FRANCE. (LITERATURE.) 



297 



Bture of the day has not escaped the influence of the 

 political events of the age, and of the heated 

 party conflicts which have rent society in France. 

 The literary productions of late years have excited 

 jjiterest in proportion as they were connected with 

 the absorbing political questions, which have engaged 

 the attention of all the thinking part of France. The 

 great number of works on political economy and 

 legislation, which have lately appeared, bear testi- 

 mony to the great interest taken in these subjects. 

 Desmarais's Considerations sur la Litterature et sur 

 la Societe en France au IQme Siecle (Paris, 1821), 

 may be consulted on this point. The language itself, 

 since the example of Madame de Stael, has not es- 

 caped innovations. Lavaux, in his Nouveau Diction- 

 naire de la Langue Francaise, armed with the trea- 

 sures of the language of writers of the seventeenth 

 and eighteenth centuries, attacked the more limited 

 stores of the dictionary of the academy, showing a 

 richness of forms and composition entirely foreign to 

 the compilers of that work. Charles Pougens' Tre- 

 sor des Origines et Dictionnaire grammatical raison- 

 nee de la Langue Francaise, 4to, and Mesangere's 

 Dictionnaire des Proverbes Francais (3d edit., 1823), 

 are valuable works. Great attention has been excited 

 by the metaphysical writings and lectures of Victor 

 Cousin. The works of De Gerando, Laromiguiere, 

 Destutt de Tracy, Azais (Systeme universel de Philo- 

 sophic, 8 vols. , 1824) , Toussaint (Essai sur la Maniere 

 dont les Sensations se transformed en Idees, 1824), 

 have also attracted the public mind to the department 

 of metaphysics. The general principles of law, to the 

 study of which Lanjuinais's work, Sur la Bastonnade 

 et la Flagellation pennies (1825), gave an impulse, 

 and the law of the country, have been more deeply 

 investigated, both historically and scientifically. The 

 intrigues of the clergy have attracted philosophical 

 inquiries towards religion also. Benjamin Constant, 

 in 1 1 is work De la Religion, consider ee dans sa Source, 

 ses Formes et ses Developpemens (2 vols. 1825), has 

 displayed his usual acuteness ; while the abbe Men- 

 nais, in his Essai sur I' Indifference en Matiiire de Re- 

 ligion^ 8 vols. (8th edition, 1825), and in his smaller 

 work, De la Religion consideree dans ses Rapports 

 avec l'0rdre politique et civil, shows how tar impar 

 tial inquiry was to be substituted in the place oi 

 authority. The history of the regeneration of Greece 

 has been more ably treated in France than in any 

 other country. Raffenel's Histoire des Evenements de 

 la Grece (Paris, 1823, sqq., 3 vols.), Dufay's work, 

 Pouqueville's Histoire de la Regeneration de la Grece 

 (new edition, 1826), appeared at the moment when 

 Michaud's Histoire des Croisades (8th edition, 1826), 

 Lebeau's Histoire du Bas-Empire, edit. nouv. Revue 

 et corrigee par Saint-Martin, retraced the events ol 

 the past. Mollien's Voyages dans la Republ. de Co- 

 lombie is also favourably distinguished. The pro- 

 found works of an earlier period have been re-editec 

 (Art de verifier les Dates, by Allais, and, Art de veri- 

 fier les Dates depuis I'Annee lllOJusqu'd nos Jours, 

 by Courcelles, 1821), and accompanied by numerous 

 works on French history. Among those which afforc 

 materials of earlier history, are Collection des Chro 

 piques nationales, par Buchon ; Collections des Me 

 moires relatifs d ['Histoire de France, by Guizot 

 Coll. Compl. des Me moires relatifs d I' Histoire de 

 France, by Petitot ; Depot des Chartes et des Lois 

 tant nationales qu'ttrangeres, by Constantin. The 

 collections of materials for modern history have kepi 

 pace with these (Collection des Memoires relatifs d la 

 Revolution ; Memoires particuliers pour servir c 

 r Histoire de la Re volution.) (See Memoirs.') The works 

 of Dufau and Delbare, Lacretelle, 'and Sismonde- 

 Sismondi, on the history of France and the French 

 the histories of the revolution, by Mignet, Thiers 



Rabaut, and Lacretelle, have been very extensively 

 end. For recent times, Lacretelle's Histoire de 

 France depuis la Restauration may be consulted. 

