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FRANCE (LITERATURE.) 



history of the abbe* Claude Fleury, who lived from 

 1040 to 1723, is a superior work. Henault gave 

 a chronological survey of French history (con- 

 tinued to the latest times, by Walckenaer). Mon- 

 tesquieu wrote on the Romans, with a Roman 

 spirit. Voltaire, as author of the History of Cliarles 

 XII., of the Essai des Moeurs, and of the History of 

 the Age of Loms XIV., holds a distinguished rank 

 among historians. Duclos's Memoires secrets are 

 valuable. Millot is correct and impartial, but timid 

 and feeble. Gaillard's merits are obscured by his 

 diffuseness. Raynal's philosophical history of the 

 commerce carried on by the Europeans in the Indies, 

 deserved and acquired celebrity. Rulhiere's History 

 of the Revolution by which Catharine II. was raised 

 to the Russian Throne, and his History of Poland, are 

 written with veracity, elegance, and fire. Michaud's 

 Histoire des Croisades received the prize of the na- 

 tional institute, in preference to Heeren's work on 

 the same subject. Mirabeau's History of the Prus- 

 sian Monarchy under Frederic the Great is extremely 

 rich, but wants method. Frederic the Great, himself, 

 must be mentioned here among the French historians, 

 on account of his Memoires de Brandenbourg, and 

 Histoire de man Temps. Thouret's elementary work 

 on the Revolutions in the French Government is a 

 profound and instructive view, written in a simple, 

 severe, but concise, pure, and appropriate style. 

 This great work, of which every fine breathes a 

 regard for the rights of man and the love of liberty, 

 was written in prison, and the author was led to the 

 scaffold as an enemy of the people. Anquetil and 

 Desodoards have written the history of France. De 

 Segur's picture of Europe, in his Histoire des princi- 

 paux Evenemens du Regne de F. Guillaume 1 1., Roi 

 de Prusse, deserves to be distinguished. Caillard's 

 excellent memoir on the Revolution in Holland (1787) 

 fills almost the whole of the first volume of that 

 work. Rabaut St Etienne's Precis Historique de la 

 Revolution Fran^aise, two volumes, continued and 

 completed by the younger Lacretelle, five volumes, 

 is esteemed, as is likewise Precis des Evenemens mili- 

 taires, written by Matth. Dumas. The Considera- 

 tions sur les principaux Evenemens de la Revolution 

 Franfaise, a posthumous work of Mad. de Stael, and 

 Mignet's Histoire de la Revolution Francaise, deserve, 

 likewise, an honourable mention here. French lite- 

 rature is also rich in excellent translations of ancient 

 as well as modern historians of all nations. 



Letters, Travels. The French epistolary style, 

 which has since been justly considered as a model, 

 and imitated by all Europe, was yet rather unpolished 

 in the age of Richelieu. Henry IV. wrote to the 

 beautiful ladies, to whom he paid his addresses, with 

 the old chivalric tenderness, in a very gallant and 

 complimentary style. The Lettres de Henry IV. d. 

 Coriandre d'Andoise, Comtesse de Guiche, sa Mai- 

 tresse (Amsterdam and Paris, 1788) are interesting 

 and well worth reading. The letters of business of 

 that period were written in the common official style. 

