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CORNELL 

UNIVERSITY 

LIBRARY 


Cornell  University  Library 
PQ   118.N73  1922 


of  French  literature  : 


3   1924  027   184  955 


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A  HISTORY  OF 
FRENCH  LITERATURE 

FROM  THE  EARLIEST  TIMES 
TO  THE  GREAT  WAR 


BY 

WILLIAM  A.  NITZE 

AND 

E.  PRESTON  DARGAN 

PROFESSORS  OP  FRENCH   LITERATTJRB 
IN  THE  UNIVERSITT  OF  CHICAGO 


NEW  YORK 

HENRY  HOLT  AND  COMPANY 

1922 


-pa 


/ij  6^  /  ^  y  7 


COPTBIGHT,   1922, 
BY 

HENRY  HOLT  AND  COMPANY 

First  Printinc,  September,  1922 
Second  Printinc  June,  1823 


PRINTXD  IN  XT.  S.A. 


PREFACE 

The  present  History  of  French  Literature,  intended  both  for 
the  general  reader  and  for  students,  does  not  aim  to  be  exhaus- 
tive. It  is  divided  into  three  parts:  Medieval,  Renaissance 
and  Modern;  and  within  these  parts  it  emphasizes  in  turn  the 
chief  literary  movements  and  writers,  leaving  minor  tendencies 
and  figures  out  of  consideration  or  mentioning  them  only  inci- 
dentally. Mere  lists  of  names  and  dates,  valuable  as  they  are 
for  reference,  belong  rather  to  bibliography  than  to  literary  his- 
tory as  such.  Thus  our  aim  has  been  to  give  a  connected  ac- 
count of  the  "  main  currents  "  of  French  literature  from  the 
earliest  times  down  to  the  present  day. 

In  this  attempt  we  have  had  several  further  considerations 
to  guide  us.  In  the  first  place,  the  book  is  written  primarily  for 
American  and  English  readers.  The  one  key  to  literary 
treasures  is  not  erudition  but  sympathy.  Needless  to  say,  we 
would  instill  in  our  readers  a  liking  for  French  literature; 
but  such  sympathy  will  come  only  through  an  appreciation  of 
the  French,  as  distinguished  from  the  Anglo-Saxon,  point  of 
view.  Hence  the  introductory  chapter  on  the  "  Spirit  of  French 
Letters  "  and,  in  the  body  of  the  book,  the  frequent  references 
to  what  appear  to  be  dominant  French  traits.  Another  result 
of  this  method  is  the  attention  we  give  to  the  historical  and 
social  background.  Whether  we  have  succeeded  or  not,  we 
have  consistently  tried  to  depict  for  each  age  the  historical  and 
social  elements  that  produced  it;  briefly  of  course,  with  the  ex- 
pectation that  the  reader  will  complete  the  outline  by  reference 
to  works  dealing  directly  with  these  subjects. 

In  the  second  place,  the  authors  are  convinced  that  a  litera- 
ture must  be  learned  —  if  learned  is  the  proper  word  —  by  the 
stimulus  of  suggestion  rather  than  by  any  dogmatic  method. 
The  opinions  we  state  are  by  no  means  new.  They  necessarily 
reflect  the  views  of  others  on  the  subject;  in  fact,  for  each  par- 
ticular movement  and  author,  we  have  tried  to  discover  the  best 


iv  PREFACE 

authorities,  from  a  scholarly  and  critical  point  of  view,  and  to 
incorporate  their  conclusions  in  the  text  and  the  titles  of  their 
treatises  in  the  bibliography.  Yet  in  each  case  we  have  stated 
these  opinions  in  our  own  way,  with  reference  to  our  general 
plan  of  treatment,  and  we  have  not  shunned  the  expression  of 
an  original  opinion  when  circumstances  justified  it.  We  make 
no  claim  for  the  absolute  value  of  these  views,  but  we  ven- 
ture to  hope  that  they  will  rouse  the  reader's  interest  and 
lead  him  to  formulate  ideas  of  his  own  on  the  authors  and  books 
we  have  considered.  If  our  book  wins  new  readers  for  French 
literature  itself,  our  main  purpose  will  have  been  achieved. 

Again,  the  authors  are  well  aware  that  in  a  work  of  conden- 
sation such  as  a  history  of  literature  the  statement  of  "  facts  " 
is  necessarily  difiBcult  to  make.  One  reason  is  that  the  facts  in 
a  given  case  are  not  always  ascertainable.  We  have,  as  far  as 
we  have  been  able,  given  the  correct  dates  for  both  writers  and 
works  of  literature.  With  regard  to  other  facts,  such  as  liter- 
ary sources  and  influences,  we  have  —  especially  in  doubtful 
cases  —  cited  and  even  quoted  the  best  authorities  on  the  sub- 
ject. But  truth  in  literary  matters,  depending  as  it  does  on 
interpretation  and  taste,  is  of  course  relative;  and  we  have  no 
doubt  that  many  readers,  more  competent  than  ourselves,  will 
regard  much  of  our  material  as  open  to  question  or  in  need  of 
correction.  We  do  not  cling  to  the  determinism  of  Taine,  nor 
do  we  deny  that  it  expresses  a  great  truth.  The  French  may 
not  be  a  "  race,"  but  they  are  certainly  a  "  nation  "  with  a  dis- 
tinct civilization  of  their  own;  and  it  is  the  history  of  the  liter- 
ary manifestations  of  this  civilization  that  we  have  attempted 
to  write.  If  our  critics  will  take  the  same  pains  to  correct  our 
mistakes  as  we  have  takien  to  avoid  them,  they  will  earn 
our  gratitude  and,  what  is  even  better,  help  us  to  mend  our 
ways. 

As  for  matters  of  detail,  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  the  col- 
laborators have  divided  their  task  in  such  a  way  that  the  re- 
sponsibility for  the  treatment  of  the  Middle  Ages  and  the  Renais- 
sance (through  French  Classicism)  belongs  to  W.  A.  Nitze,  and 
for  that  of  Modern  Times  to  E.  P.  Dargan.  Provencal  literature 
is  not  treated  by  us,  nor  is  the  rich  Latin  literature  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  except  as  these  incidentally  affect  French  literature  in  one 


PREFACE  T 

of  its  own  stages.  The  substance  as  well  as  the  structure  of  our 
book  owes  much,  of  course,  to  the  admirable  treatises  of  Gaston 
Paris,  Lanson  and  Brunetiere,  and  in  the  Medieval  and  Renais- 
sance periods,  to  the  works  of  Suchier  and  Morf.  In  the  field 
of  criticism,  Saintsbury's  important  work  has  again  and  again 
been  laid  imder  contribution.  For  Modern  Times,  the  essays 
of  Sainte-Beuve  and  Brunetike,  the  treatises  of  Villemain  and 
Taine  have  been  found  particularly  valuable.  To  these  and  to 
our  numerous  special  authorities  we  here  acknowledge  obliga- 
■tion.  For  all  titles  we  refer  the  reader  to  the  selected  bibli- 
ography at  the  end  of  the  work. 

As  regards  the  question  of  proportion,  a  word  remains  to  be 
said.  The  increasing  niunber  of  chapters  and  authors  in  Part 
III  is  due  to  the  increasing  complexity  or  "  heterogeneity  "  of 
French  literature  in  the  last  two  centuries.  Since  our  intention 
is  to  stress  both  ideas  and  form,  a  full  treatment  has  been 
accorded  to  the  liberalism  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  to  the 
various  artistic  currents  of  the  nineteenth.  This  has  been  done, 
it  is  hoped,  without  detracting  from  the  importance  of  previous 
periods,  especially  the  great  Classical  Age. 

The  illustrations  have  been  chosen  to  symbolize  the  spirit  of 
each  epoch.  They  are  masterpieces  dating,  in  each  case,  from 
the  period  under  consideration. 

In  conclusion,  we  most  sincerely  thank  those  friends  and  col- 
leagues whose  guidance  and  criticism  have  been  at  our  disposal. 
Professors  Jenkins  and  Pietsch  of  the  University  of  Chicago 
have  assisted  us  materially  with  their  knowledge  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  In  particular,  our  selections  from  the  Chanson  de  Roland 
have  had  the  benefit  of  Professor  Jenkins'  revision.  Our  col- 
league, Professor  Coleman,  has  been  gracious  enough  to  revise 
the  chapters  on  the  early  seventeenth  century.  Professors  Lan- 
caster, Lovejoy  and  Chinard  of  Johns  Hopkins  University  have 
performed  a  similar  service  for  portions  of  the  eighteenth  and 
nineteenth  centuries;  and  Professor  Guerard  of  the  Rice  Insti- 
tute has  been  unsparing  in  his  help  on  matters  concerning  modern 
French  thought.  For  additional  services,  willingly  and  carefully 
rendered,  we  are  indebted  to  Professors  Albert  Schinz  of  Smith 
College,  Hemi  David  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  B.  E.  Young 
of  the   University   of    Indiana    and    Henry    M.    Dargan    of 


vi  PREFACE 

the  University  of  North  Carolina.  Obviously  none  of  these 
friends  are  responsible  for  the  errors  and  imperfections  of  our 
book.  It  is  owing  to  them,  to  their  generous  suggestions  and 
criticisms,  that  its  sins  of  omission  and  commission  are  not  more 
numerous.  On  the  other  hand,  if  our  book  has  —  as  we  hope  — 
points  to  commend  it,  their  assistance  should  not  be  forgotten: 

Secundas  res  splendidiores  facit  amicUia. 

W.  A.  N. 
E.  P.  D. 
CmcAGO,  September,  1921. 


Note. —  In  spelling  French  words,  our  aim  has  been  to  modernize  the  titles  of 
important  works.  The  titles  of  less  well-known  works  are  often  given  in  their 
archaic  forms.  Citations  of  text,  however,  are  not  modernized  until  we  reach 
the  seventeenth  century.  At  the  same  time,  Montaigne's  Essais  are  cited  in  a 
modernized  form  according  to  Jeanroy's  Priricipaux  chapiiret  it  extraita  de 
MoTttaigne. 


CONTENTS 

PAQE 
iNTBODUCnON 1 

PART  I:  TBE  MIDDLE  AGES 
BOOK  I.    FEUDALISM  AND  CHIVALRY 

CHAPTER 

I.  The  Middle  Ages  and  the  Epic  :.jy. 13 

II.  The  Ltbic  and  the  Romance .^ 30 

III.  The  AiLBGOBT  and  the  Eablt  Dbama  .  f. 65 

rV.  History,  Didactic  Litbrattjrb  and  Storiologt 73 

BOOK  II.  THE  BOURGEOIS  INFLUENCE 

I.  The  Lyric  Poets  op  the  School  op  Machaut  and  Deschamfs.  87 
II.  The  University  and  the  Humanism  op  the  Fourteenth 

Cbntcby 98 

III.  The  Cyclic  Drama  and  the  Farce  op  MaItre  Pathelin  . .  104 

IV.  Three  Individuals  :  Antoine  db  La  Sale,  Villon,  Comminbs.  .  114 


PART  H:  THE  RENAISSANCE 

BOOK  I.    HUMANISM  AND  THE  REFORMATION 

I.  The  Inplubncb  op  Italy  and  the  Rh^toriqueub  Poets.  . .  127 

n.  Marot  and  His  Immediate  Followers 136 

ni,  Rabelais  and  Calvin:   the  Epicurean  and  the  Stoic 145 

IV.  Platonists  and  Nbo-Platonists 161 

BOOK  n.    LITERARY  THEORY  AND  THE  RETURN  OF 
THE  BOURGEOIS  IDEAL 

I.  The  Docthinb  op  Imitation  and  the  Pl&aoe 170 

II.  The  Chiep  Poets  op  the  PuSiade 178 

III.  Amyot,  Montaigne  and  Brant6me 193 

rV.  The  Age  op  Henry  IV  and  the  Common-sense  op  Malherbe  207 

BOOK  III.    PRE-CLASSICISM 

I.  Social  Form  and  the  Salon  Writbrs 219 

n.    HoNOk£  D'URPfi   AND   THE   ROMANESQUE 229 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGB 

III.  The  Drama  Previous  to  Cobneillb 238^ 

,-  IV.  Pierre  Corneillb 251 

.^^V.   Descartes 263 


BOOK  .IV.    CLASSICISM 
» 

I.  Louis  XIV  and  the  Cl'^J^ical  Spirit 273 

II.  The  Writers  op  MEiiorasljiD  Maxims,  and  Women  Writers  .     283 

III.   MoLiiJHE  AND  La  Fontainev^. ^M|p 

-IV.  Pascal  and  Racine m  : .^^^^^^^06 

V.  Boileau  and  Bossubt .'. .^^^0^^^. .     323 


PART  m:  MODERN  TIMES 

BOOK  I.    THE  TRANSITION  FROM   CLASSICISM 

*"JKI.  The  Quarrel  op  Ancients  and  Moderns:    Results 339 

II.  Writers  of  the  Transition:    La    BRuyfeHE,    Saint-Simon, 

FfiNELON 349 

•••JII.  The  Eighteenth  Century:    Histort  and  Societt 361 

BOOK  II.    THE  NEW  PHILOSOPHY 

•■«.»I.  The  Popularizers:    Batlb  and  Fontenellb 373 

II.  Voltaire  :    Literature  and  Life 383 

III.  Montesquieu 395 

IV.  Miscellaneous  Writers 406 

BOOK  HI.    THE  OLD  AND  THE  NEW  GENRES 

I.  Tragedy  :    Voltaire,  Cb£billon,  Ducis 415 

II.  Comedy  and  Drame 424 

III.  Fiction  :    Lesagb,  Marivaux,  PufivosT 434 

IV.  Poetry 444 

BOOK  IV.    THE  WAR  OF  LIBERATION 

>-  -^I.  The  Encyclopedists  and  the  Later  Philosophes 451 

II.  Voltaire  at  Ferney:    Polemics  and  Philosophy 463 

III.  Diderot 4^3 

BOOK  V.  PRE-ROMANTICISM 

I.   Rousseau.    Saint-Piebkb 400 

II.  Madame  de  StaEl.    Constant 403 

III.  Chateaubriand gm 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACTNG  PAGE 

Illustration  from  a  Graal  Lancelot  (Manuscript) 12 

Illustration  from  Froissart's  Chroniques  (Fifteenth  Century- 
Manuscript)  86 

Raphael,  "School  of  Athens" 126 

Bigaud,  "Louis  XIV" 272 

Watteau,  "L'Embarquement  pour  CythSre" 364 

Pils,  "Rouget  de  I'Isle  chantant  la  Marseillaise" 448 

Girodet,  "LaMiseauTombeaud'Atala" 510 

Bastien-Lepage,  "LesFoins" 624 


Q 


INTRODUCTION 

THE    SPIRIT    OF   FRENCH   LETTERS 

"L'histoire  de  la  litterature  d'un  peuple,  j'ai  eu  occasion  de 
vous  le  dire  souvent  deja,  est  l'histoire  de  sa  vie  morale,  et  par- 
ticulierement  de  sa  conscience  nationale."  Gaston  Paris,  La  Poesie 
du  moyen  age,  I,  94. 

It  is  said  that  distinctions  are  invidious.  But  surely  only  for 
the  unintelligent  or  uneducated.  If  we  find  pleasure  in  Shake- 
speare, this  does  not  prove  that  we  miist  dislike  Racine.  On 
the  contrary,  a  thorough  understanding  of  both  authors  should 
lead  us  to  like  both  ■ —  but  for  different  reasons.  The  qualities 
we  admire  in  the  Englishman  are  not  and  cannot  be  the  traits 
we  find  in  the  Frenchman,  quite  aside  from  the  fact  that  each 
is  a  different  individual  and  not  the  same  person.  Thus  every 
literature,  so-called,  is  an  embodiment  of  the  national  life.  And 
while  certain  writers,  and  especially  certain  literary  epochs,  are 
less  clearly  national  than  others,  yet  it  remains  true  that  no 
author  can  divorce  himself  from  his  people  and  represent  a  point 
of  view  that  is  really  alien  to  them.  Indirectly,  at  least,  he  will 
reflect  their  type  of  emotion,  their  brand  of  ideas,  their  par- 
ticular way  of  viewing  and  expressing  things  —  in  a  word,  their 
psychology  or  vie  morale,^  as  Gaston  Paris  says  in  the 
quotation  made  above.  Hence  literature  is  not  only  a  matter 
of  individuals  but  of  groups;  and  not  the  least  of  its  functions 
is  to  portray  the  interactions  between  the  poet  and  the  social  con- 
sciousness of  the  nation  to  which  he  belongs. 

If,  then,  French  literature  has  certain  essentials  or  funda- 
mental traits,  they  are  not  always  easy  to  define,  since  national 
characteristics  appear  only  by  contrast  with  those  of  other 
peoples.  At  the  same  time,  as  far  as  they  can  be  ascertained, 
they  are  seen  in  the  selection  French  writers  make  of  their  ma- 
terials and  in  the  tendencies  they  follow  in  working  them  out. 
It  will  be  the  object  of  this  introductory  chapter  to  state  what 
are  some  of  the  distinguishing  features  of  French  literature. 

*  Let  us  note,  at  the  outset,  that  the  French  word  moroU  means  "psychological." 

1 


2  INTRODUCTION 

The  remark  has  been  repeatedly  made  that  the  French  value 
truth  more  than  beauty  —  not  that  they  scorn  the  beautiful,  but 
their  attachment  to  truth  is  stronger.    To  quote  one 
Reason  ^^  ^^^^  modern  critics :  "  Ce  qu'il  nous  f aut,  c'est  le 

vrai  dans  I'art  encore  plus  que  le  beau."  As  early  as  the  seven- 
teenth century  Boileau  crystallized  this  ideal  when  he  wrote: 

Rien  n'est  beau  que  le  vrai,  le  vrai  seul  est  aimable; 
II  doit  regner  partout,  et  meme  dans  la  fable. 

If  we  substitute  the  word  "  rational "  for  the  word  "  true  "  in 
these  quotations,^  we  shall  come  nearer  to  the  French  point  of 
view ;  for  French  art,  and  especially  French  literature,  is  largely 
a  product  of  the  human  reason.  With  English  literatiire  it  thus 
offers  an  interesting  contrast. 

We  of  English  tradition  are  accustomed  to  look  upon  a  liter- 
ary work  as  "  holding  the  mirror  up  to  nature  "  —  to  use  Shake- 
speare's phrase.  We  see  life  as  an  endless  complexity,  and  by 
nature  we  mean  not  only  man  but  man  in  his  surroundings,  as 
part  of  the  natural  world  that  enfolds  him.  To  a  greater  degree 
than  the  French,  we  are  conscious  of  the  fact  that  the  imiverse 
holds  us  in  its  grip ;  and  we  struggle  to  be  "  free,"  to  make  our- 
selves felt  for  what  we  are  as  "  individuals."  But  whatever  the 
problem  may  be  with  which  man  contends,  to  us  the  human  be- 
ing is  never  separated  from  the  background  of  reality  in  which 
life  is  passed.  So  that  Dickens,  like  Wordsworth,  like  Milton, 
like  Chaucer,  deals  with  the  setting  of  human  character  as  a 
matter  of  prime  and  essential  importance.  "  Character,"  said 
Emerson,  "  is  nature  in  the  highest  form."  Thus  English  liter- 
ature is  primarily  the  record  and  the  product  of  individuals,  in 
their  manifold  surroimdings.  It  is  varied  rather  than  homo- 
geneous. It  deals  with  things  rather  than  with  ideas.  It  is 
imaginative  rather  than  logical;  concrete  rather  than  abstract. 
It  tends  to  embrace  creation  and  not  merely  the  life  of  man. 

In  comparison,  French  literature  is  essentially  a  reflection  of 
the  mind.  Not  only  the  treatment  of  life  but  the  French  con- 
ception of  it  is  intellectual.  Types,  not  individuals,  appeal  to 
the  logical  sense  of  the  French;  and  types  are  not  direct  obser- 

'  French  distinguishes  between  the  two  types  of  truth,  rational  truth  and 
truth  to  fact,  by  the  two  expressions  le  vrai  and  la  vMU. 


INTRODUCTION  3 

vations  of  life  but  deductions  or  classifications  we  Baake  from  it. 
The  Frenchman  views'  life  primarily  as  idea,  secondarily  as  fact. 
His  chief  interest  lies  not  so  much  in  character  or  nature  as  in 
the  permanent  traits  of  humanity  and  the  universality  of  their 
application.  Hence  his  method  is  analytic  and  comparative, 
whereas  ours  is  empirical  and  absolute.  He  works  from  the  sur- 
face of  life  inward,  not  from  the  kernel  to  the  surface.  Meta- 
physics is  not  his  forte  —  that  "  art  de  s'egarer  avec  m6thode," 
as  Michelet  called  it.  The  French  have  no  counterpart  to  a 
great  lyric  genius  like  Shelley,  who  takes  his  own  visions  for 
reality,  who  hopes 

tUI  Hope  creates 
From  its  own  wreck  the  thing  it  contemplates. 

Yet  England  has  no  equivalent  to  Voltaire:  the  embodiment  of 
the  pure  reason  and  the  sworn  enemy  of  all  illusion.  The  follow- 
ing selection  from  Montaigne  might  be  taken  as  a  general  defini- 
tion of  the  French  point  of  view,  so  widespread  is  its  applica- 
tion to  the  French: 

I  propose  a  life  mean  and  without  luster,  but  'tis  all  one; 
all  moral  philosophy  is  applied  as  well  to  a  private  life  as  to 
one  of  the  greatest  employment.  Every  man  carries  the  entire 
form  of  the  hiunan  condition.  Authors  have  hitherto  com- 
municated themselves  to  the  people  by  some  particular  and 
foreign  mark;  I,  the  first  of  any,  by  my  universal  being,  as 
Michel  de  Montaigne,  not  as  a  grammarian,  a  poet  or  a 
lawyer.  If  the  public  complain  that  I  speak  too  much  of 
-myself,  I  complain  that  they  do  not  think  exclusively  of 
themselves. 

French  literature,  therefore,  is  social.  "  La  critique  etrangere 
et  la  critique  frangaise  se  sont  accordees  a  le  proclamer,"  said 
Gaston  Paris.  The  public,  whose  approval  Mon- 
ocia  ity  tajgng  craves,  is  always  in  a  French  writer's  confi- 
dence. He  writes  to  the  public,  for  the  public,  about  public 
questions  generally.  Discussion  is  the  breath  of  French  life,  as 
conversation  is  one  of  its  greatest  arts.  Even  so  individual  a 
writer  as  Pascal  addresses  his  Pensees  to  an  unseen  companion; 
and  Pascal  said,  "the  ego  is  hateful."  The  dialogue  is  a  fa- 
vorite form  in  French,  from  the  medieval  debat  down  to  the 
confidente  r61e  in  Classical  French  drama.    Descartes  defined 


4  INTRODUCTION 

reading  as  "  a  conversation  with  the  best  people  of  bygone  ages." 
And  one  of  the  most  personal  of  modern  poets,  Musset,  liked 
poetry  because  "  it  is  intelligible  to  the  world,  though  spoken  by 
the  poet  alone." 

As  a  consequence,  French  writers  choose  their  themes  broadly 
with  reference  to  their  apphcation.  They  seem  to  ask  not  only: 
is  this  my  problem?  but  also,  is  it  yoiir  problem?  because,  in 
Montaigne's  words,  it  is  a  fundamentally  himian  problem,  as  well 
as  the  problem  of  a  grammarian,  a  poet  or  a  lawyer.  Look 
at  any  representative  French  work  and  you  will  see  how 
generally  true  this  is.  The  author  makes  an  abstraction 
of  his  experience  and  then  views  it  in  the  form  of  action.  He 
exploits  his  idea  or  emotion  to  the  full  extent  of  its  social 
value. 

This  accounts  for  the  hospitality  of  French  art,  to  which  in  a 
very  real  sense  nothing  human  is  inacceptable.  "  The  [French] 
cathedrals,"  says  Mr.  Brownell,  "  are  not  feudal.  They  are  the 
products  of  a  spirit  partly  ecclesiastical,  partly  secular,  but 
always  social  —  the  true  Gallo-Roman  spirit  which,  great  as 
was  the  perfection  attained  by  German  feudalism  in  France, 
constantly  struggled  against  and  finally  conquered  its  foreign 
Frankish  foe."  The  same  thing  is  true  of  French  letters.  Time 
and  again,  the  French  have  borrowed  an  idea  from  without:  it 
is  they  who  socialize  the  idea,  widen  its  application,  standardize 
it,  and  thereupon  send  it  broadcast  over  the  world  to  bear 
fruit  in  a  larger,  more  extended  form.  Thus  during  the  Middle 
Ages  France  took  over  the  Germanic  idea  of  obligation  and, 
through  the  efforts  of  her  scholars  and  her  poets,  made  it  domi- 
nant over  Europe;  likewise  in  the  Renaissance  she  chose  the 
Italian  idea  of  formal  perfection  or  virtu,  and  in  the  later 
eighteenth  century  the  northern  idea  of  personality,  and  worked 
them  over  into  their  broadest,  most  social  expression.  France 
has  been,  and  still  is,  the  intellectual  clearing-house  of  Europe. 

A  literature  that  is  social  is  necessarily  a  literature  of  form 

fully  as  much  as  of  content.    To  be  sure,  the  sense  of  form 

has  grown  in  France  since  the  sixteenth  century, 

.owing  to  the  cult  of  antiquity.      But  the  trait  is 

nevertheless  inherent  in  French  culture.    Kant  once  said:  "  The 

French  may  have  the  flowers  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  but  they 


INTRODUCTION  6 

rarely  possess  its  roots,"  and  sweeping  as  the  generalization  is, 
there  is  this  truth  in  it:  that  to  them  the  form  is  often  as  im- 
portant as  the  idea.  By  form  the  French  mean  technique; 
that  is,  the  observed  principles  or  laws  of  form  rather  than  the 
ethos  of  form  itself,  which  is  always  individual,  as  it  is  in  the 
Divine  Comedy  or  in  Goethe's  Faust,  or  in  most  of  Shake- 
speare's tragedies.  A  French  play  or  novel  is  a  very  conscious 
product:  the  author  is  an  adept  in  the  laws  of  the  genre,  and 
his  work  is  generally  the  best  that  training  and  talent  can  pro- 
duce. At  least,  a  minimum  is  left  to  chance  or  individual  in- 
spiration; the  maximum  is  artistry,  schooling,  the  interaction 
of  critical  power  and  the  creative  mind.  The  result  is  a  high 
average:  general  proficiency  in  place  of  sporadic  preeminence. 
"La  France  est  en  tout  un  pays  de  moyennes,"  said  a  distin- 
guished Russian  in  a  spirit  of  praise.  Probably  no  literature 
has  been  so  productive  or  so  continuous  as  that  of  France.  Cer- 
tainly none  is  so  rich  in  criticism,  in  reflections  on  the  manner 
of  life.  Thus,  in  a  very  real  sense,  it  is  possible  to  speak  of  the 
"  schools  "  of  French  literature,  in  which  the  critics  play  an  im- 
portant role.  And  the  highest  literary  expression  in  France  is, 
as  Anatole  France  says  of  the  landscape  about  Florence,  une 
parjaite  et  meswree  ceuvre  d'art.  On  the  other  hand,  idiosyncrasy 
of  genius  has  never  flourished  there  as  it  has  elsewhere,  and  it 
would  be  useless  to  look  in  French  literature  for  a  Hamlet,  an 
Iliad  or  a  Don  Quixote. 

It  is  clear  that  whatever  the  French  may  lack  in  range,  they 
make  up  in  homogeneity  and  poise.  Witness  their  language  with 
its  strong  Latin  tradition  toward  balance  and  unity.  The  few 
words  which  the  Roman  conquerors  of  Gaul  took  over  from  the 
Celts  did  not  perceptibly  affect  the  word-stock  of  French.  Even 
the  Franks,  whose  conquest  of  Gaul  in  the  fifth  century  gave 
to  France  her  name  and  many  of  her  institutions,  did  not  alter 
the  language  except  by  the  addition  of  a  few  hundred  new 
words.  So  that  in  structure  and  even  vocabulary  French  is  an 
offspring  of  Popular  Latin  as  it  was  spoken  by  Caesar's  soldiers 
in  Gaul,  supplemented  from  time  to  time  by  other  elements, 
one  of  which  is  Literary  Latin.  Here  again,  England  presents 
an  interesting  contrast.  There  the  Germanic  form  of  speech, 
Anglo-Saxon,  triumphed;  until  in  the  eleventh  century  (after 


6  INTRODUCTION 

1066)  it  was  temporarily  thrust  aside  and  French  became  the 
language  of  the  higher  classes,  and  consequently  of  literature. 
Hence  English  is  dual  in  nature;  at  once  Teutonic  and  Latin, 
a  mixtvire  of  two  opposing  tendencies,  which  manifest  them- 
selves again  and  again  in  English  writing;  whereas,  conipara- 
tively  speaking,  French  is  a  unit,  and  the  literature  as  well  as 
the  language  is  informed  throughout  with  the  Latin  genius  of 
clarity  and  precision.  "  Ce  qui  n'est  pas  clair,  n'est  pas 
frangais,"  said  Rivarol  in  a  famous  essay  on  the  universality 
of  French.  To  state  a  thing  in  French  is  to  state  it  well ;  that  is, 
with  accuracy  and  distinction.  Renan  aflSrmed  that  "  truth  lies 
in  a  shading  "  ("  la  verite  est  dans  una  nuance  ") .  The  shadings, 
those  subtle  boundaries  of  truth,  rarely  escape  a  French  writer's 
eye. 

At  the  same  tirae,  there  is  a  tendency  in  French  to  overstate  an 
idea  or  emotion,  to  make  it  more  pressing  and  effective  than  it 
really  is.  An  excellent  example  is  the  French  drama,  where  the 
difficulty  presented  so  often  leads  to  a  logical  but  not  to  a  very 
convincing  conclusion.  Hervieu's  Le  Dedale  and  Bernstein's 
Samson,  to  cite  only  modern  instances,  are  dramatic  but  they 
are  inconclusive:  the  cases  depicted  are  too  special  to  warrant 
a  general  inference  such  as  the  dramatist  would  have  us  make. 
The  best  literature  proves  nothing  since  demonstration  is  not 
its  function.  Or  take  Maupassant  in  the  realm  of  fiction.  As 
an  expression  of  irony,  of  human  stupidity,  his  Necklace  {La 
Parure)  is  perfect,  but  as  a  picture  of  reality,  this  story  is  an 
argumentum  in  vacuo.  It  assimies  a  mistake  —  the  necklace  is 
"  paste,"  not  genuine  —  and  it  carries  this  mistake  to  an  abstract 
conclusion.  Thus  the  love  of  argument,  so  strong  in  the  French, 
is  also  a  limitation;  granting  that  logical  precision  makes  for 
clearness  and  intelligibility,  it  satisfies  the  mind  but  not  the 
imagination.  Yet,  in  the  hands  of  a  genius  like  Racine,  this 
very  control  intensifies  the  emotion  and  achieves  effects  of  flaw- 
less and  inevitable  beauty. 

Such  an  attention  to  form  and  method  has  given  to  French 
poetry  a  tendency  which  the  Anglo-Saxon  may  find  hard  to 
grasp.  France  has  had  many  wonderful  poets:  Hugo,  Musset, 
Vigny,  Chenier,  Ronsard,  Villon;  and  her  collected  poetry  fills 
volumes.    Nevertheless,  French  poetry  has  the  externality  of  a 


INTRODUCTION  7 

fine  art.  The  Gallic  spirit  is  inventive.  It  is  too  critical,  too 
self-conscious,  too  mathematical  and  logical  to  be  deeply  lyrical. 
The  social  instinct  works  havoc  with  the  world  of  illusion  and 
mystery  in  which  the  great  lyrist  moves.  At  all  events,  the 
French  illusions  are  short-lived.  They  are  the  illusions  of  the 
market-place,  they  affect  the  masses  more  than  the  individual: 
honor,  vanity,  glory,  equality  —  rather  than  loyalty,  ambition, 
iminortality,  freedom.  And  the  loneliness  of  genius,  while  it  is 
seen  in  such  a  writer  as  Vigny,  is  rare  in  France.  So,  too,  the 
French  poet's  attachments  are  to  the  visible  world  —  the  world 
of  light  and  sunshine.  It  has  been  said  that  no  verses  express 
more  clearly  this  side  of  the  French  temper  than  Regnier's 
Le  Secret: 

Car  la  forme,  Todeur  et  la  beaute  des  choses 
Sont  le  seul  souvenir  dont  on  ne  souffre  pas. 

Racine,  the  poet  of  deep  feeling  and  with  a  vision  turned  in- 
ward, manages  to  externalize  his  emotions  in  the  most  tangible 
of  forms:  "  II  rase  la  prose,"  observes  Lemaitre,  "  mais  avec  des 
ailes."  Or  take  Hugo,  who  has  sweep  and  sustained  utterance, 
and  a  gift  of  imagery  such  as  few  poets  can  equal:  again  it  is  the 
artist  in  him  that  dominates  the  lyrist;  his  power  of  execution 
is  greater  than  his  inspiration,  and  his  verse  is  oratorical  and 
brilliant  far  more  than  it  is  passionately  deep  and  sincere.  If, 
then,  the  "  lyric  cry  "  is  rare  in  France,  and  the  quality  of 
French  verse  is  prevailingly  temperate  and  moderate  in  com- 
parison with  ours,  let  us  not  forget  that  French  poetry  is  for- 
mally the  more  artistic.  There  are  "  gems  "  of  French  verse 
which  as  regards  technical  perfection  it  would  be  diflBcult  to 
match  in  other  literatures.  The  French  are  apt  at  seizing  the 
fleeting  and  transitory  aspects  of  man's  nature,  at  inomortalizing 
a  mood  or  whim,  at  endowing  not  only  the  himible  but  the 
commonplace  with  the  eternity  of  art.  The  much-quoted  line 
of  Musset: 

Mon  verre  n'est  pas  grand,  mais  je  bois  dans  men  verre, 

well  expresses  the  crowded  experience  which  French  verse  can 
portray,  and  Musset  for  all  his  technical  imperfections  is  a  great 
French  poet. 


8  INTRODUCTION 

On  the  other  hand,  while  French  poetry  is  often  like  prose,  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  French  prose  is  in  a  class  by  itself. 
There  are  pages  of  Pascal,  Flaubert,  Rabelais,  Chateaubriand, 
Anatole  France,  which  are  superior  to  anything  else  that  has 
ever  been  written.  Here  the  national  genius  for  expression 
conies  to  full  fruition.  Rarely  does  one  find  in  French  prose  an 
idea  that  is  obscure,  a  character  whose  psychology  is  not  intel- 
ligible, a  situation  the  outlines  of  which  are  not  visible  to  the 
inner  eye.  Of  Flaubert,  Henry  James  says:  "  To  be  intensely 
definite  and  perfectly  positive,  to  know  so  well  what  he  meant 
that  he  could  at  every  point  strikingly  and  conclusively  verify 
it,  was  the  first  of  his  needs."  Moreover,  style  to  the  French  is 
at  once  the  garment  and  the  method  of  thought.  The  control 
the  French  show  in  their  writing  is  proverbial.  Limpid,  de- 
scriptive, harmonious,  suave,  picturesque,  as  the  case  may  be, 
French  prose  is  the  elaboration  of  thought,  the  presentation  of 
the  idea  in  action,  the  concrete  realization  of  the  impression  the 
author  wishes  to  convey.  "  Le  style  est  I'homme  meme,"  said 
Buffon,  and  deflected  as  this  phrase  has  been  from  its  original 
meaning,  the  statement  is  often  literally  true.  It  is  frequently 
in  style,  rather  than  in  newness  of  idea,  that  the  individuality 
of  the  French  writer  triumphs ;  and  the  personal  accent  we  look 
for  in  literature  the  French  manifest  not  in  what  they  say  but 
in  the  way  they  say  it.  Hence,  of  the  two  kinds  of  prose,  la 
bonne  prose  and  la  belle  prose,  France  exemplifies  the  latter. 

II 

To  simi  up:  the  dominant  traits  of  French  literature  are  poise, 
harmony,  reason,  sjnnpathy;  a  sense  of  structure  and  a  sense  of 
delicacy ;  a  preference  for  ideas  over  things,  but  for 
^  active  social  ideas,  not  metaphysical  personal  ones. 
French  literature  is  an  immediate  reflection  of  the  esprit 
gaulois:  brilliant,  vivacious,  good-natured,  ironic,  curious  of 
everything  essentially  human;  as  M.  Lanson  has  said:  "more 
sensible  than  sensuous,  but  more  sensuous  than  ethical."  A  race 
singularly  conscious  of  itself,  firm  in  the  conviction  that: 

all  the  world's  a  stage 
And  all  the  men  and  women  merely  players. 


INTRODUCTION  9 

Consciously  to  play  a  part  in  life,  to  be  an  actor  and  at  the  same 
time  an  observer  and  a  critic,  never  to  take  life  too  seriously 
nor  yet  to  neglect  it;  this  is  the  touchstone  of  the  French  point 
of  view,  and  when  all  is  said,  French  literature  is  its  expression. 

Many  readers  will  therefore  find  in  French  authors  a  marked 
uniformity;  or  rather  they  will  fail  to  see  that  variety  must  be 
sought  in  elaboration  and  detail,  and  not  in  background  or 
theme.  They  will  miss  the  more  pronounced  display  of  per- 
sonality, the  greater  emphasis  on  idiosyncrasy,  to  which  English 
literature  has  made  them  accustomed  —  often  overlooking  the 
fact  that  they  have  been  blind  to  the  swift  analysis,  the  care- 
ful distinctions,  the  exquisite  sense  of  form  wherewith  the 
greatest  French  writers  have  set  forth  life.  Thus,  little  can  be 
gained  by  reading  a  French  writer  hastily  or  with  insufficient 
knowledge  of  the  language.  The  reader  must  weigh  the  phrases, 
evaluate  the  words,  institute  comparisons,  take  account  of  the 
fact  that  the  highest  art  is  apparently  the  most  simple ;  other- 
wise the  literature  of  France  will  remain  to  him,  in  large  meas- 
ure, a  book  sealed  with  seven  seals. 

Further,  the  intellectual  and  emotional  relations  of  the 
French  are  not  primarily  moral,  in  the  English  sense  of  the 
word.  This  could  hardly  be  expected  of  a  nation  which  views  life 
so  clearly  as  contact  with  humanity  or  to  which  living  itself  is  an 
"  art."  "  Montaigne,"  says  Emerson,  "  is  the  frankest  and 
honestest  of  men."  You  cannot  deal  with  the  social  ideas  on  a 
large  scale  and  not  be  outspoken.  On  the  whole,  the  French 
would  rather  boast  of  imaginary  crimes  than  pose  as  more  vir- 
tuous than  they  are.  With  us  conduct  is  personal  and  there- 
fore inviolate ;  with  the  French  it  is  conventional  and  thus  more 
easily  shifted  to  others'  shoulders.  Moral  lapses  in  the  strict 
sense  are  more  easily  pardoned  in  France  than  lapses  in  good 
form  or  etiquette,  since  the  former  affect  the  individual  and  not 
society  directly.  Moliere  remarks :  "  On  veut  bien  etre  me- 
chant;  mais  on  ne  veut  point  etre  ridicule  "  —  a  distinctly  social 
attitude,  in  harmony  with  his  conception  of  comedy  and  its  flay- 
ing of  the  social  vices:  affectation,  hypocrisy,  avarice  and  mis- 
anthropy. For  Moliere's  Le  Misanthrope  is  a  "  comedy,"  how- 
ever tragic  its  chief  character  may  seem  to  Anglo-Saxon  eyes. 
On  the  other  hand,  in  our  workaday  world  nothing  is  a  safer 


10  INTRODUCTION 

guide  than  le  bon  sens  —  and  bon  sens,  as  the  social  reason  is 
called,  has  generally  been  uppermost  in  French  character. 

Lastly,  the  doctrinaire  attitude  of  trusting  to  ideas  is 
what  the  person  of  Germanic  traditions  finds  hardest  to  imder- 
stand.  We  are  the  children  of  expediency.  We  react  more 
readily  to  impulse  or  sentiment  —  to  the  "  inner  fact  of  things," 
as  Carlyle  used  to  say  —  and  we  distrust  logic.  Centuries  of 
struggle  with  the  material  universe  have  impressed  on  us  the  fact 
that  theory  and  practice  are  two  very  different  things,  and  we 
would  follow  our  instinct  rather  than  reason  the  thing  out. 

Not  so  the  French.  The  one  definite  link  between  the  Gauls 
whom  Caesar  describes  and  the  modern  French  is  their  passion 
for  ideas.  Being  and  thinking  may  be  at  variance,  therefore 
it  is  the  duty  of  man  to  make  them  one  —  that  is,  to  identify 
facts  with  logic.  In  short,  the  problem  of  humanity  is  to  make 
the  universe  rational.  A  dream,  we  should  say.  To  this  the 
French  reply  in  the  phrase  of  Descartes:  "  je  pense,  done  je 
suis  ";  and  in  its  length  and  breadth  their  literature  is  a  con- 
scious striving  to  realize  this  ideal.  In  general,  English  litera- 
ture is  more  lyrical  and  varied,  Italian  literature  possesses  a 
richer  and  more  voluptuous  sense  of  beauty,  Spanish  literature  is 
closer  to  the  well-springs  of  popular  inspiration  in  the  ballad 
and  the  epic  —  but  French  literature  is  by  all  odds  the  most 
broadly  human:  it  speaks  to  the  large  audience  of  les  honnetes 
gens  the  world  over,  and  for  him  who  has  mastered  the  French 
language  it  does  so  in  terms  that  are  at  once  stimulating  to  the 
mind  and  satisfying  to  the  artistic  sense. 


PART  I 
THE  MIDDLE  AGES 


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BOOK  I 
FEUDALISM  AND  CHIVALRY 

CHAPTER  I 
THE    MIDDLE    AGES   AND    THE    EPIC 

The  Middle  Ages  in  France  extend  from  the  treaty  of  Ver- 
dun in  843  to  the  expedition  of  Charles  VIII  into  Italy  in  1494. 
The  first  date  represents  the  earliest  recognition  of  the  French  as 
a  nation,  and  the  second  their  appearance  as  a  world-power  vying 
with  other  nations,  notably  with  Spain  and  England,  for  the 
political  control  of  Europe.  Between  these  dates  lies  an  inter- 
esting and  significant  development  which,  however  transitional 
it  may  seem  on  the  surface,  has  a  distinct  character  of  its  own. 

The  ruling  features  of  this  era  are:  the  Christianization  of  cul- 
ture, with  its  emphasis  on  man's  sinful  nature  —  the  redemp- 
tion of  which  is  considered  essential ;  the  feudalization  of  society 
and  the  rise  of  chivalry  as  an  expression  of  the  new  social  order ; 
and,  finally,  the  growth  of  city  life  under  the  control  of  a  bour- 
geois class.  The  last  division  is  coincident  roughly  with  the 
Middle  French  period  (fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries)  as 
distinguished  from  the  Old  French  or  medieval  period  proper. 
If  we  add  to  these  features  the  growing  importgince  of  Paris  as 
a  political  and  intellectual  center,  the  chief  elements  of  the  en- 
tire epoch  lie  before  us. 

The  collapse  of  the  Empire  of  Charlemagne  marks  the  begin- 
ning of  France.  With  all  his  enthusiasm  for  Latin  culture, 
Charlemagne  was  virtually  a  Teutonic  monarch;  so  that  when 
in  843  the  country  west  of  the  Meuse,  the  Saone  and  the  Rhone 
fell  to  the  sceptre  of  Charles  the  Bald,  it  was  the  birth  of  a  new 
nation  that  men  witnessed.  The  language  of  this  territory  had 
received  formal  recognition  a  year  earlier.  The  dialect  of  Popu- 
lar Latin  spoken  by  Charles'  subjects  was  no  longer  the  same 
speech  that  the  Franks  had  found  when  they  invaded  Gaul.    It 

13 


14         THE    MIDDLE    AGES    AND    THE    EPIC 

had  undergone  changes  in  structure  and  especially  in  vocabulary, 
which,  while  in  no  sense  identifying  it  with  the  lingua  teutomca 
of  the  Germanic  tribes,  yet  distinguish  it  sharply  from  the  Lingua 
romana  as  spoken  in  the  South.  Some  of  these  differences  ap- 
pear in  the  Serments  de  Strasbourg  of  842.  Here,  Louis  the 
German  and  Charles  the  Bald  pledge  themselves  in  each  other  s 
language  to  maintain  their  respective  interests  agamst  their 
brother  Lothaire.  Louis'  part  of  this  covenant  is  the  earliest 
document  extant  in  the  langue  d'ail  or  French,  and  although  it 
has  no  literary  value  it  is  important  evidence  of  the  fact  that  a 
national  speech  is  being  formed. 

But  the  kingdom  of  Charles  is  only  partly  France.  The  des- 
tinies of  the  country  are  henceforth  distinct  from  those  of  the 
rest  of  continental  Europe,  but  they  are  not  yet  strictly  under 
French  control.  The  imperial  regime  is  weakened,  notably  by 
the  spread  of  feudalism  in  the  ninth  century;  its  power,  how- 
ever, is  definitely  broken  only  with  the  death  of  Louis  V  in  987. 
With  the  accession  of  Hugh  Capet,  Count  of  Paris,  in  that  year 
the  Carolingian  epoch  ends  completely,  and  the  history  of 
France  proper,  of  her  institutions,  her  culture,  her  art  and  her 
literature,  begins. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  trace  that  history  except  as  it  is  re- 
flected in  literature.  At  the  same  time,  it  may  be  useful  to  re- 
Cultural  ^^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  Duchy  of  France,  or  the  territory 
Aspects  immediately  surroimding  Paris,  is  the  nucleus  from 

which  the  national  development  spread.  Although  Hugh  Capet 
was  nominally  King  of  France,  his  real  power  extended  little  be- 
yond his  own  domain  and  those  fiefs  whose  obedience  he  could 
command.  Thus,  broadly  viewed,  the  history  of  medieval 
France  was  a  struggle  of  the  monarchy  against  feudal  aggressi(m 
on  the  part  of  the  great  barons.  It  was  a  struggle  waged  with 
varying  fortunes  until  one  by  one  the  great  provinces  are 
brought  under  the  rule  of  the  crown:  Normandy  in  1204,  Anjou 
and  Languedoc  shortly  after.  Champagne  in  1274,  Provence  in 
1486;  and,  finally,  a  highly  centralized  state  is  established.  In 
this  nation  the  three  dominant  races  of  Europe  are  represented 
—  the  Nordic  in  Normandy  and  the  northeast,  the  Alpine  in  Sa- 
voy and  Auvergne,  and  the  Mediterranean  in  the  south.  The 
French,  therefore,  are  a  racial  epitome  of  Western  Europe. 


OLD  FRENCH   DIALECTS  15 

Turning  now  from  this  hasty  glance  at  history  to  the  condi- 
tions of  medieval  society  in  general,  we  may  note  first:  iJiat 
in  place  of  a  uniform  language  for  the  whole  territory  each  prov- 
ince develops  its  own  dialect.  The  main  dialects  are:  Norman 
and  Picard  in  the  north,  Champenois  and  Burgundian  in  the 
east;  Angevin  in  the  west,  with  Francian  or  the  dialect  of  the 
Duchy  of  France  in  the  center.  While  these  dialects  belong 
to  the  Umgue  d'dil  or  Old  French,  just  as  the  langue  d'oc  or  Old 
Provengal  consists  of  the  various  forms  of  southern  speech,  none 
of  them  is  supreme  during  the  medieval  period.  Each  has 
its  official  and  literary  monuments  —  the  Vie  de  Saint  Alexis, 
Wflrce's  Brut,  the  Lais  of  Marie  de  France  are  in  Norman;  a 
masterpiece  like  the  Aucassin  et  Nicolette  is  in  Pibard;  the  ro- 
mances of  Crestien  de  Troyes  are  partly  in  Champenois,  and  so 
on.  Not  until  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century  does  Francian 
assume  the  leading  role.  And  even  then  it  is  still  far  from 
being  the  sole  literary  speech,  although  the  tendency  is  more 
and  more  in  that  direction.  In  1173  Gamier  de  Pont-Sainte- 
Maxence  (near  Paris)  is  able  to  boast: 

Mis  langages  est  buens,  car  en  France  fui  nez; 

and  the  recognition  of  Paris  in  the  thirteenth  century  as  the 
intellectual  capital  of  Europe  does  much  to  establish  Francian  — 
especially  the  speech  of  Paris  —  as  standard  French.  Whoever 
knows  his  Chaucer  will  recall  the  famous  quip  on  the  Prioress 
inihe  Canterbury  Tales: 

And  Frensch  sche  spak  ful  faire  and  fetysly 
After  the  scole  of  Stratford  atte  Bowe, 
For  Frensch  of  Parys  was  to  hire  unknowe. 

But  important  as  it  is,  the  question  of  language  is  secondary 
to  the  cultural  aspects  of  the  age.  And  in  these  the  laity  were 
not  the  prime  movers.  Latin,  not  French,  was  the  language  of 
the  clergy,  and  the  Middle  Ages  are  primarily  an  ecclesiastical 
epoch.  When  Hugh  Capet  relinquished  the  rich  abbeys  of  Saint- 
Denis,  Saint-Germain-des-Pres,  Saint-Riquier  and  Saint- 
Valery  to  thie  clergy,  he  received  in  exchange  the  title  of  "De- 
fender of  the  Church,"  and  France  became,  if  not  the  focus,  at 
least  the  mainstay  of  Roman  Christianity. 


16         THE    MIDDLE    AGES    AND    THE    EPIC 

The  influence  of  the  church  shows  itself  on  every  hand:  in 
the  development  of  new  lands  and  out-of-the-way  districts,  in 
the  building  of  monasteries  and  churches,  in  giving  impetus  to 
the  movement  which  leads  to  the  crusades  in  Spain  and  in  the 
East,  but  above  all  in  the  spread  of  such  learning  and  culture 
as  the  age  allowed.  It  was  the  clergy  who  composed  the  music, 
developed  the  arts  of  MS  illumination,  of  woodcarving  and  the 
like,  and  it  is  to  them  we  owe  much  of  the  classical  literature 
that  survived  the  destruction  of  Rome  by  the  barbarians. 

It  is  but  natural  that  they  gave  to  their  work,  secular  as  well 
as  sacred,  an  ecclesiastical  interprdiation.  Alone  responsible 
for  man's  spiritual  guidance,  they  reinterpreted  —  as  every  age 
has  done  —  the  past  in  terms  of  the  present.  But  they  had  no 
sense  of  history,  or  rather  their  history  was  the  history  of  the 
"  soul,"  as  revealed  in  the  Bible  and  the  writings  of  the  Church 
Fathers.  Thus  they  saw  life  mainly  from  one  angle,  that  of 
salvation;  and  all  created  things,  including  Nature  herself,  as- 
sumed a  symbolic,  theological  value.  To  them  Aristotle  was 
no  longer  an  independent  thinker,  a  philosopher  who  had  sought 
the  boundaries  of  truth,  but  the  inventor  of  the  laws  of  reason; 
and  reason  was  given  man,  they  thought,  to  apprehend  the  faith. 
Through  faith  alone,  it  was  thought,  the  human  being  attained 
to  complete  knowledge,  the  wisdom  of  God  which  passeth  imdra*- 
standing.  Credo  ut  intelligam  ("  I  believe  in  order  that  I  may 
understand  ") ,  said  St.  Anselm,  a  statement  that  we  may  con- 
trast with  the  Cogito  ergo  sum  ("  I  think,  therefore  I  am  ")  of 
Descartes. 

Thus  the  medieval  method  is  exegesis.  The  sage  is  he  who 
can  interpret  the  divine  order  in  things  by  discovering  their 
underlying  sensus  or  "  meaning "  —  the  idea  recurs  in  the  Old 
French  romances  (see  Ch.  II).  And  the  dominant  philosophical 
idea  is  that  of  "  fixity."  For  the  church  taught  that  the  universe, 
in  its  narrow  scope  as  men  then  knew  it,  according  to  the  Ptole- 
maic system,  was  limited.  There  is  no  conscious  effort  to  change 
it,  to  widen  its  horizons,  to  better  its  conditions  materially.  The 
highest  aim  is  the  liberation  from  sin,  its  avoidance  or  its  expia- 
tion. But  since  the  age  is  at  once  too  sophisticated  and  too 
childlike  to  grasp  in  full  measure  the  spiritual  side  of  Chris- 
tianity, it  conceives  of  it  picturesquely,  in  terms  of  a  material 


FEUDAL   SOCIETY  17 

Heaven,  a  material  Hell  and  a  material  Purgatory,  in  hier- 
archies of  saints  and  demons,  in  pilgrimages,  fastings  and  physi. 
cal  suffering.  He  who  gave  ahns,  gave  them  primarily  to  re- 
deem himself,  not  to  benefit  his  neighbor.  A  crucified  Saviour, 
a  Christ  victorious  through  physical  pain,  is  the  quintessence 
of  the  mystical,  medieval  spirit. 

But  if  the  ch\u*ch  dominates  society  in  its  outlook  upon  life, 
the  forms  of  the  church  are  themselves  the  product  of  social 
forces.  These  are  of  course  feudal.  The  guiding  force  of  feud- 
alism is  obligation.  The  freeman  and  small  proprietor,  unable  to 
guard  his  own  interests,  "  commended  himself "  to  his  more 
powerful  neighbor,  and  thereupon  received  back  his  property  in 
the  shape  of  a  "  fief,"  for  the  loan  of  which  he  promised  service 
or  money,  or  both.  That  is,  feudalism  is  a  mutual  guarantee 
of  person  and  property  in  an  age  of  weak  government.  It  flour- 
ished in  France  from  about  the  ninth  to  the  fourteenth  century, 
and  it  gave  to  medieval  life  its  distinctive  hierarchal  form. 

The  result  was  that,  while  in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries 
the  political  power  of  the  church  is  still  great  and  that  of  the 
king  —  in  reality  little  more  than  a  tribal  leader  —  is  weak, 
the  twelfth  century  witnessed  a  notable  change.  Not  only  does 
feudalism  become  a  national  institution  but  society  itself  con- 
forms to  its  ideals,  and  the  distinctions  between  noble  and  serf, 
knight  and  yeoman,  courtois  ("  courtly ")  aiid  vilain  ("  vul- 
gar") are  definitely  worked  out.  Thus  four  great  classes  or 
castes  arise:  (1)  the  nobles,  (2)  the  clergy,  (3)  the  townsfolk 
or  bourgeois  and  (4)  the  peasantry.  In  addition,  the  crusades 
begin  and  chivalry  as  a  military  and  social  organization  spreads 
over  Eiu-ope.  In  short,  polite  or  courtois  society  comes  into 
being.  All  this  gives  to  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  a 
cultural  florescence  in  which  art  and  literature  share.  But,  like 
everything  else,  human  institutions  decay;  by  degrees  the  mon- 
archy allies  itself  with  the  lower  classes,  especially  the  bour- 
geoisie, the  power  of  the  great  nobles  wanes  and  feudalism  dis- 
integrates. Finally,  with  the  fall  of  the  feudal  order,  the 
medieval  "  fixity  "  is  broken  and  the  Renaissance  sets  in.  The 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  mark  the  beginning  of  this 
change. 

The  literature  of  such  an  epoch  is  necessarily  one-sided.    For 


18         THE    MIDDLE   AGES    AND    THE    EPIC 

the  emphasis  is  on  one  ideal,  faith  in  the  established  order,  and 
on  the  expression  of  one  dominant  emotion,  that  of  honor  or 
obligation  to  one's  trust.  The  knight  does  homage  to  his 
liege,  the  courtier  to  his  lady,  the  cleric  to  his  God,  in  much 
the  same  manner  and  in  about  the  same  terms.  But  because 
of  this  restriction  the  literature  is  vivid  and  intense,  poetic  and 
imaginative  rather  than  real,  and,  like  all  mystical  literature, 
it  is  fraught  with  personal  longings  and  with  the  aspiration,  in  the 
words  of  St.  Augustine,  "  to  grasp  the  infinite  within  the  vessel 
of  the  finite."  In  the  second  place,  it  is  didactic  and  formalistic. 
It  moralizes  on  life,  lays  down  a  code  for  human  conduct,  even  in 
the  affairs  of  the  heart,  and  neglects  the  intrinsic  values  of  life 
itself,  such  as  beauty,  individual  happiness  and  justice.  Nothing 
could  be  more  significant  than  the  numerous  bestiaries, 
lapidaries  and  astrologies  (computi)  in  which  the  Middle  Ages 
sought  to  reveal  the  symbolic  or  ethical  meaning  of  Nature  her- 
self. When  the  reaction  begins,  the  note  that  is  heard  is  satire 
and  irony,  a  reflection  of  Gallic  common-sense,  voicing  its  pro- 
test in  the  fabliavx  and  the  beast-epic. 
Thus  the  divisions  of  medieval  literature  are  mainly  these: 

(1)  The  saints'  legends,  the  epics  or  chansons  de  geste,  di- 
dactic treatises  of  various  kinds,  and  the  serious  drama. 
These  are  mostly  clerical ;  at  least,  their  source  of  inspiration 
is  the  church,  directly  in  the  saints'  legends  and  the  drama, 
or  indirectly  in  the  epic. 

(2)  The  various  forms  of  the  lyric,  —  largely  an  importa- 
tion from  Provence  —  the  romances  of  chivalry  and  the  alle- 
gory. Here  the  inspiration  comes  largely  from  aristocratic 
feudal  society,  or  what  we  may  call  by  tiie  generic  name  of 
courtly  or  courtois. 

(3)  The  increasing  current  of  bourgeois  expression,  appear- 
ing first  in  the  fabliavx  and  the  beast-epic,  then  in  the  second 
part  of  the  Roman  de  la  Rose,  and  finally  in  various  produc- 
tions of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries. 

In  October,  878,  the  discovery  of  the  supposed  bones  of  a 
Christian  saint  was  made  in  Barcelona,  Spain.  This  event  led  to 
the  composition  in  French  of  the  chm-ch  "  sequence  "  of  Sainte 
Eulalie  —  so  far  as  we  know,  the  first  French  work  of  literary 


CHANSONS    DE    GESTE  19 

merit.    It  inaugurates  the  large  literature  in  the  vernacular,  in- 
spired by  the  passion  of  piety,  of  which  the  saints'  lives  of  Saint 
Leger  (tenth  century)  and  Saint  Alexis  (about  1050) 

®  ^^^  are  early,  and  to  some  extent  illustrious,  examples. 
A  short  poem  on  the  Passion  (tenth  century)  should  be 
added  to  these  as  showing  the  beginnings  of  French  literary 
composition.  But  whatever  incidental  interest  these  works  may 
have,  they  do  not  yet  reflect  a  truly  national  spirit.  To  find 
this  we  must  turn  to  the  French  epic,  or  chansons  de  geste. 

The  title  geste  (Lat.  gesta)  originally  meant  deeds,  and  the 
"  songs  of  deeds  "  are  the  products  of  the  race  which  Hugh  Capet 
and  his  successors  were  called  upon  to  govern.  As  the  number 
of  epic  poems  increased,  the  jongleurs  or  "  minstrels  "  who  sang 
them  arranged  them  in  families  or  "  cycles,"  each  headed  by 
the  name  of  an  ancestor.  Thus  the  poems  concerned  witlT] 
Charlemagne  and  his  family  went  under  the  name  of  Pepin,  or 
the  geste  du  roi;  others  treating  of  the  south  of  France  and  its 
struggle  with  the  Saracen  invaders,  under  the  names  of  Garin 
de  Monglane  or  Guillaume  d'Orange;  while  those  relating  the 
deadly  strife  of  the  feudal  barons  among  themselves  were  classed 
under  the  name  of  Doon  de  Mayence.  But  this  classification,  \ 
probably  made  long  after  the  composition  of  the  actual  epic,  fs 
conventional  rather  than  real.  The  various  groups  are  inter- 
related, and  other  groups  besides  those  mentioned  existed.  A 
separate  cycle  is  that  of  the  crusades.  To  it  belong  such  poems 
as  the  Chanson  de  Jerusalem  and  the  Chanson  d'Antioche,  and 
linked  to  the  crusade-cycle  are  romantic  compositions  like  the 
Chevalier  au  cygne  —  the  story  of  Lohengrin  —  and  Oodejroi  de 
Bouillon,  the  ancestor  of  the  House  of  Brabant.  In  the  four- 
teenth century  this  last  group  became  the  object  of  burlesque 
and  parody,  a  fate  that  awaited  all  epic  and  chivalric  expres- 
sion at  the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

In  form  the  chansons  de  geste  consist  of  laisses  or  stanzas, 
composed  at  first  on  one  vowel-rime  or  assonance,  and  later  on 
one  rime,  for  each  laisse,  the  whole  being  set  to  music.  The 
stanzas  are  of  imequal  length  and  are  Written,  generally  but  not 
always,  in  ten-syllable  verse,  which  is  the  heroic  verse  of  the 
French  until  Ronsard's  time,  when  it  was  superseded  by  the 
twelve-syllable,  or  Alexandrine. 


20         THE    MIDDLE    AGES    AND    THE    EPIC 

Since  the  epic  celebrates  heroes  for  the  most  part  contem- 
poraneous with  Charlemagne,  who  himself  is  the  focus  of  a  group 
of  poems,  the  theory  early  arose  that  the  epic  is  Germanic  in 
origin  and  inspiration.  Of  this  theory  there  are  several  varik- 
tions.  One  view  is  that  the  Frankish  invaders  of  Gaul  sang 
epico-lyric  songs  or  cantilenae  —  somewhat  like  our  English 
ballads  —  and  that,  although  none  of  these  is  extant  in  the  orig- 
inal form,  the  epic  itself  is  due  to  a  combination  of  them  made 
by  the  jongleurs.  Another  hypothesis  is  that  there  existed  a  sort 
of  "  poetic  history  "  constructed  out  of  the  legendary  remnants 
of  the  Germanic  past,  and  that  this,  transmitted  either  by  writ- 
ing or  by  word  of  mouth,  inspired  the  extant  poems,  none  of 
which  antedate  the  close  of  the  eleventh  century. 

The  modern  view  combats  these  earlier  theories  by  aflBrming 
that  the  French  epic  is  virtually  contemporaneous  in  origin  with 
the  twelfth-century  chansons.  In  other  words,  the  epic  —  it  is 
now  thought  —  was  the  immediate  product  of  the  warlike  condi- 
tions of  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  in  France:  the  period 
of  pilgrimages  to  holy  places,  of  expeditions  against  the  Sara- 
cens in  Spain,  and  of  the  wars  of  the  crusades.  The  part  that 
Charlemagne  has  in  it  is  a  recollection  of  the  past,  but  a  con- 
scious one,  supplied  by  proselyting  monks  from  monastery 
chronicles  and  shreds  of  oral  tradition  for  ecclesiastical  and 
national  ends.  Thus  the  chansons  de  geste  would  have  origi- 
nated at  the  hands  of  some  poet  along  one  of  the  great  pilgrimage 
routes  leading  to  St.  James  of  Compostela  in  Spain,  St.  Peter's 
in  Rome,  or  some  shrine  within  the  borders  of  France.  In  any 
case,  French  feudalism  and  the  Christian  chiu-ch  combine  to 
make  the  epic  what  it  is,  and  whatever  view  we  take  as  to  its 
ultimate  origin,  the  actual  epic  belongs  to  the  twelfth  century. 

The  greatest  and  probably  the  earliest  example  of  the  epic  is 
the  Chanson  de  Roland,  in  4002  assonanced  verses.  Found  in 
The  this  form  in  a  manuscript  of  the  end  of  the  twelfth 

"  Roland  "  century  (now  in  the  Bodleian  library  at  Oxford) ,  the 
work  itself  must  be  nearly  a  century  older.  The  poet  Wace  (in 
1160)  afiBrms  that  the  minstrel  Taillefer  chanted  a  Song  of  Ro- 
land at  Hastings  in  1066.  Later  versions  occur  in  the  Latin  prose 
Pseudo-Turpin,  which  is  part  of  a  pilgrimage  guide  to  Compo- 
stela, and  in  the  Carmen  de  proditione  Ouenonis,  emphasizing 


THE   SONG   OF   ROLAND  21 

the  treachery  of  Ganelon.  In  its  French  fonn,  however,  the 
Roland  stands  at  the  threshold  of  a  literature  of  which  it  is  one 
of  the  most  inspired  and  characteristic  expressions. 

The  story  is  simple  and  fairly  commonplace.  For  seven  years 
Charles  "  the  king,  our  mighty  emperor  "  has  battled  against 
the  Saracens  in  Spain.  Bereft  of  his  strongholds,  Marsile,  the 
Saracen  —  who  differs  from  a  Christian  only  by  being  a  pagan 
—  sends  delegates  to  Charles  to  promise  peace  falsely.  The 
embassy  is  headed  by  Blancandrin,  a  wise  pagan,  who  conspires 
with  Ganelon  for  the  death  of  Roland,  nephew  of  Charles  and 
bravest  of  the  French.  Ganelon  is  no  coward,  but  he  hates 
Roland  for  the  obvious  reason  that  Roland,  rich  in  worldly  pos- 
sessions, is  his  step-son: 

Qo  set  hem  bien  que  jo  sui  tis  padrastres. 

Thus  Ganelon's  hatred  becomes  the  ruin  of  the  French. 

Won  by  the  promises  of  Marsile,  Charles  withdraws  his  main 
army  across  the  Pyrenees  to  celebrate  Michaelmas  at  Aix,  the 
minster-town.  Roland,  left  behind  in  Spain  with  the  rear- 
guard of  20,000,  including  the  flower  of  French  knighthood  (the 
Twelve  Peers) ,  is  attacked  at  Roncevaux  near  the  defiles  of  the 
Pyrenees  by  an  overwhelming  host  of  Saracens.  Oliver,  his 
boon  companion,  who  personifies  wisdom  as  Roland  does 
bravery  — 

Rodlanz  est  proz  et  Oliviers  est  sages 

Roland  is  brave  and  Oliver  is  wise  — 

scents  the  danger  and  pleads  with  his  friend,  but  in  vain,  to 
summon  the  Emperor's  aid.  The  French  are  massacred.  One 
by  one  they  fall  until  of  the  Twelve  Peers  only  two  or  three  are 
left.  Then,  at  last,  Roland  blows  his  horn  and,  with  his  failing 
strength,  summons  Charles: 

Rodlanz  at  mis  I'difant  a  sa  boche, 
Empeint  lo  bien,  par  grant  vertut  lo  sonet. 
Halt  sent  li  pui  e  la  voiz  ert  molt  longe, 
Granz  xxx.  liwes  I'odirent  il  respondre. 

Unto  his  lips  he  raised  the  ivory  horn, 
And  from  his  breast  drew  forth  a  mighty  blast; 
High  are  the  hills  the  soaring  strain  breaks  o'er 
And  thirty  leagues  the  answering  echoes  roll. 


>. 


22         THE    MIDDLE    AGES    AND    THE    EPIC 

In  a  last  effort  to  break  his  sword  in  order  to  save  it  from  the 
pagans,  Roland  sacrifices  himself  for  his  king,  his  country  and 
his  honor. 

Charles  braves  Ganelon's  scorn  to  hasten  to  the  rescue.  But, 
although  the  Almighty  arrests  the  sun  in  its  course  to  grant  him 
time  for  vengeance,  when  Charles  arrives  Roland  is  dead.  Ab- 
solved of  his  sins  by  Turpin  of  Rheims,  the  archbishop,  he  lies 
amid  his  fallen  companions,  with  his  face  turned  toward  France: 

Deus  i  tramist  son  angele  cherubin 
E  saint  Michiel  de  la  Mer  del  Peril, 
Ensembl'od  els  sainz  Gabriel  i  vint; 
L'amne  del  conte  portent  en  paredis. 

God  sent  to  Viim  His  angel  cherubim, 
Saint  Michael  of  the  Peril  of  the  Sea, 
Together  with  them  came  holy  Gabriel. 
To  Paradise  they  bear  the  Count's  soul  home. 

Having  crushed  the  Saracens,  Charles  returns  to  France  with 
the  bodies  of  his  beloved  knights.  Aide,  Roland's  betrothed, 
falls  dead  at  Charlemagne's  feet.  Ganelon  is  brought  to  jus- 
tice and  torn  to  pieces  by  four  stallions,  while  the  Emperor 
under  the  weight  of  his  sorrows,  and  despite  his  two  himdred 
years,  lives  wearily  on. 

Historically  the  poem  rests  on  the  slightest  of  foimdations  — 
the  expedition  of  Charles  into  Spain  in  778,  an  episode  of  which 
was  the  destruction  of  his  rear-guard  by  the  Basques  in  the 
Pyrenees.  Among  the  slain,  according  to  the  chronicler  Einhard, 
who  reports  the  event,  was  Hruodlandus,  Britanrdci  limitis  jrrae- 
fectus;  that  is,  Roland  prefect  of  the  March  of  Brittany. 

Concerning  the  author  we  know  next  to  nothing,  save  that  he 
may  be  identical  with  the  Turoldus  mentioned  at  the  end  of  the 
last  laisse: 

Ci  fait  la  geste  que  Turoldus  declinet. 
Here  ends  the  poem  which  Turoldus  relates. 

But  whoever  he  was  (whether  or  not  an  archbishop  of  Bayeux 
by  that  name),  his  poetic  gift  was  of  the  highest;  to  this  his 
poem  bears  ample  testimony. 

In  the  first  place,  the  poem  is  a  unit  in  subordinating 
details  to  the  theme  of  Christian  feudal  valor.      Religion  and 


THE   SONG  OF  ROLAND  23 

patriotism  are  one;  the  knights  of  Charles  fight  for  the  greater 
glory  of  Christian  France:  la  dolce  France,  la  Tare  major-. 

Faien  ont  tort  e  Chrestieu  ont  drsit 

Wrong  the  pagans,  right  the  Christians  are  — 

this  idea,  in  one  form  or  anoither,  rmis  through  the  whole 
poem.  The  narrative  consists  of  three  parts:  the  treachery  of 
Ganelon,  the  pride  and  loyalty  of  Roland,  the  vengeance  and 
sorrow  of  Charles.  Clear  as  crystal,  these  motives  emerge  from 
the  mass  of  episode  and  control  the  action.  Thus  the  poem  has 
an  obvious  kinship  with  French  Classical  tragedy,  showing  that' 
clarity  of  outline  and  a  sense  of  proportion  are  characteristic  of 
French  literary'  art  from  the  beginning. 

In  the  second  place,  the  characters  are  ideal  contrasts.  The 
fact  that  Rolan3  has  the  typical  epic  motive  of  desmesure 
or  "  lack  of  measure  "  renders  the  work  intensely  dramatic. 
When  the  pagan  messengers  have  spoken,  Roland  designates 
Ganelon  as  the  return-messenger  to  Marsile.  But  Ganelon  is 
equal  to  the  part;  enraged  at  his  step-son's  presumption,  he 
singles  him  out  for  vengeance.  Ganelon  is  no  commonplace 
traitor:  he  does  not  directly  betray  the  French;  he  not  only 
(braves  Marsile,  he  defies  him,  as  any  follower  of  Charles  would ; 
but  he  cannot  forgive  Roland,  and  in  his  passion  he  makes  Mar-  ' 
sile  believe  that  the  destruction  of  the  rear-guard  will  destroy 
the  French.  Again,  Oliver,  who  represents  reason,  remains 
reasonable  to  the  end.  In  the  eleventh  hour  his  logic  tells  hun 
that  Roland  is  responsible  for  the  French  defeat,  and  in  his 
affection  for  his  friend  he  mingles  the  cruelty  of  a  reproach,  for 
thus  his  conscience  compels  him  to  do.  One  of  the  most  poign- 
ant scenes  in  the  poem  is  when  Roland  and  Oliver,  in  the  face 
of  death,  speak  the  words  of  their  hearts: 

Qo  dist  Rodlanz:  "Per  quel  me  portez  ire?" 
E  oil  respont:  "Com  proz  vos  lo  feistes, 
Kar  vasselages  par  sens  nen  est  folie: 
Mielz  valt  mesure  que  ne  fait  estoltie. 
Franceis  sont  mort  par  voetre  legerie." 

Then  Roland  said:  "  Why  do  you  bear  me  ill?  " 

And  he  replied:  "Bravely  you  fought  for  us,  , 

Yet  fealty's  not  courage  uncontrolled 

But  measure  which  through  madness  goes  not  blind. 

The  French  are  slain:  your  foUy  is  to  blame." 


24         THE    MIDDLE    AGES    AND    THE    EPIC 

Thus  each  character  is  true  to  his  nature;  Roland  to  his  un- 
measured prowess,  Oliver  to  his  calm,  cool  reason,  Ganelon  to 
his  insensate  hatred,  and  Charles,  most  to  be  pitied  of  all,  to  his 
sense  of  solitary  grandeur  amid  the  warring  factions  of  his  race. 
To  this  extent  has  the  poet  seen  in  legend  the  working  out  of 
human  character  and  fate  —  and  this  is  the  acme  of  epic  art. 

The  style  of  the  Roland  is  of  a  piece  with  its  elemental  char- 
acter. The  thought  does  not  flow,  it  comes  in  leaps  and  bounds, 
or,  as  Gaston  Paris  has  said,  "  par  une  suite  d'explosions  succes- 
sives,  toujours  arretees  court  et  toujours  reprenant  avec 
soudainete."  The  lyric  mood,  intensely  simple  and  over, 
powering,  dominates  the  whole;  yet  separate  lyric  passages  are 
few  and  generally  conventional.  Transitions  from  one  episode 
to  another  are  abrupt,  as  befits  their  dramatic  quality,  but  this 
again  is  the  abruptness  of  detail,  "  like  a  broken  sea  with  a 
larger  wave  moving  under  it."  So,  too,  the  language  of  the 
^  poem  is  lapidary;  each  verse,  if  possible,  is  a  imit.  Metaphors 
are  rare;  when  used  they  designate  an  act,  as  when  the  dying 
Roland  proffers  his  gauntlet  to  the  angel  Gabriel.    In  short,  the 

^  language  is  action  rather  than  description;  like  the  tnmipet-call 
of  Roland  it  speaks  to  the  ear,  since  the  Roland  was  to  be  sung, 
not  read.    When,  however,  the  poet  does  depict,  as  in  giving  the 

^  setting,  he  uses  simple,  bold  strokes.  To  the  pagan  messengers 
Charles  appears  thus: 

Desoz  un  pin  delez  un  aiglentier 
Un  faldestoel  i  out,  fait  tot  d'ormier, 
La  siet  li  reis  Id  dolce  France  tient; 
Blanche  at  la  barbe  e  tot  florit  le  chief, 
Gent  at  le  cors  e  lo  contenant  fier: 
S'est  qui'I  demandet  ne'l  estoet  enseignier. 

Beneath  a  pine,  beside  a  wild  white  thorn, 
An  armchair  stands,  inlaid  with  mother-of-pearl" 
There  sits  the  king  who  governeth  sweet  France; 
White  is  his  beard,  all  hoary  is  his  head; 
Graceful  is  he  and  proud  his  countenance. 
Who  asks  his  name?    He  needs  no  pointing  out. 

Or  if  we  turn  to  the  background  of  the  battle,  the  pass  above 
Roncevaux,  its  bleak  outlines  are  revealed  in: 

Halt  sent  li  pui  e  li  val  tenebros, 
Les  roches  bises,  li  destroit  merveillos. 


THE   SONG  OF   ROLAND  25 

High  are  the  hills,  the  valleys  filled  with  gloom; 
Gray-brown  the  cliffs,  and  wonderful  the  passes. 