 Besides these general works, valuable researches 

 lave been made in regard to separate periods (Fastei 

 nvils de la France depuis VOuverture des Notable* 

 jusqulen 1821; JouftVoi's Pastes de I' Anarchic; 

 Barginet's Histoire du Gouvernement feodal). In 

 regard to the ancient history of France, the learned 

 and ingenious treatises of Guizot (Essais and Lecons); 

 the works of the brothers Thierry on the Gauls and 

 Normans ; Barante's Histoire des Dues de Bourgogne 

 de la Maison de Valois ; Beugnot's Les Juifs d Occi- 

 dent, ou Recherches sur I'Etat civil, le Commerce et 

 la Litterature des Juifs en France, en Italic et en 

 Espagne pendant le moyen Age ; Depping's Histoire 

 des Expeditions maritimes des Normands et de leur 

 Etablissement en France au Xme. Siecle ; the His- 

 toire de la Ste. Barthelemy d'apres les Chroniques, 

 1826 ; the Memoires et Correspondance de Duplessis 

 Mornay pour servir d I Histoire de la Reformation, 

 &c., are of great value. Guizot's History of the 

 English Revolution, and Daru's History of Venice, 

 are among the most valuable contributions that 

 modern history has received. A great number of 

 places, historically important for their monuments, 

 or on account of events of which they have been the 

 theatre, have been carefully examined, and many 

 interesting works have appeared in this department 

 (Dulaure's Histoire Physique de Paris (3d edition, 

 1824) , and Histoire des Environs de Paris ; Monu- 

 mens de la France, per Al. de Labor de, and Antiqui- 

 tes de V Alsace, par Golberry et Schweighauser). 

 Fiction is obliged to assume the historical garb of Sii 

 Walter Scott's muse, whose works have been trans- 

 lated and imitated (as in Tristan le Voyageur ou la 

 France au XIFme. Siecle, par Monsieur de Mar- 

 changy). But in this department the productions ot 

 Victor Hugo are pre-eminently distinguished. Some 

 novels, however, describe the manners of the age, as 

 Mortonval's Tartuffe Moderne, or address themselves 

 to a sickly state of feeling, as the Ourika and 

 Edouard of the princess de Salm, or Arlincourt's 

 gloomy pictures, and the countess de Souza's Com- 

 tesse de Fangy. Dramatic literature also presents a 

 great number of works, in which Soumet and Vien- 

 net endeavour to emulate the fame of the old tragic 

 writers ; while the sportive Scribe, Delavigne, Ga- 

 briel, and Edmond (the authors of Jocko, Drame d 

 grand Spectacle), bringing forward the strangest sub- 

 jects, are sure of applause from all quarters. On 

 this subject, Geoffroy's Cours de Litterature drama- 

 tique, and Lemercier's Remarques sur les bonnes et les 

 mauvaises Innovations dramatiques, may be con- 

 sulted. The lamented Talma, in his Reflexions sur 

 Lekain et sur I' Art thedtrale, endeavoured to pre- 

 serve, at least, the traditions of his art. Intercourse 

 with other countries has introduced new opinions on 

 many subjects of literature, entirely opposed to the 

 old rules of French criticism. The partisans of these 

 innovations, are called the romantic school. The 

 classical school may be styled the legitimes of litera- 

 ture, while the romantic are a sort of literary liberals, 

 actively engaged in combating old prejudices and 

 errors. (See Le Classique et le Romantique par Baour 

 Lormian, and Essai sur la Litterature romantique, 

 1825.) At the head of one party is Lamartine, 

 autlior of the Meditations poetiques, who, by his Chant 

 du Sacre, brought himself within the sunshine of 

 court favour. At the head of the other is Delavigne, 

 author of the Messeniennes. More light than both 

 and more French in ideas and expression, is Beranger, 

 author of Chansons and Chansons nouvellet, which 

 are in higher favour with the public than they were 

 with the attorneys of the crown, under the latu dy - 



