sweden ; History of 

 Russia under Peter The Great ; Pyrrhonism <// 

 V 'Histoire , Droits de I'Homme and the Diction >mir<> 

 Philosophique . Jean Jacques Rousseau, born in 

 1712, exercised scarcely less influence on French 

 literature, than Voltaire. His first work, a 

 dissertation on Modern Music, appeared in 

 Paris in 1743, about which time he wrote sev- 

 eral comedies and tragedies and composed an 

 opera. His romance entitled Xoucelle H< Joist- 

 was published in 1760, and his ( 'ontraf SnciuJ 

 and Entile in 1762. His most remarkable 

 work, the Confessions, was completed in 1770, 

 and he died in 1778. As bold and independ- 

 ent as Voltaire in his philosophical views, he 

 had nothing of his cynicism. His works, the 

 style of which is absolutely fascinating, express 

 a sincere sympathy with luimanity. Montes- 

 quieu, whose Spirit of Laws is a standard work 