As  for  the  social  aspects  of  the  work,  these  are  clearly  feudal. 
The  characters  are  "  barons,"  even  Turpin,  the  archbishop,  be- 
ing a  vassal  of  Charles.  But  the  feudalism  depicted  is  early, 
reaching  back  possibly  to  the  tenth  century.  The  Roland  is  not^ 
courtois  in  the  sense  we  defined  above.  The  manners  of  the 
knights  are  crude,  the  tribal  or  family  bond  is  strong;  Roland 
is  a  typical  "  sister's  son  "  (a  frequent  character  in  primitive 
literature  in  general)  and  the  Twelve  Peers  represent  an  institu- 
tion known  as  compagnonnage,  which  hardly  extended  beyond 
the  eleventh  century.  When  not  fighting,  these  paladins  of 
France  play  warlike  games;  the  old  men  play  chess  and  the 
young  men  fence  or  joust: 

E  escremissent  oil  bachelier  legier. 

Of  the  refining  influence  of  women  there  is  scarce  a  trace.    Says 
Oliver  to  Roland  in  their  final  interview: 

Se  puis  vedeir  ma  gente  soror  Aide, 
Vos  ne  jerreiz  ja  mais  entre  sa  brace. 

If  I  could  see  my  lovely  sister  Aide, 

Thou  should'st  ne'er  lie  within  her  arms'  embrace. 

And  Charles  can  think  of  no  gentler  consolation  for  the  grief- 
stricken  Aide  than  to  offer  his  son  Louis  as  a  substitute  for- 
Roland.  Surely  the  Roland,  with  its  fighting  bishops  and  its 
Valkyrie-like  angels,  ready  to  carry  the  souls  of  the  valiant  to 
Paradise,  has  no  place  for  the  sophisticated  emotions  we  asso- 
ciate with  a  cultivated  form  of  society. 

Thus  the  Roland  is  not  lacking  in  art;  indeed,  technically  it 
shows  remarkable  artistry,  as  we  have  seen.  But  the  point  of 
view  it  represents  is  simple,  at  times  fairly  naive ;  the  emotions  ■ 
it  breathes  are  elemental,  and  its  plane  of  life  is  primitive  and 
direct.  In  this  it  shows  the  influence  of  the  Latin  works  on  the 
first  Crusade. 

The  atmosphere  of  elemental  contrast  pervades  all  except  the 
latest  forms  of  epic.  In  the  Pelerinage  de  Charlemagne  a  Con- 
stantinople (before  1150)  the  serious  tone  of  the  Roland  gives 
way  to  a  spirit  of  braggadocio  and  rollicking  fun.    Incidentally 


26         THE    MIDDLE    AGES    AND    THE    EPIC 

the  work,  which  is  written  in  twelve-syllable  laisses,  accounts 
for  the  presence  at  Saint-Denis  of  the  relics  of  the  Passion. 
Charles,  who  wears  the  crown  at  Saint-Denis,  asks  the  Queen 
whether  there  can  be  a  more  imposing  monarch 
er  epics  ^j^^^  himself.  Rashly  she  names  Hugo  of  Constan- 
tinople. At  once  Charles  anl  the  Twelve  Peers  journey  to  the 
Orient  for  the  purpose  of  disproving  the  Queen's  assertion.  In 
Jerusalem,  which  they  visit  first,  they  occupy  the  chairs  formerly 
used  by  Christ  and  the  apostles,  and  the  sight  of  them  thus 
seated  so  overwhelms  a  Jew  that  he  straightway  seeks  baptism. 
And  in  Constantinople,  where  they  linger  on  the  return,  the 
relics  which  they  had  acquired  enable  them  to  execute  a  series 
of  preposterous  boasts  or  gabs.  Thus  King  Hugo,  majestic  as  he 
is,  gladly  does  homage  and  admits  that  a  Frangais  de  France  is 
no  ordinary  mortal.  The  poem  epitomizes  its  particular  note 
of  vanity  in  the  verse: 

Ja  ne  vendrons  en  terre,  nostra  ne  seit  11  los. 

Never  shall  we  come  into  a  land  where  renown  is  not  ours. 

The  Pelerinage,  then,  is  a  popular  counterpart  to  the  more  in- 
spired Roland;  it  is  a  market  place  epic  addressed  to  the  popu- 
lace of  a  great  church  fair,  the  Endit  (Lat.  indictilm)  of  Saint- 
Denis,  near  Paris,  and  it  aims  to  amuse  rather  than  to  uplift. 

But,  in  general,  the  epic  muse  is  tragic,  "  reiterating  and  re- 
inforcing the  heroic  motives,"  and  glorifying  France  and  the 
Second  church.    This  can  be  seen  in  the  second  or  William 

Group  of  Orange  cycle,  the  central  theme  of  which  is  the 

exaltation  of  Christianity:  essaucier  la  sainte  crestiente.  Linked 
to  this  motive  is  the  idea  of  loyalty  to  the  Carolingian  dynasty, 
tottering  to  its  fall  in  the  successors  of  Charles.  For  instance, 
the  Cowonnement  de  Louis  (about  1130)  shows  us  William 
hastening  to  the  aid  of  Charles'  son,  Louis,  who  is  too  timid  to 
grasp  the  reins  of  power  single-handed.  William  takes  the  feeble 
King  under  his  protection,  kills  off  the  usurpers  and  marries 
Louis  to  his  own  sister.  Yet  Louis,  characteristically  weak,  is 
ungrateful: 

En  grant  bamage  fu  Loois  entree; 
Quant  il  fu  riches,  Guillelme  n'en  sot  gre. 

In  great  domain  had  Louis  been  installed; 
When  he  was  strong,  to  William  he  bore  no  love. 


OTHER  EPICS  27 

Again,  in  the  Aliscans  (close  to  1150)  the  Saracen  host  is  vic- 
torious and  the  battle-field  is  strewn  with  Christian  dead  (a 
fiction  suggested  by  the  Graeco-Roman  cemetery  at  Aries). 
William,  who  despite  his  heroism  is  unable  to  rescue  his  favorite 
nephew,  Vivien,  is  forced  to  seek  refuge  at  Orange,  where 
Guiborc,  his  wife,  fails  to  recognize  him,  partly  because  she 
cannot  believe  that  William  would  have  fled.  On  hearing  of 
the  slaughter  of  all  his  companions,  she  persuades  him  to 
seek  the  King's  aid  at  Saint-Denis.  At  first  the  latter  turns 
a  'deaf  ear  to  his  appeal,  imtil  cowed  by  William's  wrath 
Louis  finally  yields,  as  he  always  does,  and  sends  assistance. 
William's  final  victory  is  due  to  the  help  of  a  burlesque 
creature,  Renouart  —  the  Morgante  of  the  French  epic  —  and 
the  second  half  of  the  work  is  a  mock  heroic,  in  which  the  in- 
spiration flags.  The  story  of  William  survives  also  in  an  early 
form,  the  Chanqun  de  GuUlelme  —  which  some  scholars  place 
above  the  Roland  in  merit.  This  is  rather  the  "  draft  of  an 
epic,"  interesting  because  of  its  vigor  and  primitive  traits,  but 
hardly  the  literary  equal  of  the  chansons  proper. 

The  third  division  of  the  epic,  the  cycle  of  Doon  de  Mayence, 
deals  with  the  feuds  between  the  great  barons  and  the  crown, 
Third  ^°^  i®  "^^i  ^^  *^^  delineation  of  character.    Excel- 

Group  lent  examples  are  Raoul  de  Cambrai  and  Girard  de 

Roussillon  (extant  in  versions  composed  after  1150). 

A  "  sister's  son  "  like  Roland,  Raoul  has  strong  attachments 
to  his  imperial  uncle.  But  Louis,  unlike  Charlemagne,  for- 
sakes his  nephew's  cause.  Grown  to  manhood,  Raoul  is  driven 
to  demand  of  Louis  his  just  inheritance.  Louis  promises  and 
then  wavers  in  favor  of  another.  This  act  of  perfidy  so  in- 
furiates the  hero  that  he  destroys  the  town  of  Origini  and  its 
cloister  of  nuns,  although  in  true  medieval  fashion  he  refuses 
to  eat  meat  on  Friday.  Among  the  innocents  who  perish  is 
the  mother  of  Bemier,  the  "  boon  companion  "  of  Raoul.  Ber- 
nier  breaks  his  bond  of  companionship  in  order  to  kill  Raoul, 
and  the  vendetta  that  ensues  between  the  families  of  the  two 
heroes  lasts  for  years.  Finally  a  reconciliation  is  effected,  in 
which  the  King  also  pays  a  forfeit.  In  mere  force  of  conception 
this  story  is  perhaps  unique  among  the  chansons  de  geste.  Al- 
though it  fails  to  depict  any  imaginative  passion,  it  is  supremely 


28         THE    MIDDLE    AGES    AND    THE    EPIC 

tragic  in  its  realism  and  the  barbaric  truthfulness  of  its  utter- 
ance. The  character  of  Bemier,  "dull,  expostulatory,  help- 
less," is  an  excellent  example  of  the  hero  marked  by  fate. 

The  church  and  the  pilgrimage  routes  again  play  a  role  m 
Girard  de  Romsillon.  Here  the  strife  is  between  Charles  the 
Bald  and  his  most  powerful  vassal  in  the  east,  for  Rous- 
sillon  is  placed  by  the  poet  near  Vezelay,  famous  for  its  shrine 
t)f  Mary  Magdalen.  Charles  and  Girard  had  married  sisters, 
but  Charles'  wife  was  once  the  betrothed  of  Girard,  who  had 
yielded  her  to  his  liege  as  an  act  of  fealty,  in  return  for  which 
service  the  King  gave  Girard  certain  property  rights.  These 
Charles  violates,  and  a  long  and  bitter  struggle  follows.  In 
the  end  Charles  triumphs,  Roussillon  is  razed  to  the  ground, 
and  Girard  and  his  faithful  wife  flee  into  the  forest  of  the  Ar- 
dennes. Through  the  influence  of  a  hermit,  Girard  now  re- 
nounces the  world  and  becomes  a  charcoal-burner,  while 
Bertha,  his  wife,  earns  a  pittance  by  sewing.  But  the  sight 
of  her  husband's  degradation  moves  Bertha  to  appeal  to  the 
Queen,  and  a  reconciliation  with  Charles  is  brought  about. 
Once  more  Girard's  wrath  (his  desmesure)  flares  up  and  he 
holds  the  King  at  bay.  At  last,  however,  his  proud  spirit  is 
broken,  and  both  he  and  Bertha  devote  the  remainder  of  their 
lives  to  building  churches  (Vezelay  and  Pothieres),  in  honor 
of  her  who  at  Bethany  washed  the  Saviour's  feet.  Here  we 
see  clearly  the  process  whereby  chronicle-history,  saint's  legend 
and  monastic  foundation  combine  to  produce  a  literary  work 
of  enduring  human  interest.  The  Girard  de  Roussillon  is  typi- 
cal of  the  composition  of  many  a  French  epic,  and  the  ecclesi- 
astical and  feudal  ideas  on  which  it  rests  are  on  the  whole  the 
controlling  ideas  of  the  first  half  of  the  twelfth  century,  when 
king  and  baron,  castle  and  monastery,  were  struggling  with  one 
another  for  the  possession  of  the  land. 

Out  of  the  welter  of  this  striving  the  great  cultural  up- 
heaval of  the  second  half  of  the  century  was  to  come.  Mon- 
astic schools  and  feudal  castles  arose  on  every  hand.  Polite 
society  took  form  in  definite  molds.  Women  began  to  play  a 
part  in  the  affairs  of  state  and  gave  tone  to  the  ideals  of  which 
they  themselves  were  the  object.  The  new  era  is  still  war- 
like, yet  war  is  no  longer  an  opposition  of  popular  forces, 


OTHER   EPICS  29 

the  conflict  of  rival  clans,  but  a  social  game,  waged  according 
to  fixed  rules:  those  of  chivalry.  In  this  period  epic  desmesure 
or  "  excess  of  character  "  is  no  longer  the  inspiration  of  narra- 
tive. The  heroic  gives  place  to  the  sentimental  and  adventur- 
ous ;  and  gradually  epic  poetry  dies  out  or  becomes  merged  with 
a  new  genre,  the  "  romance."  Thus  Huon  de  Bordeaux  (about 
1220),  with  its  main  theme  of  the,  story  of  Oberon,  is  an 
example  of  the  heroic  followed  by  the  purely  fanciful  ob 
magical;  whereas  Aiol  (before  1250)  transfuses  an  epic  back- 
ground with  romantic  motifs  and  a  vein  of  real  humor. 
Finally,  after  1250,  heroic  motivation  disappears  altogether, 
and  the  chansons  de  geste  translated  into  prose  become  a  part 
of  the  romantic  narrative  lore  of  Europe, 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  LYRIC  AND  THE  ROMANCE 

As  the  epic  was  set  to  music  and  sving,  so  also  there  were  in 
twelfth-century  France  songs  of  personal  or  "  lyric  "  inspiration. 
An  essential  feature  of  these  songs  is  that  originally  they  were 
written  as  accompaniments  to  the  dance  {la  carole),  so  that 
"  the  leader  would  sing  the  successive  lines,  while  the  rest  of 
the  dancers  holding  hands  all  joined  in  the  refrain."  Of  this 
custom  our  modern  May-dances,  with  the  crowning  of  the  May 
Queen,  are  a  survival.  In  the  Middle  Ages,  however,  such 
festive  gatherings  were  popular  in  a  wide  sense,  ana  lyric  songs 
set  to  the  dance  were  the  diversion  of  castle  and  bower  fully 
as  much  as  of  the  people.  In  principle,  then,  we  may  say  that 
the  lyric  originates  with  the  folk  —  provided  we  bear  in  mind 
that  the  individual  poet  or  singer  (the  jongleur)  was  capable 
of  using  it  for  his  own  ends  and  of  infusing  it  with  a  spirit  that 
was  anything  but  popular.  A  dividing  line  is  hard  to  draw; 
and  the  term  "  folk-poetry  "  often  implies  no  more  than  that 
the  particular  lyric  deals  with  traditional  themes,  dating  from 
a  time  when  there  was  no  formal  division  between  polite  society 
and  the  people  as  such. 

At  the  same  time,  the  Old  French  lyric  undoubtedly  owes 
more  to  the  influence  of  Latin  models  than  has  commonly  been 
admitted.  Such  an  influence  would  be  especially  strong  in  the 
south  of  France,  where  the  juxtaposition  of  springtide,  the 
nightingale  and  love  is  a  recurrent  feature  of  Latin  verse.  Ob- 
serve, as  an  example,  the  last  quatrain  of  a  Latin  song  (eleventh 
century)  from  one  of  the  manuscripts  of  St.  Martial's  at 
Limoges: 

Jam  nix  glaciesque  liquescit, 
Folium  et  herba  virescit, 
Philomela  jam  cantat  in  alto, 
Ardet  amor  cordis  in  antro. 

30 


LYRIC  POETRY  31 

Now  are  melted  ice  and  snow, 
Trees  and  grass  their  verdure  show, 
Philomela  sings  on  high, 
Loving  hearts  burn  secretly. 

Thus  there  arise  two  classes  of  twelfth-century  French  lyrics: 
those  in  which  the  emotion  is  presented  objectively  as  part  of 
a  popular  dramatic  setting^  and  those  in  which  a  fixed  subjec- 
tive experience  determines  the  burden  and  the  form  of  the  song. 

The  first  class  embraces  the  northern  French  types:  the  chan- 
son a  toile  or  d'histoire,  the  reverdie,  the  chanson  de  mal  mariee 
Northern  ^^^  ^^^  pastowelle.  As  a  rule,  these  "are  "mdepen- 
Types  dent  of  southern,  Provengal  influence.    While  often 

intended  for  sophisticated  audiences,  they  betray  their  popular 
origin  by  the  use  of  dance  refrains,  and  they  are  addressed  to 
society  at  large,  without  any  expresse3'  distinction  of  caste. 
Their  form  is  narrative,  the  love  experience  being  told  as  a 
story. 

Thus  the  chanson  a  toUe  is  virtually  a  ballad,  a  spinning  ori 
weaving  song  adapted  to  women  at  their  work.  The  theme  is' 
a  maiden's  love  for  a  knight,  Doette's  for  Doon,  Gaiette's  for 
Gerard,  Eremborc's  for  Renald  —  notice  the  alliteration  of 
names  —  and  the  whole  is  presented  as  a  kind  of  miniature 
drama  in  stanzas  of  ten-syllable  lines,  ending  in  a  refrain  of 
one,  two  or  three  shorter  verses.  The  beginning  of  La  belle 
Doette  may  be  regarded  as  typical: 

Bele  Doette  as  fenestres  se  siet, 
Lit  en  un  livre,  mais  au  cuer  ne  I'en  tient;' 
De  son  ami  Doon  h  ressovient 
Qu'en  autres  terres  est  alez  tomoier, 
E  or  en  ai  dol. 

Fair  Doette  at  the  casement  sat, 
Read  in  a  book,  but  in  her  heart  is  sadji 
To  Doon  her  thoughts  turn  back 
Who's  gone  away  to  fight,  alack! 

How  sorrowful  am  I.  ,; 

Closer  to  the  dance  in  movement  are  the  reverdies  and  the 
chansons  de  mal  mariee.  The  former,  as  the  title  indicates, 
have  reference  to  the  spring-tide,  the  season  of  love  and  joy; 


32  THE    LYRIC    AND    THE    ROMANCE 

whereas  the  latter,  pungent  and  cynical  in  tone,  embody  the 
lament  of  those  wedded  unhappily.  Here,  as  elsewhere  in  this 
early  work,  the  protagonist  is  a  woman  —  who  in  the  chansons 
de  mal  mariee  usually  consoles  herself  by  taking  a  lover. 

With  the  pastourelle  we  approach  a  type  more  complicated 
indeed  but  having  considerable  inherent  charm.  It  has,  more- 
over, a  corresponding  southern  form  in  the  Provengal  pastorela 
or  pastoreta.  The  name  refers  to  the  "  shepherdess  "  whose  graces 
the  poem  celebrates.  But  again  the  popular  origin  is  remote, 
since  the  extant  pastourelles  all  halve  an  aristocratic  tinge. 
The  poet,  generally  a  knight,  while  riding  through  the  coimtry 
meets  a  shepherdess  whose  love  he  implores.  When  she  re- 
mains obdurate  to  his  entreaties,  it  is  because  Marion  —  the 
name  of  the  rustic  belle  —  wishes  to  remain  true  to  Robin  or 
Perrin  or  Guiot;  indeed,  the  latter  at  times  comes  to  her  rescue 
and  attacks  the  importunate  nobleman,  frequently  to  the  re- 
gret of  the  girl.  A  typical  setting  is  the  follomng,  though 
most  pastourelles  have  a  more  involved  stanza  form: 

L'autrier  me  chevalchoie 
Toute  ma  senturelle, 
Trovai  en  mei  ma  vole 
Cortoise  pastourelle; 
Lou  cors  ait  bel  et  avenant, 

La  color  vermeillete. 
Ausi  tost  come  je  la  vi, 

E  je  li  prix  a  faire. 

As  I  rode  forth  the  other  day, 

I  found,  what  would  you  guess? 

Upon  the  winding  country-way 

A  charming  shepherdess. 

Her  shapely  form  brought  joy  to  me, 

Her  glpwing  color  too; 

And  stopping  there,  her  close  to  see, 

I  straightway  'gan  to  woo. 

The  knight  wins  his  suit.  Despite  the  fear  of  her  relatives  the 
lady  succumbs  to  his  beau  parler  and  forgets  her  rustic  Robin 
in  the  arms  of  the  new  lover.  The  delightful  Jeu  de  Robin  et 
Marion  by  Adam  de  la  Halle  (thirteenth  century)  dramatizes 
the  main  situation  of  the  pastourelle. 


LYRIC    POETRY  33 

By  degrees,  and  almost  simultaneously  with  the  objective 
lyric,  a  new  spirit  manifests  itself.  In  1150,  signs  of  a  great 
Southern  cultural  change  are  everywhere  evident.  The  risei 
Types  of  chivalry,  noted  above   (Ch.  I),  and  the  develop- I 

ment  of  a  courtois  state  of  society,  attended  by  the  growth  of  | 
great  school  centers  like  Le  Bee,  Chartres  and  Paris,  and  en- 
CGiu-aged,  along  artistic  lines,  by  the  rivalry  of  the  courts  of 
Champagne,  Blois,  Flanders  and  England  —  all  of  this  gave  to 
the  new  age  a  distinction  second  only  to  that  of  the  later  Renais- 
sance. The  century  which  follows,  the  thirteenth,  represents 
the  florescence  of  the  Middle  Ages,  in  many  ways  as  complete  an 
expression  of  the  French  national  genius  as  the  Classical  age  of 
Louis  XIV. 

The  quickening  impulse  came  from  the  region  associated 
with  Provencal  or  the  langue  d'oc,  whose  dominion  had  reached 
as  far  north  as  Poitou.  From  Poitou  came  William  IX  (1087- 
1127),  the  earliest  known  trobador  (the  Provengal  form  for 
trcuvere,  meaning  "  poet ")  and  the  grandfather  of  the  light- 
hearted  Eleanor,  successively  queen  of  Louis  VII  of  France  and 
Henry  II  of  England,  and  mother  of  Marie  of  Champagne  and 
Alice  of  Blois.  Thus  the  avenue  northward  was  established, 
and  the  Provengal  lyric  was  the  literary  baggage  of  the  poets 
who  travelled  over  it:  in  the  suite  of  Eleanor,  the  troubadours 
Bernart  de  Ventadom  and  Bertran  de  Born,  and  in  that  of 
Marie,  Rigaud  ^"Barbezieux.  But  these  noble  ladies  were 
themselves  adepts  in  the  gai  saber,  as  the  new  poetic  art  was 
called;  and  Marie  herself  suggested  topics  to  Crestien  de  Troyes 
(see  below),  while  in  her  behalf  Andre  le  Chapelain  (Andreas 
Capellanus)  wrote  the  new  Ovid  of  the  age,  the  Tractatus 
Amoris  or  De  Amore. 

In  this  way  the  subjective  lyric  was  a  poetry  of  "  art "  in  our 
modem  sense  of  the  word.  Its  point  of  departure  is  the  identi- 
fication of  love  and  religion:  Omnia  vincit  amor.  Only  in  place 
of  the  piu-ely  sensuous  ideal  of  antiquity,  the  Provengal  lover 
mingled  with  the  reactions  of  sense  the  conviction  of  the  un- 
attainable, and  like  the  mystic  before  his  God  he  humbled  him- 
self before  his  lady.  The  result  was  a  philosophical  interpre- 
tation of  love  as  the  sovereign  or  infinite  good,  and  the 
development  of  a  system  whereby  the  lover  became  the  perfect 


34  THE    LYRIC    AND    THE    ROMANCE 

worshipper  of  his  unattainable  mistress.  This  system  had  its 
precepts,  its  laws,  its  remedies  —  in  a  word,  its  code  —  complex 
in  the  extreme  and  administered  by  Love,  whom  Dante  called 
"  the  Lord  of  Terrible  Aspect." 

With  such  an  ideal,  poetry  becomes  subtilized  and  thoroughly 
conventional.  Conceits  and  euphuisms  abound.  Every  natural 
note  is  banished  as  dishonorable  and  vulgar,  or  vilain.  The 
true  courtois  glows  only  with  an  illicit  passion,  for  love  and 
marriage  are  regarded  as  inimical.  On  the  other  hand,  the  gain 
in  poetic  expression  is  considerable.  The  psychology  of  emotion 
is  worked  out  in  detail  and  with  some  variety;  and  it  is  note- 
worthy that  the  emotion  depicted  is  not  without  a  real  back- 
groimd  in  aristocratic  circles,  for  the  Provengal  lyric  is  not  of 
the  people.  But  the  greatest  triimaph  of  the  new  genre  was  in 
artistic  form,  and  the  best  known  varieties  of.Provengal  verse 
were  adopted  almost  without  a  change  by  the  rest  of  cultured 
Europe.  The  German  Minnesong  is  largely  an  importation 
from  Provence. 

Of  the  southern  forms  which  found  favor  in  French  the  most 
popular  are:  the  chanson  (Prov.  canson),  the  tenson  (Prov.  ten- 
son)  and  the  jeu-parti  (Prov.  joe  partit) .  The  first  of  these  is  a 
lyric  of  five  or  six  stanzas,  usually  with  the  rime-scheme  abab- 
baba,  and  ending  in  a  half  stanza,  called  envoi  (Prov.  tomada), 
in  which  the  poet  draws  his  conclusions  and  apostrophizes  his 
lady  or  his  patron.  The  themes  of  the  chanson  vary,  some  being 
suggested  by  the  crusades.  Thus  Conon  de  Bethune  (1180), 
who  was  a  well  known  trouvere  and  also  a  crusader,  begins  one 
of  his  chansons  as  follows: 

Ahi,  amors,  com  dure  departie 

Me  covient  faire  a  perdre  la  millor, 

Qui  onques  fust  amee  ne  servie! 

Deus  me  ramainst  a  li  par  sa  dolgor, 

Si  voirement  com  j'en  part  a  dolor  I 

Deus!     qu'ai-je  dit?    ja  ne  m'en  part  je  mie: 

Se  li  cors  va  servir  Nostra  Signer, 

Toz  li  miens  cuers  remaint  en  sa  baillie. 

Oh,  Love!  how  hard  it  is  to  sever 
Myself  from  her  whose  sweet  embrace 
I  fondly  woo,  forsaking  never: 
God  bring  me  back,  I  beg  this  grace 


LYRIC  POETRY  35 

As  truly  as  I  part  in  sorrow. 
What  did  I  say?    I  do  not  part: 
My  body  serves  the  Lord  tomorrow, 
But  with  my  love  remains  my  heart! 

Gracefully  as  it  is  used  here,  this  conceit  of  the  wandering  body 
(cots)  and  the  captive  heart  (cuers)  is  characteristic  of  courtly 
literature,  and  shows  how  easy  it  was  for  the  poet  to  glide  from 
the  facts  of  life  into  the  subtleties  of  the  mind  and  turn  art  into 
rhetoric. 

The  acme  of  this  tendency  is  reached  in  the  tenson  and  the 
jeu  parti.  These  are  debates  or  contests  in  verse  on  some  prob- 
lem of  love  casuistry;  such  as,  should  a  lover  prefer  the  mar- 
riage or  the  death  of  his  beloved?  which  lover  has  the  greater 
chance,  one  who  is  blind,  or  one  who  is  deaf  and  dumb?  In 
form  these  types  resemble  the  chanson,  except  that  in  the  tenson 
different  persons,  feigned  or  real,  sing  alternate  stanzas,  while 
in  the  jeu  parti  one  poet  offers  to  another  the  alternate  side  of 
a  debate.  Here  poetry  degenerates  and  becomes  a  foster  cljild  of 
scholasticism,  with  which  these  types  are  contemporary.  Gace 
Brule,  Thibaut  de  Navarre  (the  royal  lover  of  Blanche  of  Cas- 
tille),  and  the  Chatelain  de  Coucy  (in  legend  the  lover  of  the 
Dame  de  Fayel),  are  among  those  who  plied  this  difficult  art. 
Their  game  was  to  toy  with  ideas,  and  in  them  we  have  the  fore- 
runners of  the  preciosity  and  Petrarchizing  of  a  later  day. 

Fortunately  not  all  of  the  courtly  poetry  moved  in  these  arti- 
ficial channels,  nor  was  lyric  expression  henceforth  confined 
Other  Lyric  *°  courtois  circles.  For  poetry  is  ever  ready  to 
Types  draw  on  popular  soiu-ces,  just  as  the  people  are  will- 

ing to  adopt  courtly  forms  and  modify  them.  Thus  the  avbe 
(Prov.  alba)  or  "  morning  song  "  maintains  the  externals  of  a 
set  type  with  some  freedom  of  expression,  so  that  the  situation 
it  embodies  is  still  apparent  in  Romeo  and  Juliet: 

"Wilt  thou  be  gone?  it  is  not  yet  near  day: 
It  was  the  nightingale  and  not  the  lark, 
That  pierced  the  fearful  hoUow  of  thine  ear: 
Nightly  she  sings  on  yon  pomegranate  tree: 
Believe  me,  love,  it  was  the  nightingale." 

More  varied  in  form  than  its  Provengal  model  is  the  salut 
d'amour,  a  verse  epistle,  beginning  with  a  greeting  to  the  lady 


36  THE    LYRIC    AND    THE    ROMANCE 

for  whom  the  poet  writes.  An  adept  in  this  type  was  the  cele- 
brated Philippe  de  Beaumanoir  (1250),  known  widely  for  hie 
code  of  laws,  the  Coutumes  du  Beauvaisis.  Other  measures, 
like  the  motet,  descort  and  lai  lyrique  are  musical  in  origin, 
deriving  from  the  sequences  of  the  church,  although  the  lai 
lyrique,  which  had  a  notable  practitioner  in  Colin  Muset,  a 
jongleur  who  moved  in  the  courtly  world  (thirteenth  century), 
may  have  arisen  from  the  musical  accompaniment  of  the  Breton 
contes  (see  p.  52). 

Finally,  a  freer  spirit  breathes  in  those  forms  which,  while 
based  once  more  on  popular  dance  refrains,  later  become  courtly 
in  tone.  Such  are  the  rondels,  from  which  the  more  modem 
triolet  and  rondeau  descend;  and  especially  the  hallete,  subse- 
quently known  by  the  name  ballade.  The  rondeau  remains 
essentially  a  one-strophe  composition,  while  the  ballade  consists 
of  three  strophes  having  the  same  rimes  and  ending  in  the  same 
refrain,  to  which  there  was  later  added  an  envoi.  With  the 
rise  of  the  literary  guilds  or  pwys  (from  the  Latin  podium  or 
"  hill ")  in  Arras  and  other  northern  cities,  the  ballade  and  the 
rondeau  become  the  dominant  lyric  forms,  especially  in  the 
hands  of  the  fourteenth-century  poets,  Guillaimie  de  Machaut 
and  Eustache  Deschamps  (see  Bk.  II,  Ch.  1).  And  so  they  re- 
main until  displaced,  in  the  Renaissance,  by  the  sonnet.  In 
them  the  characteristic  grace  of  French  verse  appears  anew, 
and  there  is  something  almost  national  in  the  suspensive  phras- 
ing in  which  these  forms  excel.  A  modern  triolet  by  Austin 
Dobson  reproduces  this  quality  well: 

I  intended  an  ode 

But  it  turned  into  triolets, 
It  began  a  la  mode, 
I  intended  an  ode; 
But  Rose  crossed  the  road, 

With  a  bunch  of  fresh  violets. 
I  intended  an  ode 

But  it  turned  into  triolets. 

From  the  courtly  lyric  it  is  but  a  short  step  to  the  lyricism  1 
of  narrative.    The  courtois  ladies  who  were  enamored  of  the 
The  Rise  of    ^""^  of  Provence  also  reacted  to  the  wonder  of  the 
the  Romance  Orient,  now  made  accessible  by  the  crusades,  and 
to  the  tales  of  marvels  and  enchantments  the  crusaders  brought 


ORIGINS   OF   FICTION  37 

back  to  France.  It  was  with  a  new  interest  that  they  heard 
the  legend  of  Troy,  the  adventures  of  Aeneas,  and  all  that  an- 
cient story  had  made  illustrious.  Thus  by  degrees  the  past 
seemed  contemporaneous  and  actual,  and  a  genuine  renascence 
set  in  —  in  which,  however,  antiquity  was  dressed  up  in  chival- 
ric  garb.  Hector  became  a  knight  in  medieval  armor,  Alexan- 
der a  princely  patron  —  incidentally  the  symbol  of  largesse  or 
bounty  —  and  Troilus  a  fate-stricken  lover.  Above  all,  and 
here  the  courtois  spirit  is  obvious,  the  women  of  the  past  as- 
sumed a  new  value,  and  to  be  matchless  like  Helen,  tragic  like 
Dido,  or  bewitching  like  Medea,  was  the  aim  of  most  twelfth- 
century  heroines. 

The  monasteries  play  an  important  part  in  this  innovation. 
Here,  according  to  the  method  of  exegesis  outlined  in  Chapter 
I,  the  past  was  exploited  as  to  its  sensws  or  "  meaning  " ;  and  as 
culture  became  secular,  and  the  clerks  depended  more  and  more 
on  the  favor  of  the  great,  they  drew  from  their  manuscripts  ever 
fresh  examples  of  worldly  fame  and  grandeur.  In  this  proc- 
ess not  only  the  Aeneid  but  also  Statius'  Thebaid,  Lucan's  Phar- 
salia,  and  especially  Ovid's  Metamorphoses  and  Herdides  were 
laid  under  contribution.  But  the  monks  studied  other  works  of  a 
more  doubtful  origin  as  well.  Owing  to  their  ignorance  of  Greek, 
Homer  was  practically  unknown  except  as  a  name ;  and  so  they 
took  their  account  of  Troy  from  Latin  versions  of  Dares  Phry- 
gius  and  Dictys  Cretensis,  'erroneously  reputed  to  have  been  eye- 
witnesses of  Ilion's  fall.  For  the  monks  were  themselves  com- 
pilers, and  any  authority  with  the  sanction  of  age  was  accepted 
as  reliable.  With  the  help  of  this  material  they  then  fashioned 
the  instruments  of  a  new  narrative  style.  Incidents  were  elabo- 
rated by  the  use  of  metaphor  and  hyperbole.  Physical  traits 
are  "  catalogued  "  as  preliminary  to  character  drawing.  But 
particularly,  the  eight-syllable  couplet,  with  its  tendency  to 
"  overflow,"  replaces  the  ten-syllable  line  as  a  vehicle  of  expres- 
sion, and  poetry  gains  almost  the  freedom  of  prose.  The  result 
is  that  by  the  year  1160  a  whole  literature  "  drawn  from  the 
Latin,"  as  the  phrase  is,  begins  to  appear  in  the  vernacular.  And 
to  this  literature,  irrespective  of  its  derivation,  the  name  reman 
or  Romance  (from  the  fact  that  it  is  translated  from  Latin  into  a 
Romance  tongue)  is  attached.    It  is  this  form  which  gradually 


38  THE   LYRIC    AND    THE    ROMANCE 

assumes  the  function  of  a  distinct  genre,  independent  of  any 
Latin  origin,  and  becomes  the  prototype  of  our  modern  "  novel." 

The  Middle  Ages  classified  its  narrative  literature  under  the 
head  of  matiere,  according  to  its  derivation.  There  was  the 
Typgg  Of  Matter  of  France  or  the  National  Epic,  which  we 
Romances  treated  in  Chapter  I;  the  Matter  of  Rome,  deriving 
from  classical  and  pseudo-classical  sources;  and  the  Matter  of 
Britain  or  what  we  call  today  the  Arthurian  romances.  Differ 
as  they  may  in  derivation,  the  last  two  divisions  show  very  much  . 
the  same  method  {sens)  of  narrative  treatment. 

Chief  among  the  works  of  the  Matter  of  Rome  are  the  Alez- 
andre,  the  Thebes,  the  Eneas  and  the  Troie. 

The  life  of  the  great  Alexander,  always  the  beau  ideal  of  gen- 
erosity to  the  Middle  Ages,  is  the  theme  of  the  first  work  men- 
The  Matter  tioned.  It  survives  in  three  forms,  of  which  the 
of  Rome  earliest  (about  1100)  is  a  fragment,  in  monorime 
laisses,  by  a  certain  Alberic  de  Besangon  or  Briangon.  Written 
near  the  Provengal  border,  this  version  incorporates  the  idea, 
attributed  to  Solomon,  that  "  all  is  vanity,"  which  it  applies  to 
the  career  of  the  hero.  The  second  or  ten-syllable  version,  by 
a  poet  from  Poitou  (twelfth  century),  has  been  praised  for  its 
style;  whereas  the  last  or  French  form  proper  (1177)  is  the 
work  of  three  poets  from  the  vicinity  of  Paris  and  employs  the 
twelve-syllable  line,  whence  the  well-known  vers  alexandrins  of 
French  Classical  poetry.  This  finished  form  makes  a  strong 
appeal  to  the  reader's  love  of  the  fanciful:  Alexander's  cam- 
paigns become  the  exploits  of  an  adventurous  knight-errant; 
strange  animals  and  amphibious  men  beset  his  path,  he  visits 
Valleys  from  which  None  Return,  he  and  his  hosts  are  rejuve- 
nated in  a  Fountain  of  Youth,  and  speaking  trees  foretell  his 
doom.  For  all  this  the  authors  had  Latin  sources,  derived 
ultimately  from  a  Greek  romance,  by  a  certain  Callisthenes, 
written  in  Alexandria,  Egypt  (about  a.d.  200) .  But  it  is  they 
who  popularize  the  work  as  the  Wonder-book  of  the  East  by 
reason  of  their  spirited  style  and  their  richly  flowing  narrative. 

The  Thkbes  (after  1150),  is  the  medieval  interpretation  of 
the  legend  of  Oedipus,  as  its  derivation  from  Statins  would  imply. 
Formally  it  differs  from  the  Alexandre  by  being  written  in  eight-' 
syllable  couplets;  but  in  spirit  the  work  is  still  close  to  the 


^. 


THE   MATTER   OF   ROME  39 

ehansons  de  geste.  Accordingly,  the  fate  of  Oedipus  is  con- 
ceived as  epic  desmesure,  and  while  the  grief  of  Jocasta  and  her 
maidens  is  graphically  depicted  —  when  they  learn  the  terrible 
truth  of  Oedipus'  crime  —  the  position  of  woman  in  this  ro- 
mance is  still  subordinate  to  that  of  man.  This  last  feature  of 
exalting  woman  becomes  the  distinctive  trait  of  the  Eneas  and 
to  a  greater  degree  of  the  Troie. 

In  the  Eneas  (probably  later  than  the  Thebes)  the  c&urtois 
element  manifests  itself  in  the  handling  of  the  source.  Im- 
agine an  Aeneid  with  the  founding  of  Rome  all  but  forgotten. 
In  the  six  thousand  lines  of  the  Old  French  poem,  the  hero  does 
little  else  but  circle  about  Dido  and  Lavinia,  as  the  moth  plays 
about  the  flame;  through  Dido  he  becomes  uxorious  and  neglect- 
ful of  chivalry,  and  through  Lavinia,  more  skilled  in  the  artifices 
of  love,  he  regains  his  prowess  and  accomplishes  the  high  em- 
prise of  defeating  Turnus  —  and,  incidentally,  of  founding 
Rome.  This  emphasis  on  the  "  love-sickness  "  of  Aeneas  made 
the  work  popular  with  other  romancers  and  also  shows  the 
growing  influence  of  Ovid  on  the  narrative  literature  of  the 
time.  Although  the  language  of  the  Eneas  is  often  shockingly 
unrefined,  the  style  is  marked  by  the  deft  and  vivid  handling 
of  dialogue  —  a  notable  innovation. 

Finally,  with  the  appearance  (about  1165)  of  the  Roman  de 
Troie  by  Benoit  de  Sainte-More,  the  Matter  of  Rome  loses  its 
anonymity  and  scores  its  most  lasting  success.  Benoit,  a  younger 
contemporary  of  the  poet  Wace  (see  below)  —  whom  he  replaced 
in  the  favor  of  Henry  II  of  England  —  wrote  his  poem  of 
thirty  thousand  verses  in  honor  of  Eleanor  of  Poitou.  For  this 
expansion  of  the  Troy  theme  his  sources.  Dares  and  Dictys,  fur- 
nished only  the  background  and  the  main  characters;  medieval 
elaboration,'  largely  by  Benoit  himself,  furnished  the  rest.  Thus 
the  fall  of  Troy  becomes  a  typical  twelfth-century  military 
exploit,  with  knights  in  armor  and  ladies  in  castles  and  bowers, 
and  behind  it  all  the  trials  and  tribulations  of  courtly  lovers. 
A  prominent  position  among  the  latter  is  given  to  the  un- 
Homeric  Troilus  and  the  lady  of  his  dreams,  the  lovely  Briseida 
(later  Cressida) .  As  Professor  Saintsbury  justly  says,  "  Helen 
was  too  puzzling,  as  well  as  too  Greek;  Andromache  only  a 
faithful,  wife;    Cassandra  a  scolding  sorceress;     Polyxena  a 


40  THE    LYRIC    AND    THE    ROMANCE 

victim;  whereas  Briseida  had  a  fairly  clear  record.  Benoit 
undoubtedly  has  his  longueurs,  but  he  knew  his  public  and  he 
did  for  the  Middle  Ages  what  Virgil  had  done  so  majestically 
for  imperial  Rome:  he  gave  feudal  society  an  ancestry  in  the 
halls  of  Ilion.  In  some  respects  he  did  not  himself  harvest  the 
full  reward  of  his  achievement.  His  romance  was  put  into 
Latin  by  an  Italian,  Guido  delle  Colonne,  and  in  this  later  form 
was  diffused  all  over  Europe.  In  this  general  way  it  became  the 
source  of  Boccaccio  and  then  of  Chaucer,  whose  Troilus  is  one 
of  the  masterpieces  of  medieval  English  fiction: 

In  which  ye  may  the  double  sorwes  here, 

Of  Troylus,  in  loving  of  Criseyde, 

And  how  that  she  forsook  him  er  she  deyde. 

Benoit  lacks  the  insight  of  this  prince  of  story-tellers;  indeed, 
he  has  a  mere  suggestion  of  Chaucer's  masterly  conception  of 
Criseyde  as  a  character.  Yet  his  narrative  has  both  flow  and 
charm,  and  Benoit  is  not  without  a  sense  of  the  picturesque. 
As  late  as  the  sixteenth  centiuy  it  was  the  medieval  concept  of 
Troy  that  inspired  Jean  Lemaire  de  Beiges,  from  whose  version 
Ronsard  drew  material  for  the  Frandade. 

The  Norman  Conquest  (1066)  had  brought  the  French  into 
contact  with  Celtic  stories:  in  England  through  Wales  and 
The  Matter  Cornwall,  and  on  the  continent  through  Armorica 
of  Britain  or  Brittany  —  for  there  were  Breton  knights  in  the 
army  with  which  William  conquered  England.  It  would  not 
repay  us  to  discuss  whether  the  Matter  of  Britain  came  into 
French  literature  by  the  one  or  the  other  channel.  Suffice  it  to 
say  that  both  were  open,  and  that  commerce,  and  therefore  liter- 
ature, could  travel  over  either  route.  Moreover,  the  rich  litera- 
ture of  ancient  Ireland  contains  many  a  parallel  to  Arthurian 
material,  and  Irish  monks  were  frequent  visitors  to  England,  as 
they  had  been  to  continental  Europe.  But  the  spread  of  Celtic 
stories  was  undoubtedly  facilitated  by  the  Breton  conteurs,  who. 
to  a  musical  accompaniment  on  the  "rote"  or  the  harp  told 
their  tales  (see  below,  the  lais)  in  the  French  court  circles.  Much 
of  this  material  was  of  a  folklore  character.  Thus  the  romantic 
fancy  of  the  Celts  is  brought  into  contact  with  the  artistic  ideals 
of  Provence  and  the  storied  memories  of  antiquity. 


THE   MATTER  OF   BRITAIN  41 

The  fountain-head  for  the  history  of  King  Arthur  is  the  His- 
taria  regum  Britanniae  (1136)  by  the  Welsh  monk,  Geoffrey  of 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth.  Written  in  Latin,  this  work  furnishes  a 
Monmouth  parallel  to  the  classical  sources  mentioned  above. 
As  the  title  states,  the  Historia  is  an  account  of  the  kings  of 
Britain,  with  whose  lineage  Geoffrey  wishes  to  link  the  Nor- 
man regime.  But  he  deals  with  his  subject  romantically  — 
in  the  spirit  of  his  times.  He  traces  the  genealogy  of  the  kings 
back  to  Troy  through  a  certain  Brutus  (eponymic  of  Britain), 
grandson  of  Aeneas,  and  he  elaborates  Arthur's  career  with  the 
aid  of  oral  and  written  tradition;  so  that  Arthur  appears  as  the 
exemplar  of  chivalry,  the  courtois  British  counterpart  of  the 
French  Charlemagne.  In  general,  the  story  is  the  one  familiar 
to  us  from  the  paraphrase  of  Sir  Thomas  Malory  and  the  Idylls 
of  Tennyson.  But  Geoffrey  does  not  mention  the  Round  Table, 
Mordred  —  not  Lancelot  —  is  the  lover  of  Guinevere,  and  no 
reference  is  made  to  Tristan  or  to  the  Holy  Grail.  On  the  other 
hand,  Arthur  himself  is  still  a  "  leader  in  battles,"  and  his  court 
at  Caerleon-on-Usk  is  a  center  of  "  politeness,  which  people  of 
other  countries  thought  worthy  of  imitation  "  —  thus  speaks  the 
Welshman  in  Geoffrey.  Most  interesting  of  all,  for  its  influence 
on  the  romances,  is  the  idea  that  "  love  "  inspires  "  knighthood." 
This  is  the  crux  of  a  discussion  ending  in  the  conclusion  that 
"  the  women  of  Arthur's  court  esteem  none  worthy  of  their  love 
who  have  not  given  proof  of  their  valor  in  three  days'  battle." 

To  Geoffrey  is  also  attributed  a  Vita  Merlini,  written  probably 
in  1148.    In  1155  the  Historia  was  put  into  French  verse  by  the 
Norman  poet  Wace.    In  this  somewhat  elaborated  form,  knowii . 
as  the  Roman  de  Brut,  —  Wace  adds  an  account  of  the  Round 
Table  —  it  became  the  framework  for  later  Arthurian  story. 

The  legend  of  Tristan  is  one  of  the  greatest  tragedies  hi  lovb 
in  literature.  Here  the  Celtic  "  magic  "  has  wrought  a  com- 
The  "  Estoire  bination  of  human  passion,  primitive  adventure  and 
de  Tristan"  custom,  which  is  unique  in  French  romance.  As 
Gaston  Paris  has  said: 

Qui  aurait  pu,  en  dehors  des  Bretons  de  Cambria,  de  Cornouailles 
ou  d'Armorique,  concevoir  ce  theatre  multiple  et  y  derculer  libre- 
ment  les  episodes  du  vaste  drame? 


42  THE    LYRIC    AND    THE    ROMANCE 

Unlike  the  story  of  Arthur,  the  Tristan  romances  apparently 
come  straight  from  the  vernacular.  The  lost  Estoire  to  which 
the  extant  versions  refer  was  presumably  written  in  England, 
in  Norman  French.  This  work  told  of  Tristan's  expedition 
to  Ireland  to  fetch  the  blond-haired  Isolt  for  his  maternal 
imcle.  King  Mark  of  Cornwall.  One  need  hardly  recall  how  by  a 
fatal  mistake  Tristan  drains  with  Isolt  the  "  love-philter  "  in- 
tended for  the  bridal  pair;  how  Tristan,  stung  by  repentance  on 
account  of  his  passion  for  his  uncle's  lawful  wife,  again  and  again 
endeavors  to  renounce  Isolt;  how  in  fact  he  flees  to  Brittany  and 
marries  a  second  Isolt,  her  of  the  White  Hands;  and  how, 
deceived  by  the  false  report  that  the  boat  which  was  to  bring 
the  true  Isolt  from  Cornwall  carries  a  black  sail  (instead  of 
a  white  one,  as  he  had  hoped),  Tristan  falls  dead.  All  this  is 
familiar  to  most  modern  readers. 

But  B^roul,  who  came  from  Brittany,  and  Thomas,  who  wrote 
in  England  (about  1165),  dealt  with  the  story  in  the  manner 
of  their  contemporaries.  In  particular,  they  represent  the  two 
forms  which  the  legend  takes  with  subsequent  writers.  B^roul 
still  clings  to  primitive  traits,  such  as  Mark's  Midas-like  ears, 
concealed  under  a  cap;  the  cunning  of  the  dwarf  Frocin,  who 
reveals  Tristan's  guilt  to  Mark;  Tristan's  leap  to  freedom  from 
the  chapel  window  at  Tintagel,  and  Isolt  —  called  by  the  older 
form  Iselt  —  handed  over  to  a  band  of  lepers.  Nevertheless, 
he  shows  insight  into  character  and  a  subtle  sense  of  humor,  and 
he  connects  the  legend  with  Arthur,  from  whom  the  Tristan  was 
originally  quite  distinct.  On  the  other  hand,  Thomas  moves  in 
another  world.  He  does  not  narrate,  he  psychologizes  on  the 
basis  of  a  narrative  already  familiar.  He  dwells  on  the  gene- 
alogy of  his  hero  as  a  knight  of  Brittany;  in  true  scholastic 
fashion  he  treats  Tristan's  desir  (which  binds  him  to  Isolt)  and 
his  volonte  (which  tears  him  from  her),  and  he  develops  the 
conceit  of  Isolt's  cuers,  which  is  Tristan's,  and  her  cors,  which 
to  his  and  her  shame  Tristan  shares  with  Mark.  Thus  he  lays 
the  foundation  for  a  theme  popular  in  his  day,  the  menage  a 
trois,  and  his  work  foreshadows  that  of  his  great  contemporary 
Crestien  de  Troyes.  But  Thomas  was  also  a  poet.  He  pene- 
trates the  tragedy  of  Mark's  life,  and  his  lyricism  appears  in 
lines  like: 


CRESTIEN   DE   TROYES  *3 

"Iseut  ma  dnie,  Iseut  m'amie, 
En  viis  ma  mort,  en  vus  ma  vie!  " 

addressed  by  Tristan  to  Isolt  after  drinking  the  love-philter  and 
symbolizing  the  triumph  of  love  over  death. 

In  Germany,  the  version  according  to  B6roul  was  the  source 
of  a  long  poem  by  Eilhart  von  Oberge  (1190-1200),  whereas 
Thomas  was  the  model  for  the  more  poetic  work  of  Gottfried 
von  Strassburg  (about  1200) .  In  France,  a  later  Prose  Tristan, 
taken  from  a  source  perhaps  independent  of  the  other  versions, 
was  also  popular.  Finally,  the  story  according  to  Thomas  was 
current  in  Old  Norse  (in  1226)  and  served  as  a  source  for  the 
English  strophic  poem,  Sir  Tristrem  {between  1294  and  1300). 
From  all  these  sources,  and  from  the  so-called  Folie  Tristan 
—  wherein  Tristan  appears  disguised  as  a  "  fool  "  —  Professor 
B^dier  has  reconstructed  the  tale  in  Modem  French. 

With  such  models  as  a  guide,  the  Romance  enters  upon  a  fruit- 
ful career.  To  "  read  "  romances  now  became  the  fashion,  and 
Crestien  ^^^^  inevitably  led  to  an  improvement  in  technique 

de  Troyea  and  to  the  evolution  of  a  fixed  form.  In  this  con- 
nection Crestien  de  Troyes  is  of  supreme  importance.  Says 
Gaston  Paris: 

On  pourrait  citer  tel  morceau  de  Chretien  de  Troyes  qui  ne  le 
cede  pas  en  verite,  en  ingeniosite,  parfois  en  subtilite,  aux  plus 
celebres  monologues  de  nos  tragedies,  aux  pages  les  plus  fouillees  de 
nos  remans  contemporains. 

This  is  perhaps  high  praise  for  one  who  still  lacks  the  full- 
ness of  life,  whose  plots  are  often  imperfect  and  wearisome, 
and  whose  style,  clear  as  it  is,  in  places  seems  affected  and 
trifling.  But  his  age  thought  otherwise  and  accorded  him 
the  greatest  honor. 

Of  Crestien's  life  we  know  next  to  nothing.  As  he  hailed  from 
Troyes  and  wrote  in  a  dialect  which  shows  many  local  traits, 
he  evidently  was  in  contact  with  the  aristocratic  circles  that 
surrounded  Marie  of  Champagne.  .It  was  she  who  gave  him 
the  matiere  and  the  sens  of  one  of  his  romances,  while  Philip 
of  Alsace  (before  1191)  — better  known  as  ruler  of  Flanders  — 
provided  him  with  the  source  for  another.  At  one  time  he  may 
have  resided  at  Beauvais,  from  the  cathedral  library  of  which 


44  THE    LYRIC    AND    THE    ROMANCE 

he  derived  the  source  of  his  Cliges.  Beyond  this  we  have  no 
facts,  and  it  is  idle  to  speculate  on  his  station  in  life.  But  he 
was  well  educated  and  he  glories  in  clergie,  which,  he  declares, 
is  now  domiciled  in  France: 

Par  les  livres  que  nos  avons 
Les  fez  des  anciens  savons 
Et  del  siecle  qui  fu  jadis. 

His  point  of  view  is  courtly;  in  fact,  in  the  Ivain  he  prefers  un 
cortois  mort  to  un  vilain  vif.  Nevertheless,  he  was  an  observer 
and  a  psychologist,  and  he  makes  distinctions.  Love  and  mar- 
riage are  not  necessarily  inimical  but  can  be  reconciled  —  this 
is  his  great  thesis.  The  only  work  which  controverts  this  idea 
is  precisely  the  work  for  which  Marie  of  Champagne  gave  him 
the  theme,  and  this  romance  Crestien  did  not  complete. 

In  addition  to  his  translations  from  Ovid  (one  of  which  may 
be  the  Philomela,  attributed  to  him  by  some  scholars)  and  a 
lost  poem  on  King  Mark  and  Isolt,  Crestien  wrote  five  romances, 
possibly  six,  in  case  the  Guillaume  d'Angleterre,  a  somewhat 
colorless  version  of  the  legend  of  St.  Eustace,  is  really  by 
him.  These  five  all  center  rnore  or  less  about  the  court  of 
Arthur  and,  with  the  exception  (3f  the  Cliges,  belong  to  the  Mat- 
ter of  Britain. 

The  Erec,  which  is  still  close  to  the  older  epic  in  style,  brings 
up  at  once  the  conflict  between  chivalry  and  love.  Can  Erec 
be  a  lover  and  also  an  active  knight?  Can  Enid  be  an  amie 
and  also  a  dutiful  and  long-suffering  femme?  So  Crestiai 
would  have  it.  After  the  adventures  in  which  Erec,  avenging 
an  insult  to  Guinevere,  wins  the  matchless  Enid,  he  falls  a  prey 
to  sloth  and  in  his  uxoriousness  neglects  his  knighthood.  As 
Tennyson  says  in  the  idyll  drawn  from  the  Welsh  version  of  this 
story,  the  hero  became 

Forgetful  of  the  tilt  and  tournament, 
Forgetful  of  his  glory  and  his  name, 
Forgetful  of  his  princedom  and  its  cares. 

It  is  on  this  account  that  Enid  weeps  and,  weeping  over  her 
sleeping  lord,  rouses  him  to  his  sovereignty  as  a  knight  and  a 
husband  —  for  the  second  part  of  the  romance  is  one  long  peril- 
ous adventure,  in  which  Enid's  part  is  to  play  the  r61e  of  a 


CRESTIEN    DE    TROYES  45 

Griselda.  But  all's  well  that  ends  well,  and  the  romance  closes 
with  the  crowning  of  the  reconciled  pair  at  Nantes  in  Brittany, 
attended  by  the  entire  Arthurian  court.  The  "  matter  "  out  of 
which  this  story  is  constructed  is  thoroughly  romantic:  Erec 
originally  wins  Enid  as  the  prize  of  a  "  sparrow-hawk  contest  " ; 
Arthxu"  and  his  knights  go  on  a  hunt  for  a  mysterious  "  white 
stag  " ;  Erec  destroys  the  enchantment  of  a  "  magic  garden  " 
in  which  his  opponent,  Mabonograin,  leads  a  charmed  life.  All 
these  incidents  bear  the  impress  of  an  original  fairy  tale,  Celtic 
at  least  in  concept,  and  recalling  in  the  garden  episode  the  Irish 
Otherworld  into  which  heroes  were  thought  to  stray  when  lured 
by  love  and  adventure. 

With  the  Cliges  the  poet  comes  closer  to  the  polite  world. 
An  Eastern  story  connected  with  the  legend  of  Solomon's  wife, 
the  Cliges  becomes  in  Crestien's  hands  a  remodeled  Tristan,  in 
which  the  heroine's  virtue  is  saved  by  a  trick  practiced  on  Cliges' 
usurping  uncle.  Thus  does  Crestien  gratify  courtois  sophistry 
and  please  the  fashionable  people  of  his  day,  who  took  delight  in 
the  thought  that  an  Athenian  Greek  should  go  to  Arthur's  court, 
and  who  liked  the  Ovidian  sentiments  which  the  characters 
express.  The  heroine,  Fenice,  is  a  typical  young  msee,  the  an- 
cestor of  th«  Agnes  and  Celimenes  of  a  later  day.  What  saves 
the  romance  from  the  taint  of  the  unnatural  is  its  occasional 
appeal  to  real  sentiment,  as  in  the  lines  reechoing  the  Erec: 

De  s'amie  a  feite  sa  fame, 
Mas  il  I'apele  amie  et  dame, 
Ne  per  ce  ne  pert  ele  mie, 
Que  il  ne  Taint  come  s'amie.^ 

The  sophisticated  Cliges  was  followed  by  the  still  more  arti- 
ficial Lancelot  or,  to  use  the  correct  title,  the  Chevalier  de  la  char- 
rete,  for  Crestien  now  affects  the  pseudonym  for  his  heroes.  The 
background  of  the  story  is  the  abduction  of  Guinevere  to  the 
Otherworld  and  her  rescue  by  Lancelot  —  a  Celtic  theme  similar 
to  the  Persephone  myth.  But  Marie  of  Champagne  obviously 
influenced  the  poet  to  subordinate  the  plot  to  the  Provengal 

•  CSompare  the  words  of  Chaucer  in  the  Franklin's  Tale: 
Sith  he  hathe  bothe  his  lady  and  his  love, 
His  lady,  oertes,  and  his  wy(  also, 
The  which  that  lawe  of  love  accordeth  to. 


46  THE   LYRIC   AND    THE    ROMANCE 

conception  of  love.  Thus  Lancelot  —  whose  relationship  to  the 
Lady  of  the  Lake  is  barely  mentioned  —  rides  in  a  very  un- 
chivaWo  cart  and  otherwise  lowers  himself  by  playing  the 
coward  in  a  three  days'  tournament  (see  Geoffrey  of  Mon- 
mouth), all  for  the  sake  of  Guinevere's  illicit  love.  Clearly  the 
Lancelot  legend,  which  is  known  from  a  later  Prose  Lancelot, 
is  here  diverted  from  its  true  channel  and  made  to  serve  a 
special  ccmxtois  purpose.  In  general,  the  Lancelot  is  not  so  well 
written  as  Crestien's  other  works;  moreover,  he  left  the  romance 
to  be  completed  by  a  certain  Godefroi  de  Leigni.  Yet  few 
love  stories  have  enjoyed  a  greater  vogue  than  that  of  Lancelot 
and  Arthur's  Queen.  The  flame  that  sweeps  through  Paolo  and 
Francesca  in  the  Divine  Comedy  ultimately  has  this  source  — 
for  it  was  a  prose  version  of  the  Lancelot  story  that  these  lovers 
found,  and  reading  it  read  no  more: 

Quel  giomo  piu  non  vi  leggemmo  avante. 

In  the  Ivain  or  Chevalier  au  lion  we  return  to  the  land  of 
faery  and  adventure.  A  storm  breaks  over  the  fountain  of 
Broceliande  when  water  is  poured  on  a  rock  at  its  brim,  and 
a  combat  ensues  in  which  Ivain  slays  the  foimtain's  defender. 
He  then  woos  and  weds  the  latter's  widow,  since  the  truth  is 

Que  fame  a  plus  de  mil  corages. 

Vergil  and  Ovid  said  so  before  Crestien,  and  Shakespeare  after 
him ;  the  ironies  of  life  change  little.  At  least  Crestien's  heroine 
has  the  excuse  that  by  nature  she  is  a  fairy-mistress,  whose 
fountain,  like  Diana's  at  Nemi,  needs  a  protector,  and  that  the 
valiant  and  gracious  Ivain  is  fitted  for  this  role.  It  is  true  he 
subsequently  revisits  Arthur's  court  and  overstays  the  leave 
granted  him  by  the  imperious  Laudine.  The  result  is  that 
love  drives  him  mad  and  he  wanders  distraught  until  finally, 
with  the  aid  of  a  helpful  lion  —  which  like  Androcles  he  be- 
friends —  he  wins  his  way  back  to  the  fountain  and  to  the  favor 
of  Laudine.  As  firmly  conceived  as  the  Erec,  this  romance 
excels  it  as  to  style  and  expression  of  sentiment;  in  fact,  Cres- 
tien never  wrote  better  narrative  than  in  the  picturesque  lines 
of  the  Ivain. 
Crestien  died  before  he  could  complete  the  Conte  del  grad 


THE    GRAIL   LEGEND  47 

or  Perceval;  this  a  continuator  of  the  work  affirms.  But  he 
composed  some  ten  thousand  lines  in  which  inspired  by  a  livre 
The  Holy  given  him  by  Philip  of  Flanders,  he  gave  the  earli- 
Grail  est  literary  expression  to  the  world-famed  legend  of 

the  Holy  Grail.  What  the  Grail  originally  was  no  one  knows,  al- 
though explanations  have  not  been  lacking.  To  Crestien  the 
word  was  still  a  common  noun,  graal  meaning  a  dish  or  platter 
ordinarily  used  in  the  houses  of  the  wealthy.  Yet  he  himself 
speaks  of  it  as  une  sainte  chose  and  gives  it  qualities  which  are 
marvelous  and  in  part  mystical.  When  the  dish  is  carried 
in  a  procession,  the  "gleam"  of  the  Grail  is  beheld  by  hundreds 
of  knights;  and  a  single  wafer  on  it  sustains  the  life  of  a  century- 
old  king.  What  makes  it,  however,  the  central  motive  of  Cres- 
tien's  story  is  the  question  the  hero  should  ask  with  respect  to 
it,  failing  in  which  he  neglects  the  cure  of  a  wounded  Fisher 
King  and  inflicts  harm  and  suffering  on  the  land  and  people 
of  Logres,  or  Britain. 

For  such  a  part  the  naive  and  uncultured  Perceval  the  Welsh- 
man is  dramatically  well  chosen.  Brought  up  as  a  fatherless 
boy,  Perceval  escapes  from  a  too  vigilant  mother  and  makes 
his  way  to  Arthur's  court  and  finally  to  the  Castle  of  the  Grail. 
He  then  learns  the  bitterness  of  failure,  is  cursed  by  the  Grail 
messenger,  and  like  so  many  of  Crestien's  heroes  roams  madly 
through  the  forest.  From  this  plight  he  is  rescued  by  a  hermit 
uncle,  who  on  Good  Friday  gives  him  a  lesson  in  humility  as 
another  uncle  had  previously  instructed  him  in  chivalry.  Then 
the  action  starts  anew:  Perceval  resumes  his  quest  for  the  Grail, 
in  which  other  knights  now  join,  especially  the  courtly  Gawain 
—  whom  Crestien  treats  as  the  exemplar  of  bravery  and 
sens  —  until  suddenly  the  story  breaks  off  in  the  middle  of  a 
phrase. 

Those  who  continued  it  (to  the  extent  of  some  fifty  thousand 
verses)  were,  three:  Wauchier  de  Denain,  otherwise  known  as 
a  translator  of  saints'  legends,  a  certain  Manessier,  and  Gerbert 
de  Montreuil,  the  author  also  of  the  Roman  de  ia  violette. 
Wauchier,  who  like  Manessier  wrote  for  Joanna  of  Flanders, 
varies  from  Crestien  by  giving  a  Gawain-quest  in  which  the 
Grail  is  described  as  rich-e,  not  holy,  and  its  food-providing 
qualities  are  connected  in  some  special  way  with  the  reproduc- 


48  THE    LYRIC    AND    THE    ROMANCE 

tive,  vegetative  forces  of  nature  —  so  that  most  scholars  have 
seen  in  Wauchier's  continuation  a  more  primitive  form  of  the 
legend  than  that  of  Crestien.  On  the  other  hand,  Manessier 
represents  a  more  advanced  stage  of  the  story:  the  Grail  has 
become  Christianized  into  the  vessel  in  which  Joseph  of  Arima- 
thea  caught  the  Saviour's  blood,  and  the  lance,  which  ac- 
companies the  Grail  in  most  versions,  is  that  with  which 
Longinus  pierced  the  Saviour's  side.  Lastly,  Gerbert  fluctu- 
ates between  these  two  accounts,  although  both  he  and 
Manessier  end  the  story  with  Perceval's  final  achievement  of 
the  quest. 

But  none  of  these  continuations  has  the  literary  merit  of  the 
original  Perceval.  Not  only  does  Crestien  write  well,  he  pene- 
trates the  hvunan  relationships  of  his  chief  character;  with  him 
Perceval  is  the  untrained  youth  brought  through  the  experience 
of  life  to  the  fulness  of  wisdom.  Crestien's  romance  abounds 
in  touches  of  naive  wonder  at  the  terrible  splendor  of  life ;  a  ro- 
mantic attachment  of  Blanchefleur  for  the  hero  is  portrayed 
with  a  simplicity  that  Crestien  lacks  in  his  more  sophisticated 
Cliges  and  Ivain;  and  all  the  episodes  emerge  from  the  general 
background  of  adventure  with  great  vividness.  How  mighty 
the  contemporary  appeal  of  the  Perceval  was  can  be  seen  from 
the  warning  a  pious  monk  gives  Blanche  of  Navarre,  a  later 
Countess  of  Champagne: 

Laissiez  Cliges  et  Perceval 

Qui  les  cuers  perce  et  trait  a  val, 

Et  les  romans  de  vanite. 

Crestien's  Perceval  is  not  the  only  form  which  the  Grail  legend 
had  in  France.  Near  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century  a 
y  certain   Robert    de    Boron    (probably    from   Bur- 

sions  of  the  gundy)  wrote  the  so-called  Metrical  Joseph,  a 
Grail  Legend  much-confused  poem  on  the  career  of  Joseph  of 
Arimathea.  This  connects  the  Grail  definitely  with  the  cup  of 
the  Last  Supper  and  relates  how  the  followers  of  Joseph  brought 
the  Grail  to  England.  Thus  the  foundation  is  laid  for  an  en- 
tire Christianization  of  the  legend  and  a  general  remodeling 
of  the  Grail  quest,  which  is  largely  the  work  of  the  first  quarter 
of  the  thirteenth  century. 


THE   GRAIL    LEGEND  49 

Early  in  the  century  the  prose  Perlesvaus  added  Lancelot  to 
the  questers  and  brought  the  legend  into  connection  with  Glas- 
tonbury Abbey.  For  Glastonbury  had  come  to  be  regarded  as 
the  Avalon  from  which  King  Arthur  was  some  day  to  return;  and 
to  this  claim  it  had  added  the  other  of  being  the  primate  church 
of  Great  Britain.  Meanwhile,  Robert  de  Borpn's  Joseph,  to- 
gether with  a  fragmentary  Merlin  —  also  by  Robert  —  had  been 
remodeled  in  prose;  and  thereto  was  joined  a  new  Prose  Perce- 
val—  the  whole  constituting  a  trilogy  on  the  subject  of  the 
Grail.  In  this  way,  by  successive  accretions,  there  arose  (about 
1215)  the  huge  Grail-Lancelot  Cycle,  in  which  Galahad,  the 
ascetic  son  of  the  sinful  Lancelot,  replaces  Perceval  as  the  suc- 
cessful Grail  hero.  Attributed  to  Walter  Map,  for  a  reason 
that  no  one  has  been  able  to  discover,  this  combination  of  Ar- 
thiu'ian  material  in  prose  has  continued  to  fascinate  the  imagi- 
nations of  Europe  down  to  the  present  day.  It  furnished  the 
matter  and  much  of  the  spirit  of  Sir  Thomas  Malory's  Morte 
Darthur  in  the  fifteenth  century;  and  this  in  turn  inspired 
Tennyson  and  the  Victorian  poets.  Thus  was  Lancelot's  sin 
fated  to  destroy  the  Arthurian  order,  while  the  pure  and  blame- 
less Galahad  follows  a  Grail  "  clothed  in  white  samite,  mystic, 
wonderful "  and  devoid  of  all  material  attributes.  In  the 
words  of  Tennyson's  Sir  Percivale: 

Lo,  if  I  find  the  Holy  Grail  itself 

And  touch  it,  it  will  crumble  into  dust. 

At  the  same  time,  Crestien's  own  poem  was  to  inspire  a 
masterpiece  in  Germany  —  the  Middle  High  German  Parzival 
(1215)  by  Wolfram  von  Eschenbach.  Although  Wolfram  claims 
to  remodel  Crestien  with  the  help  of  a  version  by  an  unknown 
Kiot  (apparently  a  Frenchman),  in  reality  he  makes  Parzival 
an  exemplar  of  German  tretie  or  fidelity  of  character ;  and  in  so 
doing  he  creates  a  type  second  only  to  Faust,  allowing  always 
for  the  differences  of  time  and  circumstance. 

The  Middle  English  Sir  Percyvelle,  a  fourteenth-century 
poem  in  tail-rime  strophes,  relates  the  Perceval  tale  in  bare  out- 
line, making  the  hero,  however,  a  sister's  son  of  King  Arthur 
and  never  once  referring  to  the  Grail  or  to  the  characters  asso- 
ciated with  it. 


50     THE  LYRIC  AND  THE  ROMANCE 

The  themes  of  Crestien's  three  romances,  Erec,  Ivain  and 
Perceval,  are  also  treated  in  the  famous  Welsh  Mabinogion,  a 
delightful  collection  of  partly  indigenous  Celtic  tales  of  tht 
Middle  Ages.  But  the  relationship  between  the  Welsh  and  the 
French  romances  is  still  a  matter  of  controversy  among  scholars, 

The  genre  so  ably  illustrated  by  the  Champagne  poet  con- 
tinues to  flourish  in  Europe  throughout  the  medieval  period, 
until  it  receives  its  coup  de  grace  in  the  imdying 
tory  of  the  pages  of  Don  Quixote  —  although  the  last  state- 
Romance  ment  applies  mainly  to  the  exaltation  of  chivalry 
and  not  to  the  romances  as  such. 

Next  to  Crestien,  the  best-known  wielder  of  the  Matter  of 
Britain  is  Raoul  de  Houdenc  (after  1200).  His  Meraugis  de 
PffT-tlesguez  accords  the  prize  of  beauty  to  Idoine,  a  superior 
Enid,  and  lets  the  hero  accomplish  impossible  tasks  in  the  piu-- 
suit  of  prowess,  while  Raoul's  Vengeance  de  Ragvidel  is  one  of 
the  numerous  tales  in  which  Sir  Gawain  plays  the  chief  part. 
But  these  stories  have  little  to  hold  the  reader  except  the  thrill 
of  adventure;  and  of  this  the  Chevalier  as  deus  espies  and  the 
justly  popular  Bel  Inconnu,  by  Renaud  de  Beaujeu,  are  better 
examples.  Yet  none  of  these  stories  contains  the  character- 
drawing  we  find  in  the  Middle  English  Sir  Oawain  and  the  Green 
Knight  (about  1370).  Here  the  romance  of  chivalry  produced 
one  of  its  fairest  blossoms.  Written  on  a  theme  that  goes 
back  to  Old  Irish  —  the  so-called  jeopardy  whereby  the  green 
enchanter  proffers  his  head  provided  the  hero  will  accept  a 
"return-stroke"  —  the  motivation  of  the  story  is  thoroughly 
French,  Gawain's  bravery  and  courtesy  are  nowhere  better  de- 
veloped, nor  does  any  Arthurian  romance  show  more  humor 
and  fancy. 

Meantime,  the  genre  had  an  offshoot  that  goes  under  the  some- 
what misleading  name  of  romans  d'aventure  or  fate-romances. 
The  Chivalry  having  become  a  thing  apart,  the  courtly 

Romans  "  love   adventure,"   treated   with   more   and   more 

d'aventure  realism  as  time  passed,  was  allowed  to  pursue  its 
own  path.  Thus  love  is  considered  for  its  o'rni  sake,  as  an  ex- 
pression of  the  droit  de  vivre;  in  a  word,  as  fate.  Another  trait 
is  the  mingling  of  Eastern  and  Arthurian  matter,  as  in  Crestien's 
Cliges.    The  charming  Partenopeus  de  Blois  (before  1188)   from 


ROMANCES    OF   ADVENTURE  51 

the  region  north  of  Poitou,  combines  a  motive  related  to  the  story 
of  Cupid  and  Psyche  with  an  Arthurian  setting  and  names  taken 
from  the  Thebes.  But  the  earliest  exponent  of  the  new  form  is 
Gautier  d'Arras,  a  contemporary  and  in  a  sense  the  rival  of 
Crestien.  Attached  to  the  court  of  Thibaut  of  Blois,  who  had 
married  Alice  of  France,  another  daughter  of  Eleanor  of  Poitou, 
Gautier  first  wrote  an  Erode  (about  1160) ,  where  historical  and 
Eastern  features  are  blended  in  a  love  intrigue,  and  then  his 
better  known  Ille  et  Galeron.  This  tale  deals  with  the  theme  of 
the  husband  and  two  wives  by  elaborating  a  point  discussed  in 
courtly  circles;  namely,  the  extent  to  which  blindness  is  an  ob- 
stacle in  love.  In  much  the  same  way,  the  anonymous  Amadas 
et  Idoine  (before  1200)  contains  the  triangular  arrangement  of 
the  Tristan,  with  the  important  difference  that  the  heroine  acts 
conventionally  and  seeks  a  divorce. 

Thus  the  romans  d'aventure  approach  realism,  and  characters 
as  well  as  motives  and  incidents  are  drawn  from  contemporary 
life.  Crestien's  pseudonyms  of  the  Knight  of  the  Lion  and 
the  Knight  of  the  Cart,  so  widely  imitated,  now  make  room  for 
actual  personages,  such  as  Joujroi  (Geoffrey),  the  Comte  de 
Poitiers,  the  Chatdo-in  de  Coucy  and  the  touching  Chatelaine 
de  Vergy,  who  dies  because  her  lover  stupidly  betrays  their 
secret.  And,  lastly,  the  background  itself  becomes  real  and 
courtois  society  is  analyzed  in  detail.  An  excellent  example  of 
this  is  the  sensuous  but  very  artistic  Guillaume  de  Dole.  The  plot 
of  this  story  belongs  to  the  widespread  "  cycle  of  the  wager  " 
involving  a  woman's  honor,  of  which  the  Roman  de  la  violette 
by  Gerbert  de  Montreuil  and  Shakespeare's  Cymbeline  are  later 
and  better  examples.  But  the  plot  of  the  Guillaume  is  second- 
ary; what  makes  the  romance  so  readable  today  is  the  vigor 
and  beauty  of  its  descriptions,  the  picture  we  get  of  a  ripe  and 
joyous  existence  which  no  care  can  darken  for  long.  The  mas- 
terpiece, however,  of  the  realistic  genre  is  the  Provengal  Fla- 
menca.  Again  it  is  the  background,  a  tourney  at  the  Baths 
of  Bourbon,  that  gives  the  author  his  opportunity.  We  see  the 
gathering  of  the  princely  guests,  the  splendor  of  their  apparel 
and  their  worldly  pursuits;  and  we  listen  to  their  intrigues, 
great  and  small,  grouped  about  the  central  affair  of  the  lady 
Flamenca.    Bound  to  a  jealous  and  insupportable  husband,  this 


52  THE    LYRIC    AND    THE    ROMANCE 

heroine  cleverly  deceives  him  and  thereby  not  only  cures  his 
jealousy  but  retains  her  own  lover.  The  Provengals  called 
this  story  a  novas.  Except  for  its  metrical  form,  the  Flamenca 
differs  but  little  from  a  modem  novel. 

