MODERN PROSE WRITERS. 435 



poetic inspiration shows itself principally in the innermost 

 peculiarities of the language, breaking forth as fluently in hia 

 prose as in the immortal poems of Klopstock, Schiller, Goethe, 

 and Byron. Even where there is no purpose of bringing for- 

 ward subjects immediately connected with the natural sciences, 

 our pleasure in these studies, when referring to the limited 

 portions of the earth best known to us, may be increased by 

 the charm of a poetic mode of representation. 



In recurring to prose writers, we dwell with pleasure on the 

 small work entitled Paul et Virginia, to which Bernardin de 

 St. Pierre owes the fairer portion of his literary reputation. The 

 work to which I allude, which can scarcely be rivalled by 

 any production comprised in the literature of other coun- 

 tries, is the simple picture of an island in the midst of a 

 tropical sea, in which, sometimes favoured by the serenity of 

 the sky, and sometimes threatened by the violent conflict of the 

 elements, two charming creatures stand picturesquely forth from 

 the wild sylvan luxuriance surrounding them as with a varie- 

 gated flowery tapestry. Here, and in the Chaumiere Indienne, 

 and even in his Etudes de la Nature, which are unfortunately 

 disfigured by wild theories and erroneous physical opinions, the 

 aspect of the sea, the grouping of the clouds, the rustling of 

 the air amid the crowded bamboos, the waving of the leavy 

 crown of the slender palms, are all sketched with inimitable 

 truth. Bernardin de St. Pierre's master- work, Paul et Vir- 

 ginie, accompanied me to the climes whence it took its origin. 

 For many years it was the constant companion of myself and 

 my valued friend and fellow-traveller Bonpland, and often 

 (the reader must forgive this appeal to personal feelings) in the 

 calm brilliancy of a southern sky, or when in the rainy season 

 the thunder re-echoed, and the lightning gleamed through the 

 forests that skirt the shores of the Orinoco, we felt ourselves 

 penetrated by the marvellous truth with which tropical nature 

 is described, with all its peculiarity of character, in this 

 little work. A like power of grasping individualities, without 

 destroying the general impression of the whole, and without 

 depriving the subject of a free innate animation of poetical 

 fancy, characterises, even in a higher degree, the intellectual 

 and sensitive mind of the author of Atala, Rene, Les Mar tyres, 



Flemming's compositions is marked with a fresh and healthful vigour, 

 whilst his images of nature are tender and full of life." 



2 F 