 Even the letters of Malherbe, the lyric poet, are 

 wanting in ease. But Richelieu wrote even his offi- 

 cial letters with a manly precision and ease, and not 

 without elegance. They are distinguished by a com- 

 pressed eloquence and great penetration. It became 

 the general ambition, among the wits of the time, to 

 be distinguished as letter writers ; and the national 

 liveliness of the French, combined with wit and ease, 

 but without deep feeling, led to a finished epistolary 

 style. At that period, the word bel-esprit first came 

 into vogue, and two of the politest writers at court 

 vied with each other in letter writing. Balzac's 

 principal aim was to write elegantly, without pomp, 

 and with the seriousness of Cicero ; he was admired, 

 but considered dry. Vincent de Voiture understood 



the art of trifling in a more pleasing manner; he wns 

 a man of wit, but affected ; his gallantries were far- 

 fetched, spun out into artificial periods, and bristling 

 with antitheses. It next became a matter of ambition 

 to combine the merits of these two writers. Costar 

 wrote with correctness, elegance, and delicacy ; but 

 the female writers are the most distinguished in this 

 branch of literature. The first rank among them is 

 due to the amiable marchioness de Sevigne. We may 

 also mention the letters of Mile, de 1'Espinasse, and 

 Mad. du Deffand. The letters of the beautiful Ninon 

 de 1'Enclos are characterized by a charming grace, 

 yet their genuineness is doubtful. Those of Babet 

 are distinguished for delicacy of sentiment and ex- 

 pression. The letters of count Bussy-Rabutin are 

 overcharged with the refinement of a bel-esprit, but 

 are not uninteresting. Chaulieu gave a pleasing ex- 

 ample of letters intermixed with verses. The art of 

 epistolary composition became so common an accom- 

 plishment among the French, that, even in Voltaire's 

 letters, they admired his genius, rather than his par- 

 ticular talents for letter writing. The art of reasoning 

 and of delicate raillery in epistles, was carried to 

 perfection by Cresset, one of the wittiest men of his 

 time. Dorat, Sedaine, and De Pezay wrote pleasing 

 epistles of this species. The abbe de Bernis is par- 

 ticularly rich in beautiful descriptions. Montesquieu's 

 Lettres Persannes must be mentioned here as models 

 of a fine style. French literature abounds in excel- 

 lent Travels ; but, as they cannot exercise any great 

 influence on the peculiar genius of a literature, it is 

 unnecessary to enumerate them. The celebrated 

 Travels of Anacharsis the Younger, by the learned 

 abbe Barthelemy, are every where known. The 

 Lettres sur Vltalie by Dupaty are much esteemed. 

 Volney, Denon, Delaborde, and, above all, Humboldt 

 and Bonpland, are among the most distinguished of 

 modern travellers. To the student of antiquities, the 

 observations of Millin and Champollion on their 

 travels are highly interesting. A good view of the 

 literature of travels may be obtained from Malte 

 Brun's Annales des Voyages. 



Romances and Novels. The earliest French roman- 

 ces relate to the knights of the round table, and 

 Alexander the Great. They are by Lambert di Cors, 

 continued by Alex, du Bernay, and were written 

 in the twelfth century. The romances of the round 

 table comprise the St Graal, Triston de Leonnais, 

 Perceval and Lancelot, and were originally written 

 in Latin, then translated into French prose, and, in the 

 same century, put into French verse, which, in the 

 fourteenth century, was again remodelled into French 

 prose. In the thirteenth century succeeded the roman- 

 ces of the Twelve Peers of France. A higher interest, 

 however, was excited by the allegorical romance of the 

 Rose, which, for two centuries, was looked upon as the 

 triumph of French genius. It is wholly in verse, but 

 in very lame verse. It forms a didactic-allegorical 

 poem, which some Frenchmen were bold enough to 

 compare with the work of Dante, which was finished 

 the same year ! William of Lorris wrote the 4150 

 first verses in the first half of the thirteenth century ; 

 100 years later, it was continued, and completed by 

 Jean de Meun, surnamed Clopinel. The object of 

 this romance is to exhibit a complete art of love. A 

 host of allegorical personages make their appearance 

 in it ; all the virtues and vices are personified ; all 

 the characters moralize ; but, at the same time, the 

 most frivolous allusions are interspersed through the 

 whole work, which, towards the end, are converted 

 into the most vulgar obscenities. French poetical 

 genius here reasons in its very outset. The work 

 contains pleasing passages, but no traces of much 

 elevation of spirit. It was finally denounced from 

 the pulpit. One of the oldest printed editions of it 