But  narrative  fiction  also  had  a  "  short-story  "  form  in  the 
twelfth  century.  This  went  under  the  name  of  lai.  And  the 
The  Nana-  counterpart  to  Crestien,  in  this  field,  was  Marie 
tive  Lais  de  France,  who  spent  most  of  her  life  in  England 
and  may  have  been  the  half-sister  of  Henry  II.  Written 
for  the  same  courtois  society  as  the  romances,  the  lais  are  artis- 
tic presentations  of  a  simple  situation,  based  generally  on  a 
widespread  folklore  motif.  Their  art,  if  not  their  substance, 
is  perpetuated  in  the  later  fabliau  and,  as  respects  prose,  in  the 
novella  (see  Ch.  IV). 

There  is  little  doubt  that  Marie  de  France  derived  her  ma- 
terial from  the  contes  which  the  Bretons  told  in  the  Norman 
and  French  courts  to  the  accompaniment  of  their  songs  (Irish 
loid  or  laid)  —  whence  she  took  the  name  for  her  stories.  What 
determined  her  preference,  she  says,  was  that  others  were  writ- 
ing romances  and  she  regarded  this  field  as  preempted.  Marie 
was  also  the  author  of  a  collection  of  Fables,  modeled  on  a 
medieval  Romulus  —  as  such  fable  collections  were  then  called 
—  and  under  the  title  of  L'Espurgatoire  de  Saint  Patrice  she 
paraphrased  in  French  a  medieval  Latin  "  vision  "  by  Henry  of 
Saltrey.  These  works  are  presumably  later  than  the  Lais,  with 
which  she  seems  to  have  begun  her  literary  career  (about  1165). 

Her  subjects  are  the  love  of  a  fairy  for  a  luckless  knight, 
compelled  by  a  jealous  queen  to  reveal  his  secret  XLanval) ;  the 
metamorphosis  of  a  knight  in  the  one  case  {Yonec)  into  a  hawk, 
and  in  the  other  {Bisclavret)  into  a  were-wolf  whom  a  faith- 
less wife  betrays;  the  self-effacement  of  a  wife  (Eliduc),  in 
another  case  of  a  maiden  (Fraisne),  for  the  man  she  loves;  the 
love-tryst  of  Tristan  and  Isolt  {Chevrefeuille) ,  symbolized  by 
the  honeysuckle  twining  about  the  hazel  bush,  and  so  on.  Like 
Crestien,  Marie  exploits  the  rich  mine  of  Ovid,  and  of  her  own 
she  adds  a  strong  romantic  sentiment  which  gives  her  tales  a 
wistful,  meditative  tone.  Best  of  all,  perhaps,  is  her  simple, 
translucent  style:  the  narrative  of  the  Lais  flows  easily,  and  the 
various  situations  stand  out  clearly  and  dramatically  without 


AUCASSIN    AND    NICOLETTE  63 

the  clumsy  interruptions  which  mar  the  narrative  of  many 
romances. 

Few  French  lais  are  equal,  and  none  superior,  to  Marie's. 
Several  anonymous  ones  treat  Breton  subjects;  notably  Graelent, 
Tydorel  and  Tyolet.  The  Lai  du  Cor  and  the  Mantecm  mal 
taille  are  written  on  the  theme  of  the  fidelity  of  women.  Guiron 
tells  the  story  of  the  husband  who  forces  his  wife  to  eat  the 
heart  of  her  lover  —  a  motif  that  is  incorporated  in  the  romance 
of  the  Chdtelain  de  Coucy  (see  above).  One  of  the  best  sur- 
vives in  the  form  of  the  Middle  English  Sir  Orfeo.  Here  the 
classical  tale  of  Orpheus  and  Eurydice  is  retold  as  a  typical 
Breton  lay:  the  tone  and  the  atmosphere  are  made  courtly, 
the  motivation  is  built  up  on  the  basis  of  a  Celtic  fairy-tale, 
the  sad  ending  is  changed  to  a  happy  one,  and  the  poet  clev- 
erly places  his  own  interest  in  the  foreground  —  Sir  Orfeo  is 
a  minstrel.  This  lai  is  as  complete  a  reduction  to  type  as  medieval 
literature  has  to  offer.  Derived  from  a  French  source,  it  may 
be  referred  to  as  a  standard,  "  to  show  "  —  says  Professor  Ker 
— "  what  can  be  done  in  the  medieval  art  of  narrative,  with 
the  simplest  means  and  the  smallest  amount  of  decoration." 

One  important  narrative,  however,  defies  classification.  This 
is  the  charming  story  of  Aucassin  et  Nicolette   (about  1200). 

_.  In  matter  it  resembles  the  Floire  et  Blanchefieur, 

"  Aucassin  one  of  the  earlier  types  of  romans  d'aventure.  But 
et  Nicolette "  gjnce  it  is  written  in  alternating  prose  and  verse, 
an  arrangement  found  in  Arabic  and  Old  Irish,  its  form  is  unique 
in  France  and  may  have  been  the  invention  of  the  unknown 
author.    The  verse  portions  are  in  seven-syllable  assonant  lines. 

To  judge  by  the  single  extant  manuscript,  the  author  com- 
posed his  work  in  the  Picard  dialect,  but  he  laid  its  scene  in 
the  south  of  France,  in  the  country  near  Beauoaire.  Here 
Aucassin,  the  count's  son,  is  desperately  in  love  with  Nicolette, 
a  Saracen  captive,  the  daughter  of  the  "  King  of  Carthage."  The 
deep  love  of  the  youthful  pair,  their  flight  from  the  stern  parent 
who  is  planning  a  loftier  match  for  his  son,  their  separation  by 
pirates  and  their  final  reunion,  effected  by  Nicolette  disguised  as 
a  jongleur:  these  are  the  principal  episodes  of  the  action,  and 
show  the  kinship  of  the  plot  with  such  tales  as  the  Apollonius 
of  Tyre  and  its  derivatives.    But  again  the  plot  is  secondary 


54  THE   LYRIC    AND    THE    ROMANCE 

to  the  author's  insight  into  human  passion,  his  faith  in  the  beauty 
of  life  and  his  great  gift  of  expression.  Thus  he  fastens  our 
attention  on  his  characters,  whom  he  describes  as  taken  from  his 
own  observation  and  experience.  He  knows  that  his  tale  is 
"  noble  and  courtly,"  that  no  man,  "  sick  as  he  may  be,"  will 
not  rejoice  to  hear  it.  Having  said  this,  he  lets  his  characters 
reveal  themselves.  "  Nicolette,"  says  Aucassin,  "  were  she  em- 
press of  Constantinople,  or  of  Germany,  or  Queen  of  France  or 
England,  'twould  be  little  enough  for  her,  so  noble  is  she  and 
gracious  and  well-bred  and  compact  of  all  good  qualities."  Or 
take  the  famous  passage  in  which  Aucassin  denounces  the  color- 
less Christian  Paradise  and  concludes:  "But  to  Hell  will  I  go. 
For  to  Hell  go  the  fine  clerks  and  the  fine  knights,  who  have 
died  in  tourneys  and  in  great  wars.  .  .  .  And  there  go  the 
gold  and  the  silver,  and  the  vair  and  the  grey ;  and  there  go  too 
harpers  and  minstrels  and  the  kings  of  this  world."  Could 
youthful  enthusiasm  speak  plainer?  Moreover,  romantic  as  it 
is,  the  story  does  not  lack  contrasts  with  the  darker  side  of  life. 
Witness  Aucassin's  conversation  with  the  ploughboy  who,  hav- 
ing lost  one  of  his  oxen,  dares  not  to  enter  town  where  he  will 
be  cast  into  prison  —  and  who  yet  worries  most  because  his 
mother  is  sick  at  home  and  would  have  no  support.  In  this 
way  does  the  poet  set  the  love  story  over  against  the  real  world 
of  fact,  and  by  his  sense  of  values  raise  his  narrative  to  an  epic 
plane.  Stereotyped  phrasings,  courtly  conceits,  snatches  of  in- 
cident from  this  tale  or  that,  bits  of  burlesque  out  of  some  legend 
of  a  land  of  Cockayne  —  all  these  the  poet  has  gathered  into  his 
web  and  fused  with  his  narrative.  Aucasdn  et  Nicolette  is 
the  idyll  of  medieval  literature;  the  polished  jewel  of  its  best 
narrative  art.  The  story  has  been  admirably  translated  into 
English  by  Andrew  Lang. 


CHAPTER  m 
THE  ALLEGORY  AND  THE  EARLY  DRAMA 

Love  of  abstraction,  which,  appears  in  thirteenth-century 
"learning"  and,  indeed,  in  Gothic  art  after  1200,  is  also  seen 
in  the  rise  of  literary  allegory.  Allegory,  that  peculiarly  cleri- 
cal product  which  places  the  imagination  in  the  service  of  the 
reason,  is  not  merely  a  personification  but  the  conscious  repre- 
sentation of  one  action  in  terms  of  an  entirely  different  action. 
Thus  "  the  book  of  life,  without  ceasing  to  be  a  true  story, 
becomes  a  volume  of  symbols." 

This  is  not  the  place  to  examine  the  origins  of  allegory  in  de- 
tail. Suffice  it  to  say  that,  aside  from  Biblical  interpretation 
or  senstis,  which  is  of  course  allegorical,  independent  allegoriza- 
tions  are  current  early.  Examples  in  Latin  are  the  Concilium 
Amoris  (about  1100)  and  the  influential  De  Phyllide  et  Flora 
(shortly  after) ,  types  of  debate  which  symbolize  the  comparative 
merits  of  clerical  and  chivalric  life.  And  French  instances 
are  to  be  found  in  the  various  visions  and  dreams  re- 
flecting the  state  of  the  soul  when  freed  from  the  body,  which 
go  back  to  the  Psychomachia  of  Prudentius  and  to  Cicero's  Som- 
nium  Scipionis  as  well  as  to  the  rich  "  vision  "  literature  of  the 
medieval  church.  Moreover,  such  treatises  as  the  De  Amore 
of  Andreas  Capellanus,  together  with  the  influence  of  Ovid,  lead 
authors  to  personify  moral  and  physical  traits  and  to  discuss 
the  love  motive  in  abstract  forms. 

In  the  Dit  de  la  Rose,  a  short  poem  of  the  close  of  the  twelfth 
century,  a  rose  figures  as  the  symbol  of  the  heroine;  and  in 
Ilje  Raoul  de  Houdenc's  Songe  d'Enfer  (see  above,  Ch. 

"Soman        II )  consistent  allegory  in  the  form  of  a  dream  ex- 

1*  Rose  presses  a  personal  experience.  The  combination  of 
these  two  features  is  characteristic  of  the  Roman  de  la  Rose, 
except  for  the  Divine  Comedy,  which  it  foreshadows,  the  great- 
est allegory  of  European  literature. 

55 


56  THE  ALLEGORY  AND  THE  EARLY  DRAMA 

The  Roman  de  la  Rose,  in  some  twenty-two  thousand  eight- 
syllable  verses,  falls  into  two  parts.  These  are  so  different  in 
concept  and  execution  as  to  constitute  two  separate  works, 
although  the  plot  is  continuous  throughout.  The  first  part,  by 
Guillaume  de  Lorris,  comprises  four  thousand  and  sixty- 
eight  verses  of  the  poem,  and  was  written  before  1234,  probably 
between  1225  and  1230.  The  second  and  in  some  respects  the 
more  important  part,  by  Jean  Clopinel  from  Meun  on  the  Loire, 
did  not  appear  until  close  to  1270.  Thus  the  work  bridges  the 
thirteenth  century  and  represents,  in  its  contrasting  elements, 
the  passage  from  the  courtois  to  the  bourgeois  point  of  view. 
In  Guillaume  the  courtly  ideal  reaches  its  apogee,  and  in  Clo- 
pinel, aptly  called  the  Voltaire  of  the  century,  the  hard  common- 
sense  of  the  "  third  estate  "  scores  its  earliest  victory.  The  first 
part  is  a  poem  on  the  psychology  of  love,  the  second  a  philippic 
against  the  evils  of  medieval  society  in  general. 
^^  Guillaume  relates  that  in  the  spring-time  of  life  he  had  a 
dream,  which  has  since  come  true.  At  the  command  of  the  God 
of  Love  he  has  put  it  into  verse,  for  the  delight  of  his  readers 
and  in  honor  of  her 

Qui  tant  est  digne  d'estre  amee 
Qu'el  doit  estre  Rose  clamee. 

The  dream  is  as  follows:  In  May,  when  Nature  weaves  her 
chaplet  of  leaves  and  flowers  and  joy  reigns  supreme,  the  lover 
strolls  "  cousant  ses  manches  "  (a  curious  fashion)  toward  the 
bank  of  a  river.  Having  washed  his  face  in  the  river's  clear 
waters,  he  comes  to  a  high  wall,  surrounding  a  spacious  garden. 
On  its  outer  side  the  wall  is  decorated  with  ten  wonderful  paint- 
ings in  gold  and  blue  colors.  The  art  with  which  they  are  fash- 
ioned arrests  his  eye  (obviously  Guillaume  is  a  connoisseur) ,  and 
he  lingers  to  describe  them.  They  represent  respectively,  Hatred 
and  her  boon  companions,  Felony  and  Villainy,  and  surround- 
ing this  central  group  on  the  one  side,  Cupidity,  Avarice,  Envy 
and  Sorrow,  and  on  the  other,  Old  Age,  Hypocrisy  {PapelardiR) 
and  Poverty.  In  spite  of  these  significant  figures,  the  lover 
knocks  at  the  "  door  "  of  the  garden  and  is  admitted  by  a  noble 
lady,  called  Idleness  {Oiseuse).  Her  friend  is  Delight  {Deduit), 
who  had  built  the  garden  in  order  to  enjoy  it  with  her.    Led 


GUILLAUME   DE   LORRIS  57 

by  Idleness  over  paths  scented  with  fennel  and  mint  and  shaded 
by  trees  from  Saracen  lands,  the  lover  reaches  a  lawn  where 
Mirth  (Liesse)  is  dancing  with  Delight.  Courtesy  asks  him  to 
join  in  the  "  carole,"  an  invitation  he  accepts.  The  other 
couples  in  the  dance  are:  Cupid  who  leads  Beauty,  Riches  who 
showers  favor  on  Bounty  (Largesse),  and  Candor  and  Youth, 
each  with  an  appropriate  partner.  Passing  on  through  groves 
of  domestic  and  foreign  trees  of  various  descriptions,  the  lover 
arrives  at  the  Fountain  of  Youth,  the  water  of  which  is  of  crys- 
talline purity  and  on  the  border  of  which  stands  the  inscription: 

Here  died  the  handsome  Narcissus. 

Looking  down  into  its  depths,  he  sees  reflected  in  a  mirror 
—  C'est  li  mireors  perilleus  — 

amidst  a  multitude  of  lovely  objects  some  rose-bushes  in 
bloom.  The  beauty  of  one  particular  rose  fascinates  him,  and 
willingly  he  would  have  picked  it  were  it  not  for  ,the  brambles 
and  thorns  which  protect  it.  In  the  meantime,  unseen  by  him, 
Cupid  has  approached,  and  seeing  the  lover  lost  in  rapture,  he 
pierces  his  heart  with  the  arrows  of  Beauty,  Simplicity  and 
Courtesy.  By  the  use  of  further  arrows  Cupid  then  completes 
the  capture,  and  the  lover  declares  himself  his  vassal.  There- 
upon, Cupid  locks  the  lover's  heart  with  a  golden  key,  and  in- 
structs him  in  the  rules  of  love,  its  trials  and  tribulations,  and 
the  support  to  be  derived  from  Hope,  Sweet  Thoughts,  Sweet 
Speaking  and  Sweet  Looks. 

After  this  exposition  of  the  Art  of  Love,  Cupid  disappears. 
But  presently  the  gracious  figure  of  Welcome  invites  the  lover 
to  approach  the  Rose.  This  summons  he  follows  with  avidity, 
but  when  he  grows  bold  and  proclaims  that  as  the  servant  of 
love  he  intends  to  pick  the  Rose,  Welcome  cries  out,  and  Dan- 
ger forces  the  lover  to  retreat.  In  despair  the  lover  now  la- 
ments, and  is  reproached  by  Reason  —  descending  from  her  lofty 
tower  —  for  foolishly  associating  with  Idleness  and  Delight. 
Better  for  him,  she  says,  if  he  had  never  listened  to  Cupid.  It 
is  needless  to  say,  Reason's  advice  falls  on  deaf  ears,  and  the 
lover  seeks  consolation  of  Friendship  {Ami),  who  teaches  him 
how  to  appease  Danger.    The  result  is  that  he  is  again  allowed 


68  THE  ALLEGORY  AND  THE  EARLY  DRAMA 

to  see  the  Rose,  and  encouraged  by  the  intercession  of  Venus, 
Welcome  grants  him  permission  to  kiss  it. 

Unfortunately,  Slander  {Malebouche)  sees  the  kiss,  and  by 
sending  the  news  broadcast  arouses  Jealousy,  who  after  chiding 
Shame  {Horde)  for  her  indifference,  builds  a  wall  about  the 
Rose  and  locks  up  Welcome  in  a  tower,  guarded  by  an  old 
woman.  The  lover,  his  grief  increased  by  the  remembered 
savor  of  the  Rose  — 

Car  je  suis  a  greignor  meschief 
Par  la  joie  que  j'ai  perdue, 
Que  s'onques  ne  I'eusse  eue, 

For  I  am  in  greater  trouble. 
Through  the  joy  which  I  have  lost, 
Than  if  never  I  had  had  it, — 

is  left  helpless  outside. 

It  is  obvious  that  Guillaume  did  not  intend  to  have  his  poem 
end  quite  so  abruptly,  and  in  fact  Jean  de  Meun  states  that 
Guillaume's  death  prevented  its  completion.  But  what  was 
the  end  to  be?  Most  of  the  manuscripts  —  and  there  are  some 
two  hundred  —  contain  the  continuation  by  Jean  de  Meun.  Two 
alone  have  the  separate  ending  of  about  eighty  verses.  Accord- 
ing to  the  latter,  the  lover  is  finally  put  in  complete  possession 
of  the  Rose.  Granting  that  Guillaume  considered  his  work  as 
almost  finished,  it  is  clear  that  little  remained  to  be  said  except 
to  explain  the  dream  in  terms  that  all  would  understand.  Thus, 
allow;ing  for  this  addition,  we  may  conclude  that  Guillaume's 
poem  is  practically  a  unit. 

"  To  comprehend  a  Gothic  cathedral,"  says  Professor  Saints- 
bury,  "  the  Rose  should  be  as  familiar  (to  us)  as  the  Dies  Irae. 
For  the  spirit  of  it  is  indeed,  though  faintly  '  decadent,'  even 
more  the  medieval  spirit  than  that  of  the  Arthurian  legend, 
precisely  for  the  reason  that  it  is  less  universal,  less  of  humanity 
generally,  more  of  this  particular  phase  of  humanity."  It  is 
true,  the  Rose  is  typical  of  an  age  and  a  civilization.  But  what 
distinguishes  Guillaume  de  Lorris'  work  from  that  of  his  con- 
temporaries is  its  art.  Guillaume  has  caught  the  vividness  of 
the  dream  experience.  His  personifications  are  alive;  they  act 
within  their  roles;  there  are  no  tiresome  digressions,  no  scho- 


JEAN   DE   MEUN  69 

lastic  jeux  de  mots.  So,  too,  the  various  aspects  of  the  garden 
are  well  depicted;  we  are  made  to  see  the  paths  traversed  by 
the  lover  and  we  scent  the  flowers. 

L'odour  des  roses  savorees 
M'entra  ens  jusques  es  corees  — 

The  odor  of  the  perfumed  roses 
Penetrated  to  the  depths  of  my  being, 

exclaims  the  impassioned  poet.  All  critics  are  agreed  that  the 
portraits  on  the  wall  are  remarkable  for  their  delineation.  In 
a  different  genre  Guillamne  de  Lorris  approaches  the  virtuosity 
of  Botticelli,  and  the  noble  distinction  of  the  latter  is  also  his. 
As  for  his  plot,  it  is  firmly  conceived  from  start  to  finish;  far 
superior  in  this  respect  to  his  continuator,  Guillaume  makes  his 
action  rapid,  well-proportioned  and  consecutive.  More  than 
once  the  poet  has  drawn  on  Ovid,  especially  when  dealing  with 
the  rules  of  Love,  but  he  borrows  with  measure  and  always 
adapts  his  imitations  to  the  spirit  of  his  age  and  the  exigencies 
of  his  composition.  In  short,  few  works  of  the  Middle  Ages 
show  more  careful  planning  or  a  richer  and  more  poetic  tech- 
nique. 

Turning  now  to  the  continuation  by  Jean  de  Meun,  we  at 
once  perceive  the  change  from  a  poetic  to  a  philosophic  and 
satiric  attitude.  The  general  narrative  is  carried  through  but 
the  "  values  are  all  transvalued."  The  lover  is  reproved,  indeed 
scorned,  for  his  attachment  to  his  lady  (the  Rose)  because 

Amours,  ce  est  pais  haineuse, 
Amours  est  haine  amoureuse. 
C'est  loiaute  la  desloial, 
C'est  la  desloiaute  loial. 

Love  is  peace  full  of  hate. 
Love  is  hate  full  of  love. 
It  is  loyalty  most  disloyal. 
Disloyalty  that  proves  loyal. 

* 

These  words  —  and  there  are  sixty  verses  of  them  —  borrowed 
by  Jean  de  Meun  from  the  De  Planctu  Naturae  of  Alain  de  Lille, 
are  placed  in  the  mouth  of  Reason,  whom  the  lover  in  his  misery 
has  invoked.    But  the  lover  would  prefer  an  outright  definition. 


60  THE  ALLEGORY  AND  THE  EARLY  DRAMA 

Reason  replies  by  citing  Andreas  Capellanus:  "Love  is  an  af- 
fection of  the  soul  which  draws  together  two  people  of  different 
sex."  For  some  the  object  of  love  is  pleasure,  and  this  object 
is  base;  for  others  it  is  the  continuation  of  the  race,  and  this 
Reason  approves.  But,  retorts  the  lover,  one  must  love  or  hate, 
and  hatred  is  worse  than  love.  This  leads  Reason  to  define 
friendship,  with  its  obligations  —  an  imitation  of  Cicero.  Friend- 
ship she  recommends,  provided  it  does  not  mean  association 
with  the  rich;  for  Fortune  is  fickle,  she  says,  and  the  rich  are 
not  happy,  whether  they  be  merchants,  lawyers,  physicians  or 
preachers: 

Maint  ribaud  ont  les  cuers  si  bauz, 
Portant  sas  de  charbon  en  Grieve, 
Que  la  poine  riens  ne  lor  grieve  — 

Wretches  often  have  joy  in  their  hearts, 

Carrjdng  coal  to  the  pubUc  place, 

For  the  trouble  they  have  does  not  smart. 

Far  happier  are  they  than  kings  with  their  treasures  and  ser- 
vants, since  no  king  can  call  these  his  own.  But  there  are  other 
forms  of  love;  namely,  the  love  of  humanity  and  the  love  of  off- 
spring. Neither  of  these,  however,  interests  the  lover,  and 
finally  Reason  offers  herself  as  a  worthy  mistress. 

All  these  argiunents  do  not  convince  the  lover,  who  further 
dislikes  Reason  because  she  has  used  an  indecent  word.  This 
leads  Reason  to  attack  the  prudery  of  women,  and  to  defend 
frankness  of  speech  with  a  citation  from  Plato's  Timaeus. 

The  lover  now  seeks  out  Friendship  {Ami)  and  is  instructed 
in  the  Ovidian  method  of  treating  women.  A  description  of  the 
Golden  Age  —  also  from  Ovid  —  develops  the  idea  of  equality, 
which  man  has  long  since  lost: 

Un  grant  vilain  entre  eus  eslurent 
Le  plus  ossu  de  quant  qu'il  purent, 
Le  plus  corsu  et  le  graignour, 
Si  le  firent  prince  et  seignour. 

A  powerful  serf  men  elected, 
The  strongest  they  could  ever  find, 
The  heaviest  and  the  tallest: 
Him  they  made  prince  and  lord. 


JEAN    DE    MEUN  61 

Nowadays  women  must  be  bought,  and  Ovid's  precepts  show  us 
how  to  dupe  without  being  duped.  Thus  the  lover  turns  to 
Extravagance  {Twp  Dormer),  but  Riches  blocks  his  path  — 
again  with  a  long  disquisition. 

This  brings  us  back  to  Cupid  and  the  main  thread  of  the  nar- 
rative. Cupid  gathers  his  troops,  and  divided  into  four  groups 
they  lay  siege  to  the  tower.  Fearing  a  defeat,  he  sends  mes- 
sengers to  Venus,  the  avowed  enemy  of  Chastity.  Finding 
her  hunting  with  Adonis,  they  win  from  her  a  promise  that 
henceforth  Chastity  shall  be  banished  from  women.  Then  fol- 
lows perhaps  the  most  striking  passage  in  the  whole  poem: 
Nature  is  depicted  as  laboring  at  her  forge  against  death,  who 
strives  to  destroy  the  race  which  Nature  has  produced.  Art 
imitates  Nature,  but  in  vain,  for  the  artist  cannot  give  life, 
movement,  sensation  and  speech  to  his  creations.  Nature  com- 
plains bitterly  to  her  companion  Genius,  who  recalls  to  her 

Les  figures  representables 
De  toutes  choses  corrompables. 

The  representative  forms 
Of  all  corruptible  things. 

This  complaint  simamarizes  the  entire  physical,  geographic  and 
astronomical  knowledge  of  Jean  de  Meun  (twenty-six  hundred 
verses).  Of  all  of  Nature's  creatures,  Man  alone  does  not  ob- 
serve her  laws.  Genius  seeks  to  absolve  Man  but  is  ordered 
by  Nature  to  join  Cupid's  army.  Genius  first  sermonizes  the 
combined  forces  on  the  vices  of  Man,  and  then  exhorts  them  in 
the  quest  of  natural  love.  Thus  the  tower  is  taken;  a  maid, 
more  beautiful  than  Pygmalion's,  appears;  Welcome,  set  free, 
grants  the  Rose  to  the  hero,  and  the  latter  picks  it. 

Such  is  the  substance  of  Jean  de  Meun's  work:  an  encyclo- 
pedia of  views  on  every  possible  subject,-  supported  by  great 
learning,  and  revealing  a  master-mind.  Some  of  the  ideas  are 
astonishingly  bold,  and  one  wonders  that  the  poet  dared  express 
them.  To  be  sure,  in  a  long  description  of  Faux-Semblant,  as 
a  member  of  Cupid's  army,  Jean  is  careful  to  distinguish  hypo- 
crites from 


62  THE  ALLEGORY  AND  THE  EARLY  DRAMA 

ome  vivant 
Sainte  religion  siuant, 
Ne  qui  sa  vie  use  en  bone  uevre, 
De  quelque  robe  qu'il  se  cuevre. 

any  living  man 
Following  holy  religion, 
Or  who  employs  his  days  in  noble  works/ 
To  whatever  class  he  may  belong. 

Nevertheless,  the  animus  against  the  church  is  clear,  and  Jean's 
hatred  of  class  privilege  breathes  in  every  line  he  writes.  As  to 
his  views  on  women  we  shall  hear  more  later;  suffice  it  to  say 
here  that  his  scorn  of  the  fair  sex  helped  to  keep  his  work  alive 
at  a  time  when  many  of  his  other  ideas  were  out  of  date  or  in- 
appropriate. On  the  positive  side,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 
Boethius'  Consolation  of  Philosophy  was  so  to  say  his  hand- 
book, that  he  admired  the  writings  of  Roger  Bacon,  and  that  he 
never  fails  to  uphold  science  against  superstition  —  another 
reason  for  comparing  him  to  Voltaire.  Lastly,  Jean's  style  is 
energetic,  imaginative  (his  account  of  a  storm  is  almost  the 
equal  of  Rabelais')  and  often  eloquent,  a  number  of  his  lines 
having  become  proverbial. 

As  an  artist,  however,  Jean  de  Meua  is  inferior  to  his  prede- 
cessor. His  continuation  lacks  harmony,  emotional  unity  and 
a  dominating  idea,  to  say  nothing  of  its  prolixity.  Apparently 
he  wrote-  the  "  continuation  "  in  his  youth,  but  his  other  works 
of  a  later  date  —  a  Testament  and  a  CodicUle  —  while  showing 
unabated  energy,  are  scarcely  more  artistic.  Thus,  while  Jean 
de  Meun  made  the  Roman  de  la  Rose  a  vehicle  of  philosophic 
thought,  as  a  work  of  literature  it  owes  most  to  Guillaume  de 
Lorris. 

The  vogue  of  the  poem  was  almost  as  great  in  foreign  countries 
as  in  France.    As  early  as  1300  it  was  translated  into  Flemish 

Influence  ^^  ^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^-  ^^  adaptation  in  sonnet  form, 
of  the  called  II  Fiore,  and  an  imitation  in  rimed  couplets, 

°^^  II  Detto  d'Amore,  probably  both  by  a  certain  Du- 

rante (who  is  perhaps  identical  with  Dante  Alighieri) ,  were  made 
in  Italy.  Two  translations  into  English  verse,  the  one  by 
Chaucer,  the  other  anonymous,  are  extant  in  fragmentary 
forms.    Petrarch  considered  the  romance  the  greatest  French 


INFLUENCE   OF   THE   ROSE  63 

poem  and  sent  a  copy  of  it  to  Guido  di  Gonzaga,  Duke  of 
Mantua. 

In  addition  to  its  many  manuscripts,  various  tapestries  illus- 
trating scenes  from  the  poem  testify  to  its  popularity  in  France. 
In  1290  Gui  de  Mori  reworked  it  by  making  various  changes, 
but  his  rifacimento  had  little  success.  On  the  other  hand,  a 
much  later  prose  version,  in  which  the  allegory  has  been  made 
religious,  by  Jean  Molinet  —  the  rhetoriqueur  poet  —  was  pub- 
lished in  several  editions.  And  in  1526,  Clement  Marot,  who 
calls  Guillaume  de  Lorris  the  French  Ennius,  modernized  the 
language  of  both  parts  for  an  edition  which  was  very  popular. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  the  Rose  furnished  inspiration  to 
other  poets.  It  is  mentioned  as  a  source  in  the  Dit  de  la  Pan- 
there  by  Nicole  de  Margival  and  in  the  Cmir  d'Amour  by 
Mahieu  le  Poriier,  works  of  the  end  of  the  fovurteenth  century. 
But  allegory  was  then  in  fashion,  and  a  direct  influence,  except 
in  general  idea,  is  hard  to  trace.  In  the  Middle  French  period 
(especially  the  fifteenth  century)  Jean  de  Meun's  attack  on 
woman  led  to  a  debate  which  shows  how  important  was  the 
influence  of  the  Rose.  The  debate  began  with  the  Pelerinage 
de  la  vie  hwmaine  by  Guillaume  de  DiguUeville,  written  about 
1335.  This  allegory,  which  was  to  enjoy  great  popularity  — 
Chaucer  translated  selections  from  it  and  John  Bunyan  modeled 
his  Pilgrim's  Progress  on  it  —  is  prefaced  by  the  remark  that 
Jean  de  Meun  was  inspired  by  lust  {hixure).  But  the  question 
does  not  become  acute  until  some  fifty  years  later  Christine  de 
Pisan  and  Gerson,  chancellor  of  the  University  of  Paris,  lock 
arms  against  Jean  de  Montreuil  (Bk.  II,  Ch.  II),  one  of  the 
earliest  French  humanists  and  apologist  of  Jean  de  Meun.  This 
"  grant  guerre  "  lasted  three  years,  the  most  important  doctmaent 
in  the  quarrel  being  Gerson's  Tractatus  (1402)  — also  an  alle- 
gory. And  even  at  the  end  of  this  discussion  the  strife  does  not 
cease,  for  men  continued  to  take  sides  for  or  agaiinst  Jean  de 
Meun  until  interest  in  the  position  of  women  abated  with  the 
triumph  of  the  Renaissance.  The  poets  of  the  Pleiade  (1550), 
in  spite  of  their  neglect  of  the  Middle  Ages,  look  upon  the  Rose 
as  a  work  of  which  every  Frenchman  should  feel  proud. 

Another  great  allegory,  the  Roman  de  Renard,  derives  its 
method  from  a  genre  known  in  antiquity,  namely,  the  Aesopic 


64  THE  ALLEGORY  AND  THE  EARLY  DRAMA 

fable.  Differing  from  the  Rose  in  the  use  of  animals  instead  of 
personified  human  traits,  the  Renard  resembles  it  in  allegorizing 
.  the  animal  world.  While  parts  of  the  Renard  doubt- 
Fable  and  less  go  back  to  the  twelfth  century,  the  body  of  the 
the " Renard "^Qj-jj  (arranged  in  "branches")  was  composed 
after  1200  —  a  time  when  courtly  idealism  was  disintegrating 
and  boxirgeois  irony  scored  its  first  victories. 

The  Aesopic  fable  had  reappeared  in  Old  French  under  the 
title  of  Ysopet.  Such  was  the  name  of  the  fable  collection  of 
Marie  de  France  (see  Ch.  II),  and  in  the  thirteenth  century 
there  was  an  Ysopet  de  Lyon,  and  so  on.  These  works,  however, 
were  not  derived  from  Greek  but  from  medieval  collections  called 
Romuli,  which  also  included  fables  by  the  Latin  writers  Phae- 
drus  and  Avianus,  and  which  owed  their  name  to  the  erroneous 
belief  that  a  certain  Romulus,  son  of  Tiberius,  had  composed 
them.  In  the  hands,  then,  of  the  medieval  rhetorician  the  fable 
underwent  considerable  expansion.  Any  tale,  whether  strictly 
animalistic  or  not,  having  a  moral  to  preach  could  be  told  as  a 
fable;  and  oriental  apologues  (including  exempla  of  Sanskrit 
origin)  were  often  incorporated  in  the  genre.  In  general,  says 
M.  Sudre,  "  les  fables  medievales  les  meilleures  n'offrent  que  des 
qualites  secondaires:  clarte  d'exposition,  rapidite  du  recit,  par- 
faite  appropriation  de  la  morale  a  Taction."  True  as  this  is, 
the  fables  of  Marie  are  gracefully  and  deftly  told,  and  the  trait 
of  making  the  fable  reflect  contemporary  manners  is  seen  in 
Marie's  defense  of  feudalism  as  a  system.  It  is  from  a  complete 
identification  of  the  animal  world  with  society,  in  the  manner 
of  an  epic  or  a  romance,  that  the  Roman  de  Renard  sprang. 

In  this  direction,  too,  there  were  antecedents.  As  early  as 
the  tenth  century,  the  Ecbasis  captivi  allegorized  society  in  the 
guise  of  animals  —  the  wolf  appears  as  a  hypocritical  priest, 
the  story  of  the  Sick  Lion  is  told  with  all  the  byplay  of  an  epic 
action,  and  the  flight  of  the  calf  from  its  stable  is  made  to  rep- 
resent the  escape  of  a  monk  from  his  cloister.  It  needed  but 
the  appearance  of  the  Latin  Ysengrimus  (1150),  by  Nivard,  a 
monk  of  Ghent,  to  add  the  characteristic  names  of  Renard, 
Ysengrin,  Noble,  etc.,  by  which  the  animals  are  henceforth 
known  — and  the  beast-epic  is  born.  To  this  Latin  work 
the  French  Renard  is  indebted  for  much,  if  not  most,  of  its 
material. 


THE   ROMANCE    OF   THE   POX  65 

In  its  complete  form  the  Roman  de  Renard  consists  of  some 
thirty  thousand  eight-syllable  verses,  divided  into  twenty-seven 
branches,  sixteen  of  which  antedate  the  rest  and  give  the  main 
thread  of  the  narrative. 

The  sixteen  branches  relate  how  Renard,  the  Fox,  and  Ysen- 
grin,  the  Wolf,  wage  a  hard-fought  struggle  of  cunning  and 
strength  until,  apparently  vanquished,  the  Fox  is  carried  forth 
in  funeral  procession  by  the  court  of  Noble,  the  Lion.  But 
Renard's  death  is  only  feigned,  and  before  the  end  of  the  would- 
be  burial,  he  is  in  full  flight  to  the  amazement  and  terror  of  the 
other  animals.  Thus  Renard  is  really  immortal  —  ever  ready, 
at  the  beck  of  the  medieval  romancer  to  begin  his  tricks  anew. 
These  are  the  subject  of  the  various  branches  or  contes  that  com- 
prise the  Renard. 

Some  embody  a  well-known  fable,  such  as  the  Sick  Lion  (X) , 
the  Cock  and  the  Fox  (H),  the  Crow  and  the  Cheese  (II). 
Others  are  probably  of  folklore  origin,  as,  for  example,  the 
League  of  the  Weak  (VIII)  or  the  amusing  account  of  How  the 
Wolf  lost  his  Tail  (III),  a  story  foimd  also  in  our  American 
Brer  Rabbit  collections.  The  names  of  the  animals  are  either 
personified  traits,  like  Noble  the  Lion;  or  they  are  traditional 
names,  such  as  Renard  (German  Raginhart)  himself,  Brichmer 
the  Stag  and  Bernard  the  Ass.  Hence,  although  typical,  the 
animals  are  treated  as  individuals,  with  distinctive  traits  of 
their  own,  and  the  structure  of  feudal  society  is  carried  over 
into  their  world.  Renard  is  the  compere  of  Ysengrin,  he  resides 
in  chastel  Renard;  and  both  animals  are  heroically  conceived. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  the  Fox  who  occupies  the  center  of  the 
stage.  He  is  the  light-footed  and  ingenious  rogue,  a  "  furred 
Jonathan  Wild,"  whose  cunning  triumphs  constantly.  His  main 
exploit,  that  which  gives  epic  texture  to  the  cycle,  is  the  rape  of 
Ysengrin's  wife.  Dame  Hersent.  This  event  forms  the  climax 
of  branch  II,  about  which  the  other  branches  can  be  grouped. 
Thus  an  attempt  is  made  to  bring  Renard  to  justice;  it  fails  be- 
cause Noble,  with  characteristic  weakness,  himself  impugns  the 
reliability  of  Hersent  as  a  witness.  What  sensible  man,  argues 
Brichmer,  would  not  doubt  her  word  since  Hersent  is  clearly  an 
interested  party.  And  so  the  reader  is  treated  to  an  exquisite 
example  of  the  miscarriage  of  justice  —  a  masterful  satire  on 
social  conditions. 


66  THE  ALLEGORY  AND  THE  EARLY  DRAMA 

But  the  best  rendering  of  the  feudal  world  is  found  in  branch 
I,  the  Plaid  or  Judgment  of  Renard.  Here  the  irony  of  the  situ- 
ation rises  to  a  climax,  both  in  idea  and  in  style.  Renard  is 
now  accused  by  Ysengrin  before  the  assembled  court  of  Noble. 
His  acquittal  seems  assured,  when  enter  Chantecler  and  his  four 
wives  carrying  upon  a  litter  the  body  of  a  member  of  their 
family,  killed  by  the  Fox.  The  body  is  prepared  for  burial,  the 
prayers  for  the  dead  are  recited,  and  Renard  is  remanded  for 
justice.  He  tries  lie  after  lie,  and  when  these  fail  to  win  his 
judges,  he  audaciously  pretends  to  have  a  contrite  heart  and 
asks  leave  to  undertake  a  pilgrimage  outre  mer.  Sainte-Beuve 
has  pertinently  asked  "  si  le  hasard  seul  a  pu  produire  une  paro- 
die  si  fine  qu'elle  ressemble  a  la  vie  meme?  "  Not  chance,  as- 
suredly, but  a  great  poet.  Yet  we  do  not  know  who  the  author 
of  the  Renard  was.  Some  of  the  branches  have  been  attributed 
to  a  certain  Pierre  de  Saint-Cloud.  The  only  fact  we  have  is 
that  the  main  part  of  the  Renard  was  written  in  the  northeast 
of  France,  not  far  from  Flanders. 

As  for  the  influence  of  the  French  romance,  the  earlier  sec- 
tions of  it  inspired  the  Middle  High  German  Reinhart  Fuchs 
(1180) ,  by  Heinrich  der  Glichezare.  On  the  other  hand,  Goethe's 
famous  Reinecke  Fuchs  is  derived  from  a  Dutch  version  of  the 
French  poem,  the  Reinaert,  made  in  the  thirteenth  century  by 
a  certain  Willem.  In  France  the  character  of  Renard  gradually 
lost  much,  if  not  all,  of  its  charm.  Whatever  was  base  and 
cruel  in  humanity  was  associated  with  the  Fox's  name,  and 
almost  any  contemptible  act  was  called  a  renardie.  Such  is  the 
spirit  of  the  Couronnement  de  Renard,  written  in  Flanders  about 
1260.  More  cynical  still  is  the  Renard  le  nouvel  by  Jacquemard 
Gelee  of  Lille  —  an  out-and-out  allegory,  of  the  close  of  the  thir- 
teenth century.  Here  Renard  is  the  enemy  of  Noble,  symboliz- 
ing the  struggle  between  evil  and  good  in  the  bosom  of  the 
church.  The  poet  Rutebeuf  wrote  a  Renard  le  BestovmS,  a 
short  satiric  piece  with  obscure  allusions.  Finally,  the  encyclo- 
pedic Renard  le  Contrefait,  by  an  unknown  poet  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  contains  a  history  of  the  world  which  throws 
many  interesting  side  lights  on  social  customs.  All  these  works 
show  how. popular  this  form  of  satirical  allegory  became  in  the 
latter  Middle  Ages.    It  afforded  an  opportunity  to  speak  plainly, 


ORIGINS    OF    THE    DRAMA  67 

and  it  stimtilated  the  French  love  of  ridicule  —  as  th«  original 
Benard  had  stated: 

tel  chose  dire 
Dent  je  vos  puisse  fere  rire, 
Quar  je  sai  bien,  ce  est  la  pure. 

such  things  to  tell 
Whereby,  I  know,  laugh  you  may, 
For  that  forsooth  is  the  way  of  truth. 

The  drama  in  France  does  not  reach  its  florescence  until  the 
later  Middle  Ages,  in  the  fifteenth  century.  It  waited  for  a  pub- 
The  Early  ^^^  which  came  with  the  development  of  the  great  in- 
Drama  dustrial  centers  and  the  rise  of  the  bourgeoisie  to 

a  place  of  prominence.    Henceforth  the  drama  filled  the  gap 
left  by  the  decline  of  the  national  epic. 

Before  this  time,  however,  drama  had  existed  in  several  well- 
known  and  on  the"  whole  distinct  forms,  comprised  under  the 
generic  name  jeu.  There  was  the  liturgical  play,  having  its 
origin  in  the  ceremonies  and  festivals  of  the  church  and  later 
developing  into  the  so-called  mystere  or  Mystery-play  (1374) ; 
the  miracle  or  Miracle-play,  which  applies  the  dramatic  method 
to  the  life  of  a  saint;  and  the  secular,  comic  jeu,  peculiar  to 
Adam  de  la  Halle,  a  poet  of  Arras.  Of  these  types,  the  first  two 
represent  the  real  dramatic  tradition  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The 
Middle  Ages  had  lost  the  distinction  between  tragedy  and  com- 
edy as  applied  to  the  theater,  and  while  pure  comedy  forms  were 
plentiful,  being  found,  for  example,  in  the  farce  and  the  sottie,' 
these  have  no  coimection  with  the  literary  comedy  of  antiquity. 

Thus,  the  French  drama  is  primarily  of  religious  origin.  The 
point  has  often  been  made  that  in  this  respect  it  offers  an  analogy 
to  the  dramas  of  Greece  and  India.  And,  in  fact,  the  Christian 
mass  contains  the  essential  elements  of  dramatic  action:  (1)  as 
to  content  or  idea,  in  that  the  mass  symbolizes  the  sacrifice  of 
the  Saviour's  body  for  the  sinful  world;  and  (2)  as  to  form,  in 
the  dialogue  by  recitation  and  song  (responsorium)  between  the 
priest  and  the  choir.  On  this  foundation  it  was  easy  to  build, 
especially  as  the  life  of  the  time  centered  so  largely  in  the  church. 

The  first  step  in  the  dramatic  evolution  was  the  introduction 
into  the  mass  of  a  brief  dialogue,  called  a  "trope,"  and  the 


68  THE  ALLEGORY  AND  THE  EARLY  DRAMA 

use  of  antiphonal  song  in  the  accompanying  music.  Thus 
we  find  the  Easter  service  adorned  with  a  trot)e  on  the  Resiu-- 
rection  —  the  Qiiem  quaeritis  in  sepulcro,  6  Christicolae? 
(Whom  seek  ye  in  the  tomb,  O  Christians?)  —  and  presently 
the  Christmas  mass  is  similarly  expanded.  But  these  are 
only  the  beginnings.  Finally  the  Holy  Script  itself  is  taken 
over  into  the  dialogue,  in  which  the  vulgar  tongue  then  appears 
by  the  side  of  Latin,  and  we  get  (early  in  the  twelfth  century) 
a  genuine  liturgical  play  in  the  form  of  the  Sponsus  or  Bride- 
groom. Derived  from  the  story  of  the  Wise  and  Foolish  Virgins, 
this  "  drama "  consists  of  ninety-four  verses,  arranged  in 
strophes,  part  of  which  are  in  Latin  and  the  remainder  in  French. 
The  action,  which  is  extremely  simple,  begins  with  the  prediction 
by  the  choir  of  the  advent  of  the  Bridegroom,  who  at  the  close . 
pronounces  the  doom  of  the  Foolish  Virgins.  The  Sponsm  was 
composed  in  Angoumois,  near  the  Provengal  border. 

The  next  stages  in  the  growth  of  drama  inplude  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  central  theme,  the  complete  vulgarization  into 
French,  and  lastly  the  separation  of  the  play  from  the  mass. 
An  important  advance  in  these  respects  is  found  in  the  Repre- 
sentation d'Adam,  of  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century.  Here 
the  text  is  almost  entirely  French  and  the  scene  is  laid  on  the 
parvis  or  square  in  front  of  the  church  doors.  But  this  work 
has  also  a  distinct  merit  of  its  own.  In  form  of  a  trilogy,  it  sum- 
marizes for  the  Christmas  service  various  aspects  of  Christian 
dogma,  as  seen  in  the  fall  of  Adam,  the  murder  of  Abel  by  Cain 
and  the  prophecy  of  Christ.  Unequal  as  these  parts  are,  some 
of  the  characters  are  well  delineated  —  especially  Eve,  strikingly 
described  as  "  faiblette  et  tendre  chose  "  —  and  an  element  of 
realism  pervades  the  action.  The  third  and  principal  part  of 
the  Adam  is  the  most  interesting.  This  is  a  version  of  the  fa- 
mous sermon  falsely  assigned  to  St.  Augustine  (known  separately 
as  the  Prophetes  du  Christ),  in  which  a  long  line  of  prophets 
from  Adam  to  Nebuchadnezzar  foretell  the  coming  of  the  Sa- 
viour. Theme  and  method  are  thus  alike  significant,  for  while 
the  subject  is  of  the  highest  dramatic  import  the  opportunity  for 
character-drawing  is  excellent.  Of  interest,  too,  are  the  stage 
directions.  These  call  for  Paradise  on  a  "  raised  place  "  in  front 
of  the  church  door  and  for  the  abduction  of  the  prophets  into 


MIRACLE-PLAYS  69 

"  hell,"  the  location  of  which,  however,  is  not  stated  precisely. 
It  requires  no  stretch  of  the  imagination  to  see  how  from  this 
simple  setting  later  playwrights  pass  to  the  elaborate  scenery, 
with  various  booths  or  "  mansions,"  such  as  we  shall  find  in  the 
mysteres. 

The  Representation  d'Adam  is  in  Norman  dialect  and  was  pre- 
sumably written  in  England.  The  Miracle-play  (miracle) ,  which 
Xhe  ^s  *^^  chief  dramatic  form  of  the  thirteenth  century, 

"  Miracle  "  brings  us  back  to  France  proper.  Its  first  and  best 
example  is  the  Jeu  de  Saint  Nicolas,  by  Jean  Bodel  of  Arras, 
best  known  as  a  writer  of  epic.  In  origin  the  miracle  is  a  drama- 
tized saint's  life.  Its  connection  with  the  liturgy  is  therefore  slight. 
Indeed,  its  beginnings  have  recently  been  traced  to  "  musical  serv- 
ices as  an  un-ecclesiastical  feature  of  St.  Nicholas'  feast  day  cele- 
bration (Dec.  6)."  Thus,  when  Bodel  wrote,  he  followed  an  es- 
tablished tradition.  Because  of  its  personal  touches  his  play  has 
often  been  termed  the  "first  romantic  drama."  With  great  freedom 
Bodel  sketches  a  battle  between  Christians  and  Saracens,  and 
when  the  former  are  all  dead  but  one,  he  allows  the  saint  to  per- 
form the  "  miracle  "  whereby  the  survivor's  life  is  spared.  A 
scene  between  thieves  in  a  tavern  is  made  almost  as  striking  as 
the  main  action.  Evidently  Bodel  was  no  respecter  of  sources. 
His  play  abounds  in  lyrical  passages  and  in  realism  of  detail. 
Incidentally,  the  first  thieves'  slang  —  later  called  argot  —  is 
found  there. 

Another  early  example  of  the  same  genre  is  the  Miracle  de 
Theophile  (thirteenth  century)  by  Rutebeuf.  This  embodies 
the  theme  later  found  in  the  Faust  stories:  a  monk  has  bartered 
his  soul  to  the  Devil  and  finally,  having  grown  repentant,  he  re- 
covers it  through  the  intercession  of  the  Virgin.  Rutebeuf  was 
a  jongleur,  a  satirist  of  considerable  power,  who  counted  among 
his  patrons  the  eldest  daughter  of  Louis  IX,  Isabella  of  Navarre. 
For  her  he  composed  a  Life  of  St.  Elizabeth  and  a  Complainte 
on  Thibaut  V,  her  husband,  who  died  in  1270.  He  also  had  a 
hand  in  writing  allegory;  but  his  shorter  poems,  especially  the 
Dis  des  Jacobins,  are  among*  his  best  productions.  In  these  his 
individualism  has  a  free  rein  and  he  approaches  Villon  as  a 
singer  of  the  outlaw  class.  His  Theophile  is  the  first  dramatiza- 
tion of  a  miracle  of  the  Virgin.    The  plot  follows  the  Greek 


70  THE  ALLEGORY  AND  THE  EARLY  DRAMA 

legend  (Theophilus  is  a  priest  of  Cilicia)  and  the  action  is 
distributed  over  eight  "  mansions  "  —  as  the  booths  designating 
the  place  of  the  action  were  called  —  extending  from  Heaven  to 
Hell.  While  the  play  as  a  whole  is  tedious,  the  lyric  parts  throb 
with  genuine  emotion. 

It  is  in  the  fourteenth  century,  however,  that  the  Miracle-plays 
reach  their  apogee.  The  Quarante  Miracles  de  Notre  Dame  of 
that  period  form  a  kind  of  cycle,  which  in  volume  exceeds  the 
entire  extant  drama  of  the  early  period.  But  their  chief  value 
today  is  sociological  rather  than  literary.  Written  for  a  pay 
or  literary  guild  of  Notre  Dame,  probably  located  in  Paris, 
they  throw  a  side  light  on  manners  and  customs  of  the  age 
such  as  few  other  works  do.  Thus  they  differ  as  to  style 
and  structure ;  some  are  preceded  by  short  sermons  in  prose,  some 
contain  serventois  —  a  lyric  form  —  in  honor  of  the  Virgin,  a 
recurrent  feature  is  the  use  of  the  rondel  to  celebrate  her  ap- 
proach, and  so  on.  But  all  agree  in  introducing  the  Virgin  as  a 
sort  of  Dea  ex  machina.  A  favorite  theme  is  that  of  a  wife 
slandered  by  a  revengeful  lover  —  occurring  in  the  Miracle  de 
Notre  Dame  de  la  Marquise  de  la  Gaudine  and  in  a  host  of  other 
examples,  including  one  of  the  Mysteres  de  Notre  Dame  de 
Liesse  (sixteenth  century).  The  authorship  of  the  Miracles  de 
Notre  Dame  is  unknown.  In  modern  times,  the  type  has  been 
revived  for  the  stage  by  Maeterlinck  in  his  version  of  the  Legend 
of  Sister  Beatrice. 

As  indicated  above,  the  dramatic  work  of  Adam  de  la  Halle 
or  Adam  Le  Bossu  stands  in  a  class  by  itself.  The  attempt  to 
Adam  de  connect  his  name  with  the  puy  or  guild  of  Arras  (his 
la  Halle  home  town)   fails  because  it  cannot  be  shown  that 

this  puy  occupied  itself  with  the  drama.  The  probability  is  that 
Adam  wrote  for  a  company  of  friends  who  had  no  official  func- 
tion. In  any  case,  we  now  come  to  the  most  independent  dra- 
matic form  of  the  Middle  Ages:  the  secular,  comic  jeu}  It  is 
Adam  himself  who  has  the  chief  part  in  the  Jeu  de  la  Feuillee 
(between  1255  and  1264) ,  the  title  of  which  refers  to  the  arbor 
ifeidllee)     beneath     which     the     May-festivals     took     place. 

•  In  origin  Adam  de  la  Halle's  jeux  doubtless  go  back  to  folklore  sources. 
They  have  parallels  in  the  wooing  plays,  jigs  and  "mummings"  found  in  northern 
Europe,  especially  England.  Of  such  survivals  there  is  a  delightful  account  in 
Thomas  Hardy's  The  Return  of  the  Native. 


ADAM   DE   LA   HALLE  71 

The  action  begins  with  Adam's  wishing  to  leave  Arras  and  his 
wife  Maroie,  who  wearies  him,  in  order  to  become  a  clerk  in 
Paris.  But  one  cannot  travel  without  money,  and  his  father, 
on  the  score  of  his  own  maladies,  refuses  to  provide  any.  A 
physician  tells  the  father  that  his  disease  is  avarice  and  men- 
tions others  similarly  afflicted.  This  leads  to  a  tirade  against 
the  abuses  of  the  times,  in  which  a  blind  boy,  an  itinerant  monk 
and  others  take  part.  It  happens  to  be  the  first  of  May,  and 
Morgan  the  fairy  is  expected.  She  arrives  to  the  wild  notes  of 
the  maisnie  Hellekin  (Harlequin),  a  fairy-king  resembling  the 
German  Erlkonig.  Among  the  fairies  present  is  Maglore.  She 
feels  slighted,  and  while  her  companions  promise  Adam  fame  as 
a  poet  she  condemns  him  to  forget  his  desire  for  learning  in  the 
arms  of  his  hated  wife.  The  play  closes  with  the  monk's  sur- 
render of  his  relics  to  his  host  as  bail.  The  analogy  with  Aris- 
tophanes is  clear,  while  the  similarity  to  A  Midsummer-Night's 
Dream  is  striking.  The  Jeu  de  la  Feuillee  is  at  once  poetic  and 
gross,  purely  fanciful  and  harshly  satiric.  Certainly,  in  the  ex- 
tant literature  of  the  time,  it  is  unique. 

Of  Adam's  other  play,  the  Jeu  de  Robin  et  Marion,  the 'most 
characteristic  feature  is  the  obvious  adaptation  of  a  pastourelle 
(see  above,  Ch.  II)  to  a  musical,  dramatic  form.  Thus  it  is 
spoken  of  as  a  forerunner  of  comic  opera.  Robin  loves  Marion, 
and  together  they  ward  off  an  importunate  knight.  This  occurs 
amid  scenes  of  merry-making  and  frolic;  a  wolf  is  driven  from 
the  flock  attended  by  the  two  shepherds,  and  the  play  ends  in  a 
dance  which  carries  the  company  off  to  the  woods.  The  beauty 
and  grace  of  the  entire  composition  has  often  been  noted.  Cer- 
tain lines  breathe  the  spring-time  of  life,  although  many  of  the 
motifs  are  commonplaces  —  for  example,  the  refrain 

Robins  m'aime,  Robins  m'a, 
Robins  m'a  demandee,  si  m'ara, 

is  found  in  a  pastourelle  of  Perrin  d'Angecourt  (1250  and  after) . 
From  the  Jeu  du  Pelerin,  by  another  author,  though  it  was  added 
to  Adam's  work  as  a  kind  of  "  filler,"  we  learn  that  Adam  died 
in  Naples.  It  is  probable  that  his  comedy  was  performed  there 
before  the  court  of  Charles  of  Anjou  in  1283  or  1284. 


72  THE  ALLEGORY  AND  THE  EARLY  DRAMA 

With  the  dramatization  in  1395  of  the  story  of  the  patient 
Griselda  —  the  so-called  Estoire  de  Griseldis  —  the  early  drama 
in  France  may  be  said  to  close.  Although  a  secular  work,  the 
Estoire  de  Griseldis,  consisting  of  two  parts,  forms  a  kind  of 
miroir  des  dames  exalting  the  unnatural  role  of  the  long-suffering 
wife.  In  the  fifteenth  century  the  drama  enters  the  more  definite 
channels  of  the  mystere,  the  moralite,  the  sottie  and  the  jarce. 
These  types  involve  a  consideration  of  the  drama  as  an  organ- 
ized social  product,  toward  which  the  preceding  age  had  been 
feeling  its  way. 


CHAPTER  IV 

HISTORY,    DIDACTIC   LITERATURE    AND 
STORIOLOGY 

Aetistic  prose  is  always  a  late  arrival  in  the  literary  field. 
To  this  France  is  no  exception.  It  is  not  until  the  close  of  the 
twelfth  century  that  Pierre  de  Beauvais,  translator  of  the  Pseudo- 
Turpin  (see  Ch.  I) ,  chooses  prose,  he  says,  because  "  rime  re- 
quires the  addition  of  words  not  foimd  in  the  Latin."  About  the 
same  time,  as  we  have  seen,  many  of  the  Arthurian  romances 
appear  in  prose,  and  the  AiLcasmi  et  Nicolette  employs  prose 
in  most  of  its  narrative  portions. 

But  it  is  chiefly  in  the  domain  of  history  that  prose-writing 
w'as  to  flourish.  The  vernacular  histories  of  the  twelfth  century 
were  exclusively  rimed  chronicles.  Like  Wace's  Brut,  the  Es- 
toire  des  Engleis  by  Geoffrey  Gaimar  is  an  expanded  paraphrase 
in  verse  of  the  Historia  regum  Britanniae  (Ch.  II).  Wace  him- 
self also  wrote  a  Roman  de  Rou  or  Geste  des  Normans  (1174) ; 
and  Benott  de  Sainte-More  carried  his  Chronique  of  the  Norman 
kings  down  to  the  death  of  Henry  I.  But  the  only  approach  to 
modern  historical  writing  —  in  this  early  period  —  is  a  biog- 
raphy. This  is  the  Vie  de  Saint  Thomus  Becket  by  Gamier  de 
Pont-Sainte-Maxence,  which  we  have  mentioned  before  as  the 
earliest  document  in  the  Francian  dialect.  Garnier  still  writes 
in  verse  and  his  outlook  is  strictly  clerical ;  but  he  shows  a  sense 
of  historical  fact  and  he  is  impartial  enough  to  condemn  the 
arrogance  of  Henry  II  without  mincing  the  hypocrisy  of  the 
Roman  church.  He  wrote  in  1173,  just  thirty-six  years  before 
the  appearance  of  Villehardouin's  Conquete  de  Constantinople. 
With  this  work  historical  prose-writing  is  born. 

Geoffroy  de  Villehardouin  (1160  to  about  1212)  was  a  knight 
of  Champagne  and  planned  his  work  primarily  as  an  apologia  of 
Viiie-  *^®  Fourth  Crusade.    The  success  of  the  expedition 

hardouin        had  been  jeopardized  by  rival  political  interests,  in 

73 


74  HISTORY   AND   STORIOLOGY 

which  those  of  Venice  (then  mistress  of  the  Mediterranean)  had 
a  paramount  role.  An  emissary  on  behalf  of  Philip  of  Cham- 
pagne in  1199,  Villehardouin  had  committed  himself  to  the 
Venetian  policy.  The  consequence  was  that  the  crusade  was 
divided  between  those  who  went  directly  to  the  Holy  Land  and 
others  who,  like  Villehardouin,  accompanied  the  Venetians  to 
Constantinople.  The  latter,  after  besieging  Zara  (on  the  Dal- 
matian coast) ,  twice  eaptvired  Constantinople  and  then  founded 
the  so-called  Latin  Kingdom,  with  Baldwin  of  Flanders  at  its 
head. 

In  this  campaign  it  was  Villehardouin's  part  to  act  as  a  special 
pleader.  He  was  both  brave  and  astute;  and  besides  rescuing 
a  band  of  French  knights  from  annihilation  by  the  Bulgarians 
at  Adrianople,  and  otherwise  winning  distinction  in  military  ex- 
ploits, he  seems  to  have  been  the  guiding  mind  of  the  expedition. 
In  his  castle  at  Messinople  he  wrote  his  book  for  his  friends  in 
France.  His  real  motives  have  been  often  impugned.  In  fact, 
many  historians  doubt  his  sincerity,  but  his  ability  as  a  poli- 
tician and  as  a  writer  is  admitted  by  all  critics. 

In  prose  which  is  remarkable  for  its  austere  simplicity  he 
dwells  on  the  merits  of  his  case.  He  solemnly  states  that  "  bien 
fust  la  crestientes  hauciee  et  la  terre  des  Turs  abaissiee  "  if  all 
parties  had  been  united.  For  the  aged  doge,  Henry  Dandolo,  he 
has  unbounded  admiration,  and  throughout  his  work  the  feudal 
sense  of  obligation  to  his  trust  runs  high.  The  tone  of  the  Con- 
quite  is  aristocratic,  the  whole  being  cast  in  the  epic  mold  of  re- 
strained statement  and  noble  aims.  But  despite  its  interesting 
subject  the  work  is  poor  in  picturesque  details.  Villehardouin 
rarely  describes ;  whenever  he  does,  as  in  the  account  of  the  blind 
doge  or  the  siege  of  Constantinople,  he  paints  in  outline  on  a 
large  canvas  and  leaves  it  to  the  reader  to  fill  in  the  sketch. 
Hence  the  writer  dominates  his  material.  We  see  the  expedition 
stripped  of  its  vagaries,  in  broad  outline,  coldly  but  clearly,  as 
Villehardouin  wishes  us  to  see  it. 

The  warmth  which  Villehardouin  lacks  is  seen  in  the  works 
of  his  contemporaries,  Robert  de  Clari  and  Henri  de  Valen- 
ciennes. The  first  describes  the  Fourth  Crusade  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  simpler  folk,  "  la  menufi  gent,"  whom  the  great 
barons  scorn.    Here  all  is  detail  —  the  reverse  of  the  Conquete. 


JOINVILLE  75 

We  hear  the  camp-fire  talk,  the  recital  of  individual  deeds  of 
bravery,  the  author's  rapture  at  the  wonders  of  St.  Sophia,  and 
so  on.  He  wrote  his  work  in  the  Picard  dialect  but  on  French 
soil,  whither  he  returned  soon  after  1210.  On  the  other  hand, 
Henri  de  Valenciennes  was  a  poet,  the  Histoire  de  I'empereur 
Henri  —  successor  to  Baldwin  of  Flanders  —  which  is  found  in 
many  of  the  Villehardouin  manuscripts  being  a  marred  prose 
redaction  of  an  original  poem.  Unfortunately  this  poem  is  lost, 
but  such  glimpses  as  we  get  of  it  in  the  prose  show  that  it 
possessed  considerable  literary  value. 

Another  knight  of  Champagne,  Jean  de  Joinville  (1224-1317), 
accompanied  Louis  IX  on  the  Sixth  Crusade.    After  an  adven- 

.  turous  experience,  in  which  he  took  part  in  the  ill- 

managed  campaign  along  the  banks  of  the  Nile 
(1248),  was  captured  by  the  Saracens,  and  later  shared  in  va- 
rious exploits  in  Syria,  Joinville  returned  to  France  in  1254,  not 
yet  thirty  years  of  age,  and  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  peaceful 
pursuits.  Years  later,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty,  he  com- 
posed for  his  sovereign,  Jeanne,  Countess  of  Champagne  and 
Queen  of  France,  a  Livre  des  saintes  paroles  et  des  bonnes  ac- 
tions de  Saint  Louis.  On  this  work,  which  is  more  of  a  memoir 
than  a  consecutive  history,  his  fame  rests. 

Joinville  is  above  all  a  causeur.  Though  he  professes  to  have 
a  plan,  Joinville  gives  us  a  chaplet  of  anecdotes  ^rung  about 
the  career  of  the  great  King  and  his  relations  with  him.  Thus 
the  Livre  offers  a  strong  contrast  to  the  work  of  Villehardouin. 
Joinville  has  a  bent  for  the  picturesque  and  even  the  trivial.  He 
relates  that  on  the  island  of  Lampedusa  the  crusaders  found 
plenty  of  rabbits  and  two  skeletons  in  a  cave,  that  at  Cyprus 
the  King  received  many  foreign  delegations,  that  Louis  sent  to 
the  Tartar  princes  a  tent  of  woolen  cloth  (escarlate),  adorned 
with  an  image  of  the  Annunciation  and  other  Christian  mysteries 
—  but  as  to  the  political  side  of  the  campaign  he  leaves  us  in  the 
dark.  Nevertheless,  his  failure  as  a  historian  is  amply  redeemed 
by  his  vividness  as  an  artist.  Joinville  is  never  at  a  loss  for  the 
proper  expression  to  fit  the  characteristic  feature  which  his  eye 
catches.  In  particular,  the  noble  figure  of  Louis,  with  his  strong 
temper  but  his  innate  sense  of  justice  and  excessive  bounty, 
emerges  into  the  clearest  possible  light;  and  by  his  side  the  far 


76  HISTORY    AND    STORIOLOGY 

more  material  character  of  Joinville  himself  wins  us  by  his  sin- 
cerity and  his  frank  interest  in  "  life."  We  learn  that  he  was 
courtois,  well-read,  and  never  recoiled  from  what  he  considered 
his  duty;  but  we  are  told  also  that  he  revolted  at  the  idea  of 
washing  the  feet  of  the  poor  and  that  a  vilain  did  not  enter  into 
his  scheme  of  salvation.  A  crusader's  prejudice  breathes  in  the 
lines  he  pens  on  the  Bedouins:  "  De  touailles  sont  entorteilliees 
(wrapped)  leur  testes  qui  leur  vont  par  dessous  le  menton,  dont 
laides  gens  et  hisdeuses  sont  a  regarder."  On  the  whole,  his  work 
is  a  most  valuable  cultural  document  of  the  time. 
But  it  remained  for  Jean  Froissart  (1337-1404  ?  ),  chronicler 
of  the  Hundred  Years'  War,  to  glorify  individual 
Froissart  prowess  as  no  one  else  had  glorified  it.  In  the 
preface  to  his  Chroniques  he  warns  us: 

Vous  veres  et  trouveres  en  ce  livre  comment  pluiseur  chevalier 
et  escuier  se  sont  fait  et  avanciet  plus  par  leur  proece  que  par  leur 
lignage.  Li  noms  de  preu  est  si  haus  et  si  nobles,  et  la  vertu  si 
clere  et  belle  que  elle  replendist  en  ces  sales  et  en  ces  places  oil 
il  a  assamblee  et  fuison  de  grans  signeurs,  et  se  remoustre  dessus 
tous  les  autres. 

Thus  prowess  is  his  thepie  —  prowess  which  advances  men  irre- 
spective of  their  country  and  birth.  In  its  bearing  on  Froissart, 
the  remark  is  significant. 

He  was  born  at  Valenciennes,  in  French  Flanders.  In  1361 
he  went  to  England  to  offer  his  services  to  Queen  Philippa  and 
obviously  in  order  to  faire  fortune.  Here  he  soon  became  the 
intimate  of  the  great  and  won  for  himself  the  title  and  functions 
of  royal  historiographer.  Apparently  he  took  the  post  seriously, 
as  much  so  as  his  vain  and  childlike  nature  permitted.  "  Se  je 
disoie,"  he  remarks,  "  ainsi  et  ainsi  advint  en  ce  temps,  sans 
ouvrir  n'esclaircir  la  matiere,  ce  seroit  cronique  et  non  pas  his- 
toire."  Fortunately,  his  patron  allowed  him  to  travel.  He 
visited  Scotland,  where  he  knew  Robert  Bruce;  he  went  to 
southern  France  in  the  suite  of  the  Black  Prince;  he  journeyed  to 
Italy  for  the  marriage  of  Lionel,  Duke  of  Clarence.  He  had  met 
Chaucer;  at  Milan  he  saw  Petrarch;  at  Ferrara  he  came  into 
contact  with  Pierre  de  Lusignan,  King  of  Cyprus.  For  a  person 
of  Froissart's  observant  eye  these  were  fruitful  years. 

But  in  1369  Philippa  died,  and  the  reaction  against  her  party 


FROISSART  77 

at  the  court  of  Edward  III  drove  Froissart  back  to  Hainault  in 
Flanders.  Here  he  won  in  1373  the  curacy  of  Lestinnes  and  for  the 
next  ten  years  devoted  himself  to  writing  the  first  book  of  his 
Chroniqites,  the  first  version  of  which,  composed  from  the 
"  English  point  of  view,"  covers  the  period  of  1325-1377. 

A  change  of  heart  now  brings  him  under  the  influence  of  Gui 
de  Blois,  whose  family  and  sympathies  were  French.  The 
curacy  at  Lestinnes  is  exchanged  for  a  canonship  at  Chimai,  and 
about  1390  Froissart  becomes  Gui's  private  chaplain.  Under 
the  latter's  inspiration  he  published  a  "  French  revision  "  of  his 
Chroniques;  and  to  this  he  soon  added  a  second  book,  embodying 
the  disturbances  in  Flanders,  which  he  himself  had  witnessed. 
Once  more  he  sets  his  sail  to  the  wind,  and  provided  with  letters 
from  his  new  patron  he  visits  the  court  of  the  renowned  Gaston 
de  Foix  in  Gascony.  This  visit,  recorded  about  1390  in  the  third 
book,  is  the  most  vivid  of  Froissart's  many  experiences.  At  the 
same  time  he  is  busy  on  his  fourth  and  last  book.  However,  in 
1394  the  truce  signed  between  France  and  England  arouses  in 
him  the  desire  to  revisit  the  scenes  of  his  youthful  triumphs,  and 
he  readily  accepts  the  invitation  of  Richard  II  to  pass  three 
months  at  the  English  Court.  Although  flattered  by  the  recep- 
tion given  him,  Froissart  is  not  blinded  to  Richard's  misrule  and 
leaves  England  abruptly  in  order  to  complete  his  fourth  book. 
This  recounts  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  Wars  and  ends  abruptly 
with  the  abdication  and  death  of  the  English  King. 

During  his  last  ten  years  Froissart  revised  once  more  the  first 
book  of  his  Chroniques,  adding  an  attack  on  the  English  people 
and  an  elegy  on  Richard.  His  own  death  is  wrapped  in  mystery 
—  the  tradition  is  that  he  died  at  Chimai,  destitute  and  bereft 
of  friends. 

Obviously,  Froissart  is  an  historian,  "  double  d'un  romancier  " 
as  the  French  say.  With  his  poetry  we  shall  deal  elsewhere; 
it  shares  in  the  learned  sophistications  of  his  contemporaries. 
But  it  may  be  said  of  all  his  work  that  the  pageantry  of  life 
made  a  far  deeper  impression  upon  him  than  did  the  hidden  mo- 
tives of  human  action.  It  is  characteristic  that  in  England  the 
translation  of  the  Chroniques  in  1523-1525  became  a  rich  source 
of  dramatic  inspiration.  Froissart  has  the  "  curiosity  "  of  the 
French,  but  he  lacks  their  attachment  to  ideas.  At  bottom  he  is 


78  HISTORY   AND    STORIOLOGY 

a  Fleming,  artistic,  fond  of  color,  sensual  and  essentially  unmoral. 
His  divided  allegiance  may  be  pardoned  since  he  depended  on  the 
favor  of  patrons  and  was  neither  French  nor  English  by  birth. 
Moreover,  his  social  background  was,  so  to  speak,  Arthurian;  and 
the  tilt  and  tournament  were  part  of  the  atmosphere  he  breathed. 
What  is  harder  to  understand  is  "  his  incurable  optimism,  his 
innate  contentment  in  the  face  of  so  much  shame  and  suffering, 
of  so  many  crimes  and  outrages  left  unpunished "  (Lanson) . 
Persuaded  that  all  heroism  and  virtue  consist  in  "  adventure," 
Froissart  represents  his  century  in  terms  of  an  interminable 
feat  of  arms,  the  brilliant  facets  of  which  delight  the  eye  Jaut 
confound  the  reason.  If  this  be  chivalry,  then  chivalry  has  come 
to  a  sad  pass:  a  tinkling  cjrmbal  and  an  empty  name. 

Nevertheless,  the  stream  of  life  flows  strong  in  the  pages  of 
this  prince  of  chroniclers.  The  battles  of  Crecy  and  Poitiers  will 
live  forever  in  the  glowing  colors  in  which  he  has  set  them  forth. 
In  prose  that  was  then  unmatched  for  its  lucidity  and  flow  he 
gave  to  the  great  families  of  Europe  the  first  worthy  narrative 
of  their  illustrious  deeds.  That  the  English,  on  the  whole,  fare 
better  in  his  pages  than  the  French  is  due  to  fortune,  not  to 
prejudice.  With  due  allowance  for  his  aristocratic  leanings  he 
had  genuine  admiration  for  those  "  povres  brigans,"  who  "  s'en 
allant  par  voies  couvertes  "  waylay  the  rich  and  gain  their  lives 
by  pillaging  castles  and  cities,  for  their  valor  is  the  equal  of  any. 
And  who,  having  read  them,  can  forget  the  admirable  speech  of 
Aymerigot  Marches  on  the  adventurous  life  of  the  past  or  the 
insolent  words  of  Jean  Chandos  challenging  his  adversary? 
Froissart  had  a  good  ear,  a  retentive  memory  and  the  gift  of 
drawing  men  out.  He  wished  to  be  an  echo,  says  Gaston  Paris, 
"  mais  il  est  le  plus  sonore  et  le  plus  fidele  des  echos." 

The  writing  of  history,  however,  is  only  one  of  the  manifesta- 
tions of  the  "  learned  "  thirteenth  century.  The  monastic  schools 
Didactic  °^  *^^  preceding  age  were  now  followed  by  the  rise 
Literature  of  the  universities  (by  1200,  Orleans  is  competing 
with  Paris,  Bologna  and  Toledo),  and  this  in  turn  led  to  the 
vulgarization  of  a  vast  body  of  didactic  literature.  We  have 
the  great  Dante's  word  that  because  of  her  "  easier  and  more 
agreeable  vulgar-tongue  "  France  is  also  the  home  of  works  of  a 
learned  character.    Witness  the  Italian,  Brunetto  Latini,  who 


DIDACTIC   TREATISES  TO 

in  1265  wrote  his  famous  Tresor  in  French  prose.  But  the  didac- 
tic spirit  is  abroad  among  the  French  long  before  this  date.  And 
here  it  was  the  Normans  (many  of  them  in  England) ,  with  their 
practical  sense,  caring  more  for  fact  than  for  poetry,  who 
took  the  lead.  It  was  among  the  Normans  that  the  Physiologus, 
used  as  a  text-book  on  natural  history,  was  first  put  into 
French,  that  parts  of  the  Bible  were  translated,  and  that  the 
learned  spirit  generally  was  fostered  and  promulgated.  On  this 
foundation  the  thirteenth  century  built.  In  numerous  "  lapi- 
daries," "  bestiaries  "  and  "  calendars  "  the  allegorizing  method 
is  applied  to  the  realm  of  Nature.  In  compendia  of  various 
kinds,  sommes,  bibles,  images  du  monde  or  mappemondes,  in- 
formation of  every  sort,  fantastic  and  real,  is  arranged  and  codi- 
fied. In  the  form  of  chastiements,  doctrinavx  or  enseignements, 
the  age  embodies  its  laws  of  behavior  and  its  views  on  education. 

