EUROPEAN. 301 



du Lac, by Godfrey de Ligny, were written about the year 1200. 

 To these succeeded the romances of Charlemagne and the Twelve 

 Peers of France ; one of which, is The Chronicle, falsely attributed 

 to Turpin : and another, entitled Huon de Bordeaux, was of later 

 origin. The tales of magic and chivalry, called fabliaux, were 

 probably borrowed, in part at least, from the Arabs. Gargantua 

 and Pantagruel, by Rabelais, is a satirical romance, witty, but 

 coarse. The Jlstree, or Astrea, of D'Urfe, is a pastoral romance, 

 relating to the court of Henry the Great. The Grand Cyrus, and 

 the Clelia and Cleopatra, of M'lle. de Scuderi, are said to be feeble 

 and affected ; but the historical novels of M'lle. de la Force, are more 

 natural. The Contes de ma Mere VOye, or tales of Mother Goose, 

 by Perrault, had their day of applause ; but the Princesse de Cleves, 

 and the Zayde, (Zaide), of the Countess de la Fayette, are works of 

 value. The Gil Bias, of Le Sage, and his Diable Boiteux, have 

 been much admired ; but the Candide, and Zadig, of Voltaire, are 

 more satirical and misanthropic. The Nouvelle Heloise, and the 

 Emile, of J. J. Rousseau, display the weak character of their 

 author: but the Marianne, of Marivaux, is refined and natural ; and 

 the Belisaire, of Marmontel, is said to be good. The Paul and 

 Virginia, and the Indian Cabin, of St. Pierre ; and the Atala, Rene, 

 and Martyrs, of Chateaubriand, are extensively admired. The 

 Corinne, and Delphine, of Madame de Stael ; the Siege of Rochelle, 

 and Adda and Theodore, of Madame de Genlis; the Elisabeth, and 

 Mathilde, of Madame Cottin ; and the Caroline de Lichtfield, of 

 Madame de Montolieu ; are also worthy of mention, and are all that 

 we have room to name. Of French epistles or letters, we barely 

 name those of the Marchioness de Sevigne ; of M'lle. de 1'Espi- 

 nasse ; and of Madame Deffand ; as models and specimens. The 

 essays of Montaigne, and the funeral orations of Bossuet, are very 

 highly esteemed. 



3. British Callography, we are proud to say, is rich and unsur- 

 passed in every important class of polite literature. English poetry, 

 may be considered as originating with Spenser and Gower, and 

 reaching its acme with Shakspeare and Milton. Chaucer's Court 

 of Love, is the oldest English poem extant; and his Canterbury 

 Tales, resemble those of the Troubadours. Gower's Confessio 

 Amantis, or Confession of a Lover, written in Latin, was one of 

 the first books printed in England. Spenser's Fairy Queen, a tale 

 of magic and chivalry, has great beauties, though incomplete, and 

 seemingly deficient in unity. It is a series of allegories, in praise 

 of the virtues ; rich in imagination, facile in diction, and abounding 

 in romantic incident, sublimity, and pathos. Davenant's Gondibert, 

 is also a romantic poem of considerable interest. Dryden's Palamon 

 and Jlrcite, is a tale of Grecian times ; and Thomson's Castle of 

 Indolence, is an allegorical poem, in imitation of Spenser. 



The poem of Giles Fletcher, which might be entitled the Messiad ; 

 including Christ's Victory in Heaven, Triumph on Earth, Triumph 

 over Death, and Triumph after Death ; may be ranked as an heroic 

 poem of merit : but the chief epic poem, in our language, is Milton's 

 Paradise Lost ; which describes, in the sublimest strains, the dis- 



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