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TIIK STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



In all literatures of which we have record, 

 prose is later than verse. The document con- 

 taining copy of the oaths exchanged between 

 Hold and Louis the German, in the 

 year 842, is probably the oldest French prose. 

 In the Tenth Century some ch;r written 



in French, and in the eleventh the Laws of Wil- 

 liam the Conqueror. The Twelfth Century shows 

 translation of the Bible and the Romances, 

 .bjeet in prose writing and 

 rally recorded in the form of chronicles. 

 f these centuries has. in France, one gifted 

 chronicler to describe it. Yille-Hanlouin writes of 

 ..Ifth Century. Joinvilleof the Thirteenth, 

 rt of tl'ie Fourteenth. " Froissart 's 

 Chronicles." though simple story, forms a history 

 different states of Europe from the year 

 : of the century. I'hillipe de 

 ('mines ( 1 1 l.V-1509) has been noted as the last 

 of the quartette of great French medieval his- 

 torians. He was an annalist, like Froissart, but 

 he was, also, a political philosopher and an un- 

 scrupulous diplomat. lie dwells on character 

 rather than on scenes or events in his memoirs. 



Standing equal with the early histories in 

 French are the short stories in comic form, and 

 among these is the "Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles," 

 which is the first work of literary prose in the 

 language. The authorship of this collection of 

 tales is not fixed, the themes are the old fables, 

 but this remarkable work, with its simple and 

 straightforward style, had great influence on 

 later writers and was the first of a long series of 

 literary works, romances in miniature, in which 

 French writers excel all others. 



The discovery of a new continent, the down- 

 fall of Constantinople, and the end of feudalism 

 were the great events of the Fifteenth Century 

 that changed the literary world of France. The 

 invention, or use, of printing made readers in 

 place of listeners. French enthusiasm turned to 

 the study and imitation of the ancient Pagan 

 world and it was this revival of antique learning 

 that took the name "Renaissance." By the 

 beginning of the Fifteenth Century the effect of 

 the Renaissance was nearly lost in Italy, in 

 ( Jerrnany it had only opened the way to a nation- 

 al literature with little influence in itself, but in 

 France this century was filled with great writers 

 in every line. 



Francis Rabelais (1483-1553) holds high rank 

 in the world, as well as in his own country, as a 

 learned philosopher and scholar. The work 

 which brought, to him popular fame, however, 

 w:is the "Lives of Gargantua and.Pantagruel," 

 a tale of the adventures of two gigantic heroes, 

 father and son, with a drunken, fighting, swag- 

 gering monk and a witty minstrel who played 

 practical jokes. With all this it is a commen- 

 tary on the thoughts, feelings, and acts of the 

 nation put into attractive literary form, a mirror 

 of the Sixteenth Century. It was the book of 

 the day and went into many editions. 



By the side of Rabelais stands .John Calvin 

 ( l.~)()9- 1 /iOI). and his work, "Institutes of the 

 Christian Religion," has been called the text- 

 book of the Reformation. This book, written 

 fiiM in Latin, then translated by the author, 

 had great influence on future thought and was 

 the beginning of an argumentative prose. Cal- 



vin re both in logic and doctrine, and 



turning from this severity, while not believing 

 in the Church policy of that day. many drifted 

 into skepticism. The literature of this skepti- 

 ci.-m. or doubt, is best represented by the "Es- 

 says" of Montaigne ( 1. ">:-! ,~><)L_M. In these 

 essays he undermined all the creeds of the day. 

 but offered nothing in their places. Enquiry 

 and protest had given way to placid content- 

 ment in the belief that then- was not much to In- 

 known on these subjects and that it did not 

 much matter. 



The appearance of the "Cid," founded on the 

 Spanish romance, changed tin* form of dramatic 

 writing and brought fame to the author, Cor- 

 neille ( 1606-1684). The dramas of Racine soon 

 followed and Moliere wrote his comedies, in 

 which he assailed the follies of society. The 

 best of these are "Le Misanthrope" and "Tar- 

 tuffe." To this time belongs the well-known 

 La Fontaine, prince of fable writers, and IVr- 

 rault, who wrote prose tales. Richelieu, who 

 founded the French Academy in !(>:>.">. Colbert 

 and Louis XIV. were patrons of all learning, and 

 the French language, distinguished for its clear- 

 ness and flexibility, became the language of all 

 literary Europe. In this age Fenelon wrote his 

 famous "Telemaque," which has served as an 

 introduction to the study of French language 

 and literature. Fenelon, with Bourdaloue, Bos- 

 suet, and Massillon, were brilliant examples of a 

 pulpit oratory which has never been surpassed 

 in any age or country. 



Political and military disasters of the last 

 years of the reign of Louis XIV. checked all 

 literary development, and the beginning of the 

 Eighteenth Century has been named as one of 

 the dead seasons of French literature. Later, a 

 kind of free-thinking optimism arose and showed 

 itself most distinctly in the writings of Voltaire 

 (1694-1778), whose genius gave light to his age. 

 His universal faculty showed itself in both verse 

 and prose, his plays and verse-tales were admir- 

 able, and his epistles and satires, the best among 

 their kind, were sufficiently good to bring ban- 

 ishment to their author. After his long exile, 

 spent in England and Germany, he returned to 

 the writing of history and philosophy. 



Jean Jacques Rousseau, born early in the 

 Eighteenth Century, had, also, great influence in 

 his literary world. He began with dissertations 

 on music, adding comedies, tragedies, and prose 

 romance. His greatest work, the " Confessi< >ns," 

 was finished not many years before his death 

 (1778). In style, or manner of expression, his 

 writings hold absolute fascination; he was a 

 bold and independent thinker, but his sympathy 

 with humanity saved him from the cynicism of 

 Voltaire. 



Le Sage, the first great novelist of this cen- 

 tury, went to Spain for the subject of his "Gil 

 Bias," and the Spanish inspiration and manner 

 brought popularity. Marmontel, Louvet, and 

 Bernardin de St. Pierre, author of "Paul and 

 Virginia," were also noted novel writers. The 

 brilliant, sparkling letters of Madame de Sevigne 

 gave what has been considered the most com- 

 plete record of court and social life. Montes- 

 quieu belongs to the first half of this century, 

 and his "Spirit of Laws" has taken rank as a 