Plentiful  as  these  works  are,  few  of  them  reveal  any  superior 
talent  or  can  be  ranked  as  literature.  Rarely  do  they  give  an 
insight  into  the  larger  questions  of  hmnan  life.  The  great  prob- 
lem of  scholastic  philosophy  —  the  relation  of  ideas  {universalia) 
to  facts  ires) ,  on  which  the  master  minds  of  Anselm  and  Abelard 
were  engaged  —  does  not  get  down  into  the  vernacular,  for  not 
until  Descartes  (seventeenth  century)  is  philosophy  written  in 
French.  The  sources  of  scientific  knowledge  were  of  course 
books:  treatises  which  like  Aristotle's  Organon,  Solinus'  Geog- 
raphy, the  Latin  versions  of  the  late  Greek  Physiologus,  had  sur- 
vived the  blight  of  the  early  Christian  era,  to  be  overlaid  with 
a  mass  of  commentary.  Boethius'  Consolation  of  Philosophy, 
translated  into  Provencal  as  early  as  the  tenth  century,  was  a 
stock  theme  of  exegesis  down  to  the  threshold  of  the  Renaissance. 
The  books  of  travel  due  to  pilgrims  and  crusaders,  however  rich 
in  detail,  were  insignificant  as  to  matter  or  based  on  hearsay  and 
therefore  fanciful.  But  the  greatest  obstacle  to  enlightenment 
was  the  church  dogma  (see  Ch.  I)  that  since  truth  is  "  revealed  " 
it  is  the  purpose  of  science  to  "  understand,"  not  to  "  investigate," 
the  universe. 

Let  us  not  forget,  however,  that  Latin,  and  not  French,  was  the 
medieval  language  of  scholarship.  Thus,  if  we  include  theology, 
the  greatest  of  the  medieval  "  sciences,"  the  minds  of  the  time 
were  not  only  active  —  they  were  encyclopedic.    Here,  as  else- 


80  HISTORY   AND    STORIOLOGY 

where  in  matters  of  culture,  France  was  the  leader  as  well  as  the 
disseminator.  In  the  Summa  Theologia  of  her  "  universal  doc- 
tor," St.  Thomas  Aquinas  ^  (1225-1274) ,  she  gave  to  the  medieval 
fixity  its  final  form.  In  this  way,  the  implements  of  the  reason 
(if  not  reason  itself),  logic,  grammar,  rhetoric,  are  sharpened 
and  controlled  as  never  before.  So,  too,  a  fresh  impulse  is  given 
to  mathematics,  together  with  its  complementary  art,  music. 
All  this  made  for  expression,  in  the  vernacular  as  well  as  in 
Latin;  but  for  its  formal  or  dialectic  elements,  structure  and 
style,  not  content  or  thought. 

How  sophisticated  and  yet  naive  medieval  science  could  be  is 
seen  in  the  works  of  Philippe  de  Thaon,  an  Anglo-Norman  writer 
Natural  °^  ^^^  court  of  Henry  I   (early  twelfth  century). 

History  In  six-  and  then  eight-syllable  verse  Philip  wrote  a 

Comiput,  a  Bestiaire  and  a  Lapidaire.  His  style,  says  M.  Lan- 
glois,  "  est  d'une  indigence,  d'lme  nullite  et  d'tme  gaucherie  sans 
pareilles."  Yet  Philip  aims  to  instruct  the  clergy,  whose  ig- 
norance moves  him  to  compassion.  In  the  Corn-put  he  treats 
like  Bede  and  John  of  Garlande  the  ins-and-outs  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical calendar:  the  days,  months,  church  festivals,  equinoxes, 
solstices,  and  so  forth.  For  all  these  arid  themes  he  points  a 
moral  lesson.  For  instance,  he  derives  the  word  August  from 
Lat.  gustus,  and  since  God  is  "  pur  gustement "  it  follows  that 
August  signifies  God.  The  same  kind  of  reasoning  is  typical 
of  the  Bestiaire  and  the  Lapidaire.  The  former  follows  the 
Physiologus  in  allegorizing  animals:  the  lion  with  his  large  head 
and  comparatively  small  body  represents  "  Jhesu  filz  de  Marie"; 
if  the  pelican  opens  her  breast  to  feed  her  young  this  action  is 
symbolic  of  the  Saviour: 

par  le  sane  precius 

que  Des  (Dieu)  laissat  pur  nus 

—  as  centuries  later  Musset  made  it  a  symbol  of  the  poet. 

The  Lapidaire  puts  into  French  the  Latin  version  of  a  work  by 

Damigeron,  a  first-century  Greek.    Here  Philip  dwells  on  the 

curative  value  of  certain  minerals  and  gives  short  directions  for 

their  use  —  another  testimony  to  medieval  credulity. 

Other  bestiaries  were  composed  in  the  Middle  Ages.  In  the  thir- 

>  Thomas  Aquinas  (d' Aquino)  was  an  Italian,  but  he  studied  and  taught  in 
Paris. 


BRUNETTO    LATINI  81 

teenth  century,  Richard  de  Fournival,  Chancellor  of  Amiens,  had 
the  fantastic  idea  of  celebrating  his  lady  in  a  Bestiaire  d'amour-. 
Richard's  subtleties  are  in  prose,  but  they  were  easily  turned 
into  verse.  As  for  lapidaries,  numerous  translations  into  various 
European  languages  testify  to  the  vogue  of  a  Latin  lapidary  by 
Marbode,  Bishop  of  Rennes  (eleventh  oentxu-y).  All  of  these 
works,  however,  vary  in  character  but  slightly  from  Philip's, 
which  may  thus  be  considered  typical  of  the  genre. 

A  good  illustration  of  the  medieval  encyclopedia  is  the  Image 
du  monde  (about  1245)  by  Gautier  de  Metz.  Preserved  in  many 
Encyclo-  manuscripts  with  handsome  miniatures,  this  poem  of 
pedias  eleven  thousand  verses  aims  to  embrace  all  creation, 

including  geography  and  astronomy.  Here  the  sensation-loving 
layman  would  receive  food  for  his  imagination,  together  with 
considerable  moral  edification.  The  work  gives  some  facts,  but 
on  the  whole  it  abounds  in  descriptions  of  fanciful  lands, 
unheard-of  monsters,  and  treasures  of  stupendous  value.  The 
majority  of  images  were  a  similar  bait  for  the  unwary.  One, 
however,  has  a  distinct  literary  and  cultural  value.  This  is  the 
Livre  du  Tresor  (1265),  by  the  Florentine  Brunetto  Latini,  mas- 
ter of  Dante.  As  we  have  said,  he  wrote  his  treatise  in  French 
because  (to  quote  his  exact  words)  this  "  parleure  est  plus  deli- 
table  et  plus  commvme  a  toutes  gens."  Knowledge,  which  Bru- 
netto compared  to  the  small  change  which  we  daily  spend,  is,  he 
says,  necessary  in  life.  ■  Accordingly,  in  three  long  books  he  runs 
through  the  gamut  of  the  knowable.  Today  the  interesting  part 
of  the  treatise  is  the  section  on  politics.  Here  Brunetto  has  col- 
lected some  real  information,  with  finely  drawn  distinctions,  on 
national  and  civil  government  in  France  and  Italy.  But  it  is 
the  language  which  constitutes  the  noteworthy  trait  of  the 
Tresor.  Brunetto,  whom  Alain  Chartier  later  compared  to  Livy, 
writes  better  French  than  many  a  native  Frenchman.  His 
style  is  clear  and  succinct,  and  remarkably  idiomatic.  The 
Tresor  enjoyed  a  long  and  merited  popularity  and  was  twice 
translated  into  Italian. 

Moral  precepts,  akin  to  the  type  still  current  in  the  "  Letters 
The  Chas-  °^  ^  Father  to  his  Son,"  are  embodied  in  the  chastie- 
tiements  merit.  This  genre  began  with  the  Chastiement  d'un 
phe  a  son  fils,  which  is  a  twelfth-century  verse  translation  of 


82  HISTORY   AND    STORIOLOGY 

the  Disciplma  cleriailis  by  the  Spanish  Jew,  Petrus  Alphonsus, 
The  educational  features  of  the  work  are  secondary,  however,  to 
the  tales  or  exempla  with  which  the  discussion  is  illustrated. 
Indeed,  this  feature  is  what  saved  much  medieval  edification 
from  oblivion.  In  the  course  of  time,  a  large  body  of  such  tales, 
derived  chiefly  from  the  Orient,  found  their  way  into  the  vernac- 
ular and  served  not  only  to  instruct  but  also  to  entertain  and 
amuse.  We  have  observed  the  fact  in  dealing  with  the  "  fable  " 
(Ch.  Ill)  and  we  shall  have  occasion  to  mention  it  again. 

A  chastiement  of  genuine  educational  value  is  the  prose  work, 
Des  quatre  tens  d'aage  d'home  (about  1270),  by  Philippe  de  No- 
vaire  (Novara) .  Here  the  moralizing  tone  yields  to  the  mellow 
reflections  of  old  age.  Philip  wrote  at  the  close  of  an  adventurous 
career.  His  Gestes  des  Chiprois,  giving  an  account  of  the  tragic 
struggle  of  Cyprus  against  Frederick  II,  was  in  the  nature  of  a 
memoir ;  this  is  followed  by  the  chastiement  as  an  essay  on  wis- 
dom. Philip  deals  at  some  length  with  the  various  "  ages  "  of 
man,  but  dwells  particularly  on  the  age  of  childhood,  about 
which  he  makes  several  telling  observations. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Chastiement  des  dam£s  (about  1250), 
by  Robert  de  Blois,  is  filled  with  a  didacticism  of  a  purely 
worldly  tj^e.  Written  in  verse,  this  work  is  a  veritable  manual 
on  courtesy  for  the  noble  ladies  of  Robert's  time.  Mapy  of  the 
instructions  given  are  of  course  conmionplace ;  others,  however, 
are  quite  characteristic  —  as,  for  example,  the  precept  that  a 
lady  should  always  love  secretly  (celeement)  or  her  reputation 
will  be  at  stake.  In  exalted,  almost  religious  verse,  Robert  in- 
tones the  praise  of  courtaisie,  bien  parler  and  douce  acointance, 
which  are  the  sterling  traits  of  a  woman's  education.  Obviously, 
he  follows  Ovid,  but  never  slavishly. 

A  more  serious  type  of  moral  treatise  is  inaugurated  by  the 

Livre  des  manieres  of  Etienne  de  Fougeres    (1170) at  one 

time  chaplain  of  Henry  II  of  England.  The  anonymous  Poeme 
moral  (thirteenth  century)  incorporates  in  its  moralizing  the 
legend  of  Thais.  For  the  most  part,  however,  such  works  are 
satirical.  Their  anunus  against  certain  classes  grows  more  and 
more  violent  until  in  the  so-called  Roman  de  charite,  by  Bai^ 
th^lemy  de  MoUiens  (thirteenth  century) ,  the  sombemess  of  the 
author's  picture  holds  out  little  hope  for  the  ideals  for  which  the 
Middle  Ages  once  stood. 


HENRI    d'ANDELI  83 

We  may  fittingly  close  this  section  on  didactic  literature  with 
a  glance  at  the  BataUle  des  sept  arts  (after  1235)  by  the  cele- 
Th  "  B  brated  trouvere,  Henri  d'Andeli.  In  form  this  work 
taUle  des  belongs  to  the  genre  of  verse-dispute  or  debat  de- 
sept  arts "  rived  from  late  Latin  literature.  A  typical  example 
is  the  Debat  de  I'hiver  et  de  Pete,  which  embodies  the  im- 
memorial theme  of  the  conflict  of  the  seasons.  The  appellation 
bataille  —  and  there  are  other  works  of  this  name  —  was  inspired 
by  the  Psychomachia  of  the  poet  Prudentius  (fourth  century), 
in  which  a  battle  of  the  virtues  and  vices  is  narrated.  But 
Henry's  poem  transcends  the  limits  of  a  mere  genre.  Henry  is 
one  of  the  enlightened  spirits  of  the  thirteenth  century.  He  has 
individuality,  grasp  and  variety  of  idea,  and  skill  in  statement. 
Like  the  later  seventeenth  centm-y,  the  medieval  period  had  its 
quarrel  as  to  the  relative  merits  of  the  ancients  and  moderns. 
It  was  Henry's  distinction  to  stand  up  for  the  classics  and  de- 
fend Orleans  against  Paris,  where,  he  says,  "  students  care  for 
naught  except  to  read  books  on  nature": 

Et  li  arcien  n'ont  mes  cure 
Lire  fors  livres  de  nature. 

In  eight-syllable  couplets  Henry  marshals  the  representatives  of 
"  literature  "  [grammaire)  against  the  converts  to  "  dialectics  " 
(logique).  But  in  vain;  the  former  are  worsted,  and  the  poem 
closes  on  the  despairing  note  that  "  the  times  are  given  to  empti- 
ness "  and  only  a  new  generation  can  restore  culture  to  its  true 
status.  Henry  was  over-sanguine;  the  culture  he  had  in  mind 
had  to  await  the  appearance  of  Petrarch,  and  even  then  the  new 
humanism  made  its  way  slowly  in  France.  But  through  its 
emphasis  on  the  classics  Henry's  poem  heralds  the  Renaissance. 
From  every  point  of  view  it  is  a  cultural  docimient  of  the  first 
rank. 

No  picture  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  could  be 
complete  without  a  reference  to  the  vast  body  of  floating  contes, 
dits,  fabliaux  and  lais  in  which  the  age  delighted. 
Storiology  Moralizing  and  instructive,  or  purely  imaginative 
or  ironical,  these  stories  often  have  no  special  hall-mark,  are 
addressed  to  no  particular  class,  and  must  be  assigned  to  the  field 
of  general  European  folklore.    This,  however,  does  not  preclude 


84  HISTORY   AND    STORIOLOGY 

the  fact  that  many  such  tales  may  be  of  individual  French  inven- 
tion; nor  does  the  group  embrace  the  large  class  of  Oriental 
stories  which  came  into  Western  Europe  directly  through  the 
crusades  and  the  Saracen  domination  in  Spain. 

The  "  fable  "  and  the  romantic  lai  we  treated  above  (Chs.  II 
and  III).  As  for  the  fabliau  or  fablel,  it  is  defined  by "M. 
Bedier  as  a  "  conte  a  rire  en  vers."  The  shortest 
D^*  ^d c'^te  ^^^  eighteen  verses,  the  longest  thirteen  hundred. 
Essentially  anecdotes  by  nature,  the  fabliaux  are 
akin  to  the  gabs  or  boasts  which  are  told  in  some  forms  of  the 
Old  French  epic.  The  fabliau  of  Barat  et  Hairnet,  which  a 
certain  Jean  Bedel  set  to  verse  in  the  thirteenth  century,  has 
also  been  recorded  in  Armenia  and  Albania. 

Thus,  universal  and  perennial  as  stories,  the  fabUavx  flourished 
particularly  in  the  thirteenth  century,  when  they  supplanted  more 
and  more  the  lais  of  the  preceding  age.  Reflecting  the  ironic, 
bourgeois  spirit,  they  were  well  fitted  to  make  a  person  while 
away  an  idle  moment  on  a  long  journey  or  at  an  inn.  In  fact, 
one  of  the  most  amusing,  Les  deux  bordeors  (jesters)  ribauz, 
recounts  the  "  half -clumsy,  half-satiric  boasts  of  two  members 
of  the  order,  who  misquote  the  titles  of  their  repertoire,  make 
by  accident  or  intention  ironic  comments  on  its  contents  "  and 
thus  show  that  their  wit  cuts  both  ways. 

In  short,  the  fabliau  ridicules  society.  It  is  brief,  to  the  point, 
and  effective.  It  strikes  at  the  priestly  class,  as  title  after 
title  shows,  dethrones  the  lofty  heroine  of  romance,  and  pictures 
the  "  real  and  practical,  not  the  ideal  or  sentimental."  One  of 
the  earliest  and  best  examples  of  the  genre  is  Richeut.  This  is 
the  story  of  a  courtesan  who  together  with  her  son  and  servant 
plies  her  unsavory  trade  among  various  classes  and  in  this  way 
furthers  her  own  and  her  offspring's  career.  Certain  traits  re- 
mind the  modern  reader  of  Manon  Lescaut  —  except  that  the  \m- 
known  author  is  neither  a  sentimentalist  nor  a  cynic  but  a  cool 
observer  of  brutal  fact.  Most  fabliaux,  however,  deal  less  with 
a  situation  than  with  a  traditional  theme.  Such  is  the  so-called 
Lai  d'Aristote,  by  Henri,  d'Andeli,  which  repeats  the  age-old  plot 
of  the  scholar  duped  by  a  woman;  or  the  Vilain  Mire,  which 
furnished  the  basis  of  Molike's  comedy,  Le  Midecin  malgre  M; 
or  Le  Mali  qui  fist  sa  femme  confesse,  whence  La  Fontaine  ex- 


FABLIAUX   AND    EXEMPLA  85 

traoted  his  Chevalier  confessew,  and  so  on.  Thus  by  means 
of  the  fabliau  the  "  real  world "  in  the  Middle  Ages  jostles 
and  elbows  the  courtly  and  the  fanciful.  Many  a  story  of 
Boccaccio  is  but  a  fabliau  retold;  and  how  lacking  in  contrasts 
would  be  the  Canterbury  Tales  if  Chaucer  had  not  seen  fit  to 
make  use  of  the  genre! 

But  not  all  fabliaux  are  ironical  or  satirical.  Or  rather  the 
genre  is  not  always  distinguishable  from  the  dit  and  the  conte. 
The  dit,  in  particular,  is  supposed  to  point  a  moral  lesson.  It  is 
characteristic  of  all  these  compositions,  however,  that  they  deal 
with  "  ordinary  life  "  and  are  to  the  point.  Thus  La  Housse 
partie  ("  The  Saddlecloth  Divided  into  Portions  ")  —  a  fabliau  — 
has  an  ethical  purpose;  namely,  to  show  the  dangers  of  filial  in- 
gratitude- A  special  class  is  perhaps  the  contes  divots,  similar 
in  spirit  to  the  pious  Miracles  (in  this  case,  legends)  de  la  sainte 
vierge  by  Gautier  ^e_Coincy.  Such  a  one  is  the  Dit  dou  vrai 
aniel  ("  The  Parable  of  the  True  Ring") ,  an  eastern  tale  retold  by 
Boccaccio  and  later  embodied  in  Lessing's  drama,  Nathan  der 
Weise;  or  the  charming  Tombeor  Nostre  Dame,  which  Mas- 
senet has  put  into  opera.  In  the  first  of  these  the  theme  is 
philosophical ;  in  the  second  it  is  lyric  —  in  the  best  sense. 

Finally,  the  edifying  spirit  reigns  in  the  Latin  exempla  or 
parables  with  which  the  medieval  preacher  embellished  his  ser- 
The  Exempla  mons.  These  are  mainly  of  Arabic  —  indirectly, 
and  Oriental  of  Sanskrit  —  origin  and  are  preserved  in  such  col- 

**  lections  as  that  of  Jacques  de  Vitry  (before  1240) 

or  the  Disciplina  clericalis,  mentioned  above.  The  Arabian 
Nights  did  not  reach  France  until  the  eighteenth  century,  yet  the 
Oriental  plan  of  setting  a  group  of  stories  in  a  framework  is 
found  as  early  as  1155  in  the  Roman  des  sept  sages  —  which 
existed  in  a  host  of  European  versions.  This  work  was  planned 
to  set  forth  certain  traits  which  the  Brahmins  thought  youth 
should  guard  against.  Here  a  young  prince  is  rescued  from  the 
treachery  of  his  step-mother  by  seven  wise  men,  each  of  whom 
delays  the  prince's  execution  by  telling  a  story.  In  a  similar 
way,  an  account  of  the  Buddha,  turned  into  a  Christian  Greek 
legend  in  the  sixth  century,  found  its  way  into  Latin  and  thence 
into  French.  Of  this  Barlaam  et  Josaphat  there  are  three 
French  rimed-versions   (the  last  about  1250),  which  tell  how 


86  HISTORY   AND    STORIOLOGY 

Barlaam  converts  Josaphat  (originally  the  Buddha)  to  Chris- 
tianity, largely  through  the  influence  of  Oriental  stories  skill- 
fully adapted  for  the  purpose. 

Here  our  sketch  of  medieval  storiology  ends.  As  to  form,  be 
it  noted  that  by  the  fifteenth  century  the  French  verse-tale  dis-. 
appears,  on  the  one  hand,  into  the  prose  conte,  and  on  the  other, 
into  the  farce,  a  type  of  the  drama.  The  Cent  Nouvelles  nouvelles' 
(1461)  show  the  influence  of  the  Italian  novella  and  are  the 
direct  forerunners  of  our  modern  short-stories.  As  we  observed 
in  the  case  of  the  Flamenco  (Ch.  II),  the  Provengals  had  used 
the  word  novas  for  narrative  fiction,  but  without  any  distinction 
between  its  longer  and  its  shorter  forms. 


mt(Cc  maniarcefiutaiie  caU} 


Illustration  from  Froissart's  Chroniques   (Fifteenth  Century  Manuscript) 


BOOK   II 
THE  BOURGEOIS  INFLUENCE 

CHAPTER  I 

THE    LYRIC    POETS    OF    THE    SCHOOL    OF 
MACHAUT   AND    DESCHAMPS 

We  have  now  come  to  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries, 
which,  as  we  noted  above  (Bk.  I,  Ch.  I) ,  represent  the  Middle 
French  period,  as  distinguished  from  the  Middle  Ages  proper. 

Politically  this  was  an  age  of  hesitation,  not  to  say,  of  dis- 
integration. The  Valois  princes,  who  came  to  the  throne  in 
The  Middle  ^^^^'  ^^^^  *^^  trappings  of  chivalry,  but  their  love 
French  of  display  and  luxury  is  out  of  all  keeping  with  the 

Period  j.ga,l  misery  of  the  times.    The  retinue  of  minor  kings 

and  nobles  surrounding  them  is  often  brilliant;  especially  in  such 
persons  as  John  of  Luxemburg  who,  though  ruler  of  Bohemia, 
kept  open  house  in  Paris,  where  his  gaiety  became  proverbial. 
The  fact  is  that  feudalism  is  tottering,  and  such  examples  are 
prophetic  of  its  fall.  The  political  security  it  once  gave  is  lost 
in  the  Hundred  Years'  War  (between  France  and  England) ,  and 
as  in  the  case  of  Froissart,  "  fealty  "  has  become  a  matter  of 
convenience,  to  be  treated  lightly  according  to  one's  self-interest. 
The  great  nobles  still  respond  to  the  glamour  of  feudal  life,  but 
they  have  long  wearied  of  its  obligations.  The  terrific  struggle 
(1405-1421)  for  the  control  of  the  crown,  between  Louis  of 
Orleans  and  John  Without-Fear,  of  Burgundy,  is  indicative  of 
this  fact.  At  last  the  monarchy  is  forced  to  seek  other  means 
of  support;  and  these  it  finds  in  the  great  cities  among  the 
rapidly  rising  merchant  class;  Here  Artois  and  Flanders,  cen- 
ters of  the  textile  arts,  Lyons  at  the  head  of  the  Rhone  Valley, 
and  Rouen  with  the  commerce  of  the  Seine  at  her  feet,  were  of 

87 


88  THE    LYRIC    POETS 

great  importance.  With  an  instinct  close  to  genius,  Louis  XI 
(1461-1483)  worked  for  the  future  of  France  by  his  control  of 
the  feudal  barons.  And,  finally,  with  the  Renaissance,  when 
national  unity  is  achieved,  its  mainstay  is  an  enterprising  and 
self-reliant  bourgeoisie. 

The  effect  of  this  period  on  literature  is  reactionary  rather  than 
progressive.  Here  and  there  the  gleam  of  a  new  humanism 
shines  forth,  especially  during  the  reign  of  Charles  V,  in  the 
works  of  Pierre  Berguire  and  Nicolas  Oresme,  in  imitations  of 
Boccaccio  and  to  a  less  degree  of  Petrarch.  But,  in  the  main, 
the  attempts  at  innovation  are  abortive  or  in  any  case  super- 
ficial; and  the  older  literary  forms  continue,  mannered  and  flam- 
boyant in  response  to  Italian  and  Flemish  influences,  but  other- 
wise changing  little.  One  fact,  however,  is  noteworthy.  The 
great  lord  who  has  his  own  library,  and  the  bourgeois  now  a 
client  of  the  jongleur,  insist  on  the  portrayal  of  their  opinions  and 
their  emotions;  and  these  are  anything  but  poetic.  The  result 
is  a  sharp  contrast  between  form  and  thought;  the  poets  consiune 
their  efforts  in  seeking  new  and  striking  effects,  and  to  represent 
an  idea  by  the  image  most  foreign  to  it  becomes  the  rule  of  rvdes. 
A  Songe  du  Vergier  clothes  a  treatise  on  politics;  Le  roi  Modus 
et  la  reine  Racio  is  a  manual  on  falconry.  Hence,  most  of  the 
poetry  is  a  labyrinth  of  allegory  framed  to  a  purpose  for  which 
it  was  never  intended.  And  it  is  significant  that  the  art  of 
poetry  —  the  technique  of  which  now  becomes  the  serious  con- 
sideration of  the  jmys  (see  above)  —  is  officially  termed  rheto- 
rique  and  the  poet  assumes  the  ominous  name  of  a  faiseur.  In 
this  way,  the  formal  elements  of  the  Middle  Ages  survived  long 
after  the  time  when  the  spirit  that  produced  them  had  fled. 

Meanwhile,  the  French  language  itself  is  undergoing  a  marked 
change.  Many  learned  words  derived  from  the  classics  come 
to  enrich  the  vocabulary.  Not  at  once,  but  certainly  by  the 
close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  feminine  e  ceases  to  be  soimded 
before  other  vowels:  veu  is  reduced  to  vu;  further,  the  diph- 
thong oi  acquires  the  sound  of  we  or  e  or  wa,  and  most  of  the 
final  consonants  become  silent.  Above  all,  the  language  loses 
all  but  the  last  vestage  of  case-forms  in  the  merging  of  the 
nominative  and  the  oblique  (thus  on  and  homme,  both  derived 
from  Latin  homo,  continue  not  as  separate  cases  but  as  distinct 


MACHAUT  89 

words) ;  and  the  sentence  structure  of  Modern  French,  less 
flexible  but  far  clearer  than  that  of  Old  French,  is  inaugurated. 
In  short,  the  fourteenth  and  the  fifteenth  centuries  are  the 
bridge  between  the  Middle  Ages  and  the  Renaissance,  between 
the  age  of  faith  and  the  age  of  reason.  On  the  political  and  cul- 
tural side,  the  period  is  marked  by  the  decay  of  feudalism  and  by 
the  rise  of  the  township  and  the  bourgeois  spirit.  Intellectually, 
the  beginnings  of  humanism  are  apparent;  sporadically,  however, 
and  then  only  as  a  veneer.  As  for  literature,  it  flows  prevail- 
ingly in  the  former  channels;  where  there  is  a  revival,  as  in  the 
lyric,  the  tendency  is  toward  a  polished  and  involved  form  — 
the  ballade  and  the  rondeau  are  supreme,  like  the  sonnet  later 
on  —  and  poetic  expression  is  artificial,  complicated,  or  only 
"  graceful," '  like  the  Gothic  architecture  of  the  time.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  point  of  view  is  more  and  more  personal  and 
autobiographic,  and  as  regards  the  one  genius  of  the  age,  Fran- 
5ois  Villon,  it  is  strikingly  modern. 

The  founder  of  the  poetic  school  of  the  fourteenth  century  is 
Guillaume  de  Machaut  (about  1300-1377).  In  acknowledging 
this  fact,  we  need  not  go  the  length  of  Rene  of  Anjou, 
who  gave  him  a  place  above  Petrarch  and  Boccaccio, 
although  Chaucer's  imitation  of  him  in  the  Book  of  the  Duchess 
is  in  itself  high  praise.  He  was  born  in  Champagne  and  early 
entered  the  service  of  John  of  Luxemburg,  who  took  him  to  Ger- 
many, Austria,  Italy  and  even  Russia.  After  John's  death  on 
the  field  of  Crecy,  Guillaume  found  a  new  patron  in  the  Dauphin, 
the  future  Charles  V,  and  had  leisure  for  literature.  Others  who 
supported  his  pen  were  Charles  of  Navarre,  for  whom  he  wrote 
a  Jugement  and  the  Confort  d'ami,  and  the  famous  Pierre  de 
Lusignan,  whose  exploits  he  celebrated  in  the  Prise  d'Alexandrie. 
But  Guillaume's  true  vein  lay  in  the  shorter  genres,  the  bal- 
lade and  the  lyric  lai.  Artificial  as  these  are  in  his  treatment, 
their  preciosity  is  redeemed  by  the  alliance  of  verse  to  music, 
a  feature  which  Guillaume  developed,  and  by  marked  dexterity 
in  the  detail  of  expression.  In  the  Livre  du  voir-dit  (about 
1363)  Guillaume  has  collected  the  best  of  his  lyric  experience. 
Made  up  of  the  shorter  forms,  such  as  ballades,  lais,  rondels, 
this  work  purports  to  be  the  amorous  exchange  of  the  aging  poet 


90  THE    LYRIC    POETS 

and  the  young  and  charming  Peronelle  d'Annentieres.  In  fact, 
the  work  has  been  called  the  "  journal  amoureux  du  quatorzieme 
siecle,"  but  for  all  that  the  exchange  may  have  been  a  poetic 
fiction.  In  any  case,  the  Voir-dit  reveals  to  perfection  the  gal- 
lant love-making  of  the  time.  Guillaume  plays  gracefully  with 
his  passion  until  the  inevitable  happens:  Peronelle  deserts 
him  for  another,  and  the  poet  consoles  himself  with  an  avowal 
of  friendship.  Thus  the  work  has  the  outward  semblance  of  a 
novel. 

Guillaume's  best  remembered  short  poem  is  probably  the 
following  rondel  or  triolet: 

Blanche  com  lys,  pius  que  rose  vermeille, 
Resplendissant  com  rubis  d'oriant, 
En  remirant  vo  biaute  non  pareille, 
Blanche  com  lys,  plus  que  rose  vermeille, 
Suy  si  ravis  que  mes  cuers  toudis  veille 
Afin  que  serve,  a  ley  de  fin  amant, 
Blanche  com  lys,  plus  que  rose  vermeille, 
Resplendissant  com  rubis  d'oriant. 

White  as  a  lily,  rosier  than  the  roses  red, 
Outshining  far  the  ruby  of  the  East! 
To  see  your  peerless  beauty  being  led  — 
White  as  a  lily,  rosier  than  the  roses  red  — 
So  charmed  am  I  straightway  my  heart  is  sped 
Humbly  to  serve  you  where  true  love  holds  feast. 
White  as  a  lily,  rosier  than  the  roses  red. 
Outshining  far  the  ruby  of  the  East! 

Guillaume's  pupil  and  friend  was  Eustache  Deschamps  (about 
1340-1405),  who  bewailed  the  former's  death  in  harmonious 
Descliamps      words : 

Tons  instrumens  I'ont  complaint  et  ploure, 
Musique  a  fait  son  obseque  et  ses  plours, 
Et  Orpheus  a  le  cors  enterre. 

Deschamps,  who  wrote  some  eleven  hundred  ballades,  was  the 
lawgiver  of  the  school  and  composed  an  Art  de  dictier  et  fere 
chansons,  etc.,  the  first  treatise  of  its  kind  (in  French)  that  has 
come  down  to  us.  Yet  he  differed  much  from  Guillaume  in 
character  and  temperament.    A  frequenter  of  taverns  and  the 


DESCHAMPS    AND    FROISSART  91 

common  people,  Eustache  had  an  aversion  for  the  rich  and  high- 
placed.  This  attitude  led  him  to  write  a  Mirair  de  mairiage  in 
which  he  jeers  at  women  and  the  abuses  of  the  courtly  world. 
But  he  was  not  courageous  enough  to  abjure  the  artificiality 
of  verse  and  write  in  the  more  suitable  medium  of  prosiC. 
Deschamps  lacked  taste,  and  voluminous  as  his  output  was,  it  is 
often  dull  and  incoherent.  At  the  same  time,  he  is  capable  of 
occasional  lapidary  effects  and  a  manly  and  personal  accent 
that  does  him  credit.  He  stood  in  persona,!  relations  with 
Chaucer,  to  whom  his  sturdy  character  appealed  and  to  whose 
genius  Deschamps  does  homage  in  a  well-known  ballade,  with^ 
the  refrain: 

Grant  translateur,  noble  Geoffrey  Cbaucier. 

Another  poet  whom  Chaucer  imitated  is  Froissart.  Justly 
famous  for  his  prose  Chroniques  (see  above,  Bk.  I,  Ch.  IV), 
Froissart  also  composed  various  light  forms  of 
verse,  as  well  as  the  Paradis  d' amour  —  the  work 
which  Chaucer  used  —  and  the  tiresome  Arthurian  romance, 
Meliador.  Passing  through  Avignon,  he  was  stupid  enough  to 
allow  himself  to  be  robbed  of  two  florins  given  him  by  Gaston 
de  Foix.  This  untoward  event  he  bewails  gracefully  in  the  Dit 
dou  florin,  which  thus  remains  a  good  index  of  his  lighter  verse. 
A  courtier  by  instinct,  Froissart  is  less  stilted  than  most  of  his 
contemporaries,  and  he  achieves  greater  unity  of  thought  and 
expression.  One  of  his  characteristic  rondels  —  On  doit  le  temps 
ensi  prendre  qu'il  vient  —  has  been  charmingly  translated  by 
Longfellow: 

Take  time  while  yet  it  is  in  view. 
For  fortune  is  a  fickle  fair: 
Days  fade,  and  others  spring  anew; 
Then  take  the  moment  still  in  view. 
What  boots  to  toil  and  cares  pursue? 
Each  month  a  new  moon  hangs  in  air. 
Take,  then,  the  moment  still  in  view. 
For  fortune  is  a  fickle  fair. 

As  we  approach  the  fifteenth  century,  the  outstanding  figures 
in  poetry  are  Christine  de  Pisan,  Alain  Chartier  and  the  royal 
poet,  Charles  d'Orleans. 


92  THE    LYRIC    POETS 

Time  has  dealt  rudely  with  the  fame  of  Christine  de  Pisan. 
An  Italian  by  birth,  she  yet  was  once  considered  one  of  the 
Christine  glories  of  France.  In  general,  she  is  remarkable  for 
de  Pisan  her  knowledge  and  her  ideas,  and  the  tragedy  of 
her  life  again  and  again  infuses  her  writing  with  lyrical  feeling 
—  although  she  cdnnot  escape  the  allegorizing  fashion  of  her  age. 

Christine  was  born  in  Venice  (1364)  and  not,  as  her  name 
might  suggest,  in  Pisa  or  Pezzano.  Her  father,  Thomas  de 
Pezano,  a  scholar  of  Bologna,  took  his  family  to  France,  whither 
he  had  been  called  as  physician  and  astrologer  to  Charles  V. 
While  Charles  lived  the  family  fortunes  of  the  Pezanos  flourished, 
Christine  received  an  excellent  education  and  was  married  young 
and  advantageously  to  a  Picard  gentleman,  Estienne  de  Castel. 
But  fortune  plays  strange  tricks,  and  after  a  few  years  of  happi- 
ness Christine  lost  not  only  her  husband  and  her  father  but 
through  litigation  and  debt  much  of  her  property.  With  a 
fortitude  unusual  in  her  youth  and  sex,  she  braved  the  insolence 
of  law-courts  and  the  injustice  of  the  world,  and  rescued  what 
little  she  could  from  the  family  disaster.  Her  real  help,  and 
incidentally  her  consolation,  was  her  writing.  After  the  battle 
of  Agincourt  she  retired  more  and  more  from  the  world,  and 
finally  took  religious  orders.  She  died  in  1429,  shortly  after 
celebrating  in  song  Joan  of  Arc,  whose  triumph  she  had  lived 
to  see. 

Besides  her  early  lyrics  and  the  poems  in  which  she  defended 
her  sex  against  the  attack  of  Jean  de  Meun  (Bk.  I,  Ch.  Ill), 
Christine  left  three  poems  of  a  meditative  nature:  the  Mutacion 
de  Fortune,  the  Chemin  de  long  estude  and  a  so-called  Vision. 
She  also  wrote  a  prose  Life  of  Charles  V  for  his  successor,  in 
which  her  hero's  courage,  chevalerie  and  sagesse  are  proved  by 
illustration. 

All  of  these  works  (barring  perhaps  the  last)  have  a  marked 
personal  touch ;  a  good  part  of  them  indeed  is  out-and-out  auto- 
biography. Of  the  shorter  lyrics,  the  ballades,  forming  a  kind  of 
sequence  in  the  manuscripts,  are  among  the  best.  Note  the  bal- 
lade beginning: 

Seulete  sui  et  seulete  vueil  estre, 
Seulete  m'a  mon  douz  ami  laissiee; 
Seulete  sui,  sanz  compaignon  ne  maistre, 
Seulete  sui.  dolente  et  courrouciee, 


CHRISTINE   DE   PISAN  98 

Seulete  sui,  en  langueur  mesaisiee, 
Senlete  sui,  plus  que  nulle  esgar^e, 
Seulete  sui,  sanz  ami  demouree. 

Alone  am  I,  alone  I  wish  to  be, 

Alone  my  sweetest  friend  hath  left  me  here, 

Alone  am  I,  in  my  sole  company. 

Alone  in  sorrow  bent,  and  without  cheer. 

Alone  am  I  in  languorous  disgrace, 

Alone  far  more  than  wanderer  from  God's  grace, 

Alone,  without  a  friend,  the  world  I  face. 

Or  another,  which  reveals  Christine's  classical  reading: 

Ovid  relates  a  messenger  there  is 
Who  sleeping  bears  his  tidings  unto  men. 
Making  them  dream,  and  in  their  dreams,  I  wys. 
See  joy  and  sorrow  to  the  full  again,  etc. 

Taking  her  title  from  Dante  —  Vagliami  U  lungo  studio  — 
she  relates  in  the  Chemin  de  long  estude  how  Almathea,  the  Cu- 
mean  sibyl,  leads  her  after  various  wanderings  to  the  fifth 
heaven.  Thither  Earth  has  sent  a  messenger  to  ask  Reason 
where  the  perfect  man  can  be  found.  Nobility,  Riches,  Chivalry 
and  Wisdom  take  part  in  the  discussion,  and  the  question  ■ — 
unanswerable  as  it  is  —  is  left  for  a  decision  to  the  King  of 
France  to  whom  Christine  is  dispatched  as  an  ambassador. 
Thereupon  Christine  awakes  to  find  that  she  has  been  dreaming. 
The  other  two  philosophical  poems  are  of  the  same  general  char- 
acter as  the  first.  The  Mutadon  de  Fortune  throws  light  on  the 
author's  early  Jife  and  education,  while  the  third  part  of  the 
Vision,  inspired  largely  by  Boethius,  abounds  in  philosophizing 
on  life  and  stresses  a  strict  adherence  to  duty  as  the  only  road 
to  happiness. 

Thus  Christine's  traits  are  a  firm  grasp  of  moral  values,  a 
quick  and  broad  sympathy,  and  a  learning  quite  out  of  the  or- 
dinary. In  her  day  Christine  was  an  enlightening  force  wRich 
slowly  but  emphatically  cleared  the  way  for  the  Renaissance. 
Compared  to  this  "  virile  "  woman,  the  so-called  "  father  of 
French  letters  "  at  first  seems  a  weakling.  Son  of  a  bourgeois 
Alain  "^  Bayeux,  who  was  a  pillar  of  the  state,  Alain 

Chartier         Chartier  (1394-1440)   early  prepared  for  a  life  at 
court  and  for  literature.    In  the  Esperance  des  trois  vertus  he 


94  THE    LYRIC    POETS 

mentions  Homer,  Virgil,  Livy,  Horace,  Statius  and  Lucan.  To 
this  substantial  knowledge  must  be  added  Cicero  and  Seneca  — 
whose  vogue  Alain  began  —  and  among  the  modems,  Brunette 
Latini,  Dante  and  Boccaccio.  The  legend,  circulated  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  that  Margaret  of  Scotland,  finding  the  poet 
asleep,  kissed  the  lips  that  had  framed  such  beautiful  verse,  is 
probably  an  invention.  But  Alain  was  skillful,  and  besides 
maintaining  himself  in  the  royal  favor  —  Charles  VI  sent  him  on 
diplomatic  missions  —  he  wrote  in  the  court  manner- 

In  one  of  his  early  works,  the  Livre  des  quatre  dames,  each  of 
whom  had  lost  a  suitor  at  Agincourt,  Alain  shows  how  vapid  was 
the  period  in  its  hopeless  neglect  of  the  real  woes  of  France. 
Similarly,  the  Lay  de  Plaisance  and  the  famous  Belle  Dame  sans 
merci  reveal  the  same  indifference  to  the  horrors  wrought  by 
Orleanists  and  Burgundians.  It  has  often  been  said  that  this 
callousness  is  conventional.  In  any  case,  the  Belle  Dame  fulfills 
all  the  sophisticated  rules  of  gallantry.  Can  one  die  of  love? 
The  heartless  lady  thinks  not;  the  lover  dies  and  thus  disproves 
her  point.  Could  stilted  artifice  go  further?  Yet  the  poem 
was  translated  into  English  by  a  follower  of  Chaucer,  in  part 
as  follows: 

Full  oftentimes  to  speak  himself  he  pained, 
But  shamefasteness   and   drede  said   ever  nay, 
Yet  at  the  last,  so  sore  he  was  constrained 
When  he  full  long  had  put  it  in  delay, 
To  his  lady  right  thus  than  gan  he  say, 
With  dredeful  voice,  weeping,  half  in  a  rage; 
"  For  me  was  purueyed  an  unhappy  day, 
When  I  first  had  a  sight  of  your  visage!" 

Fortunately,  Alain's  fame  does  not  rest  on  his  verse.  It  was 
his  prose,  modeled  on  that  of  Seneca,  which  dazzled  his  contem- 
poraries and  made  him  a  classic  to  the  sixteenth  century. 
Among  other  admirers,  Etienne  Pasquier  speaks  of  "  les  mots 
dorez  et  belles  sentences  de  Maistre  Alain  Chartier."  Marot  also 
mentions  him  with  praise. 

Le  Quadrilogue  invectif  (1422)  is  the  most  important  of  Alain's 
prose  works.  The  three  estates,  the  nobility,  the  clergy  and  the 
people,  debate  with  France  on  the  crying  abuses  of  the  time. 
The  clergy,  acting  as  judge  between  the  other  orders,  is  particu- 


ALAIN   CHARTIER  95 

larly  severe  on  the  nobles  and  accuses  them  of  sacrificing  the 
country  to  their  own  lawlessness.  Alain's  style  is  grave,  periodic, 
sententious.  In  an  argument  rising  occasionally  to  eloquence  he 
preaches  the  destruction  of  feudalism  and  pleads  for  a  national 
army  in  which  royalty  and  people  shall  unite.  The  Quadrilogue 
is  the  earliest  work  to  treat  feudalism  unsparingly.  A  satire  on 
the  life  of  the  courtier,  Le  Curial,  is  less  convincing  in  its  invec- 
tive ;  but  the  Esperance  des  trois  vertus  —  composed  in  the  tenth 
year  of  Alain's  exile  from  the  capital  (1429),  whence  he  had 
been  driven  by  the  Burgundian  faction  —  again  strikes  a  clarion 
note.  Here  the  poet  blames  the  church  openly  for  her  temporiz- 
ing attitude:  the  triumph  of  evil  on  earth  is  to  a  large  extent  her 
work.  Nevertheless,  the  poet  is  confident  that  France  will  some 
day  rise  against  her  foes,  foreign  and  domestic,  and  crush  them. 
This  work,  in  which  prose  and  verse  are  intermingled,  contains 
some  of  Alain's  best  imitations  of  Seneca  and  approaches  the 
Tprose  oratoire  of  a  later  day. 

Within  this  book  of  my  thought 
The  tale  of  my  heart  is  related, 
The  grief  of  my  soul  can  be  sought 
With  tears  illuminated! 

So  sang  Charles  d'Orleans  (1391-1465),  the  last  exponent  of  the 
graces  and  refinements  of  chivalry.  His  life  falls  into  three 
Charles  periods  of  almost  equal  length.    The  son  of  Louis 

d'Orleans  of  Orleans  and  Valentine  of  Milan,  from  both  of 
whom  he  inherited  the  love  of  art  and  letters,  his  first  twenty- 
five  years  were  spent  amid  the  ruin  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War 
and  the  enmity  of  Burgundy  and  Orleans.  He  was  educated  at 
Blois  and  married  (at  the  age  of  fifteen)  his  cousin,  Isabella  of 
France,  the  widow  of  Richard  II  of  England.  In  1407  his 
father  was  murdered  at  the  instigation  of  John  Without-Fear, 
and  his  mother  and  his  wife  died  barely  a  year  after.  For  seven 
years,  with  the  aid  of  the  Armagnacs,  he  waged  continuous  war- 
fare against  the  Burgundian  faction,  relieved  by  occasional  but 
momentarjr  truces.  In  1415  he  was  captured  by  the  English  at 
Agincourt  and  taken  to  England  a  prisoner.  The  next  twenty- 
five  years  -f-  his  second  period  —  he  languished  in  captivity.  It 
was  then  that  most  of  his  poetry  was  written.    Releaised  on  con- 


96  THE    LYRIC    POETS 

dition  that  he  make  peace  with  Burgundy  —  and  the  grace  with 
which  he  accepted  these  terms  lives  in  the  words  he  addressed 
to  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy: 

Madame,  vu  ce  que  vous  avez  fait  pour  ma  delivrance, 
il  est  juste  que  je  me  rende  votre  prisomiier  — 

he  married  Marie  de  Cleves  and  settled  down  to  a  life  of  artistic 
enjoyment  at  Blois.  During  this,  his  third,  period  he  gave  to 
the  poetry  of  chivalry  a  brief  but  brilliant  afterglow,  and  he  died 
gladdened  by  the  thought  that  his  infant  son  was  destined  to 
mount  the  throne  of  France  as  Louis  XII. 

As  his  recent  biographer  points  out,  there  is  in  the  poetry  of 
Charles  d'Orleans.  a  note  that  recalls  at  once  Petrarch  and  Heine. 
Of  the  one  he  has  the  longing,  of  the  other  the  intimacy,  while 
he  has  the  tenderness  of  both.  But  he  undoubtedly  lacks  their 
penetration  and  force,  and  despite  his  own  experience  the  tragedy 
of  life  affected  him  little.  To  rank  him  with  Villon  —  his  con- 
temporary and  friend  —  is  to  compare  a  reed  with  an  oak. 

His  poems  fall  into  two  groups:  those  written  in  captivity  — 
of  which  a  number  were  translated  into  English  —  and  those 
composed  after  Charles'  retiu-n  to  France.    The  first  group,  the  ( 
so-called  Livre  de  la  Prison,  imitates,  in  narrative  interspersed  ' 
with  ballades,  the  allegory  of  the  Roman  de  la  Rose.  The  second,  . 
containing  the  standard  lyric  forms,  again  celebrates  "  love,"  ' 
but  it  also  represents  the  progress  of  the  poet's  experience:  daily 
occurrences,  anniversaries.  May-festivals,  and  so  on.    Charles 
excels  in  crystallizing  such  details,  in  making  the  fleeting  perma- 
nent.   The  famous,r(mdeaM.* 

Le  temps  a  laissie  son  manteau 
De  vent,  de  froidure  et  de  pluye, 

is  in  all  anthologies  and  has  been  beautifully  rendered  by  Andrew 
Lang: 

The  year  has  changed  his  mantle  cold 

Of  wind,  of  rain,  of  bitter  air; 

And  he  goes  clad  in  cloth  of  gold, 

Of  laughing  suns  and  seasons  fair; 

No  bird  or  beast  of  wood  or  wold 

But  doth  with  cry  or  song  declare 

The  year  lays  down  his  mantle  cold. 


CHARLES   D'ORLEANS  97 

All  founts,  all  rivers,  seaward  rolled, 
The  pleasant  summer  livery  wear. 
With  silver  studs  on  broidered  vair; 
The  world  puts  off  its  raiment  old. 
The  year  lays  down  his  mantle  cold. 

But  again,  Charles  was  indifferent  to  the  misery  of  his  time,  and 
charm  and  grace  are  the  main  assets  of  his  verse.  In  one  bal- 
lade, rather  freely  translated  by  Longfellow,^  the  longing  for 
France  is  at  least  genuine;  it  begins: 

En  regardant  vers  le  pays  de  France, 
Ung  jour  m'avint,  a  Dovre  sur  la  mer.  .  . 

By  a  singular  fate,  the  poems  of  Charles  d'Orleans  remained 
virtually  unprinted  until  the  seventeenth  century. 

1  8ee  Longfellow's  Poetry  of  Europe^ 


CHAPTER  II 

THE    UNIVERSITY    AND    THE  HUMANISM    OF 
THE    FOURTEENTH    CENTURY 

Amid  the  political  and  social  turmoil  of  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries  the  University  of  Paris  represents  one  of  the 
few  elements  of  stability.  In  upholding  the  medieval  point  of 
view  and  thus  assuming  more  and  more  a  reactionary  role,  it 
nevertheless  served  the  cause  of  learning  (see  especially  Oresme's 
vulgarization  of  Aristotle)  and  it  championed  the  rights  of  the 
people  against  the  nobles.  The  outstanding  figure  of  the  Uni- 
versity group  was  the  great  chancellor,  Jean  Gerson.  We  know 
him  already,  along  with  Christine  de  Pisan,  as  an  opponent  of 
Jean  de  Meun  in  the  "  grant  guerre  "  concerning  the  Roman  de 
la  Rose.  But  he  was  also  a  fighter  for  "  justice  against  political 
interests,  a  reformer  of  the  inner  life  of  the  church,  a  steadfast 
worker  for  church  unity,  and  —  above  all  —  the  greatest  religious 
writer  and  preacher  of  his  age  in  France."  ^  In  this  last  respect 
he  is  a  parallel  to  Bossuet. 

But  Gerson  had  his  intellectual  forbears,  and  with  these  we 
shall  deal  first.  An  important  scholar  and  translator  of  the 
Early  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  is  Pierre  Berguire. 

Humanists.  He  lived  for  a  while  at  Avignon  (1320-1340)  and 
there  met  Petrarch  in  retirement  at  Vaucluse.  Aptly  the  latter 
calls  him  "vir  insignis  pietate  et  litteris."  In  1342  Berguire 
was  busy  at  Paris  on  a  large  encyclopedia  in  three  parts:  the 
Reductorium,  Repertorium  et  Breviarium  morale.  He  then  be- 
came secretary  to  John  the  Good,  and  like  Vincent  de  Beauvais 
(the  translator  of  the  Legenda  aurea  and  other  widely-read 
books),  he  set  himself  the  task  of  translating  Livy  into  French. 
The  Rommans  de  Titus  Livius  (completed  in  1356) ,  as  the  title 
is,  deals  only  with  the  better  known  portions  of  Livy's  history. 
But  it  does  so  in  vivid,  forceful  language,  which  won  the  work 

•  D.  H.  Carnahan,  University  of  lUinois  Studies,  III,  p.  H. 


THE    AGE    OF    CHARLES   V  99 

readers  beyond  the  borders  of  France,  in  Spain  and  in  Italy. 
The  translation,  which  is  addressed  to  those  "  qui  vouldront 
savoir  I'art  de  chevalerie  et  prendre  exemple  aux  vertus  an- 
ciennes,"  is  still  strictly  medieval ;  at  the  same  time,  Roman  hero- 
ism is  exalted  and  a  differentiation  as  to  classical  traits  is  already 
apparent.  In  a  less  degree  than  Oresme,  but  to  a  considerable 
extent  certainly,  BerQuire  enriched  French  by  the  introductioil 
of  words  of  a  learned  character. 

The  greatest  impetus  to  learning,  however,  at  this  date  was 
given  by  the  circle  surrounding  Charles  V  (1364-1380),  justly 
surnamed  the  Wise.  Charles'  own  part  in  this  movement  was 
preeminently  that  of  a  Maecenas.  The  most  noteworthy  among 
those  he  encouraged  was  Nicolas  Oresme.  Of  Norman  birth, 
Oresme  studied  in  Paris  and  was  subsequently  maitre  and  grand 
mwitre  in  the  University;  in  1361  he  became  dean  of  the  Church 
of  Rouen,  and  in  1377  he  was  appointed  bishop  of  Lisieux.  An 
intimate  of  Charles,  he  yet  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  voicing  his 
own  convictions;  and  when  the  King  became  deeply  interested 
in  astrology  —  an  art  which  the  French  borrowed  from  the 
Arabians  —  he  had  the  boldness  to  write  Des  Divinations  (1370) , 
an  attack  on  the  futility  of  such  superstitions.  Encouraged  by 
the  King,  Oresme  was  the  first  to  translate  Aristotle  into  French 
—  to  be  sure,  from  a  Latin  version  derived  from  the  Arabic. 
Slight  as  is  the  merit  of  this  translation,  since  Oresme  wrote 
Latin  far  better  than  French,  the  work  was  an  innovation  and 
thus  paved  the  way  for  futiu-e  students  of  the  Stagirite.  Oresme 
himself  remarks  prophetically:  ''  Ou  temps  advenir  pourra  estre 
baillee  par  autres  en  frangoys  plus  clerement  et  plus  complecte- 
ment  "  —  a  criticism  which  we  admit  and  admire.  The  Latinism 
of  his  style,  in  which  such  words  as  industrie,  cure,  fortitude,  con- 
stance,  architectoniqv£  occur,  is  indicative  of  a  new  strain  in  the 
language  and  shows  that  humanism,^  astir  in  Italy,  is  having 
some  effect  in  France. 

One  writer,  but  only  one,  is  indeed  frankly  humanistic.  This 
is  Jean  de  Montreuil  (1354^-1418) ,  secretary  to  Charles  VI  and  to 
the  Dukes  of  Burgundy  and  Orleans.  Although  his  writing  was 
mainly  Latin,  he  deserves  mention  here  because  of  his  defense 

*  On  humanism,  see  Part  II,  Bk.  I,  Ch.  I 


100        THE    UNIVERSITY   AND    HUMANISM 

of  Jean  de  Meun  against  the  attack  of  Christine  de  Pisan.  He 
also  undertook  various  embassies  for  Charles:  to  England,  to 
Germany  and  to  Italy.  Later,  in  1418,  he  fell  a  victim  to  the 
fury  of  Armagnacs  because  he  refused  to  flee  from  Paris.  What 
characterizes  him,  however,  in  both  his  life  and  his  writings  is 
his  overt  paganism.  He  inscribed  the  ten  laws  of  Lycurgus  on 
the  portico  of  his  house  in  bold  defiance  of  the  church.  Thus  he 
presents  the  dilemma  of  the  Renaissance:  divided  between  faith 
and  reason. 

This  brings  us  back  to  Gerson,  who  admitted  the  need  of 
greater  enlightenment,  especially  as  regards  justice,  but  found  the 
jgjm  solvent  for  the  conflicting  currents  of  the  age  in  the 

Gerson  Universal  Church.    Jean  Le  Charlier  was  a  native 

of  Gerson  in  Champagne  (1363)  — hence  the  name.  Of  peasant 
stock,  he  had  it  in  him  to  enter  the  College  de  Navarre  and  work 
his  way  to  the  doctorat  en  theologie  (1392).  He  then  taught 
theology  and  became  court  preacher  to  Charles  VI.  In  1395  he 
succeeded  his  former  teacher,  Pierre  d'Ailly,  in  the  chancellorship 
of  the  University  of  Paris.  In  this  role  he  became  conspicuous 
as  a  reformer  and  a  thinker,  and  his  eloquence  appeared  in 
the  great  number  of  brilliant  sermons  which  bear  his  name.  But 
the  "  great  schism  "  in  the  Church  (1378-1449)  was  a  source  of 
deep  sorrow  to  this  ardent  unifier;  further,  the  courageous 
part  he  played  in  having  the  University  condemn  the  murder  of 
the  Duke  of  Orleans  made  his  position  as  chancellor  difficult. 
After  the  Council  of  Constance  he  went  into  voluntary  exile  in 
Austria,  and  his  last  years  were  spent  in  meditation  at  Lyons. 
He  died  in  1429,  when  the  clouds  hung  heavily  over  France. 

Gerson  united  in  his  work  the  subtlety  of  scholasticism  and 
the  qualities  of  a  brilliant  but  somewhat  uneven  orator.  His 
masters  were  Saint  Bernard,  of  whom  he  had  the  simplicity; 
Saint  Bonaventura,  whose  conciliating  and  mystical  theology 
was  more  to  his  liking  than  the  more  abstruse  thinking  of  Thomas 
Aquinas;  and  Cicero,  who  was  his  model  in  style.  His  great  traits 
are  sincerity,  simplicity  of  language,  and  a  profound  love  of  the 
people.  Was  not  Christ  a  carpenter's  son  and  he,  Gerson,  the 
son  of  a  peasant?  Thus  he  encouraged  teaching  in  French  and 
sought  to  make  truth,  as  he  saw  it,  accessible  to  all. 

Some  sixty  of  his  sermons  are  extant  in  their  French  forms. 


GERSON  101 

Many  of  these  have  the  devices  of  the  medieval  genres.  A  ser- 
mon on  the  Immaculate  Conception  is  a  debat  between  Nature 
and  Grace;  another,  on  the  Sins,  is  a  bataille  des  vertus  et  des 
vices.  Allegory  of  course  is  frequent:  the  apostles  are  armed 
with  the  sword  of  true  wisdom  and  protected  by  the  shield  of 
faith,  and  so  on.  But  his  greatest  discours,  the  Vivat  Rex, 
delivered  before  the  King,  is  laden  with  classical  allusions.  Yet 
he  addresses  the  monarch  in  accents  as  bold  and  striking  as 
Bossuet's: 

Le  pauvre  homme  n'aura  pain  a  manger,  sinon  par  advanture 
aucun  peu  de  seigle  ou  d'orge;  sa  pauvre  femme  gerra,  et  auront 
quatre  ou  six  petits  enfans  au  fouyer,  ou  au  four,  qui  par  ad- 
vanture sera  chauld,  demanderont  du  pain,  crieront  a  la  rage  de 
faim.  ...  Or,  devroit  bien  sufBre  cette  misere  .  .  . 
viendront  ces  paillars  qui  chergeront  tout  .  .  .  tout  sera  prins 
et  happe;  et  querez  qui  paye. 

The  same  graphic  power  is  seen  in  the  famous  sermon  on  the 
Passion,  the  Ad  Deum  vadit,  delivered  before  the  court  in  1402. 
The  picture  Gerson  gives  of  the  streets  of  Jerusalem  as  Christ 
is  led  away  from  Pilate  is  so  vivid  that  the  reader  has  a  con- 
vincing impression  of  being  there  himself. 

Or  taking  the  Tractatus  contra  Romantium  de  Rosa,  written 
(in  1402)  in  the  form  of  a  "  vision,"  we  note  the  same  forceful 
traits  in  Gerson's  Latin  style: 

Quis  succendit  magnam  Trojam  crudeliter  igni  et  flamma? 
Stultus  amator.  Quis  turn  interire  fecit  plures  quam  centum 
miUe  Nobiles:  Hectorem,  Achillem,  Priamum,  et  alios?  Fatuiis 
amor.  Quis  expulsit  urbe  Tarquinium  Regem  et  ejus  sobolem? 
Fatuus  amor. 

Gerson,  somewhat  differently  from  Christine,  saw  in  the 
Roman  de  la  Rose  a  work  subversive  of  private  and  public 
morality;  in  fact,  in  his  Sermon  contre  la  luxure  (1399)  he  had 
condemned  the  poem  to  be  burnt.  Thus  to  him  ethical  standards 
outweigh  other  considerations,  and  he  challenges  those  who,  like 
Jean  de  Montreuil  and  Pierre  Col  —  canon  of  Paris  —  see  in 
Jean  de  Meun  the  apostle  of  freedom  and  social  betterment. 

In  short,  the  chancellor  remains  the  representative  of  his 
time :  a  traditionalist  with  a  sense  of  political  justice  and  an  en- 


102        THE    UNIVERSITY   AND    HUMANISM 

thusiasm  for  formal  learning  but  withal  a  subservient  son  of  the 
church.  On  the  whole,  he  retarded  the  enlightenment  of  the 
spirit  more  than  he  aided  it.  At  the  same  time,  his  champion- 
ship of  the  masses  and  his  cult  of  Cicero  were  not  without  sig- 
nificance. The  fifteenth  century  was  to  see  the  appearance  of 
the  printing  press.  Not  the  least  influence  of  this  abortive 
humanism  was  to  increase  the  reading  public,  by  making  new 
material  accessible  and  encouraging  the  use  of  French  for  erudite 
purposes.  Its  great  defect  is  that  it  also  inaugurated  la  verbo- 
cination  latiale  (the  abuse  of  Latinism) ,  from  which  both  prose 
and  poetry  were  to  suffer. 

It  must  not  be  thought,  however,  that  in  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries  the  University  of  Paris  enjoyed  the  literary 
Education  distinction  it  had  had  during  the  Old  French  period 
in  general  proper.  To  be  sure,  the  Sorbonne,  foimded  in  1250 
for  poor  students  in  theology,  continued  to  number  important 
persons  among  its  graduates,  and  the  College  de  Navarre,  its 
rival  in  importance,  fulfilled  as  in  the  case  of  Orseme  the  role  of 
providing  scholars  for  the  court.  Both  of  these  colleges  were 
to  maintain  their  hold  until  well  into  the  Renaissance;  while 
the  Sorbonne,  though  no  longer  a  church  institution,  is,  of  course, 
even  today,  an  important  part  of  the  University.  Nevertheless, 
as  we  saw  above,  in  1236  Henri  d'Andeli  bewailed  the  passing 
of  the  arts  students  in  Paris  and  the  increasing  attention  given 
to  logic  and  dialectics.  As  regards  education,  the  current  of  the 
thirteenth  century  was  in  the  direction  of  science.  Contact  with 
the  Orient,  and  especially  with  the  Mohammedan  world,  had 
spread  the  knowledge  of  Aristotle's  treatises  on  natural' phil- 
osophy, and  thus  the  "  New  Aristotle  "  became  the  controlling 
factor  in  educational  affairs.  Again  it  was  to  be  part  of  the 
work  of  the  Renaissance  to  dethrone  this  narrow  interpretation 
of  Aristotle  in  favor  of  Plato  and  the  Aristotle  of  the  Poetics. 
Thus,  one  emphasis  succeeds  another. 

On  the  whole,  then,  the  study  of  the  classics  declined  in  this 
period,  while  that  of  medicine  and  the  law  rose.  This  was  not 
true  of  all  French  universities;  the  southern  ones,  among  them 
Toulouse,  continued  to  have  a  lingering  regard  for  classical 
learmng.  But  the  decline  was  sufficient  to  enable  Petrarch  in  a 
letter  (1367)  to  Pope  Urban  V,  to  deride  the  French  "  as' bar- 


EDUCATION  103 

barians  among  whom  there  could  be  no  orators  or  poets."  The 
original  Seven  Arts  had  consisted  of  the  trivium,  that  is  gram- 
mar, rhetoric  and  dialectic;  and  the  quadrivium,  or  arithmetic, 
geometry,  astronomy  and  music.  This  was  the  program  of  the 
lesser  medieval  schools,  upon  which  the  university  was  built; 
either  by  elaborating  these  subjects,  as  for  instance  dialectic,  or 
by  adding  others,  such  as  law  or  theology.  After  the  stimulating 
twelfth  century,  the  general  development  was  as  follows:  for  the 
time  being  the  quadrivium  flourished  in  accordance  with  the  new 
interest  in  natural  philosophy  —  we  must  not  forget  that  Roger 
Bacon  was  a  student  at  Paris  before  1240;  then  this  influence 
lapsed,  and  the  subjects  of  the  trivium,  originally  connected  with 
the  classics  or  literature  proper,  were  cultivated  in  relation  to 
numerous  translations  from  the  Latin.  The  result  was  that 
granunar,  rhetoric  and  dialectic  became  ends  of  learning  in 
themselves,  quite  apart  from  the  subjects  to  which  they  were 
related. 

It  was  in  spite  of  the  trend  of  education,  therefore,  rather  than 
because  of  it,  and  then  only  in  sporadic  cases,  that  the  university 
formed  the  background  for  literary  and  artistic  inspiration  in 
the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries.  When  we  come  to  con- 
sider Rabelais,  we  shall  see  how  his  soul  rose  against  the  kind 
of  education  we  have  been  describing.  As  late  even  as  Des- 
cartes, medieval  pedantry  seems  to  have  retained  its  hold  on 
education. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    CYCLIC    DRAMA    AND    THE    FARCE 
OF   MAITRE    PATHELIN 

In  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centiiries  the  drama  had  been 
largely  a  product  of  the  literary  guilds  or  puys  (see  Bk.  I,  Ch. 
HI) .  During  the  fifteenth  century  it  passed  into  the  hands  of 
special  societies  known  as  confreries,  and  it  then  attained  its 
apogee  in  the  medieval  fonn.  As  a  popular  genre  the  drama 
now  takes  the  place  of  the  epic,  which  continues  to  be  written, 
but  in  prose  redactions,  based  on  the  earlier  chansons  and  in- 
tended more  and  more  for  the  "  reading  "  public. 

The  confrSries  were  not  what  we  should  today  call  profes- 
sional troupes,  but  companies  of  artisans  and  trades-people  de- 
voting their  Sundays  and  holidays  to  acting.  Weekday  per- 
formances were  unknown  xtntil  1597.  Serious  plays  were  of 
course  preferred.  Thus  in  1443  shoemakers  played  the  Mystere 
de  Saint  Crispin  et  Saint  Crispian,  and  in  1512  masons  and 
carpenters  performed  the  Mystere  de  Saint  Louis.  The  best 
known  of  such  societies  was  the  famous  Confrerie  de  la 
Passion,  mentioned  as  early  as  1380,  to  which  Charles  VI,  in 
1402,  gave  an  exclusive  privilege  for  Paris  and  its  environs. 
Here  it  flourished  until  1548,  when  Parliament,  unwilling  to 
tolerate  the  further  profanation  of  Holy  Writ,  suppressed  the 
mysteres  sacres.  But  this  dat^e  also  marks  the  purchase  —  by  the 
Confrerie  — of  the  Hotel  de  Bourgogne,  the  most  important 
Parisian  theater  during  the  hundred  years  that  followed,  and 
thus  the  beginning  of  the  modern  secular  stage. 

As  applied  to  a  dramatic  performance,  the  word  mystere  was 
first  used  at  Rouen  in  1374.  Henceforth  it  supplants  the  older 
The  terms  jeu  and  miracle.    Its  derivation  goes  back  to 

Mysteres  Greek  through  the  Latin  form  misterium  (indicating 
a   religious   origin),   although   Lat.   ministerium^    (" perfonn- 

'  Compare  the  Spanish  auto 
104 


THE    MYSTERY    PLAY  105 

ance ")  was  contaminated  with  it.  Except  for  the  moralite, 
which  is  a  dramatiaed  allegory,  the  name  mystere  came  to  em- 
brace all  forms  of  serious  drama,  sacred  as  well  as  secular. 

About  sixty  mysteres  are  extant  today.  Of  these  only  some 
twenty  treat  Biblical  subjects;  the  remainder  deal  with  the  lives 
of  saints  or  occasionally  an  important  secular  event,  such  as  the 
siege  of  Orleans  or  the  fall  of  Troy.  Beyond  the  central  event 
which  they  celebrate,  the  mysteres  have  no  particular  unity ;  in- 
deed, generally  their  parts  hang  together  loosely  like  rings  upon 
a  string;  for  example,  the  Passion  of  1431  is  composed  of  several 
distinct  plays.  The  majority  are  of  inordinate  length,  a  mystere 
by  the  brothers  Greban  having  some  sixty-two  thousand  lines. 
Like  the  epics,  they  fall  into  families  or  cycles,  according  as 
they  treat  the  Old  Testament,  the  New  Testament,  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles,  and  the  like.  Most  of  the  mysteres  are  in  eight- 
syllable  verse,  although  other  measures  are  also  found  and  short- 
stanza  forms,  like  the  triolet,  occur  in  the  lyric  passages  of  the 
text.  It  is  only  natural  that,  with  the  tendency  to  be  encyclo- 
pedic, the  author  of  a  mystere  should  vary  the  tone  of  his  com- 
position to  suit  the  situation  he  is  treating;  not  only  do  realistic 
details  abound  but  the  serious  dialogue,  consisting  of  scholastic 
and  moralizing  quips,  is  frequently  interrupted  with  interludes 
of  fun  and  satire  (see  the  farce).  Thus,  in  the  main,  it  is  the 
drama  that  epitomizes  the  real  life  of  the  time. 

In  order  to  visualize  such  a  dramatic  performance  in  the  fif- 
teenth century  the  reader  should  bear  in  mind  the  background  of 
town  and  city  life.  A  town  has  just  escaped  the  scourge  of  the 
Black  Death  and  its  citizens  in  a  burst  of  gratitude  celebrate 
the  event  by  giving  a  play.  This  was  the  case  in  1508  at  Ro- 
mans (Dauphine) ,  where  it  required  the  efforts  of  all  the  citizens 
and  an  outlay  equivalent  to  about  fifteen  thousand  francs  to  have 
a  mystere  performed,  and  even  then  the  preparations  took  some 
ten  months.  Or  the  visit  of  some  prince  or  potentate  is  expected 
and  the  town  welcomes  him  with  a  dramatic  performance.  In 
either  case,  the  representation  would  be  entrusted  to  the  con- 
frerie  or  directly  to  an  acteur  (author) ,  who  would  get  the  play 
ready  or,  if  need  be,  write  it.  It  took  Andrieu  de  la  Vigne  five 
weeks  to  write  the  twenty  thousand  lines  of  his  Vie  de  Saint 
Martin.    The  intention  of  giving  a  play  would  be  announced  to 


106  THE    CYCLIC   DRAMA 

the  town  by  a  popular  appeal,  called  cry;  and  when  the  play  was 
ready  the  festivities  would  begin  with  a  grand  parade  or  monstre 
through  the  city  streets.  As  the  performance  usually  lasted  sev- 
eral days,  the  plays  were  divided  into  journees  (in  place  of  acts) , 
each  journee  having  a  prologue  and  an  epilogue,  and  the  entire 
representation  concluding  with  a  Te  Deum,  in  which  the  public 
joined.  In  this  last  respect,  at  least,  the  liturgical  character 
was  preserved. 

In  preparing  such  a  show  considerable  attention  was  given 
to  the  scenery.  Since  the  representation  took  place  in  the  open 
air,  in  the  square  next  to  the  church  (see  Bk.  I,  Ch.  Ill),  or,  as 
at  Autun  and  Bourges,  in  an  amphitheater  seating  many  people, 
it  was  possible  to  depict  practically  the  whole  of  creation.  The 
manuscripts  show  that  the  stage  was  sxirrounded  by  various 
booths  or  mansions  representing  the  chief  places  of  the  action. 
Thus  a  miniature  of  the  Passion,  as  given  in  Valenciennes  in  1547, 
portrays  an  elaborate  set  of  structures,  which  represented  Para- 
dise, Nazareth,  the  Temple,  Jerusalem,  the  Palace  of  Pilate,  the 
House  of  Bishops,  the  Golden  Gate  (with  the  sea  in  front  of  it) , 
the  Limbo  of  the  Fathers,  and  Hell.  A  sign  or  esmtel  might 
be  attached  to  each  booth  stating  what  it  represented.  Es- 
pecially graphic,  of  course,  was  the  mansion  of  Hell,  since  this 
appealed  strongly  to  the  popular  imagination.  ! 

As  to  the  actors,  these  were  recruited  from  various  classes,  ' 
particularly  the  guilds.    The  female  parts  were  generally  taken 
by  men,  whereas  the  roles  that  amused  the  public  most  were  the 
"  devils,"  the  "  beggars  "  and  the  sot  or  fool.     An  important 
mystere  might  have  as  many  as  five  hundred  participants. 

It  follows  that  the  mystere  is  a  much  confused  genre.  Out- 
wardly it  was  a  kind  of  pageant,  with  as  strong  an  appeal  to  the 
eye  as  to  the  mind.  Unity  of  action,  in  our  modern  or  the  clas- 
sical sense,  is  of  course  lacking.  A  similar  freedom  exists  with 
respect  to  the  unities  of  time  and  place.  Since  the  genre  was 
popular  in  its  aim,  it  is  inevitable  that  few  mysteres  can  be  said 
to  rank  high  as  literature.  In  England  the  transcending  genius 
of  Shakespeare  built  his  theater  on  medieval  foundations.  But 
in  France,  although  the  tragi-comedy  of  the  sixteenth  century  is 
really  an  offspring  of  the  miracle  and  the  mystere,  the  Clas- 
sical drama  of  the  seventeenth  century  transforms  tragi-comedy 


THE    MYSTERY    OF    THE    PASSION  107 

by  conformity  to  Aristotelian  rule  and  precept.  With  all  this 
we  shall  deal  presently.  Meanwhile,  several  mysteres  deserve 
notice  here. 

Most  noteworthy  of  them  all  is  the  Mystere  de  la  Passion  by 
Amoul  Greban,  written  before  1452.    Greban  was  a  native  of  Le 
,,  Mans,  studied  in  Paris  and  later  held  a  post  at  the 

Passion  "  University,  while  also  acting  as  master  of  the  choir 
by  Gieban  ^oyg  of  Notre-Dame.  His  brother,  Simon,  was  like- 
wise a  plajrwright.  Indeed,  Marot  eulogizes  the  pair  for  their 
"  bien  resonnant  stile,"  and  as  late  as  1547  Du  Bellay  speaks  of 
them  as  "  divins  esprits."  In  later  life  they  collaborated  on  the 
Actes  des  Apotres,  performed  at  Bourges  in  1536.  What  dis- 
tinguishes the  Passion  is  the  framework  in  which  the  drama  is 
set.  The  action  itself  contains  nothing  to  stir  the  modern  reader; 
Christ,  the  central  figure  of  the  plot,  goes  willingly  to  his  fate, 
and  although  the  forces  that  oppose  him  are  vividly  portrayed, 
there  is  no  dramatic  conflict  in  the  accepted  sense  of  the  word. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  setting  is  skillfully  and  poetically  worked 
out.  This  consists  of  a  familiar  medieval  motif:  the  dispute  of 
four  virtues.  Justice,  Truth,  Peace  and  Mercy,  before  the 
throne  of  God,  as  to  the  fate  of  Man.  Mercy  makes  a  strong 
plea  for  human  salvation;  but  as  Wisdom  points  out,  this  can 
be  effected  only  through  the  sacrifice  of  God  Himself.  At  the 
close  of  the  drama  the  virtues  reassemble,  this  time  in  blissful 
concord;  Truth  embraces  Mercy,  and  Peace  makes  friends 
with  Justice.  As  Gaston  Paris  observes,  Arnoul  has  at  times 
"des  vers  bien  frappes,  des  elans  poetiques,  un  maniement 
heureux  du  rythme ";  but  more  often  he  is  stilted,  merely 
rhetorical  and  affected.  His  best  passages  are  undoubtedly 
those  in  which  he  forgets  his  lofty  theme  and  speaks  the  simple 
every-day  speech  of  the  common  folk  —  and  such  passages  on 
the  whole  are  rare.  In  its  totality  the  work  may  be  compared 
to  a  Flemish  painting  on  the  same  subject;  it  is  rich  in  color, 
grotesque  and  often  somber  in  detail,  heart-rending  in  some  of 
its  naive  pathos,  but  diffuse  in  concept  and  execution. 

Greban's  play  was  exceedingly  popular  —  indeed,  it  was  imi- 
tated four  times.  Of  these  reworkings,  that  by  Jean  Michel 
(about  1486)  —  physician  to  the  city  of  Angers  —  is  the  most 
celebrated.    Michel's  text  passed  through  fifteen  editions  and 


108  THE    CYCLIC    DRAMA 

was  oflScially  adopted  by  the  Confrerie  de  la  Passion,  thus  sup- 
planting its  own  more  illustrious  prototype. 

Two  well-known  mysteres  based  on  the  lives  of  saints  are 
the  Vie  de  Saint  Martin  and  the  Mystere  de  Saint  Louis. 
Q.,  _     The  author  of  the  former,  Andrieu  de  la  Vigne 

Biblical  (1457-1527),  was  the  court  poet  of  Charles  VIII,  in 

Mysteres  whose  honor  he  wrote  the  Vergier  d'honneur.  He  is 
also  known  by  his  ballades,  rondeaux  and  complaintes.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Basoche  (see  below)  and  composed  his  play 
in  1496  for  the  citizens  of  Seurre,  who  wished  thus  to  honor  their 
patron  saint.  In  Andrieu  piety  and  cynicism  mingle;  as  a 
curtain  raiser  to  the  mystere  he  produced  his  farce  of  Le 
Meunier,  which  is  one  of  the  most  licentious  works  of  the 
age.  The  Mystere  de  Saint  Louis  is  a  tour  de  force  by  the 
famous  Gringoire  or  Gringore,  whose  perplexing  figiu"e  Hugo 
has  revived  romantically  in  Notre-Dame  de  Paris.  We  shall 
hear  more  of  him  presently.  It  is  enough  to  note  now  that  in  this 
play  Gringoire  did  not  do  himself  justice;  not  only  is  his  account 
of  Louis  IX  drawn  from  inferior  sources  but  the  play  itself  is 
dull  and  platitudinous,  at  least  to  modern  ears. 

Far  superior  to  the  preceding  are  two  extant  secular  mysteres: 
the  Siege  d'Orleans  and  the  Destruction  de  Troie  la  grant.  The 
first,  begun  before  1439,  is  of  unknowui  authorship  and  celebrates 
in  dignified,  patriotic  accents  the  tragedy  of  Joan  of  Arc;  in 
addition,  it  is  interesting  because  of  its  reference  to  John  Falstaff , 
"the  worthy  knight,"  a  character  whom  Shakespeare  was  at 
once  to  ridicule  and  to  embellish.  The  second,  by  Jacques 
Millet,  a  law-student  of  Orleans,  composed  about  1450,  was 
intended  chiefly  for  reading.  Millet's  main  source  was  Guide 
delle  Colonne  (see  above) ,  whose  Troy  legend  he  treats  in  true 
medieval  fashion,  exalting  the  bravery  of  the  Trojans  and  under- 
scoring the  perfidy  of  the  Greeks.  The  use  of  musical  interludes 
m  this  play  is  probably  an  innovation.  Curious,  too,  is  the 
name  of  transgredie  (tragedy)  which  Millet  gives  to  his  work. 

Dealing  directly  with  every-day  life,  comedy  in  France  was 
less  subject  than  tragedy  to  classical  influences  and  therefore 
Types  of  presents  a  more  continuous  history  from  the  Middle 
Comedy  Ages  down  to  the  present.    This  is  especially  true 

of  its  dominant  form,  the  farce.    Moreover,  like  tragedy,  comedy 


MEDIEVAL    COMEDY  109 

owea  little  as  regards  origin  to  the  drama  of  antiquity. 
Medieval  society  possessed  the  means  to  develop  the  comic  in 
all  its  satire  and  irony;  for  this  the  playwright  found  ample 
provision  in  the  licence  of  the  lower  classes  and  their  hatred  of 
the  powerful  and  great.  Besides,  the  "  comic  spirit "  —  that 
readiness  to  contrast  the  exaggerated  and  imnatural  with  hard 
common  sense  —  is  one  of  the  inborn  and  abiding  traits  of  the 
Gallic  race. 

It  is  customary  to  divide  medieval  comedy  into  farces,  sotties 
and  moralites,  although  the  last  class  is  more  often  serious  than 
truly  comic.  As  its  name  implies,  the  farce  (meaning  "  stuffing  ") 
is  a  comic  interlude  placed,  between  the  parts  of  a  mystere  in 
order  to  vary  the  intellectual  diet  of  the  audience  at  the  oppor- 
tune moment.  In  spirit  it  is  akin  to  the  fabliau,  the  aim  being 
to  amuse  at  the  expense  of  the  characters  shown.  Ethics  is 
thus  the  weakest  side  of  the  farce,  which  is  "  moral  "  only  in  the 
French  sense  that  it  may  be  psychologically  true  to  life.  The 
sottie,  which  takes  its  name  from  the  fact  that  the  performers 
were  sots  or  fools,  serves  the  more  definite  purpose  of  political 
satire.  And  the  moralite,  a  dramatized  allegory  like  the  well- 
known  English  Everyman,  could  be  either  constructively  moraliz- 
ing or  merely  cynical;  its  purpose,  like  that  of  the  sottie,  was 
often  political. 

The  two  Parisian  societies  that  played  comedy  were  the 
Basoche  and  the  Enfants  sans  Souci.  In  other  cities  there  were 
similar  groups,  such  as  Comards  at  Rouen,  who  continue 
until  the  time  of  Corneille.  The  members  of  the  Basoche  (from 
the  Latin  basilica)  were  clerks  of  the  Parisian  law  court  or  Par- 
liament. They  were  well  organized,  possessed  such  special  priv- 
ileges as  that  of  coining  a  kind  of  money  (tokens) ,  and  on  Shrove 
Tuesday  held  a  feigned  lawsuit,  called  cause-grasse.  Their 
repertory  was  limited  to  moralites  and  farces,  although  the  Cry 
de  la  Basoche  (1548)  is  the  only  extant  play  that  can  be  attrib- 
uted to  them  with  certainty.  The  sottie  was  the  specialty 
of  the  Enfants  or  Gallants  sans  Souci,  who  as  fools  or  sots 
paraded  about  in  parti-colored  costume  with  cap  and  bells.  At 
the  head  of  this  company  stood  the  Prince  des  Sots,  and  about 
equal  in  importance  was  La  Mere  Sotte,  a  post  worthily  filled 
by  Gringoire  —  in  the  words  of  a  contemporary: 


110  THE    CYCLIC    DRAMA 

Robert  Porcin  devers  Auxerre 
Bien  scet  coucher  sa  rithme  en  serre; 
Mere  Sotte  appele  Gringoire 
Est  dit  docteur  en  cest  affaire.* 

This  type  of  organization  was  popular  also  in  the  provinces;  in 
Dijon  it  bore  the  motto:  Stultorum  numerus  est  infnitus  {"  The 
number  of  fools  is  unlimited  ") ,  of  which  the  implication  is  clear. 
An  excellent  idea  of  the  scope  of  medieval  comedy  is  ob- 
tained from  Gringoire's  Jeu  du  prince  des  sots,  produced  at 
"the  Halles  in  Paris  in  1512.  Pierre  Gringoire  or 
Gringoire  Qringore  (about  1475-1539)  was  of  Norman  descent, 
and  in  spite  of  various  attempts  to  regard  him  as  the  Villon  of 
the  French  stage,  he  seems  to  have  been  a  thoroughly  respect- 
able member  of  the  bourgeoisie.  Of  his  youth  we  know  nothing, 
but  about  1500  he  appears  as  the  poet  of  the  Chateau  de  Labour, 
written  in  the  allegorical  style  of  his  day ;  and  he  helps  organize 
a  performance  in  honor  of  an  archduke  of  Austria.  The  brilliant 
period  of  his  life  is  from  1505-1512;  it  is  then  that  he  shines  as 
a  pamphleteer,  oflBcial  mouthpiece  of  Louis  XII,  popular  jester 
and  entertainer  —  in  a  word,  as  La  Mere  Sotte.  We  have 
already  mentioned  the  Mystere  de  Saint  Louis;  his  minor  works 
are  Les  foUes  Entreprises  and  Les  Abus  du  monde.  Gringoire's 
forte  is  satire;  he  can  be  simple  and  incisive,  sparing  neither 
morals  nor  personalities.  He  knew  what  the  public  wanted  and 
supplied  it.  Thus,  Louis  XII,  aware  of  the  poet's  power,  took 
pains  to  befriend  him;  and  Gringoire  was  not  slow  to  appre- 
ciate the  royal  favor,  as  appears  from  his  praise  of  Louis  in 
the  words: 

Mais  il  est  si  humain  tousjours 

Quand  on  a  devers  luy  recours, 

Jamais  il  n'use  de  vengeance. 

But  Francis  I  preferred  Italian  players  to  this  popular  favorite, 
so  that  in  1518  Gringoire  moved  to  Nancy  and  became  tourna- 
ment-herald to  Antoine  de  Lorraine.  Here  he  found  shelter  for 
his  later  years  and  without  ceasing  to  write  saw  the  dawn  of  a 
new  epoch  break  over  France. 

'  Robert  Porcin  from  Auxerre 

Is  skillful  in  compressing  his  verse; 

M%re  Sotte  called  Gringoire 

Is  acknowledged  master  in  such  matten. 


GRINGOIRE  111 

To  revert  to  the  Jeu  of  1512,  this  play  not  only  shows  Grin- 
goire  at  his  best  but  also  is  typical  of  medieval  comedy  as  a 
whole.  It  consists  of  four  parts:  a  cry  to  summon  the  people, 
a  sottie  to  provoke  them  against  the  Pope,  a  moraZite  to  win 
th^m  to  the  policy  of  Louis  —  whom  Julius  II  had  shamefully  be- 
trayed —  and  a  farce  to  satisfy  their  thirst  for  ribaldry  and  fun. 

The  sottie  constitutes  a  sort  of  revue  or  "  follies  "  of  the  burn- 
ing question  of  the  day.  Sotte  Commune  (the  People)  cares 
little  about  the  merits  of  the  quarrel ;  her  cue  is 

Faulte   d'argent,   c'est   douleur   non  pareiQe. 

Prince  and  Church  are  equally  acceptable  to  her  provided  she 
does  not  suffer;  but  she  exaggerates  rumor  and  easily  believes 
the  worst;  thus  Mere  Sotte  (the  Church)  by  her  very  appearance 
evokes  Sotte  Commune's  enmity,  whereas  the  Sots  that  surround 
the  Prince  are  at  least  joyful  and  generous,  like  Louis  himself: 

Touiours  gay  et  joyeulx 
En  despit  de  voz  ennemys. 

Gringoire's  moralite  is  the  logical  sequel  of  his  sottie.  The  tone 
of  this  part  is  graver,  and  Sotte  Commune  is  now  the  French 
People.  Previously  the  Church  had  been  blamed  for  leaving 
her  pacific  role  and  becoming  warlike.  Here  the  poet  opposes 
the  Italianate  Frenchman  to  the  French  patriot,  who  thinks  first 
of  his  own  country.  The  conclusion  is  that  both  the  Church 
and  the  People  are  reproved  for  their  respective  faults. 

Totally  different  from  the  preceding  is  the  farce,  Faire  et  Dire. 
Gringoire  is  as  licentious,  as  gaulois,  as  any  of  the  writers  of 
this  genre.  Raoullet,  the  hero,  has  deferred  marriage  too  long, 
and  Doublette,  his  wife,  has  a  reason  — if  not  a  justification  — 
for  the  contemptible  part  she  plays. 

In  general,  Gringoire's  Jeu  is  to  the  point,  its  characters  are 
life-like  and  real,  and  the  psychology  is  keen  —  anticipating 
not  a  little  that  of  seventeenth-century  comedy. 

As  a  type,  the  moralite  throve  especially  during  the  second 
Other  ^^^^  °^  *^^  fifteenth  century.    Some  sixty  moralites 

Comedies  are  extant.  These  vary  in  manner  and  theme,  the 
oldest  and  best  being  Bien-avise,  Mal-avise,  written  at  Rennes 
in  1439.    This  play  enforces  a  general  lesson:  Bien-avise  arrives 


112  THE    CYCLIC    DRAMA 

through  Reason  and  Faith  to  Good  End,  whereas  Mal-avise  is 
led  by  Licence  and  other  evil  traits  to  Bad  End. 

On  the  other  hand,  but  few  sotties  have  been  preserved  and 
these  few  belong  mostly  to  the  sixteenth  century.  Perhaps  the 
most  popular  was  Monde  et  Abuz,  composed  about  1513.  Here 
we  are  shown  an  old  and  weary  World,  whom  Abuse  has  put  to 
sleep.  The  latter  them  releases  Sot-corrompu  (a  lawyer),  Sot- 
trompeur  (a  merchant),  Sot-ignorant  (a  peasant),  and  Sotte-folle 
(a  woman) ;  together  they  try  to  make  a  new  world  after  fleecing 
the  old  one.  The  result  of  course  is  anarchy.  In  the  end,  the  old 
world  wakes  up  and  warns  the  public  against  Utopian  ideals. 

None  of  the  types  of  drama  we  have  mentioned  produced  a 
masterpiece.  This  distinction  was  reserved  for  the  medieval 
farce.  The  great  body  of  farces  (some  one  hundred  and  fifty 
are  extant)  appeared  between  1440  and  1560.  According  to 
Gaston  Paris,  the  play  called  Du  gargon  et  de  Vaveugle,  given 
in  Tournai  about  1277,  is  in  reality  a  farce,  though  this  word 
does  not  occur  until  later.  Farcical  in  nature,  but  termed  a 
bergerie,  is  Mieulx  que  devant,  produced  during  the  reign  of 
Charles  VII.  The  characters  are:  Flat-Country,  Long-suffering 
People,  a  shepherdess  and  Better-than-before.  The  action  con- 
sists of  diatribes  against  the  miseries  and  devastation  of  France, 
and  the  play  concludes  with  Better-than-before  offering  pro- 
tection under  Roger  Bontemps,  a  topical  character.  The  folk- 
lore theme  of  a  husband,  wife  and  mother-in-law,  furnishes  the 
plot  of  Le  Cuvier.  Here,  as  also  in  the  Farce  de  la  Comette  by 
Jean  d'Abondance,  the  husband  is  the  prospective  victim;  but 
in  the  end  the  wife  falls  into  the  tub  —  the  cuvier  —  and  he 
refuses  to  rescue  her  unless  she  releases  him  from  servility,  a 
request  which  in  the  circimistances  she  is  only  too  willing  to 
grant.  This  brings  us  to  the  one  masterpiece  mentioned  above, 
the  Farce  de  Maitre  Pathelin. 

Michelet  has  said  that  Pathelin  is  the  "  epic  of  an  age  of 
rogues."  And  roguery  is  indeed  its  key-note;  but  the  handling 
of  the  theme,  its  marvelous  characterization  and  its 
economy  of  detail  place  it  in  a  class  by  itself. 

The  plot  runs  as  follows:  Pathelin,  a  village  lawyer,  with  the 
aid  of  his  scheming  wife,  Guillemette,  cheats  a  Draper  out  of  a 
piece  of  cloth.    To  the  Draper's  insistent  calls,  Pathelin  pretends 


THE    FARCE    OF    PATHELIN  113 

to  lend  a  deaf  ear  by  feigning  illness.  The  Draper,  who  refuses  to 
pay  his  shepherd,  Thibaut  Aignglgt,  is  in  turn  cheated  by  him 
out  of  one  of  his  sheep.  Thematter  is  brought  to  court,  and 
Pathelin  defends  the  shepherd,  who  wins  his  case  by  assuming 
stupidity  and  replying  "  ba-a  "  to  all  the  court's  questions.  But 
when  Pathelin  asks  for  his  pay  the  wily  shepherd  continues  to 
say  "  ba-a  " ;  thus  one  rogue  outwits  the  other. 

The  authorship  of  Pathelin  is  still  unknown,  though  the  play 
has  been  recently  assigned  to  Guillaume  Alexis,  author  of  Le 
Blason  de  faidses  amours.  It  must  have  been  written  about 
1469;  probably  in  the  Seine-et-Marne  district,  not  far  from 
Paris.  The  play  scored  a  great  success;  it  was  frequently  re- 
printed, it  had  two  sequels,  and  was  often  quoted.  Fournier  has 
revived  the  play  for  the  modern  French  stage. 

The  characters  of  course  are  types,  not  one  of  which,  says 
Professor  Holbrook,  has  "  any  sense  of  right.  Their  morality 
.  .  .  is  to  succeed;  their  greatest  weakness,  their  only  ab- 
surdity, is  to  be  outdone.  Philippe  de  Commines  sums  up  their 
ethics  in  the  maxim:  'Ceulx  qui  gaignent  en  ont  tousjours 
rhonneur! ' "  Yet  each  is  also  an  individual:  the  lawyer  who 
craves  to  be  arrayed  like  his  fellow  barristers  "  in  silks  and 
satins  "  {de  camelos  et  de  camocas) ,  the  judge  who  sups  with 
a  criminal  fresh  from  the  stocks,  the  wife  who  knows  and  fears 
her  husband's  foibles,  and  the  numskull  of  a  shepherd  "  with 
his  bump  of  villainy."  The  irony  of  the  situation  lies  in  its 
eternal  verity.  It  is  the  function  of  this  farce  to  set  in  a  clear 
light  the  lead  which  French  comedy  was  to  take,  as  revealed  by 
the  unsparing  representation  —  and  caricature  —  of  life  in  its 
familiar,  domestic  situations.  From  this  point  of  view  Moliere 
was  not  to  depart,  and  the  best  French  comedy  remains  a  gen- 
uine descendant  of  its  medieval  prototype,  in  theme  and  often 
in  plot. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THREE    INDIVIDUALS:   ANTOINE    DE    LA    SALE, 
VILLON,    COMMINES 

A  STORY-TELLER,  a  poet,  an  historian;  the  common  feature  of 
these  writers  is  their  individualism.  Belonging  to  the  fifteenth 
century,  all  three  draw  their  material  from  the  traditional  chan- 
nels, yet  each  gives  to  his  work  the  imprint  of  a  thoroughly 
personal  reaction:  La  Sale  in  his  ability  to  characterize  several 
points  of  view,  Villon  in  the  directness  of  his  emotion,  and  Com- 
mines  in  his  unfettered  sense  of  political  fact.  With  them  the 
ifaedieval  period  formally  closes. 

The  life  of  Antoine  de  La  Sale  was  unusually  rich  in  experience. 
Born  in  Provence  in  1388  as  the  son  of  a  famous  condottiere,  at 
Antoine  de  ^^^  ^8®  °^  fourteen  he  became  page  to  Louis  II  of 
La  Sale  Anjou.     This  prince  took  him  to  Italy  and  Sicily, 

where  he  visited  Messina  and  attempted  to  ascend  Stromboli 
(1407).  He  then  made  several  short  stays  at  the  Bm-gundian 
court  and  wrote  a  summary  of  Louis  II's  Italian  expedition.  In 
1415  he  volunteered  in  the  bombastic  crusade  of  the  Portuguese 
against  Morocco  and  was  present  at  the  capture  of  Ceuta.  On 
the  death  of  Louis  he  accompanied  the  latter's  successor  again 
to  Italy.  In  1425  he  reappears  in  the  ofiBcial  records  as  viguier 
(provost)  of  Aries.  Seven  years  later  Rene  of  Anjou  praises 
La  Sale  for  the  service  he  had  rendered  his  son  as  a  tutor.  About 
this  time  La  Sale  seems  to  have  married.  In  1438  we  find  him 
again  in  Italy,  where  Rene  made  him  commander  of  Castel 
Capuano  (Naples),  while  he  himself  took  the  field.  But  the 
Angevin  cause  did  not  prosper,  and  in  1440  La  Sale  is  back  in 
Provence.  He  now  devotes  himself  to  literature,  La  Scdade, 
his  first  extant  Work,  being  of  this  period. 

In  1448  La  Sale  left  the  service  of  the  Angevins,  to  whom  he 
had  been  attached  for  nearly  half  a  century,  and  entered  that  of 
Louis  of  Luxemburg,  Comte  de  Saint-Pol,  who  appointed  him  to 

114 


LA    SALE  115 

educate  his  three  sons.  In  this  function  he  spent  the  next  ten 
years  at  Chatelet-sur-Oise  and  there  wrote  his  remaining  liter- 
ary works:  La  Sale  in  1451;  Petit  Jean  de  Saintre  in  1456; 
Le  Beconfort,  completed  during  a  casual  visit  to  Vendeuil-sur- 
Oise  m  the  same  year;  and  Des  anciens  tournois,  finished  in  1459. 
It  is  probable  that  the  last  years  of  his  life  were  spent  with  Philip 
the  Good,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  in  Flanders.  At  least,  the  Cent 
Nouvelles  nouvelles  (1462)  speak  of  him  as  "  premier  maistre 
d'hostel  de  monseigneur  le  due,"  and  one  of  his  own  manuscripts 
is  dated  from  Brussels  in  1461.  This  is  also  the  probable  date 
of  his  death. 

There  was  room  in  this  variegated  life  for  the  most  discordant 
elements.  Sober  fact,  history,  legend,  superstition  —  all  have 
La  Sale's  their  place  in  it  and  are  reflected  in  La  Sale's  works. 
Works  He  was  well-read;  he  had  seen  the  art  of  Italy  and 

of  Flanders;  and  he  knew  himian  nature  on  a  broad  scale.  His 
first  work.  La  Salade,  a  medley,  is  a  symbol  of  the  man's  nature. 
It  begins  with  a  sober  disquisition  on  governments  and  rulers; 
then  comes  a  list  of  the  authors  La  Sale  would  have  had  his 
pupil  read:  Livy,  Orosius,  Suetonius  and  Lucan;  and  these 
are  followed  by  examples  or  models  for  the  future  politician 
and  warrior.  Suddenly,  then,  didacticism  gives  place  to  a  real- 
istic account  of  the  author's  visit  to  the  mountain  grotto  of 
Queen  Sybilla  together  with  a  description  of  the  Lipari  Islands 
and  the  ascent  of  Stromboli.  Lastly,  there  is  a  chronicle  of  the 
Houses  of  Sicily  and  Aragon  and  a  chapter  on  heraldry.  Thus, 
in  spite  of  its  longueurs,  the  work  predicts  La  Sale's  most  strik- 
ing qualities:  his  ability  to  wed  the  serious  with  the  fantastic, 
his  sense  of  detail,  his  grasp  of  the  art  of  the  nouvelle  —  com- 
pressed, simple  and  psychological. 

This  modern  love  of  a  dramatic  situation  is  especially  evident 
in  the  Reconfort  de  Madame  de  Fresne,  offered  to  this  lady  on  the 
death  of  her  only  son.  The  theme  is  illustrated  by  two  exempla. 
The  first,  in  which  La  Sale  ignores  historical  fact,  tells  of  the 
Sire  du  Chastel,  governor  of  Brest,  which  the  English  Black 
Prince  is  supposed  to  be  besieging.  Chastel,  hoping  for  relief, 
has  signed  a  truce  with  the  Prince  and  has  given  his  only  son  as 
a  hostage.  The  relief  arrives  but  the  Prince,  false  to  his  word, 
threatens  to  put  the  youth  to  the  sword  unless  the  town  is 


116    ANTOINE  DE  LA  SALE,  VILLON,  COMMINES 

surrendered.  In  his  despair  Chastel  turns  to  his  wife,  who  refuses 
to  take  the  responsibility  of  a  decision  but  points  out  to  her 
husband  what  his  decision  must  be: 

Nous  sommes  assez   jeunes  pour  avoir  encore   des  enfants; 
mais  si  vous  perdez  votre  honneur,  vous  ne  le  recouvrerez  plus. 

The  second  exemplum  is  taken  from  an  event  in  the  crusade 
against  Morocco  in  which  La  Sale  was  a  participant.  Here,  also, 
a  mother  seeks  consolation  in  the  heroic  thought  that  her  child 
died  in  a  patriotic  cause.  In  both  instances,  but  particularly 
in  the  first,  La  Sale  shows  a  power  of  communicating  emotion 
and  an  understanding  of  character  that  are  rare  at  this  time. 

His  greatest  work,  however,  is  the  combined  novel  and  short- 
story,  Petit  Jean  de  Saintre.  At  the  court  of  the  French  King 
The  "Petit  there  lives  the  beautiful  young  widow  Madame  des 
SidBtre*"  Belles  Cousines.  Having  vowed  not  to  remarry, 
she  devotes  herself  to  the  education  of  one  of  the  King's  pages, 
Jean,  eldest  son  of  the  Lord  of  Saintre.  Jokingly  at  first  she 
introduces  him  to  the  subject  of  "  courtly  love  "  and  the  deeds 
of  the  great  lovers  of  the  past:  Lancelot,  Gawain  and  Tristan. 
Thus  she  plays  with  fire,  and  as  the  youth  grows  up  her  relation- 
ship to  him  assmnes  the  outward  aspect  of  a  liaison.  But 
Jean,  she  thinks,  must  win  fame,  and  so  she  sends  him  forth 
against  the  Saracens  of  "  Pruyse."  This  enforced  absence, 
however,  has  one  result;  namely,  that  on  Jean's  return  she 
tries  henceforth  to  hold  him  for  herself.  During  fifteen  months 
she  wages  a  losing  battle.  When  the  break  comes,  as  it  of 
course  must,  the  Dame  des  Belles  Cousines  is  in  the  anguish 
of  despair.  Here  begins  the  second  part  of  the  story.  This 
consists  of  a  nouvelle  in  which  the  formerly  virtuous  lady  falls 
a  victim  to  her  confessor,  a  pleasure-loving  abbe.  Gay  and 
amiable,  but  tricky,  the  latter  is  a  type  worthy  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  Jean  is  soon  forgotten  by  the  lady  in  her  new  lover's 
embraces.  Then  the  unforeseen  happens.  Jean,  who  had  left 
the  court  on  a  military  expedition,  suddenly  returns  home  and 
broods  vengeance  on  the  faithless  pair.  At  first  he  is  no  match 
for  the  abbe's  superior  cunning  and  strength.  But  finally,  dur- 
ing a  dinner  at  which  the  lady  is  present,  Jean  proposes  that 
he  and  his  rival  joust  in  armor.    In  vain  does  the  lady  try  to 


LA    SALE  117 

dissuade  him  from  this  plan;  Jean  insists,  and  the  result  is 
that  the  abbe  is  defeated  and  his  helpless  mistress  is  held  up 
to  the  scorn  of  the  court. 

The  second  part  of  this  narrative  —  the  nouvelle  —  is  su- 
perior in  workmanship  to  the  first  part.  M.  Soderhjelm  speaks 
of  it  as: 

un  morceau  d'art  du  premier  ordre,  empreint  des  meilleures 
qualites  que  la  prose  fran§aise  ait  jamais  possedees:  clarte,  viva- 
cite;  verite,  grace,  et  d'un  esprit  superieurement  raUleur. 

The  first  part  —  the  roman  —  for  all  its  poetry,  suffers  in  com- 
parison. But  how  reconcile  these  seemingly  disparate  parts, 
with  their  respective  qualities  of  idealism  and  cynical  reality? 
Some  critics  have  thought  that  La  Sale  purposely  wished  to 
satirize  imder  the  same  cover  the  first  part  of  his  story.  But 
a  second  reading  will  show  that  the  contradiction  lies  not  in 
the  story  but  in  life  itself,  of  which  La  Sale  gives  a  genuine 
picture.  From  the  start  the  Dame  des  Belles  Cousines  has  the 
two  sides  to  her  character,  and  the  art  of  La  Sale  consists 
precisely  in  making  them  appear  successively,  in  accordance 
with  the  thwarting  of  her  first  love  and  the  triumph  of  the 
second,  for  even  her  idealism  is  not  lacking  in  a  sensual  back- 
ground. Thus  depth  of  observation  is  the  quality  of  this  work, 
"the  first,"  says  Saintsbury,  "in  point  of  date  of  the  long  series 
of  realistic  novels  for  which  French  literature  is  so  famous." 

Little  literary  value  can  be  attached  to  the  author's  La  Sale 
and  his  Des  anciens  tournois  et  faictz  d'armes.  They  are  both 
didactic  and  lack  originality.  A  poem  of  his,  La  Journee  d'oru- 
new  et  de  prouesse  (1459),  is  a  frigid  and  wearisome  allegory. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  word  is  in  place  on  the  Quinze  joyes 
de  mariage  (date  uncertain)  and  the  Cent  Noxtvelles  nouvelles 
The  (1462),  since  several  prominent  scholars  attribute 

'!  ^"'"^  them  to  La  Sale  and  they  are  among  the  really 
manage"      notable  works  of  the  period. 

The  first  of  these  belongs  to  the  rich  misogynic  literature  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  of  which  we  had  an  example  in  the  second 
part  of  the  Roman  de  la  Rose.  It  is  written  in  a  terse,  force- 
ful style,  and  excels  by  its  well-drawn  and  realistic  pictures 
of  marital  infelicity.    The  victim  of  the  marriage  relation  is, 


118    ANTOINE  DE  LA  SALE,  VILLON,  COMMINES 

of  course,  the  "  husband,"  described  as  "  debonnaire  comme  le 
boeuff  a  la  charue  " —  a  type  so  abject  in  his  humility  that 
the  author  is  forced  to  exclaim:  "  je  croy  que  c'est  cy  une  des 
grans  douleurs  qui  soit  sur  terre."  Each  chapter  of  the  work 
—  and  there  is  one  for  each  "  joy  "  —  ends  on  a  variation  of  the 
victim's  misery.  The  objection  to  assigning  the  Quinze  joyes 
to  the  authorship  of  La  Sale  is  partly  their  early  date  (about 
1400)  and  partly  the  fact  that  his  imitation  of  the  Quinze  joyes 
in  his  own  La  Sale  is  dull  and  awkard,  indicating  that  the  force- 
ful style  of  the  original  was  after  all  beyond  his  power. 

As  for  the  Cent  Nouvelles  nauveUes^  they  are  a  revival  of 
,  the  fabliau  in   the   Italian    garb    of   the   novella. 

NouveUes  The  influence  here  of  the  Decameron  is  obvious, 
nouvelles"  although  the  themes  are  taken  from  Poggio's 
Facetiae.  Again,  tmlike  Boccaccio,  the  author  remains  aloof 
from  his  material ;  he  relates  for  the  mere  sake  of  the  story  and 
he  has  no  sympathetic  interest  in  his  characters.  Thus  he  is 
extravagantly  indecent,  and  the  point  of  his  tales  lies  wholly 
in  their  wit.  But  he  is  dramatic  and  manages  the  technique 
of  narrative  ably.  A  distinct  merit  of  his  work  is  its  use  of 
every-day  French  — "  la  langue  alors  parlee."  But  most  of 
these  traits  make  it  unlikely  that  the  collection  is  by  Antoine 
de  La  Sale. 

Frangois  de  Moncorbier  (or  des  Loges),  surnamed  Villon, 
is  so  romantic  a  character  that  at  times  he  has  seemed  legend- 
Francois  ^^-  -^"^  °°^  thing,  his  weatherbeaten  figure  has 
Villon  wielded  a  strong  fascination  over  poets  and  novel- 

ists, many  of  whom  —  from  Victor  Hugo  to  Stevenson  —  have 
overdrawn  his  traits.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  life  dealt  more 
sternly  with  him  than  with  most  of  his  race.  He  was  bom 
(1431)  at  the  moment  when  the  English  Duke  of  Bedford 
reigned  in  the  Louvre  and  the  theological  faculty  of  Paris  had 
just  decreed  that  Joan  of  Arc  deserved  to  be  burned: 

Jehanne  la  bonne  Lorraine 
Qu'Englois  brulerent  a  Rouan, 

as  Villon  sang  later.  Although  the  Montcorbier  family  was 
poor,  the  poet  had  relatives  among  the  well-to-do;  from  one  of 
these,  Guillaume  de  Villon,  chaplain  of  a  collegiate  church  near 
the  Sorbonne,  Villon  derived  help  and  took  his  name. 


VILLON  119 

He  was  both  a  Bachelor  (1449)  and  a  Master  (1452)  of  the 
University.  But  apparently  he  led  in  larks  and  brawls  of  the 
Latin  Quarter  rather  than  in  the  classroom.  Pathetically  he 
himself  said: 

He!  Dieu,  se  j'eusse  estudie 
Ou  temps  de  ma  jeunesse  folle 
Et  a  bomies  meurs  dedie, 
J'eusse  maison  et  couche  molle. 
Mais  quoi!  je  fuioie  I'escolle, 
Comma  fait  le  mauvais  enfant  — 

lines  which  show  both  the  sincerity  and  the  weakness  of  his 
nature. 

A  burlesque  roman,  written  by  Villon  but  lost,  clearly  refers 
to  the  events  of  1451-1453,  when  the  University  had  to  suspend 
its  courses  because  of  the  licence  of  its  students.  But  the  poet 
knew  also  the  Paris  of  the  rive  droite  and  its  haunts,  especially 
the  Cemetery  of  the  Innocents  and  its  far-famed  fresco  of  the 
Dance  of  Death  or  danse  Macabre.  Occasionally  he  mentions 
the  great  and  powerful.  But  generally  his  companions  were 
of  a  different  sort:  irresponsible  creatureg  like  Gui  Tabarie, 
Colin  des  Cayeux  (Villon's  particular  bad  angel),  and  the 
edifying  galaxy  of  fair  ladies,  from  "  la  petite  Macee  d'Or- 
leans "  to  "  la  grosse  Margot,"  not  to  mention  his  "  chere 
Rose,"  who  preferred  to  the  poet: 

Quoi?  una  grant  bourse  de  sole 
Pleine  d'escus,  parfonde  et  large. 

Of  his  actual  life  we  have  only  meagre  facts.  In  1455  he 
was  involved  in  a  scrape  that  led  to  the  murder  of  a 
parish  priest,  one  Philippe  Sermoise.  Later  he  figures  among 
a  band  of  ruffians  who  broke  into  the  College  de  Navarre. 
Then  after  writing  his  Petit  Testament,  more  accurately  termed 
Les  Lah,  he  appears  in  Angers  and  was  present  in  1457  at  the 
"  court "  of  Blois,  held  by  Charles  d'Orleans.  Soon  after  he  was 
arrested  at  Meun-sur-Loire.  Pardoned  by  the  general  amnesty 
of  Louis  XI  when  he  ascended  the  throne,  Villon  returned  for 
a  brief  visit  to  Paris  and  shortly  after  composed  his  [Orand] 
Testament,  which  contains  the  best  part  of  himself.  In  1462 
he  was  again  locked  up,  this  time  in  the  Chatelet,  and,  upon 


120    ANTOINE  DE  LA  SALE,  VILLON,  COMMINES 

being  released,  he  soon  after  returned  to  prison  under  sentence 
to  be  hanged.  In  the  face  of  death  he  then  wrote  his  admirable 
Ballade  des  Pendus.  But  Parliament  relented  and  changed  the 
decree  to  one  of  banishment  from  Paris  during  ten  years.  Sub- 
sequently Villon  disappears  completely  from  view;  we  know  only 
that  the  first  dated  edition  of  his  works  was  published  in  1489. 

Villon  is  preeminently  the  poet  of  the  unfortunate.  Like 
Jlein^,  to  whom  critics  have  compared  him,  he  knew  the  pathos 
of  life  and  also  its  ironies;  and  in  an  eternal  union  he  welded 
the  tender  note  with  the  shrill.  He  says  himself,  "  Je  ris 
en  pleurs."  Thus  he  stands  out  from  amidst  chivalric  conven- 
tion and  interminable  allegorizing  as  the  one  profoundly  lyric 
figure,  sinning  and  sinned  against,  sorrowful  and  gay,  blas- 
phemous and  idealistic ;  above  all,  sincere.  Of  all  French  poets, 
he  is  probably  the  least  rhetorical. 

The  total  of  his  verse  is  small.  It  consists  mainly  of  the  Lais 
(Mod.  Fr.  legs) ,  or  Petit  Testament,  and  the  [Grand]  Testament. 
In  both  works,  written  in  stanzas  of  eight-syllable  verse,  he. 
has  followed  a  medieval  convention  of  making  imaginary  legacies 
to  one's  friends  and  foes.  Such  already  were  the  conges  of  Jean 
Bodel.  But  into  this  framework  Villon  has  breathed  all  that 
was  most  vital  to  him,  and  he  relieves  the  monotony  of  the 
form  by  the  dexterous  introduction  of  wonderful  ballades  and 
rondeavx.  Most  lovers  of  poetry  have  read,  if  not  in  the  ori- 
ginal, then  in  the  English  rendering  by  Rossetti,  the  Ballade 
des  Dames  du  temps  jadis.  The  theme  is  immemorial,  but 
the  refrain: 

Mais  ou  sent  les  neiges  d'antan? 

has  an  allusive  quality  equalled  only  by  the  telling  adjectives 
whereby  Villon  visualizes  each  of  the  heroines  enumerated. 
So,  too,  the  picturesque  horror  and  the  deep  pathos  of  the 
following  frona  the  Ballade  des  Pendus  will  live  as  long  as 
poetry  is  read: 

La  pluye  nous  a  buez  et  lavez 
Et  le  soleil  dessechiez  et  noircis; 
Pies,  corbeaulx,  nous  ont  les  yeux  cavez 
Et  arrachie  la  barbe  et  les  sourcis.     ' 
Jamais  nul  temps  nous  ne  sommes  assis* 


VILLON  121 

Puis  ca,  puis  la,  comme  le  vent  varie, 

A  son  plaisir  sans  cesser  nous  charie, 

Plus  becquetez  d'oiseaulx  que  dez  a  couldre. 

Ne  soiez  done  de  nostra  confrairie; 

Mais  priez  Dieu  que  tous  nous  vueille  absouldre! 

We  are  all  blanched  and  soddened  of  the  rain, 
And  eke  dried  up  and  blackened  of  the  sun: 
Ravens  and  corbies  have  our  eyes  out-ta'en 
And  plucked  our  beard  and  hair  out,  one  by  one. 
Whether  by  night  or  day,  rest  have  we  none: 
Now  here,  now  there,  at  the  wind's  lustihead, 
We  swing  and  creak  and  rattle  overhead. 
No  thimble  dinted  like  our  bird-pecked  face. 
Folk,  mock  us  not  that  are  forspent  and  dead: 
The  rather  pray,  God  grant  us  of  His  grace! 

John  Payne  ^ 

The  wonder  is  that  Villon  could  be  so  expressive  and  so  utterly- 
simple  in  his  means  of  expression.  Or  take  his  description  of 
Christmas,  so  wintry  and  desolate: 

morte  saison. 
Que  les  loups  se  vivent  de  vent 
Et  qu'on  se  tient  en  sa  maison. 
Pour  le  frimas,  pres  du  tison. 

'  But  all  this  is  the  simplicity  of  a  great  imagination,  which 
sees  a  situation  as  it  is  and  renders  it  with  fidelity.  As 
a  final  example,  the  reader  should  turn  to  the  Ballade  pour 
prier  Nostre  Dame,  where  Villon  immortalizes  his  own  mother, 
"  povrette  et  ancienne,"  praying  to  the  Virgin  in  her  humble 
unlettered  faith.  And  if  a  contrast  be  needed,  there  is  the 
sensually  satiric  Contreditz  de  Franc-Gontier,  an  answer  to 
Philippe  de  Vitry's  poem  on  the  joys  of  rural  life.  For  all  his 
wanderings,  Villon  remained  the  poet  of  Paris,  indeed  of  the 
quartier  in  which  he  had  tasted  life  to  the  dregs.  One  ballade, 
beginning  "  Je  meurs  de  soif  aupres  de  la  fontaine,"  is  purely 
conventional,  in  the  antithetical  style  so  much  favored  by  the 
Petrarchists  of  the  Renaissance. 

*  Prom  the  Poems  of  Master  Francis  Vitton,  London,   1878  —  a    masterly 
translation  of  the  poet's  works. 


122     ANTOINE  DE  LA  SALE,  VILLON,  COMMINES 

As  an  historian  Philippe  de  Commines  ranks  with  Ville- 
hardouin  and  Froissart,  although  his  style  lacks  the  precision 
of  the  one  and  the  opulence  of  the  other.  Like 
de  Com^  Froissart,  he  was  really  a  Fleming,  the  family 
mines  name  being  Van  der  Clyte.     He  was  born  about 

1445  near  Aire,  not  far  from  Ypres.  His  father,  of  wealthy 
bourgeois  extraction,  had  been  bailli  of  Ghent  and  then  of 
Flanders,  but  died  leaving  a  dubious  financial  reputation  to 
cloud  his  name.  At  twenty  Philip  went  to  the  Burgundian 
Court  and  soon  became  attached  to  the  Comte  de  Charolais 
-^lE^ter  Duke  of  Burgundy  —  whom  he  followed  on  various 
warlike  expeditions. 

In  1471  he  was  in  London,  negotiating  in  behalf  of  the 
Burgundian  Court,  of  which  he  was  now  a  counselor  and 
chamberlain.  He  also  visited  Brittany  and  Spain  for  the  pur- 
pose of  reviving  the  coalition  against  Louis  XI.  In  fact,  how- 
ever, this  secretissimorum  secretarius  deftly  played  into  the 
French  King's  hands,  for  he  had  never  liked  Charles  of  Bur- 
gundy. Won  either  by  the  wiles  of  Louis  or  more  probably  by 
his  gold,  he  went  over  completely  to  his  side  in  August,  1472, 
apparently  without  the  slightest  thought  of  his  former  bene- 
factor. 

Louis  XI,  always  astute,  at  once  employed  Commines  on 
matters  worthy  of  his  talents.  Besides  a  liberal  pension,  Louis 
enriched  his  favorite  with  spoils  which  Commines  helped  him  to 
take  from  others.  And,  when  in  1473  Commines  married 
Helene  de  Chambes,  the  King  enlarged  this  lady's  dowry  so  that 
her  husband  became  one  of  the  richest  men  of  France.  In  1475 
Commines  rose  to  be  the  head  of  the  French  diplomatic  service; 
he  then  won  over  the  English  to  the  French  cause  and  went 
to  Italy  to  form  a  league  against  the  Pope.  As  long  as  Louis 
lived  Commines  continued  to  thrive;  characteristically,  it  was 
he  who  as  valet  de  chambre  faithfully  attended  Louis  in  his 
last  illness. 

But  Fortune,  against  whom  Commines  warns  his  readers 
in  the  Memoires,  forsook  her  favorite  with  the  advent  of 
Charles  VIII.  Accused  of  favoring  the  Orleans  party  (Louis 
XII),  Commines  was  compelled  to  make  restitution  of  his  ill- 
won  property  and  to  suffer  imprisonment.    In  1492,  however, 


COMMINES  123 

he  returned  for  a  brief  period  to  the  royal  favor,  employing 
his  great  talent  in  successful  negotiations  in  Italy.  But  the 
accession  of  Louis  XII,  in  1498,  robbed  him  of  all  further 
political  power.  He  now  lived  in  retirement,  except  for  various 
lawsuits  which  further  reduced  his  revenue,  and  tried  to  for- 
get his  sorrows  by  writing  his  Memoires.  He  died  on  October 
18,  1511. 

This  grandeur  et  decadence  of  the  man  is  the  background 
and  much  of  the  substance  of  his  writing.  The  Memoires  fall 
into  two  parts:  the  period  of  1464-1483,  and  that  of  1484r- 
1498  (the  Italian  campaign).  A  born  politician,  Commines  is 
exact,  clear,  forceful  and,  above  all,  clever.  He  is  the  first 
French  apostle  of  "  success,"  and  has  frequently  been  com- 
pared, as  to  point  of  view,  with  Machiavelli.  Personally  he 
was  cold  and  calculating,  and  of  course  lacks  the  extraor- 
dinary culture  of  the  great  Italian.  But  he  was  far-seeing, 
especially  in  regard  to  England,  and  his  insight  into  human 
motive  and  character  is  remarkable. 

He  claims  in  his  work  to  give  instruction  {enseignements) : 
"  non  point  aux  bestes  et  simples  gens  mais  aux  princes  et  gens 
de  court."  Practically  he  claims  to  inculcate  foresight  and  dis- 
trust, on  the  part  of  the  ruler,  as  regards  his  fellow  men. 
Trust  no  one  but  yourself,  especially  not  Fortune,  is  the  moral 
of  all  his  writing.  His  attitude  toward  religion  is  essentially 
that  of  Louis  XI,  though  he  is  probably  less  superstitious  than 
the  latter.  At  the  same  time,  he  lacked  the  moral  courage  to 
regard  religion  as  other  than  a  cult,  and  Commines  was  a 
scrupulous  observer  of  religious  rites. 

Thus  the  effect  of  his  work  is  depressing.  We  miss  the  en- 
thusiasm of  a  great  purpose,  the  belief  in  the  worthiness  of  a 
cause,  a  glint  of  any  spirit  of  sacrifice  and  honor.  The  world 
which  Commines  lays  bare  is  ignoble  and  corrupt  —  like  his 
own  soul  it  is  tainted  with  an  underlying  falsehood.  As  he  said, 
"  Ceulx  qui  gaignent  en  ont  tousjours  I'honneur."  Commines  is 
no  man's  fool:  he  observes  with  penetrating  clarity  and  often 
justly.  On  the  whole,  his  style  matches  his  thought.  In  an 
age  of  bombast,  he  manages  to  be  lucid  and  direct  even  if  he 
is  often  digressive  and  never  eloquent.  His  main  value  lies 
in  his  grasp  of  politics  and  the  record  he  gives  of  his  own  age. 


PART  II 
THE  RENAISSANCE 


BOOK  I 
HUMANISM  AND  THE  REFORMATION 


CHAPTER  I 

THE   INFLUENCE   OF   ITALY   AND   THE 
RHETORIQUEUR   POETS 

The  great  cultural  movement  called  the  Renaissance  began 

m  Italy  and  swept  over  Europe  in  the  course  of  two  centuries. 

The  Rebirth   It  came  to  France  in  the  sixteenth,  following  the 

in  Italy         campaigns  of  Charles  VIII  and  Louis  XII  on  Italian 

soil.    Renaissance  means  "  rebirth,"  and  the  rebirth  was  that  of 

humanity  itself  aroused  to  a  new  sense  of  its  own  powers,  new 

opportunities  and  new  concepts  of  the  physical  universe.    For 

Columbus  discovered  a  New  World  (1492),  and  Copernicus  laid 

the  foundation  of  the  modern  system  of  astronomy  (1517),  both 

of  which  events  made  the  medieval  "  fixity  "  a  dead  letter,  quite 

aside  from  their  influence  on  the  development  of   commerce 

and  the  rise  of  a  scientific  spirit.    The  printing-press,  a  German 

contribution,   stimulated  the   diffusion  of  knowledge   amd  the 

interchange  of  ideas   on  all  subjects.    The  Reformation  —  to 

some  extent  a  reaction  —  represents  a  rebirth  of  the  human 

conscience  and  a  return  to  Christian  origins.    How  conscious 

the  awakening  was  is  seen  in  the  words  Rabelais  addressed  to 

his  friend  Tiraqueau: 

Hors  de  cette  epaisse  nuit  gothique,  nos  yeux  se  sent  ouverts 
a  I'insigne  flambeau  du  soleil. 

And  light  and  simshine  are  forever  associated  with  the  period 
upon  which  we  are  now  entering. 
But  the  Renaissance  has  also  another  side,  no  less  important 

127 


128  ,      THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

than  those  we  have  mentioned,  in  the  revival  of  the  art  and  lit- 
Greek  and  erature  of  the  ancients.  Being  the  seat  of  Roman 
Latin  Art  civilization,  Italy  possessed  not  only  a  large  share 
of  the  relics  of  antiquity  but  also  the  facilities  for  turning  them 
to  account  when  the  enlightenment  came.  In  Italy  the  awakening 
occurred  earlier  than  elsewhere  owing  to  her  contact  with  the 
East  and  the  early  development  of  her  city  life.  The  forerunners 
were  Dante,  Petrarch  and  Boccaccio:  first,  because  they  made 
Italian  as  well  as  Latin  a  vehicle  of  artistic  expression;  and 
second,  in  their  intuition  as  to  the  truth  of  ancient  thought  and 
the  beauty  of  classical  style.  In  Petrarch  especially,  aptly 
called  "  the  first  modern  man,"  the  chief  features  of  the  revival 
are  essentially  revealed.  Poet,  scholar,  diplomatist  and  patriot, 
he  prized  Greek  and  Latin  literature  in  the  spirit  of  a  discoverer, 
and  in  his  own  sonnets  he  perfected  a  poetic  form  which  other 
nations  besides  Italy  were  to  regard  as  classical.  So  that  when 
after  1400  many  Greek  scholars  came  to  Italy,  that  country 
underwent  a  paganization  of  culture  which  is  in  sharp  contrast  to 
medieval  thought  as  we  have  described  it.  Greek  and  Latin 
models  now  became  supreme,  a  new  style  of  architecture  arose, 
academies,  and  libraries  were  founded,  and  the  modern  self- 
suflScient  political  state  came  into  being.  Above  all,  -human 
life  is  considered  an  object  in  itself;  the  problem  is  to  gain 
mastery  over  it,  by  every  means  possible  —  wealth,  statecraft 
and  scientific  inquiry  —  and  to  enjoy  it  for  its  own  sake  by  the 
cultivation  of  art  and  literature.  In  short,  the  point  of  view  is 
worldly  (mondain)  and  not  theological.  To  this  attitude,  based 
on  antiquity,  we  give  the  generic  name  of  "humanism." 

The  true  humanist,  then,  was  many-sided.     The  imity  he 
sought  he  found  in  himself:  in  the  development  of  his  various 
.  faculties,  physical  as  well  as  spiritual  —  for  a  healthy 

soul  can  flourish  only  in  a  healthy  body;  and  the 
cult  of  the  body  is  again  a  point  in  which  the  period  is  anti- 
medieval.  In  the  beginning  the  great  men  of  the  Renais- 
sance were  reconcilers  of  opposing  ideals.  This  was  their 
"  universality."  Petrarch's  position  between  St.  Augustine  and 
Vergil  is  essentially  that  of  Ficino  (1433-1499),  the  harmonizer 
of  Plato  and  Christianity,  as  it  remains  that  of  Erasmus  (1465- 
1536) ,  scholar  and  reformer,  and  of  Montaigne.    Naturally,  the 


HUMANISM  129 

highest  product  of  humanism  was  aristocratic,  since  birth  and 
wealth  alone  could  provid&  the  education  ^nd  leisure  needed  to 
win  distinction.  Castiglione's  II  Cortegiano,  or  "  Book  of  the 
Courtier"  (1528),  portrays  this  ideal.  Here  the  "complete 
man,"  the  uomo  di  virtu,  is  set  forth  in  detail,  and  on  this  model 
are  built  the  French  honnete  homme  and  the  English  gentleman. 
The  courtier  is  the  embodiment  of  the  world's  culture.  His 
loftiest  expression  is  the  prince,  the  state  his  handiwork ;  the  rest 
of  humanity  being  but  the  marble  out  of  which  he  —  the  political 
artist  — "  should  hew  the  form  that  pleased  his  fancy  best " 
(J.  A.  Symonds).  Thus  it  is  significant  that  the  Renaissance 
type  of  man  is  primarily  undemocratic,  self-centered  and  mun- 
dane; yet  he  is  gracious,  well-bred  and  high-minded.  His 
greatest  and  characteristic  virtue  is  magnanimity.  In  making 
Prospero  say,  in  the  Tempest: 

The  rarer  action  is  in  virtue, 

Shakespeare  has  his  character  speak  as  a  Renaissance  gentleman 
should. 

In  Italy,  then,  the  Renaissance  signifies  a  conscious  cult  of 
the  beautiful.  "  Art,"  in  the  classic  sense  of  harmony  and  order, 
is  the  commanding  word.  Beauty  is  divine;  but 
its  recovery  by  mankind  demands  cultivation,  effort, 
rational  endeavor.  For  a  short  period,  at  least,  the  Italians 
exploited  the  aesthetics  of  every  subject.  Confronted  with  the 
marvelous  literatures  of  Athens  and  Rome,  they  sought  to  dis- 
cover and  codify  the  rules  whereby  they  were  produced.  Plato's 
Dialogues,  Quintilian's  Institutes  of  Oratory  and  Horace's  Ars 
poetica  were  to  them  so  many  literal  guides  in  the  art  of  expres- 
sion, of  which  the  Iliad,  the  Aeneid,  the  tragedies  of  Euripides, 
Sophocles  and  Seneca  were  the  startling  confirmation.  Lastly, 
Aristotle's  Poetics,  in  innumerable  Italian  interpretations,  came 
to  complete  the  list  of  critical  works.  If  the  Classic  Age  were 
to  return,  the  Italians  thought,  it  behooved  them  to  "  imitate  " 
the  ancients.  The  fact  that  it  is  never  possible  to  prescribe, 
much  less  to  follow  logically^  the  means  by  which  great  literature 
and  art  are  produced  seems  never  to  have  occurred  to  them. 
In  so  far  only  as  the  imitation  of  the  ancients  was  not  an 


130  THE    INFLUENCE    OF    ITALY 

imitation  but  a  new  creation  did  the  men  of  the  Renaissance 
produce  the  great  works  for  which  they  are  known  today. 

At  the  same  time,  no  age  ever  carried  further  the  enthusiasm 
for  beautiful  things.  The  papacy  of  Leo  X  (1513-1521)  in  its 
artists  alone  equalled  the  splendor  of  the  age  of  Phidias;  and, 
as  for  literature,  the  Orlando  furioso  (1516)  of  Ariosto  is  the 
best  illustration  of  what  aesthetic  treatment  could  achieve.  More- 
over, henceforth  literary  criticism  is  itself  a  branch  of  literature, 
and  for  France  certainly  the  "  restraining  influence  "  of  classical 
form  becomes  an  invaluable  acquisition. 

The  Renaissance  broke  upon  French  shores  in  three  distinct 
waves,  or  rather,  after  the  first  impact  the  French  reverted  to 
Italian  inspiration  on  two  different  occasions. 

The  first  period  is  roughly  coincident  with  the  reign  of  Francis 
I  (1515-1547).  Thisistheageof  scholarly  inquiry,  of  humanism 
_,.  jj  .  in  general  as  a  counter-current  to  the  "  medievalism  " 
in  France.  of  the  church  and  the  imiversity  (Sorbonne).  Its 
Periods  characteristic  trait  is  enthusiasm  born  of  a  fresh 

and  vivid  experience.  It  saw  the  rise  of  great  individuals,  like 
Bude,  Rabelais,  Calvin;  and  it  culminated  in  the  Reformation, 
a  movement  which  France  shares  with  Germany  and  England 

The  second  period,  extending  from  the  accession  of  Henry  H 
and  covering  the  second  half  of  the  century,  is  concerned  more 
particularly  with  literature.  The  aesthetic  theories  of  the  Italians 
now  take  hold  of  belles  lettres;  a  new  school  of  poetry,  the 
Pleiade,  arises  and  inaugurates  the  conscious  "  imitation "  of 
the  classics,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  bourgeois  "  common 
sense  "  reasserts  itself  and  in  the  person  of  Montaigne  establishes 
the  boundaries  of  the  human  reason. 

Finally,  the  third  influx  of  the  Italian  spirit  occurs  in  the 
second  quarter  (1620-1640)  of  the  seventeenth  century.  This 
phase  of  the  movement  is  mainly  social  and  based  on  the  idea 
of  decorum.  The  French  salons  be^n,  with  their  tendency 
toward  preciosity  of  thought  and  speech,  under  the  leadership 
of  the  Marquise  de  Rambouillet,  herself  an  Italian;  the  rules 
of  the  drama  are  worked  out  according  to  Aristotelian  treatises 
imported  from  Italy;  the  French  Academy  is  founded,  under 
Richelieu,  for  the  purpose  of  regulating  the  language  and  litera- 
ture of  the  realm  —  a  dictatorship  which  is  the  forerunner  of 
the  social  and  political  absolutism  of  Louis  XIV. 


THE    AGE    OF    FRANCIS    I  131 

During  all  this  time  Italy  is  the  inspirer  and  guide  of  France. 
Not  that  other  tendencies  were  not  manifest  nor  that  reaction^^, 
did  not  occur.  The  Precellence  du  langage  frauQais  (1579)  by 
Henri  Estienne  is  directly  aimed  against  the  supposed  superiority 
of  Italian.  But  such  protests  were  rare,  for  the  reason  that  Italy 
after  all  was  the  road  to  the  classics,  and  French  Classicism  was 
to  be  built  on  ideals  and  models  furnished  by  Rome  and  Greece. 
In  place  of  the  scholastic  "  dogma,"  the  Renaissance  established 
a  new  principle  of  authority  in  Graeco-Roman  tradition.  In 
what  respects  the  change  represents  a  revival  and  yet  a  French 
creation  this  and  the  following  chapters  will  show. 

When  Francis  ascended  the  throne,  literature  was  in  the  bond- 
age of  the  rhetoriqueur  school.  The  prevailing  literary  forms 
The  Age  of  ^^^^  those  of  Machaut  and  Deschamps,  and  in  longer 
Francis  I  compositions  that  of  the  Roman  de  la  Rose.  Except 
for  a  reaction  against  the  tendency  to  Latinize  {la  muse  latiale) 
and  to  be  florid,  these  forms  persist  until  the  Pleiade. 

As  for  the  King  himself,  although  known  as  the  restaurateur 
des  bonnes  lettres  he  merits  this  title  less  than  one  would  at 
first  suspect.  Married  to  Claude,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Louis 
XII,  not  only  did  he  continue  the  Italian  campaigns  of  his  prede- 
cessors —  until'  defeated  and  captured  at  Pavia  in  1525  —  but  his 
love  of  glory  and  display  made  him  an  active  promoter  of  the 
revival.  He  was  the  friend  and  patron  of  great  artists  and  sculp- 
tors: Leonardo  da  Vinci,  Andrea  del  Sarto,  Benvenuto  Cellini 
and  Jean  Goujon.  He  knew  personally  and  encouraged  Casti- 
glione:  it  was  his  secretary,  Colin  d'Auxerre,  who  first  translated 
(1537)  the  Cortegiano  into  French.  The  Louvre  (1515)  and  the 
handsome  Renaissance  wing  of  the  Chateau  de  Blois  testify  to 
the  encouragement  Francis  gave  to  architecture.  Above  all,  he 
inaugurated,  even  if  he  did  not  always  uphold,  vital  educational 
reforms.  Under  him  Bude  established  the  Trilingue  et  noble 
Academie  (the  future  College  de  France),  which,  attracted  the 
attention  of  scholars  the  world  over  and  mitigated  the  influence 
of  the  reactionary  Sorbonne.  Francis  signed  a  concordat  with 
the  Pope  which  gave  the  former  control  over  the  French  clergy. 
He  established  a  royal  press  for  the  publication  of  Greek  texts. 
In  1539  the  royal  decree  of  Villers-Cotterets  substituted  French 
for  Latin  in  all  legal  documents.    "  How  happy  is  France  under 


132  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

such  a  prince,"  says  Erasmus  in  a  letter  of  1517.  Nevertheless, 
Francis  had  neither  the  grasp  nor  the  force  of  character  to  lead 
his  age  or  give  it  direction. 

The  first  impression  we  thus  get  of  the  new  epoch  in  France  is 
of  intellectual  confusion.  Humanism  is  in  the  air.  Paris,  Rouen 
and  especially  Lyons,  open  their  gates  toi  Italian  scholars  and  to 
the  influx  of  the  new  culture.  The  chief  figures,  Rabelais,  Calvin, 
Dolet,  Marguerite  d'Angouleme,  seek  the  light  of  classical  scholar- 
ship to  guide  them.  Translations  are  eagerly  made  from  Latin, 
Greek  and  Italian.  Bude  writes  his  Commentarii  linguae  graecae 
(1529),  a  pioneer  work  in  the  field  of  classical  learning;  and 
Ramus  advocates  the  study  of  Plato  (1543).  Yet  literature  as 
such  (poetry  and  the  drama)  shows  little,  if  any,  fundamental 
change.  It  took  time  for  the  new  ideas  to  become  clarified 
sufficiently  to  compel  artistic  expression;  and,  then,  the  medieval 
forms  were  not  easily  dislodged.  Besides,  the  House  of  Bur- 
gundy, allied  to  Flanders  during  the  second  half  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  had  given  to  poetry  the  tortured  and  complicated  im- 
print of  Flemish  art.  Gothic  architecture  became  "  flamboyant," 
and  poetry  rhetoriqueur.  With  the  union  of  Burgundy  to  the 
French  crown  (1482)  this  influence  spread.  Marot,  the  one 
"  modern  "  poet  of  the  early  sixteenth  century,  still  uses  the 
medieval  forms.  Thus  the  grands  rhetoriqueurs  represent  the 
decadence  of  the  later  Middle  Ages.  To  what  lengths  they  car- 
ried their  complicated  measures  is  seen  from  the  Grand  et  vrai 
■art  de  pleine  rhetorique  (1522),  by  Pierre  Fabri. 

Written  for  the  Puy  de  Rouen,  Fabri's  work  is  a  guidepost  for 
the  poetaster  bent  on  winning  royal  or  princely  favor.  The  genres 
The  treated   are   all   lyrico-didactic:    the  rondeau,  the 

Hh^^ri-  ballade,  the  chant  royal,  and  so  on,  to  which  may  be 
queurs  added  the  epitre  as  the  form  in  which  Lemaire  and 

Marot  were  to  excel.  Here,  at  least,  we  see  the  influence  of  Ovid's 
Herdides,  rendered  into  French  (1496)  by  Octovien  de  Saint- 
Gelais;  and  poetry  assumes  the  trappings  of  classical  imagery. 
Indeed,  Fabri  warns  against  tasteless  Latinizing,  a  common  fault 
of  the  time.  But  he  has  no  inkling  as  to  the  real  value  of  ancient 
and  Italian  models,  and  he  never  refers  to  the  epic  or  the  drama. 
What  the  versifier  or  jaiseur  would  draw  from  this  work  were 
directions  about  rime,  figures  of  speech,  alliteration,  sound-to- 


RHETORIQUEUR   POETRY  133 

sense  effects,  and  the  like.  Fabri  is  perhaps  the  first  to  urge  the 
alternation  of  masculine  and  feminine  endings,  and  he  opposes 
the  so-called  lyric  and  epic  cesuras  (a  reform  that  Lemaire  was 
to  put  into  effect) ;  otherwise  he  merely  confirms  established 
views. 

Of  the  grands  rhetoriquewrs,  mentioned  by  Fabri  as  exemplars  • 
of  their  art,  Meschinot  and  Cretin  — "  le  bon  Cretin  au  vers 
equivoque  " —  hold  a  prominent  place. 
A  Breton,  Jean  Meschinot   (1420-1491)   belonged  to  the  en- 
tourage  of  Anne  of  Brittany,  later  the  wife  of  Louis 
XII,  and  wrote  much  occasional  verse  and  a  political 
allegory,  the  Lunettes  des  princes.    Like  most  of  his  associates, 
unable  to  see  reason  in  life,  Meschinot  beholds  the  realm  of 
reason  through  spectacles.    He  produced  a  huitain  which  made 
equally  poor  sense  when  read  in  thirty-two  different  ways.    But 
he  ably  characterized  Louis  as  an  "  innocent  feint,  tout  fourre 
de  malice,"  and  he  enjoyed  great  popularity. 

More  representative  of  the  school,  however,  is  Guillaume 
Cretin  (before  1525),  who  forms  also  the  connecting  link  be--^ 
tween  Burgundy  and  France  proper.  Cretin  rose 
to  be  historiographer  of  Francis  I,  at  whose  behest 
he  put  the  fabulous  history  of  his  country  (beginning  with  Troy 
and  including  the  Pseiodo-Turpin)  into  verse,  which  still  slumbers 
in  manuscript  form.  Marot  calls  him  "  souverain  poete  frangais," 
which  remained  the  verdict  of  contemporaries  until  it  seems 
Rabelais  ridiculed  him  as  "  Raminogrobis,  vieux  poete  frangais  " 
in  his  Pantagruel.  The  acme  of  Cretin's  poetizing  is  seen  in  the 
elegiacal  lines  on  Bissipat,  with  their  absurd  rime  leonine: 

O  Bissipat, 
Qui  eust  pense  que  Mort  anticipast. 
Ainsi  ta  vie  et  si  tost  dissipast. 

Still,  he  was  not  incapable  of  a  natural,  incisive  note,  particularly 
when  he  satirizes  the  clergy  or  pleads  with  his  patron  for  money. 
With  Jean  Lemaire  de  Beiges  we  reach  a  poet  of  a  distinctly 
higher  order  than  his  contemporaries.  Rhetoriquewr  that  he  is, 
,  he  has  both  personality  and  distinction.     He  was 

Lemaire  bom  (about  1473)  in  the  Low  Countries  at  Bavai, 
de  Beiges       ^jjg  Latinized  form  of  which  is  Beiges.    For  some  un- 


134  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ITALY 

known  reason  Fabri  fails  to  record  his  name ;  some  think  because 
of  Lemaire's  early  death,  variously  placed  between  1514  and  1520. 
He  grew  up  in  the  household  of  his  imcle  Molinet,  the  histori- 
ographer of  Burgundy,  to  whom  he  also  owed  several  positions 
he  held.  Lemaire  himself  attributes  his  attachment  to  the  muses 
to  the  persuasion  of  Cretin,  who  honored  him  with  a  visit.  In 
1503  he  entered  the  service  of  Margaret  of  Austria,  and  passed 
some  time  on  her  estates  at  Pont-d'Ain  near  Lyons,  in  which  city 
Italian  influences  were  then  dominant.  In  fact,  he  later  visited 
Italy  and  was  the  first  to  imitate  the  terza  rima  in  French.  In 
1512  he  became  historiographer  of  Louis  XII.  Although  his 
Concorde  des  deux  langages  (1511)  advocates  a  harmonious  co- 
operation of  France  and  Italy,  he  had  long  been  a  supporter  of 
Louis'  nationalistic  policy.  Thus,  while  Lemaire  is  still  a  long 
way  from  being  a  real  humanist,  metrical  ingenuity  is  not  his  first 
consideration  and  he  gives  evidence  of  a  knowledge  of  classical 
culture,  especially  in  his  prose.  Taken  all  in  all,  he  begins  the 
transition  in  poetry  which  leads  through  Marot  to  the  Pleiade; 
and  his  technique  was  apparently  carefully  studied  by  both  Du 
Bellay  and  Ronsard. 

His  verse  compositions  are:  the  Temple  d'honnewr  et  de  vertu, 
the  Couronne  margueritique,  the  Ejnstre  de  I'Amant  vert  and  the 
musical  Plainte  du  desire.  Titles  as  well  as  concept  of  these  are 
thoroughly  rhetoriqueur.  Yet  with  considerable  variety  and 
firmness  of  expression  Lemaire  imites  occasional  humor  and  a 
vivid  sense  of  color.   Brunetiere  justly  lauds  the  verses  beginning: 

TJn  grave  accent,  musique  larmoyable 
Est  bien  scant  a  ce  jour  pitoyable 
Pour  parfoumir  nos  lamentations. 

But  his  best  poetic  work  remains  the  semi-humorous  Amant  vert. 
This  consists  of  a  letter  supposedly  sent  by  Margaret's  dead 
parrot  from  the  Netherworld.  The  poem  is  gracefully  turned, 
remmiscent  in  substance  and  style  of  Vergil  and  particularly 
Ovid  (the  Amores  II,  vi),  and  appropriate  in  tone  to  the  matter 
treated.  Lemaire  is  not  profound,  but  he  is  never  commonplace. 
His  chief  work,  however,  is  in  prose.  This  is  the  ambitious 
Illustrations  de  Gmde  et  singularites  de  Troie  (1510-1513)  a 
curious  blending  of  erudition,  pedantry  and  charming  naivete; 


JEAN    LEMAIRE  135 

incidentally,  a  mine  of  patriotic  inspiration  for  the  century 
and  the  source  of  Ronsard's  Franciade.  Lemaire's  idea  was  to 
revise  the  Troy  story,  that  theme  so  dear  to  the  Middle  Ages, 
in  accord  with  more  reliable  authorities.  With  this  in  mind,  he 
followed  during  the  first  book  the  f abulations  of  Annius  of  Viterbo 
connecting  in  typical  Renaissance  fashion  the  m3rthical  ancestors 
of  the  human  race;  thus  Priam  is  related  to  Noah  (Je  bon 
pere  Noe)  and  Jupiter  is  identified  with  Osiris.  In  the  sec- 
ond book,  which  treats  of  Troy  proper,  the  model  is  Lorenzo  Val- 
la's prose  rendering  of  all  the  Iliad  (1502),  with  the  reservation 
always  that  Francus  (a  neglected  son  of  Hector)  is  to  become  the 
ancestor  of  the  French  nobility  —  after  the  fall  of  Ilion  —  and 
thus  the  progenitor  of  the  royal  houses  of  France  and  Burgundy. 
Besides  seeing  in  the  work  a  sort  of  Almanach  de  Gotha,  Le- 
maire's contemporaries  (so  Brunetiere  suggests)  were  won  by 
the  style  sdutenu  with  its  predevx  coloring.  Thus  the  author 
speaks  of  the  "  detroits  d'insatiable  avarice,"  the  "  rochers  de 
cupidite  effrenee,"  the  "  plage  d'outrage  sanguinolent " ;  and  he 
makes  Athena  say:  "Sejoiune  les  pupilles  .  .  .  au  miroir  de 
ma  speciosite  celeste."  Yet,  such  allegorizations  are  nothing 
new  in  French  and  when  the  occasion  arises,  as  in  depicting  the 
idyll  of  Paris  and  Oenone,  Lemaire  is  both  simple  and  poetic, 
with  touches  recalling  Sannazzaro,  resident  in  France  in  1501- 
1504.  A  trait  which  Lemaire  does  not  share  with  his  epoch  is 
his  scrupulous  decency  of  expression. 

It  may  have  been  Lemaire's  misfortune  that  he  was  ahead  of 
his  age.  As  it  is,  he  gave  impetus  to  Jboth.  literature  and  art 
(he  was  also  a  niusician),  and  we  understand  why  Du  Bellay 
acclaimed  him  as  having  "  iHustre  et  les  Gaules  et  la  langue,  luy 
donnant  beaucoup  de  mots  et  manieres  de  parler  poetiques " 
{Defense  et  Illustration  II,  Ch,  2). 


CHAPTER  II 

MAROT   AND    HIS    IMMEDIATE    FOLLOWERS 

Elusiveness  has  long  been  recognized  as  one  of  the  main  traits 
of  Clement  Marot.  This  is  half  his  chann.  He  characterized 
himself  in  the  following  lines: 

Sur  le  printemps  de  ma  jeunesse  foUe, 
Je  ressemblois  I'arondelle  qui  vole 
.  Puis  ga,  puis  la:  I'aage  me  conduisoit. 
Sans  paour  ne  soing,  oh  le  cueur  me  disoit. 

And  it  is  not  only  in  his  youth  that  he  eludes  us,  but  throughout 
his  life,  up  to  the  day  of  his  death. 

Of  an  apparently  frivolous  nature,  more  or  less  a  temporizer 
as  his  position  of  valet  de  chambre  to  King  Francis  required, 
Marot  has  not  a  little  courage,  a  wonderful  command  of  the 
subtler  shades  of  language,  luminous  clarity  and  the  eternal 
quality  of  wit.  La  Bruyere,  certainly  not  superficial,  considered 
him  more  modern  than  Ronsard: 

II  n'y  a  guere  entre  ce  premier  et  nous  que  la  difference  de 
quelques  mots. 

We  must  not  look  to  Marot  for  lyric  passion  or  depth  of 
sentiment.  His  gifts  are  common  sense,  lightness  of  touch  and  a 
determination  to  say  nothing  that  is  not  said  well.  In  so  far  as 
he  thus  discards  the  fetters  of  medieval  pedantry  he  represents 
the  Gallic  side  of  the  Renaissance. 

His  father,  Jean  Marot,  had  married  a  lady  of  Cahors  in 
Quercy.  Here  Clement  was  born  in  1496  or  1497.  When  the 
Marot's  ^°y  ^^®  *^°»  ^^®  elder  Marot,  anxious  to  have  him 
Life  succeed  in  the  "  rhetorical  art,"  took  him  north  to 

France  proper. 

Que  j'oubliay  ma  langue  matemelle 
Et  grossement  apprins  la  patemelle 
Langue  frangcyse, 

136 


MAROT  137 

is  the  poet's  significant  comment  on  this  step.    Thus  Marot,  like 
Monluc  and  Montaigne,  is  virtually  a  child  of  the  south. 

Like  Villon,  he  was  not  an  industrious  student,  and  humanly  he 
blames  his  instructors.  Even  his  knowledge  of  Latin  was  de- 
fective, as  the  inaccuracies  of  his  translations  show.  But  he  was 
an  extensive  reader,  and  his  library  contained  such  works  as  the 
Spanish  Celestina,  Boccaccio's  Fiammetta,  various  books  con- 
demned by  the  Sorbonne,  the  chief  Latin  writers,  the  works  of 
Villon  and  of  course  the  Roman  de  la  Rose.  In  verse  his  master 
was  Jean  Lemaire  de  Beiges,  whom  he  ignorantly  compares  to 
Homer.  Cretin  was  also  a  youthful  admiration.  Character- 
istically, however,  he  regarded  court  life  as  his  most  important 
teacher: 

La  court  du  roy,  ma  maistresse  d'escole. 

And,  in  fact,  after  a  short  period  as  a  law  student,  when  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Basoche,  Marot  became  page  to  Nicholas 
de  Neufville,  seigneur  de  Villeroy  (1513).  Henceforth  he  trod 
the  uncertain  path  of  princely  favor.  In  1515  he  greeted  the 
youthful  Francis  in  his  Temple  de  Cupido,  with  its  burst  of 
allegory  but  revealing  also  the  poet's  innate  charm.  Three  years 
later  he  became  secretary  of  Marguerite  d'Angouleme,  under 
whose  influence  his  spiritual  sympathies  were  broadened  so  as  to 
make  him  at  least  a  doubtful  Protestant.  His  translation  of  the 
Sixth  Psalm  appeared  in  the  edition  of  Marguerite's  Miroir  de 
I'ame  pecheresse  (1533).  The  Epistre  du  Despourveu,  addressed 
to  her  in  1517,  however,  still  shows  the  poet  as  a  typical  rhetori- 
queur: 

Ces  motz  finiz,  demeure  mon  semblant 
Triste,  transy,  tout  terny,  tout  tremblant, 
Sombre,  songeant,  sans  seure  soustenance, 
Dur  d'esperit,  desnue  d'esperance, 
Melancolic,  morne,  marry,  musant. 

And  rhetoriqueur  he  remains  until  after  1524. 

In  this  year  he  accompanied  the  King  to  Italy  and  was  present, 
if  not  actually  wounded  and  made  a  prisoner,  at  Pavia  (1525). 
On  his  return  to  Paris  he  was  arrested  and  confined  in  the  Cha- 
telet,  whence,  however,  influential  friends  (among  them  a  certain 
Lion  Jamet)  had  him  transferred  to  more  comfortable  surround- 


138     MAROT  AND  HIS  IMMEDIATE  FOLLOWERS 

ings  at  Chartres,  where  he  was  soon  set  at  liberty.  The  charge 
was  that  Marot  had  broken  the  ecclesiastic  rules  as  to  fasting 
during  Lent.  However  this  may  be,  the  poet  whom  the  King 
finally  liberated  is  the  real  Marot,  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to 
Bouchart,  in  which  he  denies  his  heresy,  the  famous  Epistle  to 
Jamet  containing  the  Fable  of  the  Lion  and  the  Rat,  and  the 
Enfer  —  a  satirical  poem  on  his  treatment  in  the  Chatelet.  All 
these  show  Marot's  vigor,  directness  and  dramatic  power,  in 
full  play. 

In  1526  Francis  appointed  Marot  to  the  post  left  vacant  by 
his  father's  death.  According  to  M.  Lefranc,  the  same  year  marks 
also  the  beginning  of  the  one  serious  love-affair  of  the  poet's 
life.  But  the  date  is  uncertain,  just  as  it  is  doubtful  that  Anne 
d'Alengon,  the  niece  of  Marguerite,  inspired  Marot's  love  —  as 
Lefranc  also  maintains.  The  sincerity  of  the  poet's  emotion, 
however,  can  hardly  be  doubted,  fleeting  as  it  may  have  been; 
witness  the  lines: 

J'ayme  le  cueur  de  m'amye 
Sa  bonte  at  sa  doulceur, 
Je  Tayme  sans  infamie 
Et  comme  un  frere  la  soeur. 

Such  frankness  is  matched  only  by  the  more  characteristic  note 
which  Marot  strikes  in  the  Epigram  satirizing  the  unjust  execution 
of  Samblangay,  superintendent  of  finances  (1527),  and  the  de- 
licious Epistre  au  Roy  pour  avoir  este  derobe  with  its  vivid  char- 
acter sketch  of  the  poet's  rascally  valet  — 

Au  demourant,  le  meilleur  filz  du  monde. 

Marot  is  now  famous,  and  to  guard  against  pirated  copies  of  his 
works  he  employs  Geoffrey  Tory  to  publish  his  poems  under  the 
playful  title  of  Adolescence  Clementine  (1532).  So,  too,  a  feel- 
ing of  piety  for  the  poetic  art  prompts  him  to  reedit  Villon  in 
1533  and  to  translate  several  of  Petrarch's  sonnets.  Yet  the  times 
are  fraught  with  danger,  and  a  person  of  Marot's  liberal  associa- 
tions is  none  too  secure.  On  October  17-18, 1534,  the  Protestants, 
goaded  to  action,  placard  the  King's  door  with  an  attack  on  the 
Mass.  Hesitating  before,  Francis  now  allows  Parliament  to  act, 
and  the  result  is  that  our  poet  is  forced  to  flee.    He  goes  first  to 


MAROT  139 

Nerac,  seeking  the  protection  of  Marguerite,  but  very  soon  moves 
to  Italy,  where  he  finds  an  asylum  at  the  court  of  Francis'  sister- 
in-law,  t-he  Duchess  Renee  of  Ferrara.  Here  he  meets  the  Pe- 
trarchist  Tebaldeo  and  Serafino  dall'  Aquila  —  whose  influence 
he  shows  in  several  huitains  and  particularly  in  his  revival  of 
the  blason  (a  versified  catalogue  of  physical  traits)  —  and  he 
celebrates  his  new  protectress  as  the  embodiment  of  vertu: 

De  quoy  Vertu  perpetuoit  sa  vie: 
Dont  il  trouvoit  sa  perte  et  son  soucy 
Moins  ennuyeux. 

But  the  ornate  and  affected  Ferrarese  were  not  suited  to  one 
of  Marot's  frolicsome  temper.  Besides,  his  heretical  leanings 
were  distasteful  to  the  Duke,  Ercole  d'Este,  who  did  not  share 
his  wife's  generous  spirit.  Marot  longs  for  France,  and  thither 
he  goes  in  1537,  after  making  a  public  disavowal  of  his  "  errors  " 
with  an  apparently  light  heart.  He  thanks  Francis  officially  for 
his  return  to  grace  in  the  Eglogue  au  Roy  sovbs  les  noms  de  Pan 
et  de  Robin,  a  mingling  of  the  medieval  and  classical  forms  of 
the  pastoral  and  one  of  the  most  biographically  rich  of  Marot's 
works.  In  1539  Francis  seals  the  compact  by  presenting  the  poet 
with  a  house  in  the  suburb  of  Saint-Germain-des-Pres. 

Meanwhile,  however,  Marot's  enemies  had  not  been,  idle. 
Profiting  by  the  poet's  equivocal  attitude,  a  Norman  priest,  Fran- 
5ois  de  Sagon  —  whom  Marot  had  offended  personally  — 
launched  against  the  absentee  a  truculent  Cowp  d'essai,  in  which 
amid  much  other  abuse  occur  the  lines: 

Marc  sans  t  est  excellent  poete 
Mais  avec  t  il  est  tout  corrompu. 

The  quarrel  that  ensued  is  not  without  its  interest.  It  marshaled 
the  literary  men  of  the  time  into  two  opposing  camps:  rhetori- 
qufiwrs  and  Marotiques;  and  on  the  latter  side  were  Desperiers, 
Fontaine  and  Mellin  de  Saint-Gelais.  The  broadsides  put  forth 
by  the  opposing  parties  were  adorned  with  wood-cuts  of  the 
grossest  sort;  thus  printing  joined  in  onje  of  its  earliest  battles, 
and  invective  followed  invective.  As  for  the  documents,  the 
most  noteworthy  for  its  satire  is  the  witty  but  scurrilous  Valet 
de  Marot  centre  Sagon,  in  which  the  poet  hides  under  the  name 


140     MAROT  AND  HIS  IMMEDIATE  FOLLOWERS 

of  his  servant  Frippelippes.  FinaHy,  the  matter  was  settled  to 
Marot's  advantage  when  the  Confrerie  des  Cornards  declared  that 
even  in  Rouen  Sagon  was  considered  inferior  to  his  opponent. 
The  year  1538  sees  Marot  busy  with  a  new  edition  of  his  works 
(including  the  Enfer  and  a  Dialogue  de  deux  amoureux) ,  which 
was  finally  printed  by  both  his  friend  Dolet  and  the  publisher 
Gryphius  of  Lyons.  With  the  encouragement  of  the  King  and 
the  help  of  Vatable  —  the  Biblical  scholar  —  Marot  now  works 
on  his  translation  of  the  Psalter.  This  Saint  Cancionnaire  of 
thirty  Psalms,  whose  couplets  were  sung  according  to  popular 
tunes  on  the  spinet,  appeared  in  1541  with  a  dedication  to  Francis. 
But  when  the  Sorbonne  protests  against  such  profanation  of 
the  Bible,  the  King  with  characteristic  weakness  deserts  his 
favorite,  and  Marot  flees  to  Geneva  (1542),  never  to  see  France 
again.  There  his  Psalms  were  incorporated  into  the  Protestant 
liturgy  and  republished  in  more  than  twenty-four  editions  before 
1550.  They  were  thus  the  greatest  poetic  success  of  the  time, 
though  their  author  was  not  to  profit  by  this  popularity.  After 
a  year's  sojourn  in  Geneva  Marot  left  for  Chambery  and  died  the 
following  year  (1544)  in  Turin. 

In  an  epistle,  A  un  sien  amy,  written  shortly  before 
his  end,  he  takes  leave  of  the  world  and  propheti- 
cally voices  the  judgment  of  posterity  with  regard  to  his  work: 

Ne  voy  tu  pas,  encore  qu'on  me  voye 
Prive  des  biens  et  estats  que  j'avoye 
Des  vieulx  amys,  du  pays,  de  leur  chere, 
De  ceste  Royne  et  maistresse  tant  chere, 
Qui  m'a  nourry  (et  si,  sans  rien  me  rendre. 
On  m'ayt  tollu  tout  ce  qui  se  peult  prendre), 
Ce  neantmoins,  par  mont  et  par  campaigne 
Le  mien  esprit  me  suit  et  m'accompaigne? 

Abandomie  jamais  ne  m'a  la  Muse 


Et  tant  qu'ouy  et  nenny  se  dira 
Par  Tunivers  le  monde  me  hra. 

Thus  Marot  is  especially  a  writer  of  occasional  verse. 
This  was  his  forte,  and  in  this  field  he  remains  the  master.  We 
may  regret  his  lack  of  direction,  the  absence  in  him  of  any  one 
lofty  ideal,  the  inability  to  grasp  and  make  his  own  the  moral 


ij. 


MAROT'S    WORKS  141 

strength  of  Protestantism;  what  we  cannot  deny  is  his  captivat- 
ing charm  and  his  great  virtuosity. 

His  Epistles  are  his  best  product.  Mostly  written  in  ten- 
syllable  verse,  which  he  handles  with  great  skill,  they  are  rapid 
in  movement,  picturesque  and  concrete  in  language,  and 
humorous,  pathetic,  pleading  or  satiric,  as  the  poet  wishes  them 
to  be.  Take  the  detail  of  a  passage  like  the  following  from  the 
Epistle  to  Jamet: 

Trouva  moyen  et  maniere  et  matiere 
D'ongles  et  dens,  de  rompre  la  ratiere, 
Dont  maistre  rat  eschappe  vistement, 
Puis  meit  a  terra  un  genouil  gentement, 
Et  en  ostant  son  bonnet  de  la  teste, 
A  mercie  mille  foys  la  grand  beste, 
Jurant  le  Dieu  des  souris  et  des  ratz 
Qu'il  lay  rendroit; 

and  contrast  it  with  the  distinguished  grace  of  the  three-sylla- 
bled Epistle  A  une  Damoyselle  malade: 

Ma  nugnonne, 
Je  voiis  donne 
Le  bon  jour; 
Le  sejour 
C'est  prison. 
Guerison 
Recouvrez, 
Puis  ouvrez 
Votre  porte, 
Et  qu'on  sorte 
Vistement. 

Or  compare  the  familiar  tone  of  one  of  Marot's  Coqs-a-l'asne  — 
thus  the  poet  designates  his  helter-skelter  discussion  of  contem- 
porary topics  in  epistle  form: 

Tu  ne  SQais  pas?    Thunis  est  prinse, 
Triboulet  a  freres  et  soeurs, 
Les  Angloys  s'en  vont  bons  danseurs, 
Les  Allemans  tiennent  mesure. 

On  ne  preste  plus  a  usure, 
Mais  tant  qu'on  veut  a  interest. 

A  propos  de  Perceforest, 
Lit  on  plus  Artus  et  Gauvain? 

with  the  sustained  utterance  of  one  of  his  Elegies: 


142     MAROT  AND  HIS  IMMEDIATE  FOLLOWERS 

Ton  gentil  cueur  si  haiiltement  assis, 
Ton  sens  discret  a  merveille  rassis, 
Ton  noble  port,  ton  maintien  asseure. 
Ton  chant  si  doulx,  ton  parler  mesure. 
Ton  propre  habit,  qui  tant  bien  se  conforme 
Au  naturel  de  ta  tres  belle  forme. 

Again  esprit  is  the  note  of  his  epigrams,  where  he  imitates 
Martial.  The  rondeau  with  the  refrain  Au  bon  vieux  temps  is 
in  most  anthologies,  while  the  ballade,  De  frere  Imbin,  is  also 
well  known. 

As  for  the  sonnet,  he  did  little  more  than  introduce  the  genre 
into  French  and  lay  the  foimdation  for  the  standard  French 
type  (where  the  tercets  rime  ccd  eed  or  ede)  — yet  this  is  not 
unimportant  in  view  of  the  popularity  of  the  sonnet  with  the 
Pleiade. 

Marot  was  not  a  successful  translator,  though  his  range  in- 
cluded Erasmus  as  well  as  Vergil  and  Ovid ;  nor  was  he  a  striking 
innovator  in  rhythm.  In  both  respects,  his  Psalms  perhaps  are 
an  exception.  Obviously,  he  was  not  exactly  at  home  in  the  lofty 
religious  atmosphere  of  Hebraic  inspiration;  but  his  renderings 
are  singularly  close  at  times  and  his  arrangement  of  rimes  is 
original.  The  translation  of  the  Thirty-third  Psalm  contains  the 
ten-line  strophe  which  we  later  find  in  the  French  ode: 

ResveUlez  vous,  chascun  fidele, 
Menez  en  Dieu  joye  orendroit.  ■• 

Louange  est  tresseante  et  belle 
En  la  bouche  de  rhomme  droict. 

Sur  la  doulce  harpe, 

Pendue  en  escharpe, 

Le  Seigneur  louez. 

De  luz,  d'espinettes 

Sainctes  chansonnettes 

A  son  Nom  jouez. 

In  short,  it  was  Marot's  function  to  deliver  French  poetry 
from  rhetoriqueur  complexities  and  to  guide  it  into  the  high- 
road of  clear  and  sensible  expression.  On  these  grovmds  the 
contempt  with  which  Ronsard  and  his  followers  treated  him  is 
unmerited.  At  the  same  time,  he  utterly  lacks  the  afflatus  of 
the  Renaissance,  its  great  enthusiasm  and  its  towering  thoughts. 


MAROT'S    FOLLOWERS  143 

It  is  interesting  that  in  such  an  age  a  poet  could  display  "the 
literary  characteristics  of  the  ordinary  Frenchman "  (Saints- 
bury)  .    This  is  at  once  his  achievement  and  his  limitation. 

Of  Marot's  immediate  successors,  the  so-called  Ecole  marotique, 
little  need  be  said.  In  general,  they  maintain  the  position 
The  Maro-  outlined  above.  Among  them  are  Charles  Fontaine, 
tiques  Lg,  Borderie,  Eustorg  de  Beaulieu,  Charles  de  Sainte- 

Marthe  and  Mellin  de  Saint-Gelais. 

Fontaine  (1515-1570?) ,  the  honest  defender  of  the  "  master," 
was  also  the  champion  of  the  rights  of  love.  An  ardent  dis- 
cussion divided  the  literary  circles  of  the  years  1541-1546.  In 
some  respects  a  revival  of  the  dispute  launched  by  Jean  de  Meun 
on  the  nature  of  woman,  it  assumed  an  entirely  new  aspect  under 
the  influence  of  Neo-Platonism,  recently  imported  from  Italy 
and  cultivated  by  Marguerite  d'Angouleme.  With  her  and 
Rabelais'  share  in  the  quarrel  we  shall  deal  presently. 
Fontaine's  part  in  it  was  to  answer  a  cynical  attack  on  the  fair 
sex  by  La  Borderie,  who  in  his  Amye  de  Court  (1541)  had  repre- 
sented the  "  coiui;  lady  "  as  a  materialist.  To  this  slur  Fontaine 
replied  with  his  Contr'Amye  de  Court,  which,  rambling  and 
prolix  as  it  is,  contains  an  interesting  adaptation  of  Plato's  con- 
ception of  "  imiversal  love  ": 

Amour  partout  sa  bonne,  graine  seme, 
Et  de  la  vient  que  toute  chose  s'ayme. 

Eustorg  de  Beaulieu  (1505-1552)  continued  Marot's  blasons, 
which  had  become  popular,  together  with  other  forms  of  the 
Marotic  type;  and  having  reformed,  morally  and  religiously,  he 
published  at  Geneva  religious  songs  set  to  his  own  music. 
Charles  de  Sainte-Marthe  (1512-1555)  at  least  is  frank  enough 
to  say: 

Que  dira  Ton  de  me  veoir  si  hardy 
De  composer  apres  toy,  6  Clement? 

His  "  rather  weak  attempts  at  Platonism  "  have  the  merit  of  form- 
ing one  of  the  links  between  Marguerite's  court  at  Nerac  and  the 
flourishing  Renaissance  city  of  Lyons,  where  his  poems  appeared 
in  1540. 


lU     MAROT  AND  HIS  IMMEDIATE  FOLLOWERS 

Thus  Mellin  de  Saint-Gelais  (1481-1558)  is  the  only  notable 
standard-bearer  of  the  group.  A  natural  son  of  Octovien  (see 
above),  he  was  highly  cultured,  quite  a  student  of  Italian  and 
a  rival  of  Marot  for  the  credit  of  having  introduced  the  sonnet 
into  French.  He  was  aptly  called  I'Homere  des  vers  d'album. 
Mellin  was  a  favorite  at  the  court  of  Henry  II,  who  liked  his 
Italianate  manner.  Mignardises  is  the  name  of  the  formal 
blossoms  which  he  culled  for  the  court  circles  of  his  time  (1547). 
He  prepared  an  edition  of  the  French  translation  by  Colin  of  the 
Cortegiano,  and  he  himself  translated  into  French  the  Sophordsba 
of  Trissino,  a  play  that  is  important  in  the  development  of  the 
drama.  In  triumphing  over  Mellin,  Ronsard  triumphs  over  the 
Marotic  muse  in  its  Italianized  form.  An  excellent  sample  of 
Mellin's  style  is  found  in  his  rendering  of  a  sonnet  by  Sannaz- 
zaro,  also  translated  by  the  English  poet  Wyatt.  We  cite  the 
first  quatrain: 

Voyant  ces  monts  de  veue  ainsi  lointaine, 
Je  les  compare  a  mon  long  desplaisir: 
Haut  est  leur  chef,  et  haut  est  mon  desir, 
Leur  pied  est  ferme,  et  ma  foy  est  certaine. 


CHAPTER    III 

RABELAIS  AND   CALVIN  — THE   EPICUREAN 
AND  THE  STOIC 

FKANgois  Rabelais  and  Jean  Calvin  are  respectively  the  pos- 
itive and  negative  poles  of  the  Renaissance.  Drawing  alike 
their  inspiration  from  the  newly  discovered  classics,  with  an 
equal  opposition  to  medieval  pedantry,  they  yet  represent  the 
parting  of  the  ways  in  their  conflicting  ideals:  Rabelais  the 
exuberant  apostle  of  freedom,  and  Calvin  the  rigid  disciplin- 
arian. To  the  one,  human  nature  appeared  essentially  healthy 
and  hence  trustworthy ;  to,  the  other  it  appeared  totally  depraved 
and  therefore  in  pressing  need  of  renewed  contact  with  the  Deity. 
Thus,  if  personal  emphasis  is  characteristic  of  this  period,  they 
are  its  representatives.  Moreover,  the  principles  for  which 
they  stand  continue  in  favor  through  the  epoch  of  French 
Classicism.  As  regards  point  of  view,  Moliere  and  Racine  are 
their  descendants. 

Today  we  think  of  Rabelais  primarily  as  a  humorist.  We  are 
swept  along  by  his  laughter  —  the  expression  of  his  prodigious 
Fransois  vitality  —  and  we  are  apt  to  overlook  his  wisdom. 
Rabelais        j)Qgg  }jg  q^^  gj^y  jjj  jjig  dedication  to  his  readers: 

Vray  est  qu'icy  peu  de  perfection 
Vous  apprendrez,  si  non  en  cas  de  rire; 

and  quote  Aristotle  to  the  effect  that 

rire  est  le  propre  de  ITiomme? 

His  contemporaries,  however,  knew  him  as  a  great  scholar  and 
physician,  whose  mirth  —  gross  and  indecent  as  it  is  —  is  sec- 
ondary to  the  profounder  qualities  of  the  man.  In  him,  if  any- 
where, the  asceticism  of  the  Middle  Ages  finds  a  corrective  in  an 
exultant  but  thoughtful  expression  of  life;  and  this  side  of  him 
should  not  be  overlooked.    But  his  genius  has  also  another 

145 


146  RABELAIS    AND    CALVIN 

characteristic  aspect  —  strange  as  it  may  seem  —  in  his  art  as 
a  writer.  Rabelais  is  one  of  the  great  molders  of  French  prose. 
This  shows  itself  in  a  tremendous  rush  of  words,  overflowing  the 
page  or  concentrated  into  telling  phrases,  as  the  case  may  be, 
but  always  with  an  rmderlying  rhythm,  an  indication  of  the  truly 
masterful  nature  of  the  man. 

It  is  not  known  exactly  when  he  was  bom.  The  traditional 
date  is  1483  —  the  year  of  the  birth  of  Luther  and  Raphael.  This 
is  certainly  wrong,  as  is  the  tradition  that  Rabelais'  father 
was  an  inn-keeper  of  Chinon,  a  town  in  Touraine.  It  is  now  es- 
tablished that  his  father  was  Antoine  de  Rabelais,  seigneur  de 
Chavigny,  a  barrister  of  Chinon,  and  owner  of  the  farm  and  vine- 
yard of  La  Deviniere,  where  Frangois  was  bom  at  a  date  esti- 
mated as  1494  or  1495.  Little  is  known  of  his  early  education 
except  that  it  was  pedantically  medieval  and  that  the  Thubal 
Holofernes  satirized  in  the  Gargantua  was  probably  his  first 
preceptor.  He  doubtless  went  to  the  Franciscan  convent  of  La 
Bamnette,  near  Angers.  In  1519  he  qualified  as  jrere  mineur  at 
Fontenay-le-Comte  in  Poitou,  and  here  it  was  that  he  imderwent 
the  humanistic  influences  that  were  to  shape  his  career. 

In  general,  these  were  Greek  studies,  piu*sued  in  conjunction 
with  his  brother-monk  Pierre  Amy  under  the  supervision  of  Bude. 
The  two  friends  also  discussed  problems  with  Andre  Tiraqueau, 
later  a  member  of  the  Parisian  Parliament,  and  with  Geoffrey 
d'Estissac,  Bishop  of  Maillezais.  But  difficulties  were  soon  to 
disrupt  this  learned  coterie.  Tiraqueau  had  written  a  pamphlet 
attacking  the  female  sex,  the  De  legibus  conubialibus  et  jure 
maritali  (which  Rabelais  later  quotes  in  his  Third  Book) ;  and  the 
controversy  to  which  the  pamphlet  gave  rise,  as  well  as  the  fact 
that  the  young  himianists  were  suspected  of  friendliness  towards 
the  religious  reformers,  led  to  the  flight  of  Amy  and  the  transfer 
of  Rabelais  to  the  more  lenient  Benedictine  order  at  Maillezais 
(1524). 

The  succeeding  years  were  crowded  with  events.  It  is  uncer- 
tain how  long  Rabelais  tarried  at  Maillezais  but  it  is  probable 
"Gargantua   *^**  ^®  ^°°°  began  the  study  of  medicine  at  Paris 

et  and  of  law  at  Bourges.    In  1530,  we  know,  he  re- 

Pantagruel"  ceived  his  baccalaureate  in  medicine  at  Montpellier, 
and  he  then  gave  lectures  to  large  audiences  on  the  Aphorisn^ 


RABELAIS  14j7 

of  Hippocrates  and  the  Ars  Medica  of  Galen.  By  1532  he  had 
migrated  to  Lyons,  and  here  in  the  thriving  Renaissance  city 
he  divided  his  time  between  his  profession  as  a  physician  and 
the  editing  and  publication  of  books. 

Among  the  latter  he  either  wrote  or  merely  edited  a  chap- 
book  called  Les  grandes  et  inestimables  Chroniques  du  grand  et 
enorme  geant  Gargantua,  following  the  general  lines  of  an  Ar- 
thurian prose-romance.  Published  in  1532,  this  work  was  im- 
mensely popular,  more  copies  of  it  being  sold  in  two  months 
"  than  there  will  be  Bibles  in  nine  years  " —  as  Rabelais  himself 
testifies.  The  account  which  he  there  gives  of  Grangousier, 
Galemelle  and  their  son  Gargantua,  who,  transported  over  the 
sea  by  Merlin,  takes  service  with  King  Arthur,  was  followed  in 
the  same  year  by  a  far  superior  continuation,  the  Pantagruel, 
and  a  facetious  almanac,  the  Pantagrueline  Prognostication. 
The  first  of  these  is  now  the  Second  Book  of  Rabelais'  immortal 
work. 

In  form  of  a  romance,  the  Pantagruel  relates  the  origin,  birth, 
education  and  adventures  of  the  hero,  interspersed  with  copious 
references  to  burning  questions  of  the  day  and  an 
account  of  Pantagruel's  sojourn  in  Orleans  and  Paris 
[Chs.  II-XXXIII],  which  doubtless  reflects  Rabelais*  own  ex- 
perience. Rabelais'  sources  were  practically  evers^thing  he  read: 
from  classical  authors  to  the  Italian  Folengo  (from  whose  Cingar 
he  took  the  attributes  of  Panurge),  and  books  of  travel  and 
science.  But  the  backgroimd  of  the  work  rests  on  the  romances 
of  chivalry,  of  which  the  Pantagruel  is  a  burlesque  interwoven 
with  modern  instances  and  classical  illustrations. 

Thus  Pantagruel,  originally  a  salt-water  demon  in  the 
mysteres,  is  in  part  Rabelais  himself,  who  later  [Book  III]  apos- 
trophizes his  hero  as 

le  meilleur  petit  et  grand  bon  homet  que  oncques  ceigneit  espee. 
Toutes  choses  prenoit  en  boime  partie,  tout  acte  interpretoit  a 
bien.    Jamais  ne  se  tourmentoit,  jamais  ne  se  scandalisoit. 

Book  II  describes  the  pedantic  collection  of  the  Library  of  St. 
Victor,  provides  an  antidote  to  this  pedantry  in  the  admirable 
Letter  of  Gargantua  to  his  son,  aptly  called  "the  triumphal 
hymn  of  the  Renaissance,"  and  records  Pantagruel's  disputations 


148  RABELAIS    AND    CALVIN 

on  the  study  and  practice  of  law.  It  then  relates  his  meeting 
with  Panurge,  companion  and  counterpart  to  himself,  whom 
Rabelais  describes  in  terms  borrowed  from  the  account  of 
Marot's  "  valet  de  Gascogne."  The  actual  plot  of  this  Book, 
however,  is  chiefly  an  attack  on  the  Dipsodes  or  Thirsty,  to 
which  Gargantua  surmnons  his  son  and  which  includes  an 
account  of  a  voyage  around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  Utopia 
or  Cathay  in  India. 

Rabelais  was  now  physician  to  the  hospital  of  the  Pont-du- 
Rhone  in  Lyons.  But  his  studies  could  not  have  been  exacting, 
for  he  maintained  his  connection  with  printers  and  writers, 
addressing  a  remarkable  letter  to  Erasmus  in  1532,  and  accepting 
early  in  1534  an  invitation  to  go  to  Rome  in  the  suite  of  Jean  du 
Bellay,  soon  to  be  made  a  cardinal.  All  this  time,  however,  he 
was  busy  on  an  elaboration  of  his  romance,  and  soon  after  his 
return  from  Rome  (the  close  of  1534)  he  brought  out  the  Vie 
inestimable  du  grand  Gargantua,  pere  de  Pantagruel  —  now 
reckoned  as  Book  I.  The  year  1534  was  the  date  of  the  Placards 
(see  Ch.  II) ,  and  the  sneering  remarks  in  the  book  on  the  doctors 
of  the  Sorbonne  probably  made  Rabelais  cautious  of  his  own 
safety;  at  any  rate,  by  March,  1535,  he  had  been  so  long  absent 
from  his  post  at  the  hospital  that  another  was  elected  to  fill  his 
place.  In  July  of  that  year  he  was  once  more  in  Rome,  this 
time  as  physician  to  the  Cardinal. 

The  Gargantua,  meant  to  replace  the  earlier  chap-book  of  this 
name,  is  a  more  elaborate  performance  than  the  Pantagruel, 
whose  general  lines  it  follows  in  the  manner  of  the 
enfances  of  some  epic  hero.  There  is  a  prologue 
burlesquing  the  medieval  device  of  the  literal  and  figurative 
meanings  or  sensus,  which  has  led  many  commentators  astray 
in  the  belief  that  the  book  veils  a  political  or  religious  attack. 
The  book  proper  gives  a  description  of  the  young  giant's  birth 
and  education;  Gargantua  steals  the  bells  of  Notre-Dame  and 
listens  to  the  amusing  protest  of  Janotus  de  Bragmardo,  a 
pedant  of  the  Sorbonne;  his  tutor  Ponacrates  initiates  him  into 
the  new  learning  by  first  demonstrating  the  absurdities  of  the 
old,  and  so  on.  But  the  central  episode  of  the  book  is  the  war 
between  Grangousier  and  Picrochole,  ending  in  the  foundation 
of  the  Abbaye  de  Theleme. 


RABELAIS  149 

This  war,  beneath  which  lies  a  family  squabble  of  the  Rabelais 
and  their  neighbors  in  Touraine,  the  Sainte-Marthes,  satirizes  in 
the  guise  of  an  attack  of  the  cake-bakers  of  Lerne  on  the  shep- 
herds of  Grandgousier  the  frivolous  causes  that  may  lead  nations 
to  fight  —  an  obvious  echo  of  the  pacifistic  ideals  of  Erasmus. 
The  Abbaye  de  Theleme,  a  monastery  without  "  rule,"  open  to 
both  sexes  with  the  right  of  free  entrance  and  departure,  symbol- 
izes Rabelais'  concept  of  humanism.  A  model  of  Renaissance 
architecture,  this  institution  has  but  one  precept,  Fay  ce  que 
vouldras  —  considering  that  "  men  who  are  free,  well-bred, 
well-educated,  conversant  with  genteel  folk,  have  by  nature  an 
instinct  and  spur  which  impels  them  to  virtuous  actions  and 
restrains  them  from  vice;  and  this  they  call  honor."  The  atti- 
tude is  aristocratic:  the  model  of  the  Cortegiano  doubtless  hov- 
ered before  the  author's  mind;  but  the  important  fact  is  that 
Rabelais  invokes  instinct  and  not  dogma,  freedom  and  not  re- 
striction, for  the  salvation  of  man.  If  we  add  hereto  the^ 
observation  that  the  Thelemites  never  have  an  idle  moment  we 
get  activity,  or  work,  as  the  other  essential  condition  of  human 
happiness.  These,  together  with  Pantagruel's  trait  of  cheerful- 
ness even  in  the  face  of  adversity,  are  the  leading  features  of; 
Pantagruelisme  or  the  Rabelaisian  philosophy  of  life.  — ' 

In  March,  1536,  we  find  Rabelais  _once  more  in  Paris  attending 
a  dinner  to  Dolet,  who  speaks  of  him  on  this  occasion  as  "  the 
glory  of  the  healing  art."  Indeed,  the  next  few  years  are  devoted 
to  medicine.  Rabelais  takes  his  Master's  and  Doctor's  degrees  at 
Montpellier ;  there  and  at  Lyons  he  dissects  a  human  body  —  an 
event  which  Dolet  has  celebrated  in  Latin  verse;  and  but  for  a 
Latin  poem  on  the  exploits  of  Guillaume  du  Bellay,  and  new 
editions  of  the  Gargantua  and  Pantagruel,  he  is  not  active  in 
literattire.  Not  until  1546  was  the  Third  Book  so  far  written  as 
to  be  ready  for  the  printer.  In  the  meantime,  Francis  I  had  taken 
stringent  action  against  the  Protestant  heresy.  Rabelais,  whose 
courage  was  tempered  by  common  sense  or,  as  he  states,  extended 
"  jusqu'au  feu  exclusivement,"  again  took  his  precautions.  The 
Third  Book  appeared  with  a  thoroughly  patriotic  preface,  doubt- 
less inspired  by  the  fact  that  France  was  having  trouble  with 
Spain,  and  with  a  ten-year  privilege  from  Francis  calculated  to 
prove  the  author's  orthodoxy.    Nevertheless,  Rabelais  found  it 


150  RABELAIS    AND    CALVIN 

prudent  to  flee  to  Metz,  where  he  remained  as  town  physician 
until  the  summer  of  1547. 

Thus  the  Third  Book,  which  is  contemporaneous  with  the 
Qu&relle  des  femmes  (see  Ch.  II) ,  is  in  the  opinion  of  M.  Lefranc 
a  document  in  the  quarrel.  Certainly  Rabelais' 
Book  III  treatment  of  the  sex  is  far  from  flattering.  Panurge, 
now  governor  of  Salmigondin,  has  gone  heavily  into  his  revenue 
{mange  son  hie  en  herbe) ,  and  when  taken  to  task  by  Pantagruel 
he  enters  upon  a  rollicking  but  eloquent  eulogy  of  Debt  as  the 
unifying  principle  of  the  universe.  He  treats  this  theme  first 
in  the  large,  under  the  heading  of  the  "  macrocosm,"  and  then  in 
the  small  as  the  "  microcosm  "  (here  choosing  the  Fable  of  the 
Belly  and  the  Members  for  his  illustration) —  a  procedure  em- 
ployed later  by  Pascal,  who  draws  on  this  passage.  Then 
Panurge,  who  had  pretended  to  be  miserable,  suddenly  changes 
his  tone  and  proposes  to  marry.  This  leads  to  a  tirade  against 
divination,  extending  from  Cicero  to  Cornelius  Agrippa,  whom 
Rabelais  humorously  calls  Her  Trippa.  Finally,  the  attack  on 
women  —  strong  throughout  the  Book  —  reaches  its  climax  in 
the  mouth  of  Rondibilis,  the  physician: 

Quand  je  dis  femme,  je  dis  un  sexe  tant  fragile,  tant  variable, 
tant  muable,  tant  inconstant  at  imparfaict,  que  Nature  me  semble 
(parlant  en  tout  honneur  et  reverence)  s'estre  esgaree  de  ce  bon 
sens  par  lequel  elle  avoit  cree  et  forme  toutes  choses,  quand  elle 
a  basti  la  femme. 

As  a  piece  of  "  learned  drollery,"  much  of  this  section  is  indebted 
to  borrowing  from  Rabelais'  friend  Tiraqueau,  as  we  noted  above. 
The  upshot  of  the  discussion  is  that  Pantagruel,  Panurge  and 
Frere  Jean  decide  to  visit  the  oracle  of  La  Dive  Bouteille  in 
Cathay  and  consequently  equip  themselves  for  the  long  voyage 
thither. 

Once  more  Rabelais  returns  to  Rome,  whence  he  writes  a 
series  of  letters  {La  Sciomachie)  on  the  festivities  held  by  his 
patron;  and  he  seeks  friends  and  supporters  in  the  Cardinal  de 
Lorraine  and  others.  About  this  time  (1551)  he  was  appointed 
by  Jean  du  Bellay  to  the  vacant  cure  of  Meudon.  In  1552  he 
published  his  Fourth  Book,  which  despite  his  usual  precautions 
was  condemned  by  the  Sorbonne  and  forbidden  by  Parliament 
to  be  sold.   But  before  the  printing  was  complete,  he  had  resigned 


RABELAIS  151 

the  positions  he  held  —  the  reason  for  this  step  is  unknown  —  and 
he  utterly  disappeared  from  view.    He  must  have  died  before 
May,  1554,  the  approximate  date  of  the  epigram  entitled  Rabelais 
trepasse.    An  obscure  ending  for  one  of  the  keenest,  wisest  and 
most  genial  of  writers;  a  man  admired  and  loved  by  his  con- 
temporaries, who  doubtless  revelled  in  his  romance  though  they 
hardly  saw  in  it  one  of  the  greatest  works  of  all  French  literature. 
The  voyage  to  Cathay  or  India  via  the  Northwest  passage, 
planned  in  the  Third,  is  carried  out  in  the  Fourth  Book.    The 
Odyssey  of  Pantagruel  and  his  companions  takes  the 
°°  travelers  to  a  series  of  islands,  in  each  of  which 

some  human  infirmity  or  abuse  is  held  up  to  ridicule.  Thus 
Procuration  is  infested  with  the  Chicanoux  or  Lawyers ;  Tapinois 
is  ruled  by  Lent,  a  revolting,  misshapen  creature;  Papefigv£s 
belongs  to  people  who  scorn  the  Pope,  just  as  Papimanes  are 
those  who  adore  him.  As  elsewhere  in  his  writings,  Rabelais 
here  mingles  the  real  and  the  fanciful:  the  episode  of  Panurge's 
sheep  [Ch.  VI]  and  the  description  of  the  great  storm  at  sea 
[Ch.  XVIII]  are  mosaics  of  fact  and  imagination.  But  he  also 
knows  and  uses  the  literature  of  geographical  discovery,  and 
again  he  amazes  us  with  his  erudition. 

A  Fifth  and  concluding  Book  appeared  after  Rabelais'  death; 
first  in  sixteen  chapters,  the  so-called  Isle  sonnante  (1562),  and 
then  as  Le  dnquieme  et  dernier  livre  des  jaits  et 
dits  heroiques  du  bon  Pantagruel  (1564).  Thus  its 
authenticity  is  doubtful.  There  are  evident  interpolations,  the 
allegorizing  is  overdone  and  the  tone  is  severe,  at  times  strident. 
On  the  other  hand,  countless  passages  show  that  an  outline  by 
Rabelais  himself  was  used.  Here,  in  addition  to  the  Isle  son- 
nante where  the  voyagers  encounter  such  ecclesiastical  "  birds  " 
as  Clergaux,  Cardingaux  and  Papegaut,  Pantagruel  and  his 
company  visit  the  haunts  of  the  Chats-fourres  or  Furred  Law- 
cats  and  the  kingdom  of  Dame  Quintessence  or  Abstraction,  and 
finally  reach  the  priestess  Babuc,  who  leads  them  to  La  Dive 
Bouteille.  It  is  significant  that  the  answer  to  Panurge's  elabo- 
rate questionings,  as  given  by  the  oracle,  is  the  simple  word 
Trine.  "  Car  Trine,"  says  Rabelais,  "  est  un  mot  celebre  et 
entendu  de  toutes  nations  et  nous  signifie:  Buvez."  In  other 
words,  "  experience  "  is  the  solvent  of  life,  and  on  this  note  the 
romance  ends. 


152  RABELAIS    AND    CALVIN 

The  paradox  of  Rabelais  is  the  contrast  between  his  exuber- 
ance  and  his  unshakable  sanity.  He  addresses  his  work  to 
drinkers,  and  drinking  is  his  recurrent  symbol;  he 
Summary  affirms  that  he  wrote  his  livre  sdgneurial  while 
beuvant  et  mangeant.  This  is  far  from  being  derision.  It  is 
the  affirnQatifflB--DlJife_itg.elt:  the  resolve  to  live  it  and  the 
courage  to  see  it  through.  For^exggnence  alone^can  keep  us 
soundand  sane;  whereas  speculation,  absliactiQP,  monastic  rule 
and  abnegation  —  when  placedjii.£ontral-:^.,wreck-lJataFe~flJid 
are  its  negation.  Among  moderns,  only  Goethe  has  this  philo- 
sophic vision.  As  scholars  have  been  everlastingly  pointing 
out,  the  quotations  in  Rabelais,  the  borrowings,  the  references 
and  the  allusions,  if  put  together,  would  constitute  a  small 
encyclopedia.  The  vast  erudition  of  the  Renaissance  is  liter- 
ally there  on  the  printed  page.  The  wonder  is  that  it  is  so 
well  fused,  so  flowing,  so  much  a  part  of  the  common  purpose. 
Titanic  is  the  suitable  wo,rd:  characters,  events,  details  — 
whether  it  be  the  accoutrement  of  Gargantua  riding  to  Paris  on  his 
giant  mare,  or  the  description  of  the  storm  at  sea,  or  Panurge's 
excursus  on  debt  —  everything  is  tributary  to  one  large,  over- 
flowing stream  of  thought  and  expression.  And  the  reason  for 
this,  as  Bruntiere  says,  is  that  the  work  is  a  prose  poem.  "  Elle 
en  a  I'apparence  et  I'allure;  elle  en  a  I'inspiration  profonde;  elle 
en  a  le  charme  ou  la  seduction  du  style:  on  pourrait  dire  qu'elle 
en  respire  encore  et  surtout  I'enthousiasme." 

But  having  made  this  assertion,  we  should  observe  some  dis- 
tinctions. The  four  or  five  books  of  the  Gargantua  and  Panta- 
gruel  are  in  a  sense  coextensive  with  their  author's  life.  Hence 
the  repetitions  and  changes  in  point  of  view.  This  many-sided- 
ness is  typical  of  the  Renaissance  itself.  The  first  two  books 
stand  for  the  earlier  period  of  humanism,  when  the  "  new  en- 
thusiasm" and  the  Reformation  are  still  indistinguishable: 
Grandgousier's  letter  to  his  son  refers  to  the  "  free  will,"  which, 
however,  must  be  guided  by  "  grace."  In  general,  a  spirit  of 
benevolence  prevails,  which  is  indeed  the  keynote  of  the  program 
outlined  by  Gargantua  for  Pantagruel's  direction.  But  with 
the  Third  Book  the  tone  changes  and  becomes  aggressive  —  just 
as  patriotism  is  underscored,  and  policies  and  discoveries  that 
are  French  are  upheld  (see  Book  IV) .    Not  only  does  Rabelais 


SUMMARY    OF    RABELAIS  153 

now  poke  fun  at  the  medieval  spirit,  he  strikes  at  its  foundations 
and  excoriates  its  specific  and  lasting  abuses:  Physis  and  An- 
tiphysis  are  represented  as  rival  progenitors,  and  the  offspring 
of  the  latter  are  all  "fools  and  senseless  people,"  not  excepting 
les  demoniacles  Calvins,  imposteiurs  de  Geneve.  In  addition, 
the  work  as  a  whole  betrays  its  medieval  basis,  which  it  cannot 
entirely  shake  off.  It  is  humorous  and  grotesque,  but  unaes- 
thetic.  In  particular,  the  attitude  towards  women  —  des  femmes 
je  n'ai  cure  —  is  not  only  temperamental,  it  is  directly  medieval ; 
for  all  his  references  to  Plato  (and  there  are  many),  Rabelais 
is  out  of  sympathy  with  the  the  Neo-Platonists  and  especially 
with  Marguerite  d'Angouleme.  But  this  again  is  in  harmony 
with  his  conviction  that  all  doctrine,  all  education  must  be  an 
expansion,  a  development,  not  a  suppression,  of  Nature's  gifts. 
Egotism,  if  you  will,  but  not  "  ambition  and  self-interest,"  for 
in  Rabelais  being  and  action,  nature  and  life  are  one  —  a 
thoroughly  French  point  of  view  (see  Introduction) .  It  is  well  to 
remember  that  Rabelais  was  a  physician. 

As  we  have  seen,  he  came  to  literature  through  humanism;  that 
is,  via  Bude,  Erasmus,  Politian,  Sir  Thomas  More,  and  all  the 
rest.  He  is  the  first  to  represent  the  afflatus  of  the  Renaissance 
in  French,  and  he  does  so  preeminently  as  a  realist.  This  ex- 
plains his  style,  which  again  is  of  a  piece  with  himself.  He  does 
not  portray  impressions,  for  he  lacks  our  modem  subjectivity. 
Rabelais  is  never  sentimentaj.  But  Panurge,  Pantagruel,  Frere 
Jean^  Gargantua  are  as  real  in  his  pages  as  if  we  saw  them  our- 
selves —  the  figures  are  on  a  large  scale,  like  the  Moses  of  Michel- 
angelo; that  is  their  characteristic  feature.  As  for  words  and 
expressions,  they  flow  from  his  pen  in  abundance  but  also  with 
precision.  How  he  sketches  each  detail  of  the  great  storm; 
how  controlled  in  its  eloquence  is  the  praise  of  Debt;  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  how  riotous  are  the  verbs  designating  the  rolling 
of  Diogenes'  tub!  A  single  phrase,  Je  me  pers  en  ceste  contem- 
plation, is  the  model  of  Pascal's  Notre  imagination  se  perd  dans 
cette  contemplation.  As  for  the  sources  of  this  vocabulary,  it 
is  drawn  from  every  conceivable  source:  dialects,  foreign  tongues, 
classics,  contemporaries  like  Geoffroy  Tory  and  Marot,  even  the 
rhetoriqueurs  and  Villon.  Modern  French  is  indebted  to  Rabelais 
for  more  than  six  hundred  words. 


154  RABELAIS    AND    CALVIN 

Thus  Rabelais  is  a  giant  among  men ;  an  expression  of  French 
common  sense  wedded  to  elemental,  earthborn  strength  and 
himior.  Jonathan  Swift  and  Sterne  are  among  his  English  fol- 
lowers; wEereas  in  France,  in  addition  to  Moliere,  Montaigne 
and  Anatole  France  have  understood  him  best.  Without  Rabelais, 
the  lie  des  Pingouins  is  unthinkable. 

In  a  sermon  of  1516  Luther  speaks  of  "  Our  Picards  and  other 
schismatics."    Such  a  one  was  Jean  Calvin,  or  really  Cauvin, 
born  at  Noyon,  in  1509.    Compared  to  Rabelais,  the 
^™  jovial  and  robust  son  of  Touraine,  Calvin  the  Picard 

was  high-strung,  dyspeptic,  solitary  and  disputatious.  There  is 
little  doubt  that  he  waged  a  continual  battle  with  himself,  his 
prodigious  productivity  being  the  triumph  of  an  imperious  and 
indomitable  will  over  a  frail  physique.  But  like  all  "  heroes  of 
the  spirit,"  forced  to  struggle  alone,  he  saw  life  intensely  but 
narrowly,  opposition  was  to  him  anathema,  and  once  well  started 
his  mind  went  forward  in  a  groove,  carving  out  geometrical,  rec- 
tilinear figures  for  the  administration  —  and  as  he  profoundly 
believed,  the  salvation  —  of  man.  Calvin  was  bom  to  be  a 
Protestant  d  outrance.  However,  the  Renaissance  needed  him, 
and  it  is  part  of  his  glory  that  his  influence  in  literature  is  second 
only  to  what  it  is  in  theology. 

Mindful  of  the  boy's  fervid  nature  and  with  an  eye  to  the  prac- 
tical, Gerard  Calvin  directed  his  son's  education  at  first  towards 
the  church.  The  Cathedral  loomed  large  in  the  little  town  of 
Noyon,  and  Gerard,  who  was  a  lawyer,  served  as  its  attorney. 
Thus  he  secured  for  his  twelve-ytear-old  son  an  ecclesiastical 
appointment,  carrying  a  slight  income,  to  which  was  added 
somewhat  later  another  —  this  practice  being  common  in  France 
at  the  time  and  requiring  of  the  boy  little  more  than  that  he 
should  undergo  the  tonsure.  But  in  1523  Jean  was  sent  to  Paris, 
first  to  the  College  de  la  Marche,  where  Cordier  gave  him  system- 
atic training  in  classical  Latin,  and  then,  somewhat  against  his 
will,  to  the  College  de  Montaigu  with  its  austere  rule  and  strict 
discipline  in  dialectics.  The  story  that  Calvin  bore  the  nick- 
name at  school  of  "  the  Accusative  "  is  probably  a  legend.  It  is 
certain  that  he  made  influential  friends  and  that  he  was  mentally 
alert  and  interested. 
Already  the  Reformation  was  in  the  air.  Luther's  Ninety-Five 


CALVIN'S   LIFE  155 

Theses  against  indulgences  had  been  posted  on  the  church  door 
at  Wittenberg  in  1517,  and  in  1521  the  Faculty  of  Theology  in 
Paris  had  formally  denounced  the  Lutheran  "  heresy."  Moreover, 
France  had  her  own  reformers  though  of  a  milder,  less  radical 
sort.  Lefevre  d'Etaples,  also  a  Picard,  early  translated  the 
Psalms,  upheld  the  doctrine  of  the  Word  of  God  and  justification 
by  the  faith  in  a  Commentary  on  the  Pauline  Epistles,  and  in 
1523  translated  the  New  Testament  —  an  act  which  roused  the 
watchfulness  of  the  Sorbonne.  But  whatever  interest  the  young 
Calvin  took  in  these  preliminary  skirmishes,  we  have  no  reason 
to  believe  that  his  attitude  was  other  than  humanistic:  a  sympathy 
for  the  benignity  rather  than  the  heterodoxy  of  the  enlightenment. 
And  he  maintained  this  attitude  until  1533,  which  thus  becomes 
the  turning  point  in  his  career. 

Meanwhile,  Gerard  started  his  son  in  a  new  direction  by  train- 
ing him  for  the  law.  At  Orleans,  whither  Calvin  was  sent  in  1528, 
he  won  a  reputation  as  a  rising  jurist,  and  at  Bourges,  one  year 
later,  he  continued  his  legal  studies  under  the  celebrated  Alciat 
and  began  the  study  of  Greek.  Both  influences  were  soon  to  bear 
fruit.  After  a  serious  falling  out  with  thte  Cathedral  chapter  at 
Noyon,  Gerard  died  in  1531,  and,  left  to  his  own  choice,  Calvin 
settled  in  Paris  as  a  devotee  of  the  new  learning,  to  which  he  now 
added  the  study  of  Hebrew.  The  result  is  that  in  1532  he  pub- 
lishes a  Commentary  on  Seneca's  De  dementia,  which  enrolls 
him  imder  the  himianistic  banner.  Not  unlike  the  Gargantua  in 
one  point,  this  work  breathes .  the  hopefulness  of  the  early 
Renaissance.  Its  learning  is  unquestionable  —  Calvin  cites  one 
hundred  and  fifty-five  Latin  and  twenty-two  Greek  authors  —  its 
judgments  are  sound  and  scholarly,  and  if  it  discusses  the  duties 
of  a  king  it  does  so  without  animus,  in  the  same  spirit  in  which 
it  demonstrates  the  weakness  of  Stoicism  and  the  superiority  of 
Christianity,  which  appeals  to  the  affections  and  "  does  not 
forbid  tears."  Obviously,  it  is  primarily  the  work  of  a  scholar 
and  not  of  a  theologian. 

But  the  decisive  event  was  close  at  hand.  In  November,  1533, 
Calvin's  friend  Cop  was  inaugurated  as  rector  of  the  University 
of  Paris.  The  speech  on  this  occasion  dealt  with  the  Beatitudes, 
which  are  interpreted  as  proof  of  the  good-will  of  God  towards  man 
and  as  opposed  to  the  teaching  of  the  Old  Testament.    The  posi- 


156  RABELAIS    AND    CALVIN 

tion,  while  characteristic  of  Calvin,  was  not  in  itself  provocative, 
but  it  was  stated  in  phrases  obviously  culled  from  Erasmus  and 
Luther,  and  the  address,  which  is  partly  in  Calvin's  own  hand- 
writing, sought  to  commit  the  Sorbonne  to  the  Protestant  doc- 
trine. This  was  more  than  the  reactionary  University  could 
tolerate,  and  after  a  futile  defense  Cop  was  forced  to  flee. 
Calvin  also  fled,  xmfortunately  leaving  the  incriminating  papers 
behind,  and  henceforth  his  life  is  that  of  a  wanderer  and  flnally 
of  an  exile. 

The  immediate  reason  for  Calvin's  declaration  of  attitude 
is  unknown.  Perhaps  it  was  merely  the  indiscretion  of  youth. 
At  any  rate,  a  stand  had  been  taken  —  and  the  die  was  cast. 
Calvin  thereby  became  the  champion  of  the  non-German  side  of 
the  Reformation,  though  only  indirectly  in  France  through  the 
effect  of  his  writings;  his  life  work  was  to  be  performed  beyond 
her  borders.  For  a  while  he  merely  keeps  moving;  he  goes  to 
Noyon,  then  to  Angouleme,  next  to  Nerac,  the  seat  of  Mar- 
guerite's court,  then  back  to  Paris.  Twice  he  undergoes  a  short 
imprisonment.  At  last,  there  comes  the  day  of  the  Placards 
(October  18,  1534),  and  Calvin  flees  to  Bale,  whither  Cop  had 
preceded  him. 

Here,  in  March,  1536,  Calvin  published  the  first  Latin  version 
of  his  Institution  de  la  religion  chretienne.  The  first  draft  was 
The  "Insti-    a  small  octavo  of  some  five  hundred  and  twenty 

tution  "  pages,  intended  as  a  "brief  manual  "  for  those  whose 
religion  was  defamed  in  France.  For  Calvin  was  of  course  un- 
aware that  in  subsequent  revisions  his  work  was  to  grow  into 
the  apologia  of  Protestantism  in  general.  At  the  moment  it 
behooved  him  to  point  out  that  his  French  coreligionists  were 
not  the  "  anarchists,"  not  the  "  enemies  of  peace  and  order," 
such  as  Francis  I  was  representing  them  to  their  German  breth- 
ren. And  so  in  a  letter,  which  is  remarkable  both  for  its 
elevation  and  its  force,  prefixed  to  the  book,  Calvin  reminds 
the  King  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  monarch  to  acknowledge 
himself  the  minister  of  God;  that  no  kingdom  can  prosper  that 
is  not  ruled  by  God's  word;  that  sinners  as  the  Protestants  are 
and  having  nothing  to  boast  of  but  God's  mercy,  their  doctrine 
is  yet  superior  to  the  sovereignties  of  this  world: 


CALVIN'S    LIFE  I57 

Car  elle  n'est  nostre;  mais  de  Dieu  vivant  et  de  son  Christ; 
lequel  le  Pere  a  constitue  Roy,  pour  dominer  d'une  mer  a  I'autre, 
et  depuis  les  fleuves  jusques  aux  fins  de  la  terre. 

Calvin  then  attacks  the  clergy,  the  instigators  of  the  accusation, 
and  refutes  the  charges  against  the  Protestants,  point  by  point. 
The  early  Christian  fathers  condemn  the  errors  of  the  present 
Church  of  Rome:  the  celibacy  of  the  priests,  the  doctrines  of  fast- 
ing and  the  "  real  presence,"  and  the  withholding  of  the  sacra- 
ment from  the  people.  Finally,  the  King  is  urged  to  read  the 
exposition  of  religion  that  follows. 

The  letter  was  a  courageous  appeal,  couched  in  courteous  yet 
trenchant  language,  and  impeccable  in  its  logic  —  given  the  major 
premise. 

Soon  after  the  publication  of  the  Institution  Calvin  left  for 
Italy  to  visit  Renee,  Duchess  of  Ferrara,  whom  we  already  know 
as  a  friend  of  the  reformers.  However,  by  June,  1536,  he  is  back 
in  France,  profiting  by  a  momentary  change  in  Francis'  attitude 
towards  the  reformers.  Farel  now  appealed  to  him  to  assist  in  the 
organization  of  the  Church  of  Geneva,  which  had  recently  de- 
clared its  political  independence.  Hesitating  at  first,  Calvin 
finally  goes  to  Geneva  and  lays  the  foundation  of  the  repressive 
policy  which  he  was  later  to  carry  into  execution.  But  in  1538  the 
Genevans  turn  on  the  reformers,  Farel  and  Calvin  are  forced  to 
leave,  and  in  September  of  that  year  Calvin  becomes  pastor  of  the 
small  French  congregation  of  Strassburg.  Here,  in  comparative 
poverty,  he  develops  the  marvelous  energy  and  stoicism  of  charac- 
ter which  marked  the  remainder  of  his  career.  With  his  duties  as 
an  evangelist  we  are  not  concerned.  What  interests  us  is  the  form 
he  now  gave  to  his  great  intellectual  and  literary  treatise.  In  1539 
he  expanded  the  original  six  chapters  of  the  Institution  into 
seventeen,  and  two  years  later  (1541)  he  himself  translated 
these  into  French.  This  edition,  while  not  the  final  or  most 
elaborate  text,  is  yet  the  standard  whereby  Calvin's  achievement 
as  a  thinker  and  a  stylist  is  to  be  judged.  It  is  now  recognized 
as  the  edition  of  the  Institution  de  la  religion  chretienne. 

We  may  pass  quickly  over  the  subsequent  events  of  his  life. 
During  the  Strassburg  period  he  married  and  also  joined  in  the 
famous  Colloquies,  which  were  the  last  attempt  to  reconcile  the 
two  forms  of  Christianity.    In  1541  the  Genevans  revoked  their 


158  RABELAIS    AND    CALVIN 

decree  of  banishment  and  Calvin  returned  to  Geneva  an  absolute 
master,  having  previously  stipulated  that  discipline  should  be 
enforced  and  the  power  of  excommunication  should  lie  in  his 
hands.  A  new  Catechism  was  promulgated,  the  strictest  Ordon- 
nances  were  drawn  up,  and  Geneva,  in  the  words  of  John  Knox, 
became  "the  most  perfect  school  of  Christ  that  was  on  earth 
since  the  days  of  the  Apostles."  As  head  of  the  Church  of  Geneva 
Calvin  was  virtually  commander  of  the  Protestant  world.  His 
correspondence,  addressed  alike  to  great  and  humble,  was  volu- 
minous. Certainly  he  spared  himself  neither  effort  nor  tribu- 
lation. The  one  blot  upon  his  career  —  the  burning  of  Servetus 
at  the  stake  —  has  at  least  the  extenuating  featm-e  that  it  had  the 
approval  of  many  contemporaries,  including  the  mild-mannered 
Melancthon,  and  that  it  was  consistent  with  the  doctrines  in  which 
Calvin  believed.  At  last,  in  1564,  Calvin  succumbed  to  the 
frailties  of  a  body  no  longer  able  to  bear  the  enormous  burdens 
that  were  laid  upon  it.  As  his  own  Ordonnances  provided,  he  was 
buried  simply  and  without  ostentation,  like  his  "  humbler  associ- 
ates in  death." 

As  a  man  of  the  Renaissance,  Calvin's  point  of  departure  is 
the  reconciliation  of  the  moral  life  of  man  with  antiquity;  the 
„.  Bible  being  to  Calvin  what  Homer  and  Vergil  were 

naissance  to  others:  a  guarantee  of  truth.  What  is  more,  the 
Attitude  Bible  was  the  highest  form  of  truth,  the  truth  of 
the  spirit;  the  living,  undying  Word  of  God.  This  the  "medie- 
val "  Church  had  excluded  from  men's  view  by  a  mass  of  doc- 
trine, commentaries  and  practices.  Thus  Calvin's  method  does 
not  differ  from  that  of  any  other  humanist,  from  that  of  Rahelais, 
for  example,  in  being  a  protest  in  the  favor  of  reason  and  a 
benignant  Deity  against  the  asceticism  of  Rome:  Celui  grand 
bon  piteux  Dieu,  lequel  ne  crea  oncques  le  Caresme  (Rabelais) . 
Wherein  Calvin  differs  from  his  great  contemporary  and  the 
bulk  of  himianists  is  his  appraisal  of  man.  Here  his  own 
physical  infirmities,  the  corruption  of  the  Roman  clergy,  his 
study  of  Seneca  and  his  knowledge  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments, not  to  mention  St.  Augustine,  united  to  make  him  con- 
sider man  a  weak  and  miserable  creature,  incapable  by  his  own 
efforts  of  doing  anything  good  and  durable.  Pessimistic  as  this 
view  is,  Calvin  is  not  only  a  moralist  (in  our  restricted  sense 


CALVIN'S    THEOLOGY  159 

of  the  word),  he  is  also  and  primarily  a  psychologist,  and 
he  analyzes  human  nature  with  an  insight,  a  directness  and  a 
vividness  that  are  astonishing.  Thus  the  reactionary  and  Ro- 
manist Bossuet,  finds  elements  in  him  to  praise  (see  Les  Varia- 
tions des  eglises  protestantes)  and  Pascal,  author  of  Les  Pensees, 
ideas  and  even  passages  to  imitate. 

To  all  of  this  the  Institution  of  1541  bears  ample  and  convinc- 
ing testimony.  With  unaffectjed  simplicity  Calvin  says  at  the 
beginning: 

Toute  la  somme  de  nostra  saigesse,  laquelle  merite  d'estre  appel- 
lee vraie  et  certaine  saigesse,  est  quasi  comprinse  en  deux  parties 
a  scavoir  la  congnoissance  de  Dieu,  et  de  nousmesmes. 

The  sources  of  this  knowledge  lie  within  ourselves  and  in  the 
Bible.  There  is  no  nation  so  barbarous,  no  people  so  savage,  that 
g-jg  has  not  implanted  in  its  heart  the  conviction  that 

Theology  there  is  a  God.  Even  Plato  —  and  Calvin  does  not 
hesitate  to  use  Plato  —  teaches  that  the  sovereign  good  of  the 
soul  is  the  similitude  with  God.  But  the  nexus  has  been  broken, 
if  not  entirely,  by  Adam's  fall,  whence  the  utter  depravity  of 
human  nature  [Chs.  I-II].  Therefore;  salvation  is  to  be  won 
not  merely  through  the  Law  or  by  the  performance  of  Works 
but  through  Faith  —  Faith  which  moves  mountains  and  also 
humbles  the  pride  of  man  by  making  him  realize  his  own  worth- 
lessness.  To  be  sure,  Christ  is  the  redeemer,  but  only  because 
God  willed  him  to  be,  and  in  the  inscrutable  will  of  the  Almighty 
lies  the  fate  of  each  of  us.  From  this  abject  state  we  are  saved, 
not  through  any  merit  we  may  possess,  but  through  God's  grace, 
and  to  be  receptive  for  election  into  the  Divine  grace  we  must 
aspire  after  piety  and  lead  holy  lives  [Chs.  III-IX].  Thus,  by 
the  rigor  of  his  logic,  Calvin  avoided  the  danger  of  contradiction; 
the  suspicion  that  his  doctrine  is  a  theory  of  salvation  rather 
than  a  system  of  ethics.  As  for  the  sacraments,  they  are  a 
manifestation  of  our  Faith,  a  confirmation  and  strengthening 
of  our  submission  to  the  Divine  order.  Hence,  the  false  ones, 
superimposed  by  the  Roman  Church,  are  to  be  shunned 
[Chs.  X-XVII].  "  II  faut  procurer  leur  bien,"  said  Calvin  of  the 
people,  "  maulgre  qu'ils  en  ayent." 
The  dramatic  quality  of  the  Institution  is  beyond  cavil. 


160  RABELAIS    AND    CALVIN 

In  the  confrontation  of  Man  and  God,  stripped  of  all  accessories, 
Calvin  has  stated  the  problem  of  the  Renaissance  in  its  simplest 
form.  And  in  submerging  the  former  in  the  latter  he  has  antici- 
pated the  absolutism  of  the  seventeenth  century:  une  loi,  un  roi, 
une  foi.  His  logic  was  ethical,  that  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
social  and  political.  Again,  the  appeal  to  the  emotions  in  the 
redemption  by  Faith  has  a  parallel  in  the  quickening  of  the  soul 
through  the  Love  and  Beauty  of  the  Neo-Platonists.  In  fact,  in 
Marguerite  d'Angouleme  the  two  ideals,  theirs  and  his,  are  merged. 
Thus  Calvin's  references  to  Plato  are  significant.  That  he  actu- 
ally operated  the  break  between  the  Renaissance  and  the  Reforma- 
tion is  here  beside  the  question,  nor  was  this  probably  his  inten- 
tion.  What  impresses  us  is  his  humanistic  origins. 

These  again  manifest  themselves  in  the  French  he  writes  and 
in  his  wealth  of  apt  and  telling  quotation.  The  Institution  is  not 
Calvin's  ^nly  the  first  theological  treatise  in  French,  it  is 

Style  also  a  moniunent  of  French  style.    Brunetiere,  in- 

imical as  he  is  to  Calvin's  ideas,  cannot  withhold  his  praise 
from  the  Institution  as  a  literary  composition.  Ungrudgingly 
he  terms  it:  "  Le  premier  livre  que  Ton  puisse  appeler  classique." 
This  is  due  above  all  to  its  Latinity.  Calvin  carried  over  into 
his  translation  the  compactness,  the  clearness  and  the  precision 
of  the  Latin  original.  Moreover,  the  work  is  by  its  nature 
argumentative  and  oratorical  —  another  approach  to  Classicism. 
But  it  does  lack  the  suavity  and  grace  of  the  French  of  a  century 
later.  Calvin  is  still  rude,  he  does  not  temper  his  expressions, 
he  calls  his  opponents  harsh  names;  and  it  is  not  strange  that 
Bossuet  gave  his  style  the  epithet  of  triste.  In  short,  while  the 
French  were  to  reject  their  "reformer,"  his  treatise  passed  into 
the  heritage  of  their  literature  and  served  to  carry  a  knowledge 
of  the  French  language  far  beyond  the  boundaries  of  France. 
Habent  sua  fata  libelli. 


CHAPTER  IV 

PLATONISTS   AND   NEO-PLATONISTS 

OuE  study  of  the  Renaissance  has  now  reached  the  point  where 
we  can  consider  the  dominant  philosophical  idea  of  the  age:  an 
idea  that  culminates  in  definite  form  about  1540.  Opposed  to  the 
Pseudo-Aristotelianism  of  the  Middle  Ages,  this  philosophy  is 
known  by  the  generic  name  of  Flatonism,  since  it  is  in  the  name  of 
Plato  that  it  finds  its  justification.  Two  currents,  however,  are 
visible:  the  one,  dialectic  or  metaphysical  and  based  more  or 
less  directly  on  the  Plato  of  antiquity;  and  the  other,  literary 
or  emotional  and  derived  especially  from  the  Neo-PIatonism  of 
Marsilio  Ficino  (Ch.  I) ,  whose  works  began  to  appear  in  France 
in  1489  and  whose  translation  of  Plato  —  republished  there  in 
1533  —  calls  him  "  the  god  of  philosophers." 

The  advocate  of  the  "  original  "  Plato  in  the  imiversity  group 
was  Ramus  or,  to  give  him  his  French  name,  Pierre  de  la  Ramee. 
Pierre  de  His  Dialectique  (1555),  which  employs  the  Socratic 
la  Ramee  method  of  the  Platonic  Dialogues,  is  the  earliest  phil- 
osophical treatise  in  the  French  tongue.  The  humanists  Bude 
and  Dolet  had  both  attempted  to  extract  from  the  ancients  the 
wisdom  of  which  their  age  stood  in  need.  In  his  De  studio  Ut- 
terarum  the  former  had  advocated  a  form  of  French  bon  sens 
under  the  guidance  of  the  Greeks,  and  it  was  for  an  alleged  mis- 
translation of  Plato  that  the  latter  had  been  condemned  to  death. 
But  it  remained  for  Ramus  to  establish  the  Socratic  rationalism 
on  French  soil  and  thus  to  inaugurate  the  free  discussion  of 
philosophic  questions. 

By  birth  (1515)  a  Picard,  like  Calvin,  Ramus  took  the  arts 
course  at  the  College  de  Navarre  in  Paris.  At  that  time  Aris- 
totle's Organon  was  still  the  apostle's  creed  of  philosophy. 
Ramus'  own  words  are  instructive: 

161 


162         PLATONISTS  AND  NEO-PLATONISTS 

When  I  came  to  Paris  I  fell  into  the  subtleties  of  the  sophists, 
and  was  taught  the  Uberal  arts  by  questions  and  disputes  .  .  . 
never  did  I  hear  a  single  word  on  the  apphcations  of  logic.  .  .  . 
Having  devoted  three  years  and  six  months  to  the  scholastic  phil- 
osophy according  to  the  rules  of  our  academy.  ...  I  wanted 
to  learn  how  I  should  afterward  apply  the  knowledge  I  had  gained 
at  the  cost  of  so  much  labor  and  fatigue.  At  last  I  met  with 
Galen's  work  on  the  opinions  of  Hippocrates  and  Plato.  That 
.  .  .  inspired  me  with  an  ardour  still  greater  to  read  all  the 
dialogues  of  Plato  which  treat  of  logic. 

What  I  loved  in  Plato  was  the  method  by  which  Socrates  refutes 
false  opinions,  attempting  above  everything  to  elevate  his  hearers 
above  the  senses,  the  prejudices,  and  the  testimony  of  men,  in 
order  to  lead  them  to  their  own  Natural  Sense  of  Right  and 
Liberty  of  Judgment.  For  it  appeared  to  him  insane  that  a  phi- 
losopher should  let  himself  be  led  by  the  opinions  of  the  vulgar, 
who  for  the  most  part  are  false  and  deceitful,  instead  of  apply- 
ing himself  only  to  facts  and  their  true  causes.  .  .  .  Perhaps 
Aristotle  has  deceived  us  by  his  authority;  if  so,  I  need  not  be  sur- 
prised at  my  having  studied  his  books  without  deriving  profit 
from  them,  since  they  contain  none.  .  .  .  What  if  all  that 
doctrine  should  be  false!  ^ 

The  conviction  which  Ramus  here  voices  is  of  a  piece  with  the 
famous  burlesque  which  Rabelais  [Bk.  I]  places  in  the  mouth 
of  Janotus  de  Bragmardo: 

Apres  avoir  ergote  pro  et  contra,  fut  conclud  en  baralipton  que 
Ton  envoiroit  le  plus  vieux  et  sufRsant  de  la  faculte  theologale 
vers  Gargantua,  pour  lui  remonstrer  1 'horrible  inconvenient  de  la 
perte  d'icelles  cloches  (the  Bells  of  Notre-Dame). 

In  Ramus'  case  the  reaction  was  so  strong  that  in  1536,  at  his 
examination  for  the  Master's  degree,  he  enunciated  the  extrav- 
agant thesis  that  all  of  Aristotle's  writings  were  wrong.  *  This 
was  followed  in  1543  by  the  Dialecticae  pourtitiones  —  which 
Ramus  put  into  French  in  1555  —  and  the  Aristotelicae  ani- 
madversiones. 

The  excitement  produced  by  this  attack  spread  to  every 
university  in  Europe.  But,  in  spite  of  various  reproofs  and 
condenmations,  Ramus  managed  to  gain  the  support  of  the  power- 
ful Cardinal  de  Lorraine,  through  whose  influence  he  advanced 

'  Quoted  from  Owen,  Skeptics  of  the  French  Renaissance,  1893. 
•  The  title  of  Ramus's  dissertation  is  Quaecumgue  ab  Ariatotele  dicta  essent  crnn- 
mentitia  esse. 


RAMUS  163 

to  a  professorship  at  the  Royal  College  (College  de  France) ,  iji 
1551.  In  this  capacity  he  busied  himself  with  other  matters  be- 
sides logic:  he  wrote  on  Cicero  and  Quintilian  and  on  linguistic 
problems  generally,  he  is  the  advocate  of  the  consonantal  ;  and 
V  of  the  alphabet  {les  lettres  ramistes) ,  and  he  published  a  Latin 
(1559),  a  Greek  (1560)  and  a  French  grammar  (1562).  Thus 
he  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  improvement  of  French,  a  move- 
ment in  which  Louis  Meigret  (the  advocate  of  nationalism  in 
grammar) ,  Peletier  and  others  took  part.  Without  being  a  polit- 
ical Huguenot,  he  later  in  life  became  a  Protestant  and  met  with 
a  violent  death  during  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  in  1572. 
It  was  Ramus'  endeavor  to  place  the  French  mind  on  an  objec- 
tive basis,  with  the  ancients  as  a  guide;  to  free  it  from  the 
incubus  of  theology  as  to  material  and  of  the  syllogism  as  to 
method.  His  opposition  to  Aristotle  was  due  to  the  perversion  of 
the  Aristotelian  method  by  the  church,  just  as  his  espousal  of 
Plato  arose  from  the  weighing  of  the  pros  and  cons  of  which  the 
Platonic  Dicilogues  are  the  eternal  model.  In  short,  his  impor- 
tance lies  not  in  his  conclusions,  many  of  which  are  clearly  false, 
but  in  the  new  start  he  gave  to  dialectics.  By  appealing  to  the 
spirit  of  "  reason,"  as  Socrates  does  in  the  Platonic  Dialogues, 
Ramus  more  than  anyone  except  Montaigne  prepared  the  way 
for  the  dogmatism  of  Descartes,  by  whom,  as  we  shall  see,  "  rea- 
son "  and  "  truth  "  are  made  identical  and  even  the  ancients  are 
accepted  only  in  so  far  as  they  seem  rational.  In  this  way, 
humanism  locks  arms  with  "  rationalism,"  and  all  that  is  needed 
to  make  the  French  Classical  doctrine  complete  is  the  codification 
of»artistic  rules  on  the  basis  of  Aristotle's  Poetics.  This,  however, 
belongs  to  a  later  chapter  of  our  book.  Meantime,  let  us  bear 
in  mind  that  it  is  Plato  whom  Ramus  helps  to  enthrone  in  the 
minds  of  his  time;  and  that  the  Platonic  Dialogues,  interpreted 
in  the  light  of  Neo-Platonic  feeling  or  mysticism,  constitute  the 
background  from  which  the  middle  period  of  the  sixteenth 
century  draws  its  inspiration. 

When  in  1549  Du  Bellay  refers  to  "ces  idees,  que  Platon 
constituoit  en  toutes  choses,  aux  queles  ainsi  qu'a  une  certaine 
Neo-  espece  imaginative,  se  refere  tout  ce  qu'on  pent  voir," 

Platonism       jjo^  Qjjy  jjg^g  jjg  jq  mjinj  a  well-known  passage  of  the 
Symposium  (212)  but  he  is  speaking  in  terms  which  all  his  con- 


164         PLATONISTS  AND  NEO-PLATONISTS 

temporaries  understood.  Plato's  ideas  or  "types,"  of  which 
reality  was  thought  to  be  only  a  dim  copy,  belonged  to  the  fami- 
liar topics  of  discussion  in  the  court  circle  that  surrounded 
Marguerite  d'AngouIeme  —  as  Heroet,  the  chief  defender  of  the 
fair  sex  in  the  famous  querelle,  had  simg: 

II  me  souvient  luy  avoir  ouy  dire, 
Que  la  beaute  que  nous  voyons  reluyre 
Es  corps  humains  n'estoit  qu'une  estincelle 
De  ceste-la  qu'il  nommait  immortelle; 
Que  ceste-cy,  bien  qu'elle  fust  sortie 
De  la  celeste  et  d'elle  una  partie 
Si  toutes  foys  entre  nous  perissoit. 
Si  s'augmentoit,  ou  s'eUe  decroissoit, 
Que  I'aultre  estoit  entiere  et  immobile. 

Heroet's  verse  paraphrase  in  1542  of  the  Androgynos  myth 
(according  to  Ficino's  translation  of  the  Symposium)  was  accom- 
panied by  the  three  cantos  of  the  Parfaicte  Amye,  where  he  took 
the  position  of  the  Cortegiano  and  upheld  the  court  lady  against 
La  Borderie.  Thus  the  ideal  lover  would  find  in  his  lady  an 
embodiment  of  tnrtii,  which  in  turn  was  a  reflection  of  the  celes- 
tial type;  and  the  human  soul  retaining  a  remembrance  of  the 
latter  would  strive  for  it  in  a  spiritual  love  far  above  the  love 
springing  from  the  senses. 

This  central  idea  of  the  object  of  love  in  the  "  sovereign  good  " 
(le  souverain  bi'en) ,  intuitively  remembered  and  therefore  passion- 
ately desired,  is  the  crux  of  the  entire  Neo-Platonic  system. 
During  the  Renaissance  it  occurs  in  innumerable  forms,  notable 
among  which  is  Spenser's  rendering  in  inmiortal  English : 

The  noble  hart  that  harbours  vertuous  thought, 
And  is  with  childe  of  glorious  great  intent. 
Can  never  rest,  untill  it  forth  have  brought 
Th'  eternal  brood  of  glorie  excellent. 

Socially  the  idea  falls  in  with  the  new  aristocratic  ideal  of  the 
times,  with  its  fresh  category  of  worldly  virtues,  such  as  virtu, 
glory,  fame,  magnanimity,  foresight,  and  the  like.  But  the 
system  is  also  related  to,  and  thus  easily  confused  with,  the 
amour  courtois  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Petrarchism  of  the  son- 
nets to  Laura,  and  the  Christian  concept  of  charity  found  in  the 


MARGUERITE    d'ANGOULEME  165 

Pauline  Epistles.  As  we  noted  before  (Ch.  I) ,  the  Renaissance 
is  rife  with  the  spirit  of  identification.  Its  impulse  is  constantly 
towards  unity  of  the  works  of  the  mind.  Ficino's  De  Triplid 
Vita  (1489)  is  one  of  the  earliest  examples  of  the  identifying 
process,  whereas  Corneille's  Christian  drama  Polyeucte  (1642) 
is  one  of  the  latest.  Both  works  are  Neo-Platonic.  That  is, 
Neo-Platonism  is  characteristic  of  the  Renaissance  in  general; 
its  influence  is  found  in  such  divergent  writers  as  Rabelais  and 
Calvin,  and  it  is  the  inspiration  of  much  of  the  poetry  of  the 
Pleiade.  Its  main  difference  from  Platonism  proper  is  that  it 
is  a  "  system,"  which  true  Platonism  never  is.  In  a  much 
confused  form  it  afforded  solace  to  the  agonized  soul  of  Mar- 
guerite d'Angouleme. 

Marguerite  was  born  in  1492  and  died  in  1549.  Neither  of  her 
marriages  was  happy:  the  first  with  Charles  d'Alengon  and  the 

second  with  Henri  d'Albret,  King  of  Navarre,  were 
Marguentei  .  .  . 

Sister  of        due  to   a   state  policy  in   w'hich   Marguerite  was 

Francis  I       guided  by  the  interests  of  her  brother  Francis  I. 

Indeed,  it  was  upon  him  that  she  lavished  the  affection  which  was 

part  of  her  ardent  nature. 

Oh,  qu'il  sera  le  bien  venu 

Celuy  qui,  frappant  a  ma  porte 

Dira:  Le  roy  est  revenu 

En  sa  sante  tres  bonne  et  forte.     .     .     . 

she  wrote  when  Francis  lay  seriously  ill.  Her  chief  works  are: 
the  evangelical  verses  known  as  the  Miroir  de  I'dme  pecheresse 
(1531) ;  the  Marguerites  de  la  Marguerite  des  Princesses  (1547), 
a  collection  of  her  lighter  verse ;  the  Prisons,  a  long  composition 
in  five  thousand  ten-syllable  lines  on  the  errors  of  mankind ;  and 
the  Heptameron  (not  published  until  1558),  an  imitation  of 
Boccaccio. 

Opinions  as  to  the  value  of  this  output  vary.  M.  Lanson, 
on  the  whole  Marguerite's  apologist,  thinks  that  in  spite  of  many 
admirable  traits  she  lacks  "  metier  "  and  art.  Critics  are  agreed 
however,  that  the  Heptameron  is  her  best  work. 

The  keynote  of  her  poetry  is  disquietude.  Amid  the  welter 
of  conflicting  ideals  Marguerite  finds  none  to  which  she  can 
give  undivided  adherence,  and  so  she  yields  to  the  sentiment  of 


166         PLATONISTS  AND  NEO-PLATONISTS 

the  unattainable,  towards  which  the  Neo-Platonism  of  her  neo- 
phytes directs  her.  Thought  leads  to  madness,  and  faith  alone 
can  save.  Thus,  the  Prisons  mingle  the  allegory  of  the  Rose, 
the  gallantry  of  Alain  Chartier,  the  sombemess  of  Dante  and  the 
aspirations  of  the  Protestant.  Marguerite's  thought  and  style 
are  a  mixture  of  the  medieval  and  the  modern,  of  the  religious 
and  the  mundane.  She  delves  into  mathematical  formulae  and 
mystical  symbols  but  with  no  definite  purpose  except  to  fortify 
her  own  ungratified  longing. 

To  all  this  the  prose  of  the  Heptameron  offers  a  partial  correc- 
tive, for  the  tales  of  which  it  is  composed  have  a  practical' 
lesson  to  teach.  In  reality  exempla,  they  exemplify  —  to  repeat 
Brunetiere's  jest — "  les  jeux  de  I'amour  et  du  hasard."  The 
Decameron  is  perhaps  too  obviously  their  model,  just  as  the  dia- 
logues which  accompany  the  narrative  are  often  severely  Neo- 
Platonic.  Yet  outspoken  as  the  tales  are,  what  dignifies  them 
is  an  element  of  real  tragedy,  and  Marguerite  affirms  that  they 
were  drawn  from  actual  life. 

The  background  is  Notre-Dame  de  Servance  in  the  Pyrenees, 
whither  the  company  of  "  bathers  "  has  retired  after  a  summer  at 
Cauterets.  Some  of  the  narrators  are  probably  contemporaries 
in  disguise:  Oisile  may  be  Louise  of  Savoy;  Parlamente,  who 
gives  the  definition  of  the  parfait  amant,  Marguerite  herself,  and 
Hircan  her  second  husband;  whereas  Dagoucin  represents  the 
ideal  Platonist,  and  Saffredent  and  Simontault  the  ironical 
esprit  gaulois.  Thus  we  obtain  a  vivid  impression  of  a  sixteenth- 
century  salon,  so  different  from  the  precieux  product  of  the 
seventeenth  century. 

As  for  the  tales  themselves,  one  of  the  most  typical  is  Les  Amans 
en  religion  (XIX).  Here  a  knight  and  a  lady  being  unable  to 
marry  decide  each  to  enter  a  monastic  order.  Thus  they  give  each 
other  "  le  saint  baiser  de  dilection  "  and  realize  their  love  in  God. 
"  Si  est-ce,"  says  Geburon,  "  que  Dieu  a  plusieurs  moyens  de  nous 
tirer  a  luy,  dont  les  commencemens  semblent  estre  maulvais, 
mais  la  fin  est  bonne."  And  Parlamente  subjoins  the  general 
maxim  that  never  did  a  man  love  God  perfectly  without  first  lov- 
ing some  creature  in  this  world.  Another  tale  (XXV)  philosoph- 
izes on  a  gallant  adventure  in  the  life  of  Francis  I.  Again,  in 
Rolandine  et  le  bastard  (XXI)  the  sentiments  of  woman,  "  fondfe 


DESPERIERS  167 

en  Dieu,"  are  opposed  to  those  of  man,  "  fondes  sur  le  plaisir." 
Marguerite  does  not  hesitate  to  mingle  exempla  of  a  lofty  type 
with  descriptions  of  every  sort  of  infidelity,  for  the  paradox 
of  idealism  and  licentiousness  is  singularly  hers. 

Fortunately,  her  prose. is  more  fluent  than  her  verse.  She 
can  be  serious  or  sprightly,  sentimental  or  ironic,  as  the  occasion 
requires.  Doubtless  the  model  of  the  Decameron  here  helped  to 
clarify  her  style.  Unlike  Boccaccio's  work,  the  Heptameron  is 
incomplete. 

To  the  free-thinker  Bonaventure  Desperiers  (about  1510- 
1544),  Marguerite  entrusted  the  translation  of  Plato's  Lysis. 
Bonaventure  Desperiers  was  her  secretary  and  had  published, 
Desperiers  g^g  g^rly  as  1537,  a  Cymbalum  Mundi,  where  in  four 
dialogues  he  gently  upbraids  the  "  resveurs  theologales."  But 
Parliament  understood  the  satiric  vein  of  this  composition  and 
ordered  the  book  to  be  burned.  A  better  fate  awaited  the  author's 
Nouvelles  recreations  et  joyeux  devis.  Inspired  by  an  easy-going 
sensualism,  Desperiers  here  refines  on  Rabelais  and  accepts  the 
philosophy  to  enjoy  life  aesthetically.  The  book  was  very  popu- 
lar, going  through  seventeen  editions  before  1625.  The  tales,  of 
which  there  are  on'e  hundred  and  twenty-nine,  remind  one 
of  Sacchetti.  But  Desperiers  depicts  admirably,  often  with  a 
few  strokes ;  and  as  a  romantic  ironist  he  has  few  equals,  even  in 
French.  He  is  thus  the  most "  modern  "  story-writer  of  the  epoch. 
He  died  by  his  own  hand,  apparently  in  order  to  escape 
persecution. 

It  is  rare  in  French  history  to  find  another  city  rivaling  Paris 
as  a  center  of  culture.  Such,  however,  was  the  r61e  of  Lyons 
The  Ecole      towards  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century.    While 

l-yon  j^  ^^g  ^}jg  tendency  of  Marguerite's  group  to  enforce 
the  desire  for  a  chosen  and  lofty  literary  art,  and  although  it 
transmitted  this  desire  to  the  poets  of  the  next  generation  —  the 
Pleiade  —  it  was  especially  through  the  influence  of  Lyons  that 
the  idea  was  to  be  brought  to  a  head.  The  Ecole  de  Lyon  being 
close  to  Italy  emphasized  the  value  of  Italian  models  and  especi- 
ally the  example  of  the  Petrarchists  in  the  treatment  of  love. 
Both  of  these  traits  are  found  in  the  Pleiade. 

In  Maurice  Sceve  (exact  dates  unknown) ,  the  chief  of  the  Lyon- 
ese  school,  the  Neo-Platonist  and  the  Petrarchist  combine.    In 


168         PLATONISTS  AND  NEO-PLATONISTS 

1533  he  won  notoriety  by  his  supposed  discovery  of  the  grave  of 
Laura.  In  1544  he  published  under  the  title  Delie,  objet  de  -plus 
Maurice  haute  vertu,  a  collection  of  four  hundred  and  forty- 

Sclve  ujijg  dixains  in  honor  of  his  lady,  probably  Pernette 

de  Guillet.  The  arrangement  of  the  volume  is  symbolic.  Delie  is  an 
anagram  for  I'ldee,  the  prototype  of  tlie  numerous  Delias,  Ideas, 
and  Diellas  that  occur  later  on  in  English.  The  poems  themselves 
are  printed  in  groups  of  nine,  separated  by  various  figures  and  em- 
blems. Sceve  follows  closely  the  conceits  of  the  Italian  strambot- 
tists,  particularly  Tebaldeo  and  Serafino  dall'Aquila.  But  like 
the  earlier  Italian  lyrists,  he  also  likes  to  fill  his  works  with 
scientific  arguments.  This  last  trait  is  characteristic  of  his 
Microcosme,  a  long  poem  in  Alexandrines,  which  was  not  printed 
until  1562. 
Sceve's  Platonizing  appears  in  such  a  dixain  as  this  (306) : 

Ta  beaute  fut  premier  et  doulx  Tyran 
Qui  m'arresta  tres  violentement; 
Ta  grace  apres,  peu  a  peu  m'attirant, 
M'endormit  tout  en  son  enchantement : 
Dont  assoupi  d'un  tel  contentement 
N'avois  de  toy,  ni  de  moy  connoissance. 
Mais  ta  vertu,  par  sa  haute  puissance, 
M'esveilla  lors  du  sommeil  paresseux, 
Auquel  Amour,  par  aveugle  ignorance, 
M'espouvantoit  de  maint  songe  angoisseux. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  Brimetiere  observes,  the  adaptation  of 
the  Petrarchizing  spirit  to  the  circumstance  of  Sceve's  own  life  is 
best  seen  in  the  following: 

Sur  le  printemps,  que  les  aloses  montent. 
Ma  dame  et  moy  sautons  dans  le  bateau, 
Ou  les  pescheurs  entre  eux  leur  prise  comptent, 
Et  une  en  prend:  que  sentant  I'air  nouveau, 
Tant  se  debat,  qu'en  fin  se  sauve  en  I'eau, 
Dont  ma  maistresse  et  pleure  et  se  tourmente. 
—  Cesse,  luy  dis-je,  il  faut  que  je  lamente 
L'heur  du  poisson  que  n'as  su  attraper, 
Car  il  est  hors  de  prison  vehemente, 
Ou  de  tes  mains  ne  peux  one  eschapper. 

It  is  only  natural  that  Du  Bellay  should  have  hailed  the  author 
of  these  "  alembicated  "  verses  as  one  who 

Premier  emporte  le  prix 
Auquel  tous  vont  aspirant. 


THE    SCHOOL    OF   LYONS  169 

Louise  Labe  (1526-1566)  and  Pernette  de  Guillet  {Petites  et 
lovables  jeunesses,  1545)  belong  to  the  emancipated  women  of 
Louise  Lyons.    While  they  were  hardly  types  of  the  aristo- 

^^^^  cratic  cortegiana,  onesta  so  much  lauded  in  Italy, 

we  need  not  go  to  the  extreme  of  certain  of  their  contemporaries 
who  called  them  by  a  harsher  name.  Of  Pernette  we  know 
little  beyond  the  fact  that  Sceve  was  in  love  with  her  and  that 
Du  Bellay,  in  the  Defense  et  Illustration,  deprecates  her  lyrics. 
Louise  Labe,  however,  won  lasting  fame  under  the  name  of  La 
Belle  Cordiere,  a  title  due  to  her  being  the  wife  of  Ennemond 
Perrin,  the  Rope-maker. 

Her  work  consists  of  three  elegies,  twenty-four  sonnets  (one 
of  which  is  in  Italian)  and  the  prose  Debat  de  folie  et  d'amour, 
based  on  classical  myth.  In  all  these  compositions  Louise  com- 
bines Italianate  conceits  with  accents  of  real  passion  and 
poetic  inspiration.  The  poet  Olivier  de  Magny  addressed  her 
in  no  uncertain  terms,  and  after  passing  in  review  the  "  un- 
fortunate "  heroines  of  antiquity  she  herself  sums  up  the  ex- 
perience of  life  in  the  following  melancholy  reflection: 

Comme  ce  pale  essaim  de  malheureuses  Ombres, 
Du  Styx  au  triple  tour  couvrant  les  rives  sombres, 
Au  penser  doux-amer  de  son  ancien  martyre 
S'agite  tristement   et   doucement  soupire! 
Ainsi  par  un  beau  soir,  au  milieu  de  la  pleine, 
La  tige  que  le  vent  bat  d'une  tiede  haleine. 

Obviously  the  Ecole  de  Lyon  had  one  of  its  most  inspired 
singers  in  Louise  Labe. 

In  conclusion  let  us  note  that  one  member  of  the  Pleiade, 
Pontus  de  Tyard,  was  spiritually  akin  to  the  Lyons  group.  Trans- 
lator of  the  far-famed  Dialoghi  d'amore  of  Leo  Hebraeus  and 
author  of  Les  Erreurs  amoureiLses  (1549)  — a  sonnet  collection 
showing  the  influence  of  Sceve  —  he  defined  the  "poetic 
madness  "  as: 

Tunique  escalier  par  lequel  I'ame  puisse  trouver  le  chemin  qui 
la  conduise  a  la  source  de  son  souverain  bien  et  felicite  divine. 

The  last  point  is  also  brought  out  in  the  Art  Tpoetique  of  Thomas 
Sebillet  published  at  Lyons  in  1548.  But  of  this  more  in  the  next 
chapter. 


BOOK  II 

LITERARY  THEORY  AND  THE  RETURN 
OF    THE    BOURGEOIS    IDEAL 

CHAPTER  I 

THE    DOCTRINE    OF    IMITATION 
THE    PLEIADE 

The  idea  of  formal  perfection  or  virtii,  mentioned  above,  when 
applied  to  literature  results  towards  1550  in  the  doctrine  of 
Imitation.  Incidentally,  literature  is  recognized  as  a  branch 
of  art.  In  both  respects  Du  Bellay's  Defense  et  lllmtration  de 
la  larigue  frangaise  (1549)  is  important.  It  is  not  the  origin- 
ality of  Du  Bellay,  nor  his  critical  depth,  nor  indeed  his  style  — 
for  the  work  gives  every  evidence  of  being  hastily  written  —  but 
mainly  the  timeliness  and  the  enthusiasm  of  the  work  that  place 
it  among  the  great  critical  documents  of  Eiirope.  What  Dante's 
De  Vulgari  Eloquentia  is  for  Italy,  that  and  even  more  the 
Defense  et  Illustration  is  for  France. 

The  Greeks  had  no  specific  name  for  "creative  literature." 
To  them  all  art  was  primarily  an  "  imitation."  But  they  thought 
of  imitation  as  itself  experimental  and  creative.  For  while  Art 
imitates  Nature,  it  appeared  to  the  Greeks  to  go  a  step  further 
in  seeking  out  and  realizing  Nature's  "  unfulfilled  intentions  "  — 
to  use  Aristotle's  phrase.  That  is,  the  Greek  view  was  that  Art 
employs  the  particulars  furnished  by  Nature  to  arrive  at  the 
unity,  the  ideal  or  the  universal  truth  that  lies  behind  Nature. 
Thus  Nature  produces  blindly,  the  artist  consciously.  Nature 
gropes,  the  artist  discerns.  In  this  way  Art  aims  at  a  higher 
reality  than  that  given  by  Nature,  and  the  poet  or  genius  is  the 
person  with  the  insight  and  control  to  set  this  higher  reality 
before  men's  eyes.  Fundamentally,  then,  the  classicism  of  the 
ancients  rests  on  the  inner  or  psychological  apperception  of  the 
\  170 


DU   BELLAY'S    THEORIES  171 

universal  in  a  world  that  presents  itself  to  the  senses  as  con- 
stantly changing;  and  the  balajice,  the  repose,  the  completion 
(all  important  elements)  in  Greek  art  are  the  outcome  of  this  fact. 

As  far  as  the  terms  go,  this  was  also  the  standpoint  of  the  neo- 
classicism  of  the  Renaissance.  But  between  the  world  of  Nature 
and  themselves  the  men  of  the  Renaissance  saw  the  perfection 
of  the  finished  products  of  antiquity,  and  this  gave  them  a 
different  point  of  departure.  Thus  their  approach  was  through 
preexisting  literature,  and  they  began  by  imitating  the  ancient 
"  forms."  Critically  viewed.  Renaissance  literature  has  two 
marked  features:  matters  of  form  outweigh  matters  of  content, 
and  for  a  long  time  there  is  considerable  dualism  of  thought 
and  expression.  In  the  lyric  this  attention  to  external  form 
served  to  curb  an  exuberant  and  often  violent  emotion,  and 
hence  did  not  fail  to  produce  very  happy  and  beautiful  results, 
especially  in  the  sonnet,  which  has  been  aptly  called  le  precieux 
condensateur  de  U emotion  lyrique.  Other  genres  —  the  epic  and 
the  drama  —  were  not  so  fortunate,  for  the  desire  of  Ronsard 
in  his  Franciade  to  be  Vergilian  and  of  Jodelle  in  his  dramas 
to  be  Senecan  accounts  largely  for  the  sterility  of  these  works. 
Not  before  the  second  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  did  French 
critics  understand  that  the  ancients  were  great,  not  because 
they  were  ancient,  but  because  they  were  true  —  as  Boileau 
maintained,  rien  n'est  beau  que  le  vrai.  .  Thus  the  dualism 
of  form  and  matter  is  finally  overcome  in  the  works  of  the 
great  French  Classicists,  and  the  seventeenth  century  is  the 
Classical  Age  in  France. 

In  1549  Du  Bellay  ostensibly  aimed  his  treatise  at  the  Art 
poetique  of  Sebillet  (see  above),  which  despite  references  to 
classical  models  moves  in  the  atmosphere  of  Marotic 
fense  et*"  experimentation  and  lacks  the  force  of  a  definite 
lUustration "  purpose.  Du  Bellay  supplies  this  deficiency  by 
his  patriotic  appeal  throughout  to  the  resources  of  French  as 
capable  of  the  best  and  loftiest  expression..  Mistaken  are  they 
who  would  consider  the  French  as  barbarians;  it  all  depends 
on  la  jantasie  des  hommes  and  the  conscious  effort  towards 
quelque  plus  haut  et  meilleur  stile  such  as  the  ancients  had 
evolved.  As  the  Romans  imitated  the  Greeks,  so  the  French 
must  imitate  both  Greeks  and  Romans: 


172  THE    DOCTRINE    OF   IMITATION 

se  transformant  en  eux,  les  devorant;  et  apres  les  avoir  bien 
digerez,  les  convertissant  en  sang  et  nourriture  (I,  6). 

Thus  it  is  not  a  question  of  translation  but  of  innutrition;  the 
recovery  of  the  methods  of  the  ancients  and  their  absorption 
into  French.  The  idea  is  not  new,  but  Du  Bellay  expounds  it 
with  freshness  and  vigor.  Of  Aristotle  he  seems  as  yet  to  know 
only  the  name,  but  he  quotes  Horace,  Quintilian  and  Vida 
(1527),  whose  adoration  of  Vergil  the  neo-classicists  shared  as  a 
group,  and  he  pilfers  with  liberal  hands  the  ideas  of  Sperone 
Speroni  (1534)  on  language. 

The  two  parts  of  the  treatise  are  divided  into  twelve  chap- 
ters each.  The  first  part,  or  Defense  proper,  presents  arguments 
on  behalf  of  tHeTanguage ;  the  neglect  it  has  suffered  artisti- 
cally even  from  those  who  like  Marot  should  have  known  better, 
the  folly  of  Frenchmen  trying  to  write  literary  Latin,  and  the  un- 
tried possibilities  of  French  itself.  Here,  then,  Du  Bellay  vindi- 
cates his  position  and  holds  out  promises  for  the  future.  In  the 
second  part  or  Illustration  he  outlines  his  specific  reforms,  ^e 
would  not  leave  the  two  pillars  of  artistic  speech,  ,the  poet  a^d 
the  orator,  to  the  guidance  of  Platonic  ideals;  definite  instruc- 
tions are  necessary.  Talent  (le  natwrel)  alone  is  not  suflBcient, 
the  artist  needs  also  knowledge  (la  doctrine),  and  knowledge 
can  be  won  only  through  work.  The  charge  of  excessive  eru- 
dition, later  brought  against  the  Pleiade,  here  finds  its  expla- 
nation. Thus  Du  Bellay  summons  the  poet  to  "  finger  by  day 
and  by  night "  his  ancient  authors  and  to  renounce  once  for  all 
the  literary  genres  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Epiceries  they  are, 
unworthy  of  the  temple  of  fame.  The  one  exception  he  would 
make  is  the  epitre  —  a  Middle  French  genre  —  provided  it  is 
elegiacal  like  the  Epistles  of  Ovid  or  sententious  like  those  of 
Horace.  His  emphasis,  however,  is  placed  on  the  ode  and  the 
sonnet  for  the  expression  of  emotion,  and  on  the  epigram  and 
satire  for  the  display  of  wit;  and  he  hopes  for  the  restitution 
of  ancient  tragedy  and  comedy.  The  eclogue,  already  employed 
by  Marot,  is  to  be  modeled  on  the  practice  of  Vergil,  Theocritus 
and  Sannazzaro.  An  entire  chapter  (V)  is  devoted  to  the  epic. 
The  models  for  the  epic  are  of  course  the  Iliad  and  the  Aerteid, 
but  the  French  poet  is  to  rework  such  Old  French  works  as  the 
Tristan  and  the  Lancelot  over  into  these  classical  forms,  or 


DU    BELLAY'S    THEORIES  173 

else  like  Jean  Lemaire  to  exploit  chronicle  sources  for  the  pur- 
pose. The  real  spirit  of  the  epic,  its  raison  d'Stre  in  national 
feeling,  utterly  escapes  Du  Bellay  (as  well  as  most  of  his  con- 
temporaries), and  he  again  appeals  to  the  poet's  quest  of  fame: 

la  gloire,  seule  eschelle  par  les  degres  de  laquelle  les  mortels 
d'un  pied  leger  montent  au  ciel  et  se  font  compagnons  des  dieux. 

In  all  this  we  see  Du  Bellay's  scorn  of  the  popidavre  igno- 
rant. The  school  which  the  manifesto  inaugurates  is  aristocratic. 
Varied  meters,  classical  reminiscences  and  metaphors,  rich  rime 
are  to  be  the  rule  —  though  quantitative  verse  is  not  directly 
advised.  Above  all,  poetic  speech  is  to  be  representatively 
French,  and  the  patriotism  of  the  appeal  is  evident.  Archaic 
terms,  dialect  words,  expressions  drawn  from  the  trades  and  pro- 
fessions, are  to  be  deliberately  chosen,  especially  when  justified 
by  classical  prototypes.  The  names  of  ancient  heroes  are  to  be 
Gallicized:  thus  Thesee,  Achille,  Horace.  And  the  enriching 
process  is  to  include  the  use  of  the  epithet  for  the  proper  name 
(antonomasia) ,  such  as  Pere  joudroyant,  as  well  as  neologisms, 
like  jour-apporte  and  aiie-pied,  according  to  ancient  models. 
Syntactically,  Du  Bellay  recommends  the  use  of  the  adjective 
and  the  infinitive  as  nouns,  the  extension  of  the  definite  article 
and  the  employment  of  gerundive  constructions.  Carried  to 
excess,  many  of  these  changes  were  later  to  be  attacked  by 
Malherbe  (see  Ch.  IV) .  For  the  most  part,  however,  Du  Bellay 
proceeded  in  accord  with  the  genius  of  the  language,  and  his 
reforms  —  especially  at  the  hands  of  such  a  master  as  Ronsard  — 
led  to  considerable  gain  in  poetic  expression.  Tor  the  time  being, 
French  certainly  acquired  a  richness  and  exuberance  comparable 
to  Elizabethan  English. 

Thus  the  Defense  et  IlliLstration  brought  a  new  and  vitalizing 
spirit  into  French  literature.  It  made  the  man  of  letters  a  leader 
and  inspirer  of  his  people.  It  put  literature  frankly  on  a  founda- 
tion that  is  ultimately  aesthetic.  And  while  the  treatise  is  shame- 
fully weak  in  its  estimate  of  the  French  literary  past,  it  was 
the  source  of  creative  impulses  that  were  long  to  survive  the 
particular  theory  Du  Bellay  aidj/ocated. 

An  insignificant  protest,  the  Quintil-Horatian  by  Barthelemy 
Aneau,  on  behalf  of  the  old  school,  was  unable  to  mar  the  rapid 


174  THE    DOCTRINE    OF   IMITATION 

triumph  of  Du  Bellay's  ideas.  The  fact  is,  the  position 
of  the  Defense  was  also  that  of  his  friends  and  collaborators, 
Other  Jacques  Peletier  and  particularly  Pierre  de  Ronsard. 

Poetic  Arts  Peletier's  Art  poetique  is  in  some  respects  more 
mature  than  the  Defense,  but  it  did  not  appear  until  1655,  and  by 
that  time  the  new  school  was  in  full  blast.  Peletier's  idea  that 
French  poetry  must  be  daring  and  aristocratic  is  again  typical 
of  the  poets  of  the  Pleiade,  who  differed  from  the  later  Classicists 
mainly  by  their  "  unsociable  and  scornful "  attitude  of  mind. 
Yet  Ronsard's  chief  critical  document,  the  Abrege  de  I'art 
poetique  (1565),  while  it  upholds  the  doctrine  of  inspiration 
elaborated  in  his  earlier  Ode  a  Michel  de  I'Hospital,  dwells  on 
the  factor  of  "  conscious  invention  "  upon  which  the  successful 
imitation  of  the  ancients  would  depend.  In  this  advocacy  of 
a  rational  control  of  the  imagination  he  voices  the  growing 
tendency  in  favor  of  poetic  rules.  Important,  too,  is  his  choice 
of  the  Alexandrine  as  the  future  heroic  verse  of  the  French,  a 
dictum  which  makes  one  regret  that  he  rejected  this  meter  for  the 
Frandade.  The  Art  poetique  frangais  (1605)  by  Vauquelin  de 
la  Fresnaye  represents  the  extreme  of  Pleiade  theorizing  and  is 
important  —  if  at  all  —  because  it  gives  expression  to  the  late- 
comers of  the  school.  The  era  of  "  rules  "  was  now  at  hand ; 
Vauquelin  spoke  of  his  own  poem  as  "  cet  art  de  regies  recher- 
chees."  He  was  a  lavish  borrower  from  the  Italian  critic 
Minturno  (1564).  His  idea  that  the  poet  should  choose  scrip- 
tural themes: 

Si  les  Grecs,  comme  vous,  Chrestiens  eussent  escrit, 
lis  eussent  les  hauts  faits  chantes  de  lesus  Christ, 

was  derived  from  Minturno '  and  foimd  favor  with  the 
Protestants,  who  combined  the  two  antiquities:  the  classics  and 
the  Bible. 

The  crux  of  Italian  criticism  during  the  sixteenth  century, 
the  doctrine  of  verisimilitude  or  vraisemblance  as  deduced  from 
the  study  of  Aristotle's  Poetics,  does  not  essentially  affect  the 
French  until  the  seventeenth  century.  Aristotelianism  is,  so  to 
speak,  in  the  air.  Jodelle  (1552>  has  an  allusion  to  the  imity 
of  time  in  his  tragedy,  Cleop&tre;  Jean  de  la  Taille's  Art  de  la 

>  This  is  the  begiimiug  in  art  of  2«  meneOleux  chritien. 


THE    PLEIADE  175 

iragSdie  formulates  the  three  unities  in  imitation  of  Castelvetro 
(1570) ;  Vauquelin  voices  Minturno's  views  on  the  subject; 
and  Scaliger,  whose  Poetics  were  published  at  Lyons  in  1561, 
calls  Aristotle  imperator  noster,  omnium  bonarum  artium  dictator 
perpetuus,  thus  inaugurating  the  Stagirite's  hold  on  criticism 
for  centuries.  But,  as  we  shall  see,  Aristotle  does  not  become 
a  factor  in  French  literary  composition  until  the  generation  of 
1630,  when  rationalism  and  taste  together  —  le  bon  sens  et  le 
bon  gout  —  force  the  French  to  turn  to  Aristotle  for  a  practical 
theory  of  dramatic  composition  (see  Bk.  Ill,  Ch.  Ill) .  In  general, 
the  French  sixteenth  century  worshiped  Plato  rather  than  Aris- 
totle; as  for  literary  precept,  the  influence  of  Horace  and  of 
Vida  remained  paramount. 

The  group  of  enthusiasts  who  put  the  new  theories  into  prac- 
tice—  and  the  Defense  shows  how  deliberate  the  attempt  was 
—  are  today  known  as  the  Pleiade.  The  restrictive 
nature  of  this  term,  however,  should  not  lead  us  to 
think  that  the  new  school  was  limited  to  seven  stars  in  the  poetic 
firmament.  To  be  sure,  Ronsard,  by  reason  of  his  genius  the- 
Ifeader  of  the  movement,  twice  celebrates  seven  names:  in  1553, 
when  he  mentions  Baif,  Du  Bellay,  Jodelle,  Tyard,  and  along 
with  himself,  Des  Autels  and  La  Peruse ;  and  again  in  1555,  when 
Belleau  and  Peletier  replace  the  last  two.  Only  in  1556,  when 
Belleau  published  the  Odes  d'Anacreon,  does  Ronsard  welcome 
him  as  "  the  seventh  of  the  Pleiade."  His  favorite  term  for  the 
group  of  his  associates  and  followers  was  la  brigade.  "  Ce  fut 
une  belle  guerre,"  said  Pasquier,  "  que  Ton  entreprit  lors  contre 
I'ignorance."  And  to  both  Ronsard  and  Du  Bellay  the  proselyt- 
ing character  of  the  enterprise  stood  uppermost.  In  reality, 
many  besides  those  mentioned  cooperated  to  further  the  cause. 
Among  these  were  the  humanists  Daurat  and  Lazare  de  Baif, 
who  contributed  towards  the  inception  of  the  movement,  Marc- 
Antoine  de  Muret,  the  commentator  of  Ronsard's  works,  Olivier 
de  Magny,  known  for  his  skill  as  a  Petrarchist,  and  so  on.  So 
that  brigade  was  the  general  and  appropriate  name.  On  the 
other  hand,  Ronsard's  enemies  fixed  derisively  on  the  name 
Pleiade ;  it  was  further  given  currency  through  use  by  the  poet's 
biographer,  Binet;  and  from  Binet  it  has  passed  into  literary 
history  as  the  name  of  the  school. 


176  THE    DOCTRINE    OF    IMITATION 

In  this  larger  sense,  then,  the  poets  of  the  Pleiade  may  be 
considered  in  three  successive  groups:  (1)  The  Pleiade  proper 
or  the  intimate  associates  of  Ronsard,  altogether  the  nine  he 
mentions.  Of  these  Du  Bellay  alone  merits  a  place  by  the  side^^ 
of  the  master,  as  his  equal  and  counterpart.  Jodelle,  the  only 
Parisian  of  the  group,  is  also  the  only  one  who  has  left  a  name 
for  himself  in  the  drama,  a  genre  which  he  cultivated  in  imita- 
tion of  Seneca  and  the  Romans  (see  Bk.  Ill,  Ch.  III).  Antoine 
de  Baif,  an  early  friend  of  Ronsard's,  devoted  himself  to  reforms 
in  prosody  and  meter.  This  is  probably  the  reason  why  Du 
Bellay  called  him  the  "  docte,  doctieur  et  doctime  Baif."  At 
all  events,  Baif  founded  an  Academy  for  poets  and  musicians 
under  the  aegis  of  Charles  IX  and  strove  to  broaden  the  function 
of  French  verse  by  inventing  a  line  of  fifteen  syllables,  the 
so-called  vers  bdifin;  but  this,  like  his  experiments  in  quantita- 
tive French  meter,  was  doomed  to  failure.  No  less  learned  and 
certainly  more  philosophical  was  Pontus  de  Tyard  (1521-1603), 
the  author  of  Les  Erreurs  amoureuses  (1549),  in  sonnet  form. 
As  we  have  seen  (Bk.  I,  Ch.  I) ,  he  is  the  link  between  the  school 
of  Schve  and  the  Pleiade.  A  Burgundian,  of  noble  origin,  he 
strengthened  the  stream  of  Platonic  inspiration  by  rendering 
into  French  the  Dwloghi  d'amore  of  the  Spanish  Jew  Leo. 
Remy  Belleau,  called  le  gentil,  was  the  "  miniaturist "  of  the 
school,  though  to  his  contemporaries  he  was  mainly  the  honored 
translator  of  Anacreon  (1556).  Peletier  we  mentioned  above 
and  shall  refer  to  again.  Des  Autels  and  La  Peruse  have  only 
an  incidental  interest. 

(2)  The  so-called  seconde  volee,  headed  by  the  predeux  and 
Italianate  Desportes.  They  appear  after  the  accession  of  Henry 
III  in  1573  —  the  date  which  marks  the  retirement  of  Ronsard 
from  court.  As  we  shall  see,  it  was  against  this  group  in  partic- 
ular that  Malherbe  was  to  aim  the  shafts  of  his  common-sense 
mind. 

(3)  What  is  often  regarded  as  an  offshoot  of  this  second 
class ;  namely,  the  Protestant  school  of  Du  Bartas  and  D'Aubigne. 
In  reality,  however,  these  gifted  poets  are  akin  to  the  Ronsard 
of  the  Discours  and  even  of  the  Franciade  (1572),  and  although 
they  belong  to  the  generation  of  Henry  III,  they  stand  outside 
of  its  control  inasmuch  as  they  represent  the  militant  Protee- 


THE    PLEIADE  I77 

tantism  of  Henry  of  Navarre,  later  the  apostate  Henry  IV,  into 
whose  reign  much  of  their  work  falls.  Thus  by  a  stroke  of  irony 
they  most  resembk  Ronsard  in  technique,  inimical  as  they  are 
to  him  in  religion.  At  the  same  time,  they  had  little  influence 
in  France,  where  the  cause  they  advocated  met  with  disaster. 

Such  is  a  working  outline  of  the  Pleiade  movement,  with 
the  prominent  figures  of  which  we  shall  deal  presently.  Mean- 
time, it  will  be  well  to  keep  in  mind  certain  general  features. 
First,  as  a  matter  of  background,  the  cultivated  but  corrupt  \ 
court,  which  under  Catherine  de  Medicis  (wife  of  Henry  II 
and  mother  of  Charles  IX  and  Henry  III)  was  more  Italian  than 
French,  ever  ready  in  the  unequal  battle  it  waged  with  the  Protes- 
tants on  the  one  hand  and  reactionary  Catholics  on  the  other  to 
resort  to  intrigue  and  double-dealing.  Then,  there  is  the  cult, 
of  ephemeral  and  evanescent  beauty  —  the  carpe  diem  or  carpe' 
rosam  theme  of  the  classical  poets  —  so  persistent  in  the  lyricism 
of  the  age.  Imitative  as  this  idea  was,  it  drew  impetus  from  the 
insecurity  of  fortune  and  it  encouraged  poets  to  seek  per- 
manence in  artistic  form.  Thirdly,  there  is  the  romantic  appeal 
of  Nature,  in  her  bucolic  aspects,  constantly  renewing  herself 
in  a  glorious  rebirth.  With  his  Vergil  or  Theocritus  in  mind, 
the  poet  finds  a  balm  for  his  troubled  spirits  in  effects,  gentle 
and  slight  as  they  may  be,  that  are  reposeful  and  idyllic  in 
character.  And  when  he  is  a  Ronsard  or  a  Du  Bellay  his  identi- 
fications are  not  only  imitative  but  also  rich  in  personal  obser- 
vation and  originality  of  detail.  Undoubtedly,  the  poetic  pro- 
duct is  uneven.  For  one  thing,  the  frequent  quips  and  conceits\ 
annoy  the  modern  reader;  for  another,  the  repetition  of  theme' 
and  manner  is  considerable.  A  genuine  defect  is  excessive  erudi- 
tion, which  frequently  cloys  the  verse  and  renders  it  unintelli- 
gible. But,  on  the  whole,  the  verse  is  at  once  plastic  and  rich 
in  color,  varied  in  meters  and  genuinely  musical,  with  a  rhythm 
and  stateliness  —  particularly  in  Ronsard  —  closer  to  the  Greek 
than  anything  earlier  or  later  in  French.  A  realization  of  beauty 
was  the  Pleiade's  preoccupation  and  main  asset. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE    CHIEF    POETS    OF    THE    PLEIADE 

PiEERE  DE  RoNSAKD  WES  bom  in  1525  at  the  Chateau  de  la 
Poissonniere  near  Vendom*.  His  father  was  a  lesser  French 
noble,  who  had  won  distinction  abroad  and  made 
himself  useful  to  the  household  of  Francis  I.  The 
poet  would  have  us  believe  that  the  Ronsards  descended  from  a 
Danubian  baron  domiciled  in  France  at  the  time  of  Philip  of 
Valois.  It  befits  such  traditions  that  Pierre  was  removed  at  the 
age  of  eleven  from  the  College  de  Navarre  in  Paris  and  made  a 
page  at  court.  In  this  capacity  he  went  twice  to  England  and 
Scotland  and  was  finally  attached  to  Francis'  third  son,  the  Duke 
of  Orleans.  In  1540  he  was  sent  to  Germany  with  Lazare  de 
Bai'f  on  an  official  mission.  Returning,  Ronsard  contracted  an 
illness  which  left  him  partly  deaf  and  ended  his  diplomatic  career. 
In  1543  he  received  the  tonsure. 

He  now  joined  Baif's  son,  Antoine,  in  the  study  of  classical 
literature  under  the  direction  of  the  Hellenist  Daurat.  This 
apprenticeship  lasted  five  years  (1544-1549),  first  at  Baif's 
house  and  then  at  the  College  de  Coqueret,  of  which  Daurat  be- 
came the  enthusiastic  and  successful  principal.  The  legend  is 
that  the  two  students  kept  the  candle  bvu-ning  throughout  the 
long  winter  nights  by  alternating  at  the  study  table.  Others 
who  shared  their  zeal  at  Coqueret  were  Belleau  and  Jodelle;  and 
in  1547  came  Joachim  Du  Bellay,  whose  literary  career,  pre- 
viously guided  by  Peletier,  is  henceforth  allied  with  that  of 
Ronsard. 

Daurat's  teaching  bore  rapid  fruit.  It  is  apparent  in  all  of 
Ronsard's  early  work,  and,  among  countless  other  examples,  is 
seen  in  the  enthusiastic  sonnet  beginning: 

Je  veux  lire  en  trois  jours  I'lliade  d'Homere. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  Ronsard  took  to  imitating  the  ancients 
with  enthusiasm,  while  the  care  he  lavished  on  his  productions 

178 


RONSARD  179 

has  become  proverbial.  His  first  odes  date  from  1547,  but  it  was 
not  until  the  year  following  the  Defense  (1549)  that  he  could 
bring  himself  to  publish  his  first  collection.  In  the  following 
we  shall,  consider  his  works  in  three  fairly  distinct  periods: 

1550-1560  —  or  the  period  of  the  Odes,  Amours,  Hymnes, 
Socage  Royal  and  Melanges.  This  is  the  innovating  epoch  of 
Hellenistic  and  Petrarchian  imitation. 

1560-1574  —  the  time  when  Ronsard  is  the  ofiicial  court 
poet  and  writes  his  Elegies,  Mascarades,  Bergeries,  Discours  and 
the  Frandade.  He  is  now  the  poete  oratoire,  in  conscious  pos- 
session of  his  own  genius,  with  a  distinct  tendency  towards 
nationalism. 

1574-1584  —  when  retired  from  active  life  Ronsard  meditates 
and  seeks  fresh  inspiration  in  the  tranquillity  of  field  and  forest. 
The  works  of  this  autumnal  period  are  the  Sonnets  pour  Helene, 
the  Demieres  Amours  and  the  last  part  of  the  Bocage  Royal. 

Ronsard's  rise  to  fame  is  as  significant  as  it  was  rapid.  Follow- 
ing so  soon  on  the  Defense,  the  first  four  books  of  the  Odes  (1550) 
First  boldly  announce  the  poet's  break  with  the  school 

Period  of  Marot  and  his  imitation  of  Horace  and  Pindar. 

As  "  father  of  the  French  ode,"  he  claims  the  title  of  first 
lyricist  of  France.  This  vainglory  is  typical  of  the  epoch 
in  which  he  lived;  and  in  the  Ode  a  Michel  de  I' Hospital 
—  one  of  the  successful  imitations  of  Pindar  —  he  sings  with 
astonishing  virtuosity  of  the  victory  of  the  Muses,  triumphing 
in  himself: 

C'est  luy  dont  les  graces  infuses 
Ont  ramene  par  I'univers 
Le  choeur  des  Pierides  Muses, 
Faites  illustres  par  ses  vers. 

This  ode  is  of  1552,  the  year  that  saw  the  publication  of  a 
fifth  book  of  Odes  and  the  Amours  de  P.  Ronsard,  a  collection 
of  one  hundred  and  eighty-one  sonnets.  In  the  latter  Ronsard 
sounds  the  gamut  of  mingled  classical  and  Italian  imitation  in 
honor  of  Cassandre  Salviati,  a  proud  beauty  of  Blois.  Both  here 
and  in  his  Odes  he  reveals  artistic  powers  of  the  highest  order. 
"  Eloigne  du  vulgaire,"  as  the  Defense  had  said,  he  follows  the 
new  path  of  complicated  Pindaric  forms,  plastic  and  picturesque 
imagery,  and  mythological  allusions.    Yet  his  natural  sense  of 


180     THE    CHIEF    POETS    OF    THE    PLEIADE 

harmony  and  beauty  is  striking,  as  when  in  celebrating  the 
muses  he  says: 

Et  a  qui  vrayment  aussi 

Les  vers  furent  en  souci, 

Les  vers  dont  fiattez  nous  sommes, 

Afin  que  leur  doux  chanter 

Petist  doucement  enchanter 

Le  soin  des  Dieux  et  des  honunes. 

How  completely  the  ancients  had  him  in  their  thrall  appears  in 
the  elegiacal  Election  de  son  sepulcre,  written  at  the  age  of 
twenty-three  and  reminiscent  of  Propertius,  Vergil,  Ovid  and 
Horace.  Here  romantic  imagination,  love  of  Nature  and  clas- 
sical imitation  are  welded  into  a  verse  that  reminds  Sainte- 
Beuve  of  a  "  clocher  funebre": 

Antres,  et  vous  fontaines 
De  ces  roches  hautaines 
Qui  tombez  contre-bas 
D'un  glissant  pas. 

All  this  is  far  removed  from  the  triflings  of  the  Marotiques. 
Mellin  de  Saint-Gelais,  still  in  the  ascendency  at  court,  fore- 
saw his  own  eclipse.  But  if  Mellin  lacked  genius,  he  did  not  lack 
friends  and  he  enlisted  the  envious  against  his  rival.  That 
Ronsard  resented  the  opposition  he  shows  clearly  in  his  gratitude 
to  Marguerite  de  Valois  for  taking  his  part: 

N'est-ce  pas  toy,  Vierge  tres-bonne, 
...    qui  tant  me  fus  favorable 
Quand  par  I'envieux  miserable 
Mon  oeuvre  fut  Mellinisef 

Outwardly,  at  least,  the  quarrel  with  Mellin  is  over  by  1553, 
and  there  follow  Ronsard 's  most  fruitful  years. 

In  1553  the  poet  published  forty  new  sonnets,  an  ode  on  his 
reconciliation  with  Saint-Gelais  and  the  famous  Mignonne, 
aliens  voir  si  la  rose:  the  final  expression  of  the  carpe  rosam 
theme,  which  Ronsard  here  borrows  from  the  Fourteenth  Idyll  of 
Ausonius.  Assured  of  success,  he  now  makes  concessions  in  be- 
half of  clearness  and  simplicity,  composing  with  that  "  ardeur  et 
allegresse  d'esprit "  lauded  by  Du  Bellay,  and  with  all  France  at 


RONSARD  181 

his  feet.  The  Bocage  and  the  Melanges  (both  of  1554) ,  the  one 
predominantly  serious,  the  other  frolicsome  and  gay,  reflect  an 
interest  in  Anacreon  —  after  Homer  and  Pindar,Hhe  third  Greek 
poet  to  influence  Ronsard.  But  the  greatest  compositions  of  this 
time  are  the  Hymnes  and  the  Continuation  des  Amours,  both  of 
1555-1556.  The  former  definitely  establish  Ronsard's  position 
as  a  skillful  panegyrist  of  his  patrons,  while  the  latter  inaugurate 
his  second  manner. 

Dedicated  to  Marie  Dupin  —  a  village  beauty  of  Bourgueil 
Second  ^°  Anjou  —  the  new  Amours  are  arranged  on  the 

Period  Petrarchian  plan  of  celebrating  first  the  living  and 

then  the  dead  Marie.    The  poet  apostrophizes  Marie  as: 

Douce,  belle,  gentille  et  bien  flairante  Rose, 
Que  tu  es  a  bon  droit  a  Venus  consacree 

—  a  notable  softening  in  tone  from  that  in  which  he  sang  the 
lofty  and  haughty  Cassandre.  His  models  now  are  Theocritus, 
Vergil  and  the  neo-classic  MaruUus.  Further,  the  Alexandrine 
supplants  the  ten-syllable  as  the  true  vers  heraique.  One  poem 
in  the  collection.  La  Quenouille  ("  The  Distaff ") ,  is  a  splendid 
adaptation  of  an  idyll  by  Theocritus  —  again  illustrating  the 
principles  of  the  Defence  as  to  language: 

Aime-laine,  aime-fil,  aime-estaim,  maisormiere, 
Longue,  Palladienne,  enflee,  chansonniere, 
Suy-moy,  laisse  Cousture,  et  aliens  a  Bourgueil. 

But  most  characteristic  of  the  Renaissance  spirit  is  the  celebrated 
sonnet  Comme  on  voit  sur  la  branche  au  mois  de  May  la  rose, 
with  its  anapaestic  movement,  its  rich  rimes,  its  vivid  imagery 
and  its  complete  aesthetic  appeal  which  death  itself  does  not  mar: 

Afin  que,  vif  et  mort,  ton  corps  ne  soit  que  roses. 

Here  the  poet  has  seized  the  essence  of  classical  antiquity  — 
pagan,  fatalistic,  sensuous  and  beautiful. 

In  1559  Ronsard  received  the  post  of  royal  almoner,  the 
success  of  the  Amours  having  long  since  won  him  the  unoflficial 
title  of  "  Prince  des  poetes  frangais."  Fame  had  confirmed  his 
self-esteem.  We  find  him  reminding  Henry  II  that  kings  are 
responsible  to  their  people  and  that 


182      THE    CHIEF    POETS    OF    THE    PLEIADE 

apres  votre  mort,  fussiez-vous  empereur, 
Vous  ne  serez  non  plus  qu'un  simple  laboureur 

—  this  was  still  before  the  outbreak  of  the  disastrous  religious 
wars  which  were  to  lay  France  waste.  With  the  accession  of 
Charles  IX  his  ties  with  the  monarch  are  even  closer,  and  he 
speaks  out  boldly  in  behalf  of  his  native  land.  The  Discours  des 
Miseres  de  ce  temps,  the  Continuation  du  Discours  and  the 
Remonstrance  au  peuple  de  France  were  produced  in  1562- 
1563,  at  the  beginning  of  the  First  Civil  War.  While  Ronsard 
is  unequivocal  in  his  support  of  the  Romanists,  he  does  not 
hesitate  to  score  their  faults.  Only  when  the  Protestants  resort 
to  abuse  does  he  actually  take  up  arms  against  them,  showing 
as  the  Protestant  D'Aubigne  admiringly  states  that  "  Les  vers 
n'avoient  pas  oste  I'usage  de  I'espee."  Again  poetry  profited 
by  Ronsard's  directness;  discarding  all  mjrthology,  he  makes 
his  Alexandrines  speak  the  language  of  the  hour  —  forceful, 
ironic  and  eloquent:  the  first  example  of  the  poesie  oratoire. 
Note  the  dramatic  visualization  of  Christ  in  Ronsard's  con- 
fession of  faith: 

II  arresta  les  vents,  il  marcha  sur  les  ondes, 
Et  de  son  corps  divin,  mortellement  vestu, 
Les  miracles  sortoient,  temoins  de  sa  vertu; 

and  observe  how  regal  is  the  imagery. 

Meanwhile,  Catherine  ordered  the  "  royal  poet  "  to  send  Queen 
Elizabeth  a  collection  of  his  "  occasional  verse  "  under  the  title 
of  Elegies,  Mascarades,  Bergeries  (1565).  Ronsard's  attach- 
ments had  been  wholly  for  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  and  the  diamond 
which  Elizabeth  sent  him  in  return  could  have  warmed  his 
heart  but  little.  Yet  the  poems  had  his  usual  verve,  reflecting  the 
glamour  of  his  surroundings,  not  a  little  humor  and  a  wistful 
tenderness  for  the  young  Charles  IX,  of  whom  Ronsard  was 
genuinely  fond  and  whom  he  was  sincerely  to  mourn. 

St.  Bartholomew's  Day  (1572)  drew  not  a  line  from  Ronsard, 
though  many  others  stooped  to  laud  its  horrors.  If  Ronsard 
was  discreet,  his  silence  left  no  doubt  as  to  his  opinion.  In  1560 
he  had  published  the  first  edition  of  his  collected  works,  others 
followed  at  close  intervals,  and  in  1572  there  appeared  four 
books  of  the  Franciade  —  the  longed-for  French  epic,  the  dream 


RONSARD  183 

of  the  Defense,  heralded  twenty  years  earlier  in  the  Ode  a 
Michel  de  I' Hospital.  Its  failure  was  complete.  Why?  Ron- 
sard  seemingly  never  knew.  No  more  did  his  continuators,  the 
last  of  whom,  a  certain  Viennet,  rewrote  the  work  in  Alexan- 
drines under  the  Bonapartes.  Ronsard  himself  attributes  the 
collapse  to  matters  of  detail:  lack  of  rigid  application  of  the 
"  epic  "  rules,  erroneous  choice  of  ten-syllable  verse,  and  so  on. 
He  explained  himself  in  three  prefaces,  made  revisions  in  1572 
and  1578,  and  then  desisted.  The  subject  of  the  Frandade 
was  bookish  (the  Troy  legend) ,  the  technique  Vergilian  and  the 
mythology  classical:  three  factitious  elements  in  a  poem  which 
should  have  had  an  unquestioning  feeling  of  human  destiny  to 
guide  it  —  the  sine  qva,  non  of  any  successful  epic.  As  we  shall 
see,  Chapelain  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  Voltaire  in  the 
eighteenth,  fared  no  better  in  their  attempts  at  epic  verse, 
whereas  D'Aubigne  in  the  sixteenth  and  Victor  Hugo  in  the 
nineteenth  came  closest  to  the  coveted  goal.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  real  epics  of  the  Renaissance  are  Tasso's  Germalemme 
liberata  and  Milton's  Paradise  Lost. 

The  last  period  of  Ronsard's  life  was  passed  mostly  in  the 
country,  either  at  Montoire  and  Croix  Val  or  in  his  priory  at 
Third  Saint-Cosme  near  Tours.    He  was  now  quite  gray, 

Period  often  ill,  and  bereft  of  his  friends:  Du  Bellay,  Jo- 

delle  and  finally  Belleau  (1557).  Yet  his  genius  was  to  shine 
forth  on  two  further  occasions.  The  one  was  the  publication  of 
his  last  sonnets,  the  Sonnets  pour  Helene;  and  the  other,  the  com- 
pletion of  the  Bocage  royal,  included  in  a  celebrated  folio  edition 
of  his  works  (1584).  With  Helene  de  Surgeres  the  poet  held  a 
position  of  equality;  as  a  consequence  the  sonnets  to  her  are  more 
intimate  and  truer  to  reality  than  those  he  dedicated  to  Cas^ 
sandre  or  Marie.  Here  Ronsard  does  not  fail  to  give  us 
"  lesser  details  ": 

Seule,  sans  compagnie,  en  \me  grande  salle 
Tu  logeois  I'autre  jour,  pleine  de  majeste, 

and  the  well-known  Quand  vous  serez  hien  vieille,,  au  soir,  a  la 
chandelle  illustrates  this  trait  without  sacrificing  the  earlier, 
more  literary  features.  Characteristic  of  this  period  is  also 
an  ode,  Magie  ou  delivrance  d'amour,  where  the  verse  itself  is 


184.     THE    CHIEF    POETS    OF    THE    PLEIADE 

suggestive,  as  M.  Jusserand  points  out,  of  evanescence  and 

liberation: 

Vents  qui  soufflez  par  cette  plaine, 
Et  vous,  Seine,  qui  promenez 
Vos  flots  par  ces  champs,  emmenez 
En  rOcean  noyer  ma  peine. 

Lastly,  in  one  poem  at  least  of  the  Bocage  royal  the  poet's  sym- 
pathy with  Nature  reaches  a  climax  in  an  expression  of  uni- 
versal melancholy,  and  the  forest  of  Gatine  falling  before  the 
woodman's  ax: 

Tu  deviendras  campagne  et  en  lieu  de  tes  bois, 
Dont  I'ombrage  incertain  lentement  se  remue, 

becomes  the  symbol  of  universal  change: 

La  matiere  demeure  et  la  forme  se  change. 

Thus  when  Ronsard  died  in  December,  1585  —  regretted 
by  the  civilized  world  —  he  had  roimded  out  his  life  and  his 
experience.  A  lesser  star,  that  of  Desportes,  was  in  the  ascend- 
ency, and  a  new  age  was  preparing.  But  Ronsard  remains  the 
poet  by  preference  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Both  in  variety 
of  genius  and  in  wealth  of  performance  he  transcends  the  others. 
"  C'est  le  premier  poete  de  ce  siecle,"  said  Du  Verdier  in  the 
very  year  of  Ronsard's  death. 

The  princely  Ronsard  has  a  counterpart  in  the  gentle  Du 
Bellay.  Contemporaries  likened  him  to  Ovid;  another  com- 
Du  BeUay  P^^'i^on  would  be  to  Lamartine.  In  any  case,  Du 
Bellay  was  by  nature  a  romantic.  More  modem  in 
this  respect  than  Ronsard,  he  was  at  odds  with  the  world,  fell 
short  of  the  program  he  had  planned,  and  died  prematurely  and 
broken  in  spirit  in  1560.  Not  to  be  compared  to  his  fellow  crafts- 
man for  poetic  sweep  and  power  of  execution,  he  had  a  finer  per- 
ception and  a  more  delicate,  less  sensuous  temperament.  Hence 
his  Petrarchizing  seems  more  natural  and  his  Neo-Platonism  is 
more  effective.  Sainte-Beuve  applies  to  him  the  lines  written 
by  Du  Bellay  himself  to  a  friend: 

L'amour  se  nourrit  de  pleurs, 
Et  les  abeilles  de  fleurs; 
Les  pres  aiment  la  rosee, 
Phoebus  aime  les  neuf  soeurs, 
Et  nous  aimons  les  doulceurs 
Dont  ta  muse  est  arousfe. 


DU   BELLAY  185 

Joachim  Du  Bellay  was  born  about  1525  at  Lyre,  upon  the 
left  bank  of  the  Loire,  not  far  from  Angers.  His  father  Jean 
Du  Bellay  was  a  Sieur  de  Gannor,  governor  of  Brest,  and  be- 
longed to  a  family  made  illustrious  by  Cardinal  Du  Bellay  and 
M.  de  Langey,  a  notable  general.  Losing  his  parents  during  boy- 
hood, Joachim  fell  to  the  care  of  an  elder  brother,  who  neglected 
his  education  and  his  health.  Thus  necessity  rather  than  choice 
led  him  to  seek  in  French  the  glory  that  was  denied  him  in  the 
field  of  the  classics.   This  idea  lies  back  of  the  Defense. 

When  Du  Bellay  joined  Ronsard's  circle  in  Paris  his  devotion 
to  poetry  was  already  established.  He  says  pointedly  in  L'Olive, 
his  first  sheaf  of  poems  (1549) :  "  Ce  fut  pourquoi  a  la  persuasion 
de  Jacques  Peletier,  je  choisi  le  sonnet  et  I'ode."  Two  thirds  of 
the  sonnets  of  this  collection  (2nd  ed.  1550)  are  from  the  Italian, 
while  the  odes  follow  the  model  of  Horace.  But  already  Du 
Bellay  shows  great  metrical  skill  and  his  particular  spiritualizing 
trend,  for  his  lady's  name,  Olive,  is  symbolic  of  Pallas  Athena. 
The  climax  of  this  Platonizing  mood  is  reached  in  Sonnet  113 
(Si  notre  vie  est  moins  qu'une  joumee) ,  the  theme  of  which  can 
be  traced  back  to  Petrarch  through  Daniello,  and  forward  into 
Lamartine's  Isolement.  Yet  the  inconstancy  of  his  enthusiasm 
appears  in  his  translating  the  Fourth  Book  of  the  Aeneid  (1552) 
—  he  who  had  inveighed  against  translators  in  the  Defense.  A 
year  later  his  RecueU,  de  poesie  goes  so  far  as  to  ridicule  in 
sprightly  verse  the  excesses  of  the  Petrarchian  style.  The  fact 
is  that  Du  Bellay 's  sensitiveness  easily  turned  upon  itself.  This 
is  seen  in  the  ironic  close  he  gave  to  many  of  his  sonnets  and, 
above  all,  in  the  capital  Poete  courtisan  (not  published  until 
1559) ,  where  he  mockingly  advises  those  whom  a  desire  for  suc- 
cess has  lured  into  the  servilities  of  the  court  circle.  Possibly 
his  "  com^  poet "  was  Mellin  de  Saint-Gelais,  though  the  satire 
also  reflects  Du  Bellay's  personal  experience. 

In  1553  his  relative,  the  Cardinal,  invited  him  to  come  to 
Rome.  This  trip  marks  the  turning-point  in  Du  Bellay's  life 
and  inspired  his  distinctive  verse:  the  Antiquites  de  Rome,  the 
Regrets  and  the  Jeux  rustiques  —  all  published  after  his  return 
to  France  in  1558.  With  what  high  expectation  Du  Bellay  entered 
the  Eternal  City  can  be  imagined.  The  enthusiastic  Descriptio 
Romae,  in  Latin  heroics,  depicts  the  renascent  city  recovering 


186     THE    CHIEF    POETS    OF    THE    PLEIADE 

the  treasures  of  antique  sculpture  and  architectvire.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  Du  Bellay  promised  himself  the  impossible; 

Je  me  feray  sgavant  en  la  philosopMe, 
En  la  mathematique  et  medicine  aussy: 
Je  me  feray  legiste,  et  d'un  plus  hault  soucy 
Apprendray  les  secrets  de  la  theologie: 
Du  lut  et  du  pinceau  j'esbatteray  ma  vie, 
De  I'escrime  et  du  bal.    Je  discouray  ainsy 
Et  me  vantois  en  moy  d'apprendre  tout  cecy 
Quand  je  changeay  la  France  au  sejour  d'ltalie. 

The  Antiquites  de  Rome,  in  soimet^form,  are  the  record  of  his 
early  impressions.  For  pathos  of  vanished  grandeur  and  for 
sentiment  of  ruins  they  have  seldom  been  surpassed,  certainly  not 
in  French.  On  the  Horatian  theme  of  Suis  et  ipsa  Roma  viribus 
ruit  Du  Bellay  builds  a  vision  of  Rome's  ancient  splendor: 

Rome  seule  pouvoit  Rome  ressembler, 

Rome  seule  pouvoit  Rome  faire  trembler: 

Ainsi  n'avoit  permis  I'ordonnance  fatale 

Qu'autre  pouvoir  hmnain,  tant  fust  audacieux, 

Se  vantast  d'egaler  celle  qui  fit  egale 

Sa  puissance  a  la  terre  et  son  courage  aux  cieux. 

But  only  the  memory  of  that  power  now  remains,  and  in  an 
admirable  sonnet  the  poet  muses  on  what  the  shades  of  the  old 
Romans  —  les  ombres  poudreuses  —  would  say  if  they  could 
behold  their  city  under  the  rule  of  the  popes,  the  ruined  city  which 

Chascun  va  pUlant:   comma  on  voit  le  glaneur 
Cheminant  pas  a  pas  recueillir  les  reliques 
De  ce  qui  va  tombant  apres  le  moissonneur. 

Du  Bellay's  post  in  the  Cardinal's  household  was  that  of  a 
head  steward.  In  this  capacity  he  had  to  attend  to  the  hundreds 
of  details  which  his  Eminence  imposed,  and  he  accompanied 
his  master  to  the  consistory.  It  was  an  interesting  but  on  the 
whole  a  wearisome  life,  especially  for  one  of  Du  Bellay's  ideals. 
For  a  while  the  glamour  of  the  official  life  held  him.  But  soon 
his  heart  sickens  at  the  corruption  in  high  places ;  an  unfortunate 
passion  for  the  Faustina  of  his  Poemata  and  a  longing  for  his 
native  heath  hasten  the  break,  and  in  1557  he  sets  out  for  home. 
The  stages  of  the  return  trip  (via  Venice,  the  Grisons  and  Switz- 


MINOR    POETS  187 

erland)  are  recorded  as  a  part  of  the  Regrets,  the  most  intimate 
of  the  poet's  sonnets  and  those  in  which  his  mingled  sentiment 
apd  satire  are  best  expressed.  Every  Frenchman  knows  the 
sonnet  beginning: 

France,  mere  des  arts,  des  armes  et  des  lois; 

though  few  know  that  it  is  modeled  on  a  Latin  hymn  by  Petrarch. 
Unsurpassed,  however,  in  all  respects  is  the  Sonnet  du  petit  Lire 
witb  its  ringing  conclusion: 

Plus  me  plaist  le  sejour  qu'ont  basti  mes  ayeulx 


Plus  mon  Loyre  gaulois  que  le  Tybre  latin, 
Plus  mon  petit  Lyre  que  le  mont  Palatin, 
Et  plus  que  I'air  marin  la  doulceur  AngCvine. 

This  same  douceur  is  characteristic  of  the  poem  which  more 
than  all  others  is  associated  with  Du  Bellay's  memory:  the  fa- 
mous Vanneur  de  BIS  imitated  from  the  Neo-Latin  poet  Navagero. 
Here  the  silvery  grace  of  Du  Bellay's  fancy  comes  into  full  play, 
and  his  love  of  the  fields,  typical  of  his  later  Jevx  rustiques, 
finds  an  echo  in  the  very  texture  of  his  versification.  But  Du 
Bellay  did  not  long  survive  his  return  to  Anjou.  Weakened  in 
health,  grown  entirely  deaf,  he  also  found  himself  deserted  by  the 
relatives  from  whom  he  had  sought  support.  When  he  died  he 
was  barely  thirty-seven.  A  complete  edition  of  his  works  did  not 
appear  imtil  after  his  death. 

"  Depuis  .  .  .  Ronsard  et  Du  Bellay,"  said  Montaigne,  "  je 
ne  vois  si  petit  apprenti  qui  n'enfle  les  mots  et  qui  ne  range  les 
Lesser  cadences  a  peu  pres  comme  eux."    This  is  unfortu- 

®^*"  nately  true  of  almost  all  of  their  associates,  not  to 

mention  the  large  band  of  purely  servile  imitators.  Antoine  de 
Baif  (1532-1589)  wrote  various  Amours,  the  second  collection 
of  which,  addressed  to  the  lady  Francine,  consecrates  the  use  of 
the  Alexandrine  in  the  sonnet  (1555).  Baif  tried  to  make  up  in 
learning  what  he  lacked  in  genius;  but  his  attempts  at  spelling- 
reform,  vers  baifins  (Ch.  I)  and  quantitative  blank  verse, 
while  laudable  in  themselves,  met  only  with  a  passing  success. 
Remy  Belleau  (1526-1577)  had  at  least  more  talent,  which  he 
expended  on  his  version  of  Anacreon  and  especially  in  adapting 


188     THE    CHIEF    POETS    OF    THE    PLEIADE 

the  medieval  "  lapidary  "  to  Renaissance  taste  in  the  Nouveaux 
echanges  des  pierres  predeuses.  When  at  his  best,  he  paints 
with  a  delicate  brush,  in  miniature  style.  One  of  his  songs,  Avril, 
reveals  the  same  delicate  feeling  for  Nature  and  owing  to  its 
charm  is  still  a  favorite  anthology  piece.  To  mention  a  poet  who 
stood  outside  the  immediate  circle  of  the  Pleiade,  Olivier  de 
Magny  (1529-1561)  has  a  certain  freshness  of  expression.  He 
was  in  love  with  Louise  Labe  and  won  honor  at  the  court  of 
Henry  II  with  his  Soupirs,  a  collection  of  Italianate  sonnets  in 
predeux  style;  but  although  he  also  wrote  odes  imitating 
Anacreon  his  personal  contribution  is  nowhere  significant. 

With  the  rise  of  the  seconde  volee,  represented  by  Desportes 
and  Bertaut,  the  Hellenizing  period  in  poetry  is  practically  at 
an  end.    The  well-known  lines  of  Boileau  on  Ronsard, 

Ce  poete  orgueilleux,  trebuche  de  si  haut, 
Rendit  plus  retenus  Desportes  et  Bertaut, 

however,  express  only  a  half-truth.  For  if  the  generation  of 
1573  shows  restraint  with  respect  to  Greek  and  Latin,  its  imi- 
tations of  contemporary  Italian  can  hardly  be  called  retenues. 

Philippe  Desportes  (1545-1606),  remembered  chiefly  because 
of  the  criticism  by  Malherbe  —  the  famous  Commentaire  sur 
Des  ortes  Desportes  (see  below) — "made  flattery  into  a  fine 
and  art."    Taken  early  to  Italy,  he  became  secretary  to 

Bertaut  Nicolas  de  Neufville,  minister  of  state,  and  in  1572, 

the  Duke  of  Anjou  —  the  future  Henry  III  —  gave  him  "dix 
mille  ecus "  to  publish  a  sumptuous  volume  containing  his 
Premieres  Poesies.  On  Henry's  accession  to  the  throne  Des- 
portes became  court  poet.  As  such,  he  lived  the  life  of  a  grand 
seigneur,  celebrating  in  verse  the  supposed  virtues  of  the  royal 
favorites  and  receiving  from  his  master  benefices  that  annually 
amounted  to  some  30,000  livres.  Says  Sainte-Beuve:  "Plus 
on  regarde  dans  la  vie  de  Desportes,  plus  on  y  trouve  d'abbayes." 
Yet  sycophant  that  he  was,  he  remained  a  grand  seigneur,  and 
his  munificence  and  liberality  charmed  friends  and  foes  alike. 

In  addition  to  elegance,  Desportes'  verse  has  a  certain  formal 
compactness  wedded  to  an  abiding  gift  of  esprit.  He  is  the 
Marot  of  the  Pleiade  school,  and  like  Marot  or  the  English 
poet  Herrick  he  wrote  both   worldly  and   devotional  poems. 


MINOR   POETS  189 

How  polished  his  verse  could  be  can  be  seen  from  the  sonnet 
later  translated  into  English  by  Daniel : 

Sommeil,  paisible  fils  de  la  nuit  solitaire. 

But  his  Chansons,  set  to  music,  were  even  more  popular  in 
his  day;  and  one  in  particular,  imitated  from  Ariosto,  is  the 
essence  of  graceful  expression: 

0  Nuit!  jalouse  Nuitl  contra  moi  conjur^e, 
Qui  renflamme  le  del  de  nouvelle  clarte, 
T'ai-je  done  aujourd'hui  tant  de  fois  desires 
Pour  estre  si  contraire  a  ma  felicite? 

For  the  most  part,  however,  Desportes  is  merely  facile  and 
mundane  —  a  slave  to  the  worst  type  of  Italianism.  Here 
his  models  were  Tasso,  Tebaldeo,  Angelo  di  Costanzo;  in  imi- 
tation of  whom  he  abounds  in  hyperbole,  exaggerated  conceits 
and  antitheses.  His  Poesies  chretiennes  contain  the  strange 
Italian  device  of  uttering  in  the  same  breath  the  name  of  Christ 
and  that  of  the  poet's  "  belle  meurtriere." 

Less  talented  than  Desportes,  Jean  Bertaut  —  later  bishop 
of  Seez  —  is  at  least  free  from  the  latter's  exaggerations.  Indeed, 
Bertaut,  whose  productive  period  (1580-1602)  falls  within  the 
reign  of  Henry  IV,  is  a  transitional  poet,  having  some  of  the 
impersonality  we  later  find  in  Malherbe.  Certain  of  his  lines 
have  the  sonorous  melancholy  of  Lamartine: 

Et  vous,  humbles  costeaux  ou  les  pampres  foisonnent 
Et  vous,  ombreux  vallons,  de  sources  arroses, 

Chantez-la  sur  les  vents  qui  vous  servent  de  voix. 

But  such  passages  are  rare;  only  occasionally  and  then  in  his 
religious  verse  (such  as  paraphrases  from  the  Psalms,  fimeral 
panegyrics,  and  the  like)  does  Bertaut  attain  this  lofty  tone; 
more  often  he  is  prosaic  and  stilted.  Less  of  a  plagiarist  than 
Desportes,  he  nevertheless  imitates  the  Italian  Tansillo  and  — 
in  his  most  inspired  moments  —  Tasso.  Ronsard  lauded  his 
sagesse.  His  works,  however,  were  not  published  until  1601-1602. 
The  French,  says  M.  Lanson,  are  often  severe  to  minorities 
and  to  the  awkward  genius  who  dresses  out  of  fashion.    This 


190     THE    CHIEF    POETS    OF    THE    PLEIADE 

remark  does  not  apply  to  Du  Bartas,  whose  imperfections  did 
Du  Bartas  ^°^  prevent  him  from  winning  a  contemporary  suc- 
and  ^  cess  second  only  to  that  of  Ronsard;  but  it  fits 
D'Aubisne  exactly  that  far  more  original  genius  D'Aubigne, 
whose  poetic  works,  appearing  between  1616  and  1630,  were 
hardly  noticed. 

The  Huguenot  poet  Guillaume  de  Salluste,  Seigneur  du  Bartas 
(1544-1590),  was  a  Gascon  by  birth  and  by  temperament.  He 
was  faithful  to  Henry  of  Navarre,  who  sent  him  on  various 
missions,  including  one  to  England  and  Scotland.  The  last  poem 
Du  Bartas  wrote  was  a  celebration  of  the  victory  of  Ivry.  En- 
dowed with  a  picturesque  imagination,  he  carried  the  principles  of 
Ronsard  to  the  extreme.  Enjambement,  inversion,  neologisms, 
aboimd  in  his  work.  While  his  poetry  has  sweep  and  a  certain 
grandeur,  it  startles  the  reader  with  such  grotesque  effects  as: 

Mais  le  coeur  de  Judith,  qui  sans  cesse  ba-bat 
or 

Le  ciel  d'un  far  rouille  sa  face  voilera. 

But  this  love  of  the  baroque  would  shock  a  foreigner  less  than  a 
Frenchman ;  and  it  is  significant  that  Goethe  admired  Du  Bartas 
sufficiently  to  translate  him. 

Du  Bartas  began  his  poetic  career  by  answering  Du  Bellay's 
call  for  an  epic.  The  subject,  given  him  by  Jeanne  d'Albret, 
Queen  of  Navarre,  was  the  liberation  of  Jerusalem  from  Holo- 
fernes  by  Judith.  This  Judith,  written  in  1565  but  not  published 
until  1573,  gains  its  interest  mainly  from  the  fact  that  Du 
Bartas  treats  the  Biblical  subject  according  to  the  Vergilian 
technique  then  in  vogue.  But  at  least  Du  Bartas  had  vindicated 
poetry  by  the  choice  of  a  lofty  theme  and  prepared  the  way  for 
the  publication  of  La  Semaine,  a  work  on  the  Creation,  in  1578. 
A  comparison  of  this  work  with  the  original  Genesis  shows  at 
once  that  he  had  overestimated  his  powers  of  thought  and  expres- 
sion. The  subject  was  epic  —  certainly  for  a  Protestant  —  the 
plot  was  well  planned,  but  again  Du  Bartas  had  neither  the  depth 
nor  the  restraint  to  achieve  more  than  a  contemporary  success. 
Yet  La  Semaine  received  twenty  editions  in  fiv>e  years ;  and  in  1584 
the  poet  began  to  publish  La  Seconde  Semaine,  which  though 
never  completed  was  to  reach  to  the  Last  Judgment.    The  expla- 


DU   BARTAS    AND     D'AUBIGNE  191 

nation  is  that  not  only  Protestants  but  the  entire  world  honored 
the  seriousness  of  the  attempt.  Here  was  a  Christian  poet  with 
vigor  and  imagination,  and  so  Du  Bartas  was  translated  into 
Latin,  Italian,  Spanish,  German  and  English  (by  Silvester  in 
1605-1606).  Notre  Milton  manque  M.  Morillot  calls  him,  a 
verdict  that  sums  up  aptly  Du  Bartas'  noble  failure.  In  France 
the  magnificent  folio  edition  of  his  works  in  1611  properly  marks 
Du  Bartas'  tomb  (Sainte-Beuve) ;  for  neither  Malherbe  nor 
Boileau  mentions  his  name. 

Theodore-Agrippa  d'Aubigne  (1550-1630)  was  by  nature  ardent, 
intolerant  and  pleasure-loving  —  quite  a  contrast  to  Du  Bartas. 
Reared  in  a  world  of  strife  by  the  most  Protestant  of  father's, 
he  studied  in  Paris  and  Geneva,  and  took  up  arms  in  the  Protes- 
tant cause  at  eighteen  (1568).  But  warfare  was  not  his  profes- 
sion; in  the  intervals  of  peace  he  enjoyed  life  and  cultivated  the 
arts  with  the  same  whole-hearted  passion  that  characterized  the 
Huguenot.  He  boasts  in  his  Vie,  a  ses  enfants  that  at  "  seven  and 
a  half,"  he  translated  Plato's  Crito.  He  was  proficient  in  engi- 
neering and  in  magic.  And  between  the  two  Civil  Wars  he  shone 
at  court  sufficiently  to  compose  the  HScatombe  a  Diane,  one 
hundred  Ronsardian  sonnets  addressed  to  Cassandre  Salviati's 
niece,  and  he  pleased  Charles  IX  with  a  lyric  tragedy  called 
Circe.  Ronsard  himself  could  have  done  no  better.  It  was 
D'Aubigne  who  helped  the  later  Henry  IV  to  escape  from  the 
Louvre  during  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew.  Though  the 
poet  never  forgave  Henry  his  apostacy  he  continued  to  serve 
him  as  governor  of  Maillezais  and  vice-admiral  of  Guyenne  and 
Brittany.  In  1620  —  under  Louis  XIII  —  he  retired  to  Geneva, 
where  he  died.  The  great  sorrow  of  his  life  was  the  betrayal 
of  the  Protestant  cause  at  La  Rochelle  by  his  son  Constant, 
whose  daughter  —  strange  to  say  — was  no  less  a  person  than 
Madame  de  Maintenon. 

Thus  D'Aubigne  sums  up  in  his  person  the  Renaissance  and 
the  Reformation.  He  mingles  the  enthusiasm  —  la  jougue  —  of 
both  movements  in  a  last  expression.  With  the  Renaissance 
exuberance  of  life  he  combines  the  intensity  of  the  Calvinistic 
point  of  view.  Hence  his  really  great  work,  the  epico-lyric 
Tragiques,  resembles  an  alloy  of  gold  and  iron,  beaten  out  on  an 
anvil.    Divided  into  seven  cantos,  half  historical  and  half  satir- 


192     THE    CHIEF    POETS    OF    THE    PLEIADE 

ical,  the  work  is  the  Jeremiad  of  the  religioxis  wars.  D'Aubigne 
is  neither  a  Dante  nor  a  Milton.  His  work,  as  a  whole,  is  hastily- 
written  and  poorly  revised;  above  all,  it  is  not  firmly  conceived 
from  start  to  finish,  the  supernatural  in  it  —  le  merveUleux 
Chretien  —  lacks  clearness,  and  the  style,  while  forceful,  is  devoid 
of  harmony  and  cadence.  In  short,  the  poem  is  a  torso  rather 
than  a  finished  work  of  art.  Nevertheless,  the  Tragiques  contain 
some  of  the  finest  and  most  inspired  passages  of  which  French 
poetry  can  boast  —  passages  that  are  comparable  to  the  best  we 
find  in  the  Chdtiments  of  Victor  Hugo.  For  concision,  let  us  note 
the  following: 

Ici  le  sang  n'est  feint,  le  meurtre  n'y  defaut. 
La  mort  joue  elle-mesme  en  ce  triste  eschafaud; 

for  irony  and  satire,  the  whole  section  on  Agrippa  d'Aubigne  a 
la  Cow,  where  the  poet  outstrips  Du  Bellay  in  excoriating  the 
king's  favorites;   for  love  of  country,  the  section  beginning: 

O  France  desolee,  6  terre  sanguinaire! 

and  lastly,  for  dramatic  visualization,  the  description  of  Cain: 

II  estoit  seul  partout,  hormis  sa  conscience, 

Et  fut  marque  au  front,  afin  qu'en  s'enfuyant 

Aucun  n'osast  tuer  ses  maux  en  le  tuant. 

As  was  said,  D'Aubigne's  Tragiques  did  not  appear  in  print 
until  1616.  Between  this  date  and  1630  his  prose  works  were 
published.  Chief  among  these  are  the  Histoire  universelle,  in 
which  he  patiently  strives  to  give  a  nonpartisan  view  of  human 
history,  and  the  amusing,  almost  picaresque,  Aventur^s  du  Baron 
de  Faneste.  This  latter  is  an  account,  interspersed  with  delight- 
ful tales,  of  a  parasitic  nobleman,  a  sort  of  courtly  Panurge 
living  on  the  toil  of  others;  whereas  the  Confession  catholique 
du  Sieur  de  Sancy  is  a  mordant  satire  of  a  recalcitrant  nobleman. 
In  all  these  works  D'Aubigne  shows  his  dominant  traits:  im- 
agination, directness  and  color  —  coupled  with  unrestraint,  lack 
of  taste  and  carelessness.  The  best  in  D'Aubigne  is  "  personal  " ; 
this  we  should  not  forget  in  considering  that  his  works  were 
published  at  the  beginning  of  the  most  impersonal  age  of  French 
literature,  the  age  of  les  idees  gen&raUs. 


CHAPTER  III 
AMYOT,   MONTAIGNE   AND   BRANTOME. 

The  three  writers  treated  in  this  chapter,  the  first  a  trans- 
lator, the  second  an  essayist  and  the  third  a  compiler  of  memoirs, 
are  embraced  under  what  the  French  call  by  the  generic  name 
of  moraUstes.  That  is,  they  were  all  three  interested  in  the 
problem  of  conduct,  not  that  like  Calvin  they  necessarily 
wished  to  reform  it,  but  rather  that  they  sought  to  extract  from 
human  affairs  whatever  practical  philosophy  they  could.  Ronsard 
and  his  school  had  revived,  as  we  saw,  the  cult  of  ancient 
forms.  In  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  ancients  they  took 
little  stock.  What  if  antiquity  had  no  practical  lesson  to  teach? 
if  the  pagan  world  so  long  misunderstood  had  no  vital  force  to 
transmit?  It  was  such  an  estimate  of  the  life  and  ideas  of  the 
ancients  apprehended  in  their  everyday  aspect  that  Amyot  and 
especially  Montaigne  were  to  give.  Last  in  the  procession  comes 
Brantome,  disillusioned  as  to  general  principles,  but  vividly  curi- 
ous as  to  the  doings  of  his  contemporaries.  But  whatever  the 
translator  revives,  or  the  essayist  dissects,  or  the  writer  of 
memoirs  records  —  the  portrayal  is  striking,  an  image  of  mankind 
as  in  a  mirror:  graphic,  detailed  and  very  human. 

Jacques  Amyot's  life  practically  covers  the  century  (1513- 
1593) .  Born  of  plain  folk  in  the  little  town  of  Melun,  he  rose  by 
4^    .  dint  of  toil  to  be  Master  of  Arts  at  nineteen  and  tutor 

to  the  nephews  of  Abbe  Colin,  translator  of  the 
Cortegiano.  Won  by  his  personality.  Marguerite  d'Angouleme 
appointed  him  to  a  professorship  at  Bourges.  Here  he  remained 
until  in  1547  Francis  I  made  him  abbot  of  Bellozane,  the  last 
foundation  to  which  Francis  chose  the  appointee.  Some  think 
Amyot  owed  this  favor  to  his  translation  of  the  romance  Theaglne 
et  Chariclee.  Thanks  to  the  studies  of  M.  Sturel,  however,  we 
now  know  that  as  early  as  1542  Amyot  received  the  commission 
"  par  le  commandement  du  grand  roy  Frangois  "  to  translate  the 

193 


194     AMYOT,   MONTAIGNE    AND    BRANTOME 

Parallel  Lives  of  Plutarch.  This  translation,  achieved  nearly 
seventeen  years  later,  when  the  magnificent  in-folio  containing 
the  Vies  appeared  in  Paris,  is  the  monument  of  Amyot's  life.  To 
accomplish  it  he  spent  four  years  in  Italy,  searching  through 
libraries  and  collating  manuscripts,  and  incidentally  discovering 
the  works  of  Diodorus  the  Sicilian.  In  Rome  he  won  the  friend- 
ship of  the  Cardinal  du  Tournon,  through  whose  influence  he 
returned  to  France  as  the  tutor  of  the  Dukes  of  Orleans  and  of 
Anjou,  the  future  Charles  IX  and  Henry  III.  In  1559  he  became 
"  grand  aiunonier  de  France,"  and  in  1570  bishop  of  Auxerre. 
His  last  years  were  darkened  by  tragedy.  In  December,  1588, 
the  Due  de  Guise  was  murdered  at  Blois.  Amyot,  who  unfortu- 
nately was  in  Blois  at  the  time,  was  indirectly  accused  of  having 
been  an  accomplice  in  the  crime.  He  wrote  an  Apologie  and  even 
obtained  an  absolution  from  the  papal  legate  in  1590.  But  he 
died,  more  or  less  under  the  cloud  of  the  tragic  event,  in  February 
1593.  His  charge  of  aumonier  had  been  taken  from  him  two 
years  earlier. 

Passing  over  Amyot's  lesser  works,  which  include  a  rendering 
of  the  Daphnis  and  Chloe  story,  we  may  center  upon  his  Vies 
des  homines  illustres  de  Plutarqii£  and  the  CEuvres  morales  of  the 
same  author  (published  in  1572)  as  the  works  upon  which  his  fame 
rests.  We  all  know  the  importance  of  North's  translation  of 
Plutarch  for  the  works  of  Shakespeare.  The  Parallel  Lives  are 
in  themselves  inspiring  reading,  and  Amyot's  Vies  is  one  of  the 
masterpieces  of  French  prose.  "Nous  autres  ignorants,"  says 
Montaigne,  "  etions  perdus  si  ce  livre  ne  nous  eut  releves  du 
bourbier:  sa  merci,  nous  osons  k  cette  heure  et  parler  et  ecrire 
.  .  .  c'est  notre  breviaire."  Aad  the  book  retained  this 
function  down  through  the  seventeenth  century,  when  Corneille 
took  from  it  subjects  for  his  dramas  and  Racine  read  it  to 
Louis  XIV,  up  to  the  very  threshold  of  the  Revolution,  when 
it  stirred  Rousseau  and  still  fascinated  Madame  Roland.  In 
this  tremendous  vogue  the  CEuvres  morales  are  a  close  second 
to  the  Vies. 

First  of  all,  Amyot  was  fortunate  in  choosing  such  an  author. 
As  a  writer  Plutarch  suited  the  social  genius  of  the  French  pre- 
cisely. Through  him  they  felt  at  one  with  the  world  of  antiquity. 
If  the  ancients  loved  glory,  here  were  examples  of  glory;  if  they 


MONTAIGNE  195 

were  heroic,  here  were  the  illustrations  of  this  heroism,  saisi  sur 
le  vif  —  the  expression  occurs  in  Amyot.  In  other  words,  Plutarch 
enabled  the  French  to  see  how  the  ancients  lived,  how  they 
worked,  thought,  spoke,  conducted  themselves  at  home  and 
abroad,  with  all  their  virtues,  vices,  foibles  and  idiosyncracies 
laid  bare. 

In  the  second  place,  Amyot  did  not  attempt  in  any  sense  a 
literal  translation.  On  the  contrary,  keenly  alive  to  Du  Bellay's 
warning  that  observing  "  la  loy  de  traduyre,  qui  est  n'espacier 
point  hors  des  limites  de  I'aucteur,  vostre  diction  sera  contrainte, 
froide,  et  de  mauvaise  grace,"  he  deliberately  made  Plutarch 
over  into  a  French  author  by  giving  him  a  form  which,  while 
true  to  the  original  in  idea,  never  slavishly  followed  the  wording 
of  the  original  Greek.  And  in  so  doing  he  made  his  Plutarch 
the  best  collection  of  the  words  and  idioms  of  sixteenth-century 
speech.  Coming  after  Rabelais  and  Calvin,  he  is  thus  the  third 
to  reveal  the  capacities  of  French  literary  prose.  Not  that  he 
has  not  faults  both  of  style  and  of  interpretation.  His  sentences 
are  often  involved  and  loose  in  structure,  just  as  he  mistakenly 
calls  the  vestals  reUgieuses  and  the  favorites  of  Alexander  des 
gentUshommes  de  chambre.  But  this  is  all  a  part  of  his  larger 
purpose;  namely,  to  give  his  author  contemporaneousness.  Thus 
it  is  that  he  made  Plutarch  the  most  accessible  of  the  ancients 
to  his  and  to  future  generations:  to  mention  Plutarch  to  a 
Frenchman  is  to  name  Amyot. 

If  Amyot  was  the  mentor,  Etienne  de  la  Boetie  (1530-63) 
was  the  friend  of  the  great  Frenchman  whom  we  are  now  to  con- 
jj      .  sider.    La  Boetie  is  the  author  of  the  Discours  de  la 

Servitude  volontaire  or  Contfun  (not  published  until 
1574),  a  violent  but  youthful  invective  against  tyranny,  but  he 
is  probably  remembered  with  better  reason  for  his  relationship 
with  Montaigne  —  a  relationship  which  the  latter  has  immortal- 
ized in  the  words:  "  Parce  que  c'etait  lui,  parce  que  c'etait  moi." 

Michel  Eyquem,  .Seigneur  de  Montaigne,  was  born  near  Ber- 
gerac  at  Perigord  in  1533.  His  father,  whom  Montaigne  always 
remembered  with  affectionate  reverence,  was  an  original  figure: 
a  public-spirited  citizen  of  Bordeaux,  who  after  leading  for  a 
while  the  life  of  an  Italian  campaigner,  was  pleased  to  forget 
that  the  iamily  fortune  rested  on  the  sale  of  wine  and  of  fish. 


196     AMYOT,    MONTAIGNE    AND    BRANTOME 

His  mother  came  from  a  family  of  Portuguese  Jews  named 
Louppes  or  Lopez  —  a  fact  that  may  account  for  the  intellectual 
curiosity  which  our  author  valued  so  highly  in  himself.  The 
Eyquems  were  a  sturdy  lot;  une  race  fameuse  en  prud'hommie. 
Of  Pierre's  eleven  children,  eight  grew  up,  the  oldest  being  Michel. 

The  father  gave  his  eldest  the  full  benefit  of  his  originality. 
Michel's  first  two  years  were  spent  in  a  peasant  village;  thus 
was  he  to  absorb  a  sympathy  for  the  poor  and  lowly ;  the  father's 
idea,  says  the  poet,  "  succeeded  not  ill."  The  boy's  next  tutor 
was  a  German  physician  who  spoke  Latin  to  him.  With  Greek, 
attempted  next,  the  experiment  was  not  very  successful.  As 
an  instance  of  parental  care,  Montaigne  records  that  he  was 
waked  in  the  morning  to  the  sound  of  music.  From  the  age  of  six 
to  thirteen  he  was  at  the  College  de  Guyenne,  where  he  took 
leading  parts  in  Latin  tragedies  by  Muret  and  Buchanan.  In  the 
essay  called  De  I'institution  des  enfants  Montaigne  regrets  that 
this  education  did  not  profit  him  more. 

Little  is  known  of  Montaigne's  life  from  1^47  to  1554  —  the 
supposition  is  that  he  studied  law  at  Toulouse.  In  the  latter 
year  he  succeeds  his  father  as  a  member  of  the  Cour  des  aides  at 
Perigueux,  and,  upon  its  suppression  (1557),  he  replaces  him  in 
the  Parliament  of  Bordeaux.  Here  he  meets  and  makes  friends 
with  La  Boetie,  whose  untimely  death  in  1563  he  mourns  with  all 
the  poignancy  of  youth.  But  nature  did  not  fit  him  for  the  magis- 
tracy; he  is  often  absent  from  his  post:  at  Paris  or  at  Rouen, 
where  in  1562  he  sees  in  the  suite  of  Charles  IX  the  Brazilian 
natives  whom  he  mentions  in  Des  cannibales.  Three  years  later 
he  married  Frangoise  de  la  Chassaigne,  who  was  eleven  years  his 
junior,  and  whom  he  esteemed  but  did  not  love.  With  his  father's 
death  (1568)  Montaigne  lost  the  one  person  after  La  Boetie  for 
whom  he  seriously  cared.  A  year  later  he  published  a  translation 
of  the  Theologia  naturalis  of  Raymond  de  Sebond,  a  piece  of  work 
undertaken  at  his  father's  request  and  the  publication  of  which 
marks  his  appearance  as  a  writer. 

Choosing,  as  Professor  Dowden  has  said,  "  rather  to  fail  in 
justice  than  humanity,"  Montaigne  now  retires  from  his  post  and 
devotes  himself  to  private  affairs  and  to  study.  For  this  the 
Chateau  de  Montaigne  was  beautifully  adapted.  In  its  tower 
Montaigne  arranged  a  study  with  long  galleries  leading  from  it 


MONTAIGNE  197 

(like  Aristotle  he  was  a  peripatetic) ,  and  collected  a  rich  library. 
Of  his  one  thousand  books  eighty  have  survived  to  this  day, 
and  on  the  margin  thereof  we  can  still  read  his  observations  on 
his  favorite  authors.  These  commentaries  jotted  down  on  the 
inspiration  of  the  moment  are  the  groundwork  of  his  famous 
Essais,  of  which  the  first  two  books  appeared  in  1580. 

Meantime,  however,  Montaigne  discovered  that  along  with  many 
admirable  traits  his  father  had  left  him  a  tendency  toward^ravel. 
In  order  to  correct  this  malady  he  travels  in  foreign  lands. 
For  the  advice  of  physicians  —  la  mer  trouble  et  vaste  des  erreurs 
medidnales  —  he  has  little  use.  But  he  trusts  nature,  and  after 
a  journey  of  a  year  and  a  half  through  Switzerland,  Germany 
and  Italy  he  settles  in  Rome.  The  Journal  de  voyage,  first  pub- 
lished in  1774,  is  a  record  of  his  observations  as  a  traveler. 
These  are  mainly  about  human  nature,  as  we  should  expect  of  one 
who  says  "  I  have  an  apish  and  imitating  character  "  and  "  I  like 
a  Pole  as  well  as  a  Frenchman."  He  is,  however,  impressed  with 
the  vanished  grandeur  of  Rome;  and  the  gift  of  Roman  citizen- 
ship conferred  upon  him  greatly  flatters  his  pride. 

It  is  during  a  sojourn  at  the  Baths  of  Lucca  that  Montaigne 
receives  news  of  his  election  as  mayor  of  Bordeaux.  Reluctantly 
he  wends  his  way  home  (1581)  to  acquit  himself  of  a  duty  but 
not  a  pleasure.  He  tells  his  constituents  that  he  will  take  the 
affairs  of  the  city  in  hand  —  non  pas  au  poumon  et  au  joie,  de 
m'en  charger  et  non  de  les  incorporer.  Montaigne's  casualness, 
the  unprofessional  attitude  of  the  Renaissance  gentleman,  is 
nowhere  more  evident  than  in  this  remark.  In  1583  his  fellow- 
citizens  reelect  him ;  yet  when  the  city  is  swept  by  the  plague  he 
takes  excellent  care  to  avoid  the  danger-zone  and,  at  the  expira- 
tion of  his  term  of  office  in  July,  1585,  he  gladly  lays  down  the 
reins  of  government.  At  the  same  time,  his  contemporaries  never 
whispered  a  reproach,  and  Montaigne  assures  us  that  he  shunned 
"  no  action  which  duty  rightly  demanded  of  him." 

His  final  retirement  into  private  seclusion  now  took  place. 
Such  worldly  honors  as  a  knighthood  in  the  Order  of  St.  Michael 
and  membership  in  the  King's  Chamber  were  long  since  his. 
Henceforth  he  lived  for  his  thoughts,  shared  often  with  his 
newly  won  friend  Charron,  whose  Sagesse  is  a  codification  of 
Montaigne's  ideas.    The  Essais  had  appeared  in  new  editions 


198     AMYOT,    MONTAIGNE    AND    BRANTOME 

(with  additions)  in  1582  and  1587.  In  1588  Montaigne  pub- 
lished a  so-called  "  fifth  edition,"  which  contained  a  third  book, 
with  "  six  cents  additions  aux  deux  premiers."  Having  gone  to 
Paris  to  supervise  the  publication,  he  there  met  Marie  de 
Gournay,  whose  idealistic  devotion  to  him  won  for  her  the  title 
of  sa  fllle  d'alliance.  She  it  was  who  directed  the  editing  of 
the  posthiunous  edition  of  Montaigne's  works  in  1595.  He  was 
now  growing  old,  mais  a  reculons.  The  library  of  Bordeaux 
still  has  his  copy  of  the  1588  edition  into  which  he  wrote  his 
last  corrections  and  additions.  It  shows  how  he  constantly 
sought  to  improve  his  text,  cancelling  repetitions,  modernizing 
or  shortening  sentences,  and  so  on.  Montaigne  died  on  Sep- 
tember 13,  1595  —  of  quinsy  or  grippe  —  surrounded  by  his 
family  and  friends,  and  having  received  the  last  rites  of  the 
church  according  to  his  own  wish. 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  look  in  Montaigne's  writings  for  any 
consistent  philosophy.  His  point  of  view  is  more  nearly  prag- 
The  matic  than  anything  else,  provided  always  we  remem- 

"  Essais  "  T^Qj.  ^jjg^^  Montaigne  the  epicurean,  the  lover  of  peace 
and  tranquillity,  furnishes  the  background.  This  granted,  the 
Essais  give  the  general  impression  of  a  kaleidoscope:  the  groimd 
seems  constantly  to  shift,  the  thesis  is  never  maintained,  at  least 
not  for  long.  The  letter-writer  Balzac  said:  "Montaigne  com- 
mence et  finit  pour  ainsi  dire  a  chaque  phrase."  And  Etienne 
Pasquier  thought  that  more  than  one  of  the  essays  might  be  called 
a  coq-a-l'dne.  The  position  to  which  Montaigne  constantly  re- 
turns is  found  in  the  words:  "  Certes,  c'est  un  sujet  merveilleuse- 
ment  vain,  divers  et  ondoyant,  que  I'homme:  il  est  malaise  d'y 
fonder  jugement  constant  et  uniforme."  ^  Consequently:  "  Je 
n'ai  rien  a  dire  de  moi  entierement,  simplement  et  solidement, 
sans  confusion  et  sans  melange,  ni  en  im  mot.  Distinguo  est  le 
plus  universel  membre  de  ma  logique." 

To  understand  Montaigne,  then,  there  is  but  one  cMrect 
method';  namely,  to  follow  the  evolution  of  his  thought,  to  gather 
as  it  were  the  mosaic,  of  his  differentiations,  piece  by  piece,  and 
see  what  conclusion  can  be  drawn  from  the  completed  picture. 

The  bulk  of  Book  I  and  the  beginning  of  Book  II,  composed 
before  1573,  show  the  influence  of  Seneca  and  Plutarch.    The 
I  The  spelling  is  modernized  according  to  the  edition  of  Jeanroy. 


MONTAIGNE  199 

first  problem  attacked  is  that  of  our  passions,  which  Montaigne 
considers  in  the  light  of  the  Stoics.  Essay  I  contrasts  pity  with 
resolution:  it  is  right  to  alleviate  suffering  but  not  to  grow  soft 
with  it.  Alexander  was  stern  but  he  was  magnanimous.  In 
Essay  III  the  theme  is  that  our  passions  destroy  our  sense  of 
reality:  "la  crainte,  le  desir,  I'esperance,  nous  elancent  vers 
I'avenir  et  nous  derobent  le  sentiment  et  la  consideration  de  ce 
qui  est,  pour  nous  amuser  a  ce  qui  sera."  Essay  Vll,  on  the 
question  of  intention,  concludes :  "  qu'il  n'y  a  rien  en  bon  escient 
en  notre  puissance  que  la  volonte,  en  celle-la  se  fondent  par  neces- 
site  et  s'etablissent  toutes  les  regies  du  devoir  de  I'homme." 
Finally,  the  culmination  is  reached  in  Essays  XIX  and  XX,  which 
deal  with  death  and  reproduce  the  maxim  of  Cicero,  deduced  from 
Plato's  Phaedp,  that  "  le  but  de  notre  carriere,  c'est  la  mort." 
In  all  this  there  is  little  that  is  personal  except  the  method; 
that  is,  the  constant  comparison,  of  ideals  with  facts  in  dealing 
with  himaan  life,  the  subject  of  Montaigne's  inquiry.  But  Book 
I  contains  also  three  extremely  original  contributions:  Essay 
XXVII,  De  I'amitie,  which,  according  to  Montaigne,  (cf.  his 
friendship  with  La  Boetie),  is  the  highest  and  noblest  of  our 
affections;  Essay  XXX,  Des  cannibales,  where  the  idea  of  the 
"  noble  savage  "  —  so  important  for  the  later  Rousseau  — 
is  first  exploited,  and  Montaigne  ironically  concludes  that 
I'homme  simple  et  grassier  may  be  a  better  witness  of  the  eternal 
truth  than  les  fines  gens,  just  as  what  really  distinguishes  the 
savage  from  the  Frenchman  of  the  period,  accustomed  to  war  and 
pillage,  is  that  he  is  morally  better  and  does  not  wear  trousers; 
and  Essay  XXXVIII,  De  la  solitude,  in  which  the  author  inveighs 
against  public  life  with  its  ambitions  and  servilities  and'  points 
out  that  "  la  plus  grande  chose  du  monde,  c'est  de  savoir  etre 
a.  soi."  This  is  probably  the  most  Socratic  of  his  ideas,  that 
which  has  found  most  favor  outside  of  France,  and  certainly 
the  least  French, 

We  now  reach  the  second  period  in  the  evolution  of  Montaigne's 
thought.  In  1576  he  became  acquainted  with  the  late  Greek  skep- 
tic, Sextus  Empiricus,  a  Latin  translation  of  whose  Pyrrhoniae 
Hypotyposes  was  published  by  Henri  Estienne  in  1562.  There 
were  ten  quotations  from  Sextus  on  the  walls  of  Montaigne's 
library.    Book  II,  Essay  XII,  the  so-called  4pologie  de  Baimond 


200     AMYOT,    MONTAIGNE    AND    BRANTOME 

Sebond,  has  as  its  subtitle  Ou  la  vanite  de  la  raison  humaine, 
and  amounts  really  to  an  attack  on  the  human  mind  —  especially 
on  the  proud  Reason  which  the  Renaissance  had  exalted.  Essay 
II,  De  I'ivrognerie,  had  shown  how  easily  the  mind  is  carried 
away.  Essay  VIII  had  dealt  with  the  treatment  of  children: 
our  affection  for  them  should  be  neither  animalistic  nor  artificial; 
parents  must  be  the  companions  of  their  children,  who  should 
not  be  beaten  into  obedience  or  they  will  not  love  honor  and 
liberty.  This  essay,  dedicated  to  Mme  d'Estissac,  should  be 
compared  to  XXV,  Book  I,  De  I'institutioTi  des  enfaMs,  dedi- 
cated to  Diane  de  Foix  but  not  composed  until  1579.  Here 
Montaigne  advocates  ah  imstoical  severe  douceur:  the  object  of 
education  is  to  train  the  judgment,  not  to  amass  facts;  children 
must  be  made  to  like  learning,  not  to  fear  and  abhor  it;  above  all, 
the  world  is  the  school  in  which  the  great  minds  are  trained. 
Finally,  Essay  X,  Des  livres,  corroborates  these  ideas:  Mon-" 
taigne  admires  the  moral  works  of  Cicero  but  he  abominates  his  \ 
style;  to  Vergil  and  Lucretius  he  gives  imdivided  admiration. 
Thus,  when  we  reach  the  Apologie  —  aptly  termed  le  recueil 
de  toutes  nos  ignorances,  incoherences  et  contradictions  —  the 
current  of  skepticism  has  grown  into  a  mighty  river  threatening 
the  solvency  of  man  himself.  "  La  presomption,"  says  Montaigne, 
"  est  notre  maladie  naturelle  et  originelle.  La  plus  calamiteuse 
et  fragile  de  toutes  les  creatures,  c'est  I'homme  et  .  .  .  la 
plus  orgueilleuse."  Here  Montaigne  is  at  one  with  Calvin,  though 
his  attack  is  against  the  intellect  and  not  the  will.  And  in 
another  passage  he  all  but  writes  a  page  of  Pascal: 

Considerons  done  pour  cette  heure  rhomme  seul,  sans  secours 
etranger,  arme  seulement  de  ses  armes,  et  depourvu  de  la  grace 
et  connaissance  divine,  qui  est  tout  son  honneur,  sa  force  et  le 
fondement  de  son  etre.  .  .  .  Qui  lui  a  persuade  que  ce  branle 
admirable  de  la  voute  celeste,  la  lumiere  etemelle  de  ces  flambeaux 
roulant  si  fierement  sur  sa  tete,  les  mouvements  epouvantables  de 
cette  mer  infinie,  soient  etablis  et  se  continuent  tant  de  siecles 
pour  sa  commodite  et  pour  son  service?  Est-il  possible  de  rien 
imaginer  si  ridicule  que  cette  miserable  et  chetive  creature,  qui 
n'est  pas  seulement  maitresse  de  soi,  exposee  aux  o£Penses  de  toutes 
choses,  se  die  maitresse  et  emperiere  de  Tunivers,  duquel  il  n'est 
pas  en  sa  puissance  de  connaitre  la  moindre  partie,  tant  s'en  faut 
de  la  commander? 


MONTAIGNE  201 

And  there  follows  a  long  disquisition  on  the  life  of  animals,  all 
to  the  disadvantage  of  man,  who  is  blamed  for  deserting  Nature: 

Le  soin  de  s'augmenter  en  sagesse  et  en  science,  ce  fut  la  pre- 
miere ruine  du  genre  hnmain;  c'est  la  voie  par  ou  il  s'est  precipite 
a  la  damnation  eternelle.  .  .  .  Comme  la  vie  se  rend  par  la 
simplicite  plus  plaisante,  elle  se  rend  aussi  plus  innocente  et  meil- 
leure. 

—  again  an  approach  to  Rousseau. 

Finally,  with  Book  III  —  written  in  1586-88  —  he  takes  him- 
self as  the  object  of  study,  as  exemplifying  the  genus  Man. 
Pascal  once  said:  "  ce  n'est  pas  dans  Montaigne,  mais  dans  moi 
que  je  trouve  tout  ce  que  j'y  vols."  A  remark  that  justifies 
Montaigne's  superb  avowal  as  to  mankind  in  general  and  himself 
in  particular  which  we  have  had  occasion  to  admire  before  (see 
Introduction) . 

On  attache  aussi  bien  toute  la  philosophie  naorale  h  une  vie 
populaire  et  privee  qu'a  une  vie  de  plus  riche  etoffe.  Chaque 
homme  porte  la  forme  entiere  de  I'humaine  condition.  Les  auteurs 
se  eommuniquent  au  peuple  par  quelque  marque  speciale  et  etran- 
gere;  moi  le  premier  par  mon  etre  universel,  comme  M.  de  Mon- 
taigne, non  comme  grammairien,  ou  poete,  ou  juris-consulte.  Si 
le  monde  se  plaint  que  je  parle  trop  de  moi,  je  me  plains  de  quoi 
il  ne  pense  seulement  a  soi.     (Essay  I.) 

This  concept  of  the  "  universal  being  "  —  inherent  in  all  of  us  — 
now  furnishes  the  counterpart  to  the  "relativity  "  in  which  om* 
limited  life  as  individuals  has  placed  us.  The  obstacles  of  time, 
space,  ignorance,  the  differences  of  religion,  nationality,  manners 
and  morals,  vividly  set  forth  in  the  Apologie,  are  thus  overcome 
in  the  experience  of  mankind  as  a  whole.  Insular  and  circum- 
scribed we  remain;  our  institutions  which  have  grown  up  with 
us  we  cannot  shake  off.  But  we  can  become  circumspect  and 
open-minded  in  proportion  to  our  self-knowledge  and  our  ac- 
quaintance with  other  human  beings.  "  Le  prix  de  I'ame," 
Montaigne  now  maintains,  "  ne  consiste  pas  a  aller  hautement, 
mais  ordonneement."  There  is  no  "  plus  utile  science  "  than  wis- 
dom (III) ;  moderation  is  the  best  maxim.  Socrates  was 
right:  "  le  mourir  lui  semble  accident  naturel  et  indifferent  (IV)." 
In  the  essay  Sur  les  vers  de  Virgile  {V) ,  and  there  is  no  essay  less 
Vergilian,  Montaigne  advocates  measure  in  temperance:  even 


202     AMYOT,    MONTAIGNE    AND   BRANTOME 

"  la  sagesse  a  ses  exces."  Here  the  worldly,  epicurean  note 
rings  clear  and  confronts  us  with  the  antithesis  to  stoicism  in 
the  words:  "  A  mon  avis,  c'est  le  vivre  heureusement  non  comme 
dit  Antisthenes  le  mourir  heureusement  qui  fait  I'humaine 
felicite." 

Concerning  Montaigne  there  may  be  as  many  opinions  as  there 
,are  minds.  His  very  popularity  has  been  prodigious.  In  English 
alone  the  Florio  (1603)  and  the  Cotton  (1685)  translations  of  the 
Essais  have  been  frequently  reprinted,  whereas  Shakespeare  and 
Bacon  are  among  his  most  notable  debtors.  Our  own  Emerson 
never  wearies  of  paying  him.,  tribute.  Besides,  as  Montaigne 
himself  said,  un  abrege  sur  un  bon  livre  est  un  sot  abrege.  Mon- 
taigne is  no  logician;  "  carried  along  on  the  wings  of  his  subject 
from  one  mountain  top  to  another  "  (Miss  Norton) ,  he  is  reckless 
in  argument,  digressing,  interpolating,  giving  us  opinions  for 
fact,  and  the  like.  Thus,  even  the  single  essays  lack  unity  and 
cogency.  The  famous  Apologie,  when  closely  studied,  shows 
signs  of  being  hastily  made  up  of  several  originally  distinct 
essays.  All  of  this  a  summary  necessarily  misses.  Neverthe- 
less, on  one  thing  his  critics  may  agree,  and!  that  is  his  repre- 
sentative character.  He  portrays  mankind  in  its  characteristic 
and  conflicting  moods  as  possibly  no  other  writer  ever  has.  And 
this  remains  his  greatest  quality. 

In  the  Essais  we  see  the  "  man  "  Montaigne  in  every  detail: 
vain,  alert,  peace-loving,  inquisitive  and  tolerant.  Despite  a 
tendency  to  startle  —  epater  —  no  writer  is  intellectually  more 
honest.  He  is,  it  seems,  precisely  what  he  claims  to  be,  neither 
more  nor  less.  Such  probity  is  not  only  interesting,  it  is  en- 
ticing. It  leads  the  reader  —  for  once  at  least  —  to  be  himself, 
to  imitate  his  author  and  look  narrowly  into  his  own  soul,  no 
matter  how  shallow  it  may  be,  for  profimdity  was  not  the  long 
suit  of  this  gentleman  of  Perigord.  Important  in  this  connection 
are  the  charm  and  vividness  of  Montaigne's  style.  Sans  couture 
is  the  epithet  that  has  been  applied  to  it.  But  this  is  equivalent 
to  saying  that  it  is  conversational  and  sprightly.  On  the  other 
hand,  Montaigne  can  be  elevated  in  tone  and  even  eloquent:  wit- 
ness the  passage  quoted  above  on  I'homme  seul.  Few  writers, 
however,  have  had  a  juster  sense  of  the  value  of  words.  "  Cut 
these  words,"  said  Emerson,  "  they  are  vascular  and  alive  " —  an 


MONTAIGNE'S    SKEPTICISM  203 

opinion  that  rather  belies  Montaigne's  own  conviction  that  the 
French  language  lacked  vigor: 

II  succombe  ordinairemeat  a  une  puissante  conception;  si  vous 
aUez  tendu,  vous  sentez  souvent  qu'il  languit  sous  vous  et  flechit. 

Montaigne,  then,  is  preeminent  in  at  least  two  respects.  First, 
with  reference  to  his  negations.    This  aspect  is  Montaigne  the 
skeptic:  the  Pyrrhonist  whom  Pascal  both  admired 
of  and  feared,  feared  because  of  his  lighthearted  ac- 

Montaigne  ceptance  of  our  human  limitations;  the  ancestor  of 
the  Voltaires,  the  Sainte-Beuves,  the  Renans  and  the  Anatok 
Frances  of  French  literature.  The  Montaigne,  in  short,  of  the 
sentence:  Que  sais-je? 

Skepticism  —  says  Emerson.  —  is  the  attitude  assumed  by  the 
student  in  relation  to  the  particulars  which  society  adores,  but 
which  he  sees  to  be  reverenced  only  ia  their  tendency  and  spirit. 
The  ground  occupied  by  the  skeptic  is  the  vestibule  of  the  temple 
.  .  .  it  turns  out  that  he  is  not  the  champion  of  the  operative, 
the  pauper,  the  prisoner,  the  slave.  It  stands  in  his  mind  that 
our  Ufe  in  this  world  is  not  quite  so  easy  of  interpretation  as 
churches  and  school-books  say.  He  does  not  wish  to  take  ground 
against  these  benevolences,  to  play  the  part  of  the  devil's  attorney, 
and  blazon  every  doubt  and  sneer  that  darkens  the  sun  for  him. 
But  he  says,  there  are  doubts. 

This  is  the  Montaigne  who  belongs  to  world-literatm-e.  In 
many  respects  he  represents  the  best  the  French  spirit  has  to 
give.  It  is  true  he  is  a  constant  interrogation.  But  he  leads 
us  through  doubt  to  take  pleasure  in  thinking  and  to  admit  views 
that  are  not  necessarily  ours.   For,  as  Emerson  concludes: 

The  lesson  of  life  is  practically  to  generaUze;  to  believe  what 
the  years  and  the  centuries  say  against  the  hours;  to  resist  the 
usurpation  of  particulars,  to  penetrate  to  their  catholic  sense. 

This  brings  us  to  Montaigne's  second  or  positive  side;  namely, 
Montaigne  the  generalizer.  In  this  respect  he  stands  in  close 
relation  to  his  own  time  as  the  solvent  of  its  conflicting  forces. 
Rabelais,  Calvin  and  Ronsard,  to  mention  only  the  greatest,  were 
enthusiasts.  Each  pressed  and  exaggerated  his  particular  view. 
Each  saw  in  antiquity  an  image  of  himself  and  forced  the  note  as 
all  enthusiasts  will.    By  the  seventies  the  world  was  disrupted 


204     AMYOT,    MONTAIGNE    AND   BRANTOME 

into  hostile  camps  on  the  basis  of  the  litre  examen.  Montaigne 
the  pacifier  came;  he  compared,  he  leveled.  In  his  haphazard 
way  he  objectified  human  experience.  The  result  was  that  he 
humbled  the  pride  of  man,  very  much  like  Calvin;  but,  unlike 
Calvin,  he  himself  submitted  to  the  conclusion  he  had  reached. 
If,  therefore,  from  his  bourgeois  and  worldly  standpoint,  he  recog- 
nized the  value  of  human  tradition  and  bent  his  head  before  the  ' 
authority  of  Rome,  it  was  not  as  a  believer  but  as  a  forerunner 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  as  one  convinced  of  the  validity  of 
the  opinion  generale.  And  this  opinion  generale  he  created,  on 
the  basis  of  the  common  traits  of  mankind.  "  The  proper  study 
of  mankind  is  man";  this  would  express  the  essence  of  his 
humanism,  for  the  realization  of  which  he  indicated  both  the 
direction  and  the  method  that  the  seventeenth  century  was  to 
pursue. 

If  Montaigne  is  the  moralizer  of  this  period,  Brantome  has 
been  correctly  called  its  Suetonius.  What  Suetonius  did  for 
the  lives  of  the  Caesars,  that  Brantome  has  done  for 
the  Valois,  especially  Charles  IX  and  Henry  III. 
Like  Montaigne,  he  was  intensely  curious  as  to  life  and  persons, 
and  he  was  well-bred  and  fond  of  travel,  but  whereas  Montaigne 
reacted  against  his  age,  Brantome  takes  an  almost  childish  joy 
in  his  surroundings,  which  were  anything  but  elevating.  The  end 
of  the  sixteenth  century  produced  a  flood  of  memoir  writers,  who 
like  Monluc,  Margaret  of  Valois  and  La  Noue  all  have  an  interest 
for  the  historian  of  social  customs  and  manners.  But  while  some 
of  these  are  Brantome's  superiors  in  style  and  most  of  them  his 
betters  in  decency,  none  excel  him  in  vividness  or  in  the  peculiar 
flavor  with  which  he  reproduces  the  nonchalance  of  the  dying 
sixteenth  century.  As  in  a  brightly  colored  picture-book  he 
marshals  before  our  eyes  the  pageantry,  the  bigotry,  the  corrup- 
tion and  also  the  charm  of  that  troubled  period.  Of  all  this  he 
himself  was  part  and  parcel. 

Pierre  de  Bourdeille,  reverend  pere  de  Dieu,  as  this  lay- 
holder  of  the  Abbey  of  Brantome  called  himself,  was  born  about 
1540  and  lived  until  1614.  Originally  from  P^rigord,  he  spent 
his  early  youth  at  the  court  of  Marguerite  d'Angouleme,  and  after 
studying  in  Paris  he  went  to  Italy,  where  he  served  as  a  soldier. 
He  sailed  with  Mary  Stuart  to  Scotland,  joined  the  Spanish  forces 


BRANTOME  205 

in  Africa,  was  present  at  the  relief  of  Malta  against  the  Turks, 
and  in  general  led  the  life  of  a  condottiere.  Returning  to  France 
diiring  the  wars  of  religion,  he  finally  became  gentleman  of  the 
King's  Chamber  and  aspired  to  be  made  governor  of  Perigord. 
But  Henry  III  refused;  whereupon  Brantome  planned  to  desert 
his  ungrateful  sovereign  and  enter  the  service  of  Spain.  From 
this  seditious  step  he  was  saved  by  a  fall  from  his  horse  (1584), 
which,  besides  incapacitating  him  physically,  turned  him  into  a 
writer.  During  the  next  twenty  years  he  recorded  in  his  anec- 
dotal way  the  occurrences  of  the  preceding  thirteen. 

Brantome's  works  fall  into  two  parts,  treating  respectively 
of  the  lives  of  men  and  of  women.  The  Hommes  consists,  in  M. 
Lalaniie's  edition,  of  the  Grands  capitaines,  French  and  Spanish, 
the  Couronnels,  the  Discours  sur  les  duels  —  an  institution  which 
Brantome  exalts  —  and  the  Rodomontades  espagnoles.  The 
original  draft  of  the  Hommes  was  completed  as  early  as  1599. 
The  Premier  et  second  livre  des  Dames  is  better  known  today 
as  the  separate  treatises  of  Dames  illristres  and  Dames  ga- 
lantes.  A  circumstance  to  be  remembered  is  that  Brantome  left 
an  elaborate  will  directing  that  his  works  be  published  en  belle 
et  grande  lettre  et  grand  volume,  pour  mieux  paroistre.  That 
this  wish  was  not  carried  out  was  due  to  his  niece,  who  feared 
the  scandal  that  the  publication  might  cause.  Indeed,  the  works 
were  not  published  until  1665-1666,  just  in  time  it  is  said  to 
inspire  Bussy-Rabutin. 

Brantome  is  too  inaccurate  to  be  a  good  biographer.  His 
works  abound  in  expressions  like  j'ai  ouy  parler  and  j'ai  veu, 
which  often  not  only  conceal  his  source  but  permit  him  to  have 
no  source  at  all.  Some  of  his  more  detailed  "  lives,"  like  that 
of  the  Due  de  Guise,  are  too  rambling  and  discursive  to  give  an 
adequate  idea  of  the  personage  concerned.  On  the  whole,  the 
figures  of  Catherine  de  Medicis,  Anne  of  Brittany,  Charles  IX 
and  Michel  de  I'Hospital  come  off  best.  But  if  Brantome  fails 
as  a  historian,  his  portraits  are  life-like  and  striking.  His  art 
consists  in  nailing  a  trait  and  then  making  us  see  its  significance. 
For  example,  he  records  of  Catherine: 

Quand  elle  appelloit  quelqu'un  man  amy,  c'est  qu'elle  restimoit 
sot,  ou  qu'elle  estoit  en  colere; 

or,  in  depicting  Anne  of  Brittany,  he  slyly  remarks: 


206     AMYOT,    MONTAIGNE    AND   BRANTOME 

Au  reste  elle  estoit  tres  bonne,  fort  misericordieuse  et  fort  chari- 
table, ainsy  que  j'ay  ouy  dire  aux  miens.  Vray  est  qu'elle  estoit 
fort  prompte  a  la  vengeance; 

and  there  follows  a  startling  example  of  how  cruel  she  could  be. 
It  is  such  vivid  snatches  as  these  that  explain  Brantome's 
vogue  with  later  generations.  Monluc's  Commentaires  (1592) 
are  better  planned  than  anything  of  Brantome's,  but  they  are 
concerned  with  military  history  and  despite  their  excellent  struc- 
ttre  contain  far  less  of  real  life.  So,  too,  the  Discours  politiques 
et  militaires  (1585)  of  La  Noue  —  of  whom  we  have  a  sketch 
from  Brantome's  pen  —  are  remarkable  for  their  impartiality 
and  tolerance,  a  valuable  asset  in  a  historian,  but  again 
La  Noue's  refinement,  which  was  considerable,  does  not  make 
up  for  the  solemn  dullness  of  his  style.  Thus,  licentious  as  he 
is  —  and  this  trait  is  confined  largely  to  the  Dames  galantes  — 
Brantome  remains  the  most  gifted  chronicler  of  his  epoch: 
his  range  is  large,  his  sparkle  delightful,  and  his  sense  of  detail 
as  keen  as  it  is  frank.  In  many  ways  he  is  comparable  to 
Froissart. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  AGE  OF  HENRY  IV  AND  THE  COMMON 
SENSE  OF  MALHERBE 

The  accession  of  Henry  IV  in  1594  heralds  the  restoration 
of  peace  and  order  on  French  soil.  The  Gascon  King  united  in 
himself  high  political  wisdom,  a  love  of  panache  and  a  forgiving 
and  tolerant  nature.  The  famous  Satire  Menippee  —  the  first 
successful  journalistic  satire  in  France  —  amid  considerable 
jocularity  and  buffoonery  made  short  shift  of  the  opposing  Lea- 
guers and  vigorously  welcomed  Henry  as  "  Notre  vrai  roy  legi- 
time, naturel  et  souverain."  From  now  on,  politics  were  to 
converge  more  and  more  towards  the  absolutism  of  Louis  XIV. 

It  is  characteristic,  however,  that  the  reign  of  Henry  IV  and 
the  beginning  of  Louis  XIII's  stand  for  a  transition;  certainly 
in  things  artistic  and  literary.  Side  by  side,  we  find  literary 
rule  and  literary  freedom.  The  epicurean  common  sense  (bon 
sens)  set  free  by  the  Essais  of  Montaigne  culminates  on  the  one 
hand  in  the  stoical  and  religious  reactions  of  Du  Vair  and  Frangois 
de  Sales,  and  on  the  other  in  the  brilliant  but  erratic  satire  of 
Mathurin  Regnier  —  to  which,  however,  the  final  answer  is  the 
triimiphant,  impersonal  muse  of  Malherbe.  Freedom  again  there 
is  in  the  new-bom  tragi-comedy,  made  popularly  successful  by 
Hardy,  and  in  the  heroic  pastoral,  D'Urfe's  Astree,  of  which  so 
sensible  a  person  as  La  Fontaine  could  say: 

Etant  petit  gargon  je  lisais  son  reman 
Et  je  le  lis  encore  ayant  la  barbe  grise. 

But  in  these  genres  also  (see  Book  III)  the  effort  is  nevertheless 
toward  uniformity  of  the  spirit,  which  accompanies  the  great 
socialization  that  French  literature  is  to  undergo  before  becoming 
"Classical." 

Thus,  on  the  whole,  the  sixteenth  centiuy  ends  and  the  seven- 
teenth begins  with  a  confident  look  into  the  future.    This  vision 

207 


208  THE    AGE    OF    HENRY    FV 

includes:  peace;  a  stable  and  unified  government;  a  surcease  of 
the  turbulent  individualism  of  the  Renaissance  proper ;  above  all, 
a  growing  recognition  of  the  social  function  of  man ;  and  finally, 
a  gradual  nationalization  of  language  and  culture  and  a  closer 
welding  of  thought  and  expression  —  that  is,  a  sense  of  style. 

In  Etienne  Pasquier,  whose  Recherches  de  la  France  began 
to  appear  in  1560,  we  already  find  a  judicious  spirit  as  regards 
.  life  and  letters.    Pasquier  was  a  magistrate ;  his  turn 

of  mind  was  not  original,  but  he  belongs  to  that  large 
group  of  French  jurists  whose  breadth  and  solidity  have  done 
honor  to  the  legal  profession.  His  Recherches  consist  of  a 
desultory  but  thoroughly  interesting  collection  of  remarks  on 
the  history,  politics,  culture  and  literature  of  France.  lu'  all  this 
there  is  much  keen  appreciation,  not  a  little  hiunor  and,  among 
other  matters,  an  excellent  account  of  the  Pleiade  movement. 
Pasquier  does  not  hesitate  to  combat  Ronsard's  excessive  imita- 
tions, throughout  he  upholds  common  sense  and  a  certain  innate 
taste,  and  while  honoring  the  ancients  he  also  defends  French 
against  Latin.  He  has  the  charm  of  an  engaging  and  sensible 
causeur.  Though  he  belonged  strictly  to  the  age  of  Ronsard,  he 
lived  until  1615  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  royalist  polemics 
against  the  Leaguers. 

With  Henri  Estienne  (1528-1598),  also  of  the  earlier  genera- 
tion, we  reach  a  writer  whose  nationalistic  views  on  language 
Henri  did  much  to  prepare  the  field  for  Malherbe.    Author 

Estienne  ^f  ^  Thesaurus  of  Greek,  with  which  language  he  ad- 
vocated the  "  conformity  "  of  French,  Estienne  was  a  Huguenot, 
a  Hellenist  and  a  bourgeois  to  the  core.  Belonging  to  a  family 
distinguished  for  its  scholarship,  he  published  (1554)  a  manu- 
script of  Anacreon  which  deeply  interested  the  Pleiade,  and  he 
wrote  an  Apologie  pour  Herodote,  in  which  he  aired  his  Prot- 
estant and  scholarly  ideals.  His  main  importance,  however, 
is  that  he  fougjit  the  Italianate  influence  at  court.  In  his 
Dialogues  du  nouveau  langage  frangais  italianise  (1578)  Es- 
tienne speaks  through  the  mouth  of  Celtophile  —  admirer  of 
French  —  and  upbraids  the  courtiers  who,  like  Philausone,  would 
corrupt  the  native  stock  of  rich  and  pure  words.  The  same 
theme  is  treated  in  his  better  written  but  incomplete  Pricellence 


THE    SATIRE    MENIPPEE  209 

du  langage  frangais  (1579) :  not  only  is  Italian  foreign  to  France, 
it  is  actually  inferior  to  French  in  grace,  force  and  excellence. 

In  1567  Jean  Bodin  published  the  six  books  of  his  Republique, 
where  in  words  devoid  of  passion  —  but  also  of  charm  —  he  laid 
jj,g  down  the  theory  of  the  French  monarchical  state. 

"Satire_  ^^  ^With  singularly  clear  vision  Bodin  saw  in  absolute 

emppee  monarchy  the  extension  of  the  tribal  or  family  idea, 
and  in  the  monarch  the  patriarch  of  the  French  people.  The 
Satire  Menippee  (1594)  confirms  this  idea  at  the  very  moment 
when  the  efforts  of  patriotic  Protestants  and  Catholics 
triumphed  in  the  victory  of  Henry  IV.  Thus  the  pamphlet 
lacks  the  political  influence  often  attributed  to  it.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  it  is  a  literary  parody  of  the  Estates  of  the  League  that 
had  been  imsuccessfuUy  called  to  choose  a  king. 

In  its  original  form  (the  present  title  is  taken  from  the  Saturae . 
Mentppeae  of  Varro  and  did  not  appear  until  the  sixth  edition) 
the  satire  was  the  work  of  Jean  Leroy,  whose  collaborators  were 
Gillot,  clerk-advocate  of  the  Parliament,  the  poets  Passerat  and 
Rapin,  and  Chrestien  and  Pithou,  converted  Protestants.  The 
Menippee  opens  with  a  harangue  in  Rabelaisian  style  on  the 
panacea  Catholicon  —  quintessence  catholique-jesuite-espagnole 
—  whereby  the  Leaguers  would  achieve  their  own  fortune  and 
the  enslavement  of  France.  Then  follows  an  account  of  the  open- 
ing of  the  Estates;  a  description  of  the  tapestries  with  which  the 
hall  is  hung,  each  portraying  some  betrayal  of  the  French  cause; 
a  catalogue  of  the  leaders  of  the  League,  with  pointed  remarks 
on  their  imsavory  private  and  public  lives ;  and  finally,  in  mock- 
heroic  style,  the  speeches  of  the  Leaguers  themselves.  These 
display  imusual  variety  and  skill  of  treatment.  Partly  burlesque, 
partly  true  to  reality,  always  witty,  they  culminate  in  the  speech 
of  Claude  d'Aubray,  which  is  wholly  serious  and  eloquent.  It 
covers  about  half  the  book  and  is  a  happy  combination  of  histor- 
ical retrospect,  analysis  of  politics  and  arraignment  of  the 
Leaguers.  D'Aubray  was  the  leader  of  the  Politiques  or  enemies 
of  the  League;  and  it  is  likely  that  his  speech  was  actually 
delivered  before  the  Estates. 

While  the  Menippee  is  too  disproportionate  and  uneven  to 
tank  as  a  classic,  it  yet  shows  a  great  advance  in  the  scope  and 
art  of  French  satire.    It  analyzes  political  corruption  with  a 


210  THE    AGE    OF    HENRY    IV 

minuteness  worthy  of  Rabelais,  and  it  drives  its  lessons  home  by 
a  series  of  thrusts  that  are  in  the  best  vein  of  Gallic  irony. 

But  the  ethical  force  of  the  time  is  found  in  Charron  and  Du 
Vair,  both  of  whom  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  Montaigne.  In 
Charron  and  fact,  Pierre  Charron  (1541-1603),  who  had  been 
Du  Vair  Montaigne's  pupil,  was  the  chief  organizer  of  his 
master's  thought.  Like  Du  Vair,  Charron  was  a  legist  and  a  theo- 
logian, who  began  his  literary  career  with  a  treatise  on  the  Trois 
V elites  (1593),  in  which  the  existence  of  God,  the  truth  of  Chris- 
tianity and  the  orthodoxy  of  the  Roman  Church  are  defended  as 
unassailable.  This  work  was  followed  by  his  philosophical  Traite 
de  la  sagesse  (1601),  where  he  systematized  Montaigne's  ideas  in 
orthodox  forrii.  Taking  the  Apologie  seriously,  Charron  turned 
the  Que  sais-jef  into  a  positive  Je  ne  scds,  and  set  up  this  maxim 
as  a  rational  basis  of  the  Christian  religion.  Thus  he  antici- 
pates Pascal,  but  he  does  so  without  genius,  heavily  and  dully. 
How  closely  he  builds  on  Montaigne  is  evident  from  the  state- 
ment: 

La  nation,  le  pays,  le  lieu  donnent  la  religion  —  rhomme  sans 
son  seu  est  fait  Juif  ou  Chrestien,  a  cause  qu'il  est  ne  dedans  la 
Juiverie  ou  Chrestiente. 

But  Charron  would  use  tolerance  to  uphold  tradition.  Mindful  of 
the  "three  truths,"  he  would  reintegrate  his  nation  in  Roman 
Catholicism,  which  makes  citoyens  du  monde  and  avoids  the 
daiigers  of  the  opinion  triee  et  particuliere.  This  is  an  important 
step  toward  the  French  Classical  point  of  view.  Charron's  book 
had  great  success,  although  the  Sorbonne  found  it  reprehensible. 
As  a  personality  Guillaume  du  Vair  (1556-1621)  is  far  superior 
to  Charron.  Councilor  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  envoy  to 
England,  and  finally  bishop  of  Lisieux,  Du  Vair  was  one  of  the 
leading  Politiques,  defending  this  cause  with  steadfastness  and 
eloquence.  To  him  the  stoicism  of  the  early  Montaigne  was  the 
rule  of  life.  Accordingly,  his  De  la  philosophie  des  stdiques  and 
De  la  Constance  show  him  as  a  practical  moralist  to  whom  philoso- 
phy is  a  guide  to  conduct.  Direct  and  even  poetic  in  style,  Du 
Vair  discards  all  show  of  erudition  and  comes  out  strongly  for 
Reason  in  its  two-fold  function:  first,  as  the  liberator  from 
passion,  and  second,  as  the  guide  to  faith  by  its  demonstration 


FRANgOIS    DE    SALES  211 

of  our  human  limitations.  In  all  this  there  is  nothing  new  ex- 
cept the  force  and  cogency  of  statement.  But  Du  Vair's 
sense  of  conviction,  shown  again  in  his  De  I'eloquence  frangaise, 
won  him  readers  and  explains  his  hold  on  the  next  generation, 
especially  on  Malherbe. 

Although  the  stoicism  of  Du  Vair  gave  strength  it  did  not  con- 
sole; and  the  times  were  now  ripe  for  a  conciliation  of  religion 
Saint  Fran-  ^^^^  ^^®  emotions  of  the  heart.  To  have  achieved 
sois  de  this  was  the  beatitude  of  Saint  Francois  de  Sales. 

The  path  he  mapped  out  was,  like  that  of  his  teachers, 
the  Jesuits,  a  chemin  de  velovrs:  a  path  festooned  with  roses, 
where  religious  devotion  became  attractive  and  moral  regenera- 
tion was  opened  to  the  "  worldly  "  by  an  appeal  to  their  sense  of 
delicacy  and  refinement.  De  Sales'  psychology  is  essentially 
a  casuistry  of  love,  with  the  gradations  and  nuances  carefully 
drawn.  But  beneath  his  docile  exterior  this  reformer  concealed 
an  austere  and  unshakable  will.  He  knew  that  the  Christian 
life  demanded  humility,  and  humility  before  God  on  the  part 
of  his  aristocratic  flock  became  the  goal  of  his  unsparing  efforts. 

He  was  born  in  Savoy,  whose  prince  he  served  in  trying  to 
redeem  the  district  of  Chablais  from  the  Protestant  heresy.  This 
attempt  met  with  little  success,  and  being  sent  to  Paris  in  1602 
on  a  mission,  he  associated  himself  with  a  group  of  mystics,  the 
chief  of  whom  was  Mme  Acarie.  He  now  gave  up  the  plan  of  con- 
verting Protestants,  and  although  he  resisted  the  allurements  of- 
fered by  Henry  IV  and  returned  to  Savoy  as  titular  bishop  of 
Geneva,  he  never  loosened  his  hold  on  his  French  followers.  His 
influence  was  great  with  women;  through  Mme  de  Chantal, 
grandmother  of  Mme  de  Sevigne,  he  established  the  order  of 
the  Visitation,  and  it  is  to  her  that  his  best  Ejntres  spirituelles 
are  addressed. 

But  his  great  work,  second  in  popularity  only  to  the  Imitation 
of  Thomas  a  Kempis,  is  the  Introduction  a  la  vie  devote.  This 
and  the  complementary  Traite  de  I'amour  de  Dieu  (1606)  con- 
tain all  that  is  most  distinctive  in  de  Sales'  teaching  and  theology. 
Starting  with  the  premise  that  the  Christian  life  is  essentially  a 
life  of  love  —  an  idea  already  exploited  by  Luther  —  de  Sales 
evolves  the  thesis  that  the  redemption  of  man  proceeds,  not  from 
sudden  abnegation  and  sacrifice,  but  from  the  gradual  diffusion  of 


212  THE    AGE    OF    HENRY   IV 

love  into  every  act,  even  the  smaller  ones,  of  this  earthly  life. 
Thus  he  mollifies  the  externals  of  religion,  without,  however,  giving 
up  its  main  doctrines,  and  by  beginning  with  the  social  virtues  — 
such  as  good  breeding  and  consideration  of  others  —  he  seeks  to 
insinuate  into  the  social  complex  the  sterner,  unworldly  qualities 
of  Christianity.  Frangois  de  Sales'  style  —  langage  de  la  paix 
he  calls  it  —  is  in  the  main  winsome,  however  flowery  it  may  seem 
at  present.  Many  of  his  images  are  far-fetched,  though  it  is  part 
of  his  general  purpose  to  draw  them  with  abundance  from  Nature 
and  literature.  On  the  other  hand,  with  an  eye  to  le  commun 
usage,  he  writes  excellent,  singularly  modern  French,  and  in  this 
respect  as  in  so  many  others  he  leads  up  to  Bossuet  and 
•  Bourdaloue. 

In  short,  the  Introdiiction  a  la  vie  devote,  begun  as  a  formal 
course  of  instruction  for  Philothee  —  in  real  life,  Mme  de 
Charmoisy  —  anticipates  the  courtly,  religious  literature  of  the 
era  of  Louis  XIV.  Its  special  significance  is  that  for  the  first 
time  de  Sales  bridges  the  gulf  between  theology  and  worldly 
society.   Its  author  was  canonized  by  the  Roman  Church  in  1665. 

While  the  new  movement  towards  socialization  was  thus  claim- 
ing the  support  of  the  church,  its  influence  was  also  manifest 
in  the  domain  of  pure  literature,  in  poetry.  And  in  this  trans- 
formation Malherbe  is  the  outstanding  and  significant  factor. 

Frangois  de  Malherbe  is  best  known  by  the  title  of  docteur  en 
negative,  which  relates  him  to  the  Pleiade  as  the  antithesis  of 
jj  „    .  Ronsard  and  as  the  orderer  and  purifier  of  poetic 

style.  A  curious  mixture  of  pedant  and  artist, 
Malherbe  is  one  of  the  pillars  of  Classicism  because  of  an  in- 
stinct for  harmony  and  his  unswerving  common  sense: 

Le  sens  commun,  centre  lequel,  la  religion  a  part,  vous  savez  il 
n'y  a  orateur  au  monde  qui  me  put  rien  persuader. 

No  man  was  surer  of  himself  than  he.  We  can  picture  him  to  our- 
selves, in  his  room  at  the  Hotel  de  Bellegarde  in  Paris,  deliver- 
ing orders  on  the  distinction  between  pas  and  point,  the  gerund- 
ive and  the  present  participle  —  as  if,  says  Balzac,  it  were  a 
matter  of  two  neighboring  peoples,  jealous  of  their  frontiers. 
But  it  was  this  meticulous  care  that  gave  to  the  French  language 
the  clarity,  purity  and  cadence  which  it  has  in  Corneille  and 


MALHERBE  213 

Racine.  Thus  what  Malherbe  took  away  in  variety,  exuberance, 
and  emotionalism,  he  restored  in  firmness,  structure  and  restraint. 
In  his  treatment  of  the  Alexandrine  he  fashioned  the  vehicle  in 
which  the  generation  of  1660  was  to  find  glorious  expression. 
Hence  the  aptness  of  Boileau's  appraisal: 

Enfin  Malherbe  vint;  et  le  premier  en  France 
Fit  sentir  dans  les  vers  una  juste  cadence. 


Marchez  done  sur  ses  pas,  aimez  la  purete, 
Et  de  son  tour  heureux  imitez  la  clarte. 

Malherbe's  ascent  to  Parnassus  was  slow  and  painstaking.  He 
was  born  at  Caen,  Normandy,  in  1555.  Having  been  trained 
for  the  bar  at  Bale  and  Heidelberg,  he  went  with  the  Duke  of ' 
Angouleme  to  Provence,  and  there  he  married  a  widow  from 
whom  he  had  two  children,  both  of  whom  he  survived.  It  is 
significant  that  Malherbe,  whose  best  remembered  poem  is  the 
Consolation  de  Monsieur  du  Perier  sur  la  mart  de  sa  file,  never 
gave  expression  in  verse  to  his  own  grief.  He  believed  that  a 
poet  should  be  the  objective  purveyor  of  rationalized  emotions, 
and  he  could  never  bring  himself  to  regard  the  death  of  his  own 
children  in  this  stern  light.  His  fitst  publisihed  poem,  Les 
Larmes  de  Saint-Pierre,  is  an  imitation  of  Tansillo  and  still  in 
the  Italianate  manner  of  Desportes.  But  with  the  famous 
Consolation  (1598)  and  an  Ode  to  Marie  de  Medicis  (1600) 
Malh«rbe  comes  into  his  own.  Henceforth  he  follows  un- 
erringly the  path  of  simplicity  and  versified  prose. 

In  1605  Malherbe  took  steps  to  be  appointed  poet  laureate  of 
the  Bourbon  dynasty.  Besought  by  the  poet's  friends,  Henry  IV, 
who  hesitated  at, first,  was  charmed  by  Malherbe's  Priere  pour  le 
Roi  allant  en  Ldmousin  and  finally  gave  orders  to  M.  de  Belle- 
garde  to  provide  for  the  poet  in  Paris.  Under  Louis  XIII 
Malherbe's  prestige  suffered  no  relapse;  on  the  contrary,  Marie 
de  Medicis  clung  to  the  person  who  had  celebrated  her  charms, 
and  in  spite  of  opposition  from  without,  his  position  as  arbiter 
of  French  letters  was  unshaken  until  his  death  (1628) . 

The  amount  of  his  published  verse  is  small  —  some  four  thou- 
sand lines.  In  these,  as  has  often  been  said,  Malherbe  follows  the 
lead  of  Ronsard  —  but  of  the  Ronsard  of  the  odelette  and  the 
elegie.     And   these   genres    he   emasculates   and    rationalizes. 


214  THE    AGE    OF    HENRY   IV 

"Malherbe,"  says  Brunetiere,  "  consoit  un  sonnet  ou  une 
elegie  comme  une  unite  logique  qui  demontre,  discute,  tout  au 
moins  expose  quelque  chose  de  bien  determine."  Poetry  to  him 
is  a  metier  like  any  other;  it  is  not  a  matter  for  the  learned, 
and  least  of  all  for  the  "  divinely  inspired."  Therefore  his  re- 
mark that  the  porters  of  the  Port  au  Foin  were  his  guides  in 
speech,  by  which  he  meant  that  even  they  would  xmderstand  his 
verse,  so  clear  and  unmistakable  it  was.  Negatively,  then,  he 
opposed  the  Pleiade,  accepting  the  classical  genres,  but  restrict- 
ing their  scope,  omitting  everji;hing  that  seemed  obscure  or  learn- 
ed or  imaginative.  Positively,  he  developed  la  poesie  oratoire  — 
so  peculiarly  French  —  with  its  sumptuous  commonplaces,  its  in- 
•stinct  for  the  right  word  in  the  right  place,  its  succession  of 
harmonious  Alexandrines.  This  type  of  verse  lacks  color;  it 
is  architectonic,  not  picturesque;  it  does  not  move  the  reader, 
it  persuades  him;  it  appeals  to  the  universal  reason  and  not  to 
the  individual  imagination.    Malherbe's  most  famous  verse: 

Et,  rose,  elle  a  vecu  ce  que  vivent  les  roses, 
L'espace  d'un  matin, 

is  a  case  in  point.  Embodied  in  a  long  argument  on  the  inevi- 
tability of  death — and  what  could  be  more  commonplace? — this 
line  is  the  expression  of  the  Pleiade's  favorite  theme  in  as  simple, 
as  clear,  as  grammatical  and  as  universal  a  form  as  possible. 
And  yet  the  line  carries  a  sense  of  conviction,  a  stoical  peace 
and  tranquillity,  which  are  perhaps  unique.  It  need  hardly 
be  added  that  Malherbe  achieved  such  impeccable  effects  rarely. 
An  Ode  on  the  victory  of  Louis  at  La  Rochelle,  written  at  the 
ripe  age  of  seventy-two,  is  probably  Malherbe's  most  "  artistic  " 
success. 

But  if  Malherbe's  muse  was  oratory  rather  than  poetry,  this 
quality  stood  him  in  good  stead  as  a  critic  of  language  and  versi- 
fication. His  Commentaire  sur  Desportes,  although  merely  a  mar- 
ginal comment  on  a  copy  of  Desportes'  works,  embodies  the  prin- 
ciples of  his  reforms. 

Here  the  leading  idea  is  "  usage,"  controlled  by  the  trinity  of 
purity,  ■  clearness  and  precision.  Desportes  seemed  to  him 
"  padded "  and  "  redundant,"  and  his  first  desire  was  to  put 
French  vocabulary  into  a  strait-jacket.    In  this  he  followed  the 


MALHERBE'S   DISCIPLES  215 

tendency  of  his  period  against  improvisation.  Besides,  many  of 
the  Pleiade's  archaisms  were  out  of  date ;  qiiite  a  number  of  their 
foreign  borrowings  and  dialect  words  had  remained  un-French; 
Desportes  and  even  Ronsard  had  made  too  free  a  use  of  diminu- 
tives. In  these  directions  Malherbe's  pruning  was  wise.  On  the 
other  hand,  he  went  too  far  in  his  objection  to  certain  adjectives 
like  soucieux,  to  all  gerundives,  to  the  use  of  technical  terms  in 
literature,  above  all  to  the  word  ideal  —  "  un  mot  d'ecole  et  qui  ne 
se  doit  point  dire  en  choses  d'amour."  With  much  better  reason 
he  tried  to  fix  the  exact  meaning  of  words ;  he  practically  estab- 
lished the  modem  word-order;  and  he  correctly  considered  rime 
as  the  important  feature  of  French  versification,  thus  his  opposi- 
tion to  "  overflow  "  (enjambement)  and  his  advocacy  of  "  rich 
rime."  As  Brunetiere  observes,  Malherbe  is  in  many  respects  the 
ancestor  of  the  Parnassian  poets  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
Chapelain  affirmed  that  "  il  a  ignore  la  poesie."  But  certainly 
Malherbe  understood  the  instrument  of  poetry  better  than 
Chapelain.  This  we  should  not  forget  when  we  have  in  mind  the 
sum  total  of  his  negations. 

It  must  not  be  thought,  however,  that  the  reforms  of  Malherbe 
won  easy  or  immediate  acceptance.  Those  followers  who  did 
Malherbe's  him  most  honor  were  of  the  generation  of  Boileau. 
Disciples  Among  his  immediate  disciples  were  Francois 
Maynard  (1582-1646)  and  Honorat  de  Bueil,  Marquis  de  Racan 
(1589-1670) .  It  has  been  justly  said  that  these  two,  if  combined, 
would  have  made  one  excellent  poet.  Malherbe  himself  thought 
that  Maynard  lacked  force  and  that  Racan  was  careless  in  style ; 
probably  the  reverse  is  closer  to  the  truth.  In  any  case,  despite 
much  repetition  and  monotony,  Maynard  has  left  us  two  note- 
worthy selections:  the  one  a  charming  Dedicace  to  his  own  book  — 

Petit  livre  que  j'ai  poli;'^ 

and  the  other,  an  ode  entitled  La  belle  VieUle,  where  for  a  brief 
moment  he  soars  on  the  wings  of  sentiment: 

Ce  n'est  pas  d'aujourd'hui  que  je  suis  ta  conquete, 
Huit  lustres  ont  suivi  le  jour  que  tu  me  pris, 
Et  j'ai  fidelement  aime  ta  belle  tete 
Sous  des  cheveux  chatains  et  sous  des  cheveux  gris. 

'  See  Catullus,  liber  I,  1. 


216  THE    AGE    OF    HENRY   IV 

Yet  Racan,  who  had  a  distinguished  career  in  the  army  and  at 
court,  excelled  both  Maynard  and  Malherbe  in  the  musical  quality 
of  his  verse  and  in  a  truly  poetic  grasp  of  simple  and  natural 
situations.  His  Arthenice  ou  les  Bergeries,  a  pastoral  drama,  is 
charmingly  written;  while  his  celebrated  Stances  a  Tircis  is  a 
melodious  development  of  a  poetic  commonplace  and  elicited  the 
admiration  of  La  Fontaine. 

Foremost  in  the  opposition  to  Malherbe  were  Mathurin  Regnier, 
Mile  de  Gournay,  and  the  libertin  but  truly  lyrical  Theophile  de 
Malherbe's  Viau.  In  general,  they  represent  the  last  outbiurst  of 
Opponents  ^tjg  Renaissance  juror  poeticus  before  it  was  smoth- 
ered under  the  weight  of  Classical  laile  and  decorum. 

Mathurin  Regnier  (1573-1613)  was  the  nephew  of  Desportes 
and  Malherbe's  junior  by  eighteen  years.  He  spent  part  of  his 
youth  in  Italy  and  later  enjoyed  the  protection  of  the  Marquis 
de  Cceuvres,  who  wished  to  present  him  at  court.  But  Regnier 
refused,  quite  content  to  bask  in  the  glory  reflected  by  his  uncle, 
whose  excellent  dinners,  however,  he  did  not  fail  to  attend.  It 
was  at  one  of  these  that  Desportes  invited  Malherbe  to  listen  to 
one  of  his  compositions,  whereupon  the  latter  replied:  "Let  us 
dine  first,  your  soup  is  better  than  your  psalms."  Whether  this 
tale  is  literally  true  or  not,  Regnier  took  his  imcle's  side;  and 
every  word  he  wrote  breathes  opposition  to  Malherbe.  His  fame 
rests  on  his  Satires,  the  best  of  which  is  Macette,  and,  as  regards 
Malherbe,  the  well-known  Ninth  Satire,  addressed  to  Rapin. 

The  key  note  of  Regnier  is  gayety;  it  is  characteristic  of  his 
satire  that  it  is  never  ill-humored.  Thus  he  unites  the  Gallic 
wit  of  Marot  with  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Pleiade,  and  he  owes  not 
a  little  to  Ovid  and  the  Italians,  especially  Ariosto.  But  he 
has  also  the  defect  of  his  quality.  However  sprightly,  he  lacks 
moral  indignation;  the  only  exception  to  this  being  Macette, 
which  is  also  his  best  written  work.  As  his  satire  is  social  and 
not  political,  Regnier  has  given  it  a  note  of  imiversality; 
and  Boileau,  who  condemned  his  platitudes  and  lack  of  order, 
yet  saw  that  for  knowledge  of  human  natme  Regnier  is  compa- 
rable to  Moliere. 

Regnier  excels  in  bold'  strokes  and  brilliant  flashes  rather  than 
in  sustained  utterance.  Already  in  the  Second  Satire,  on  poets, 
he  hits  off  the  telling  line: 

Meditant  un  sonnet,  mddite  un  6vechl  — 


MALHERBE'S    OPPONENTS  217 

which  might  apply  to  Desportes.  Nowhere  does  his  insight  ap- 
pear better  than  in  describing  the  pedantry  of  Malherbe.  It  ia 
the  old  problem  of  art  versus  nature,  and  Regnier  is  of  course  for 
nature.  The  Ninth  Satire  is  a  brilliant  excursus  on  this  theme, 
negatively  presented: 

lis  rampant  bassement,   faibles   d'inventions, 
Et  n'osent,  peu  hardis,  tenter  les  fictions, 
Froids  a  I'imaginer;  car  s'ils  font  quelque  chose 
C'est  proser  de  la  rime,  et  rimer  de  la  prose. 

And  so  in  Macette,  Regnier  combines  nature  with  wit  in  order  to 
give  us  one  of  the  best  portraits  in  French  literature.  Macette 
is  the  pandering  woman:  a  kind  of  female  Tartuffe,  a  descendant 
of  the  Faux-Semblant  of  the  Roman  de  la  Rose,  but  admirably 
individualized  by  Regnier,  who  detested  hypocrisy: 

Sans  art  elle  s'habille,  et  simple  en  contenance 
Son  teiat  mortifie  preche  la  penitence. 


Loin  du  monde  eUe  fait  sa  demeure  et  son  gite, 
Son  ceil  tout  penitent  ne  pleure  qu'eau  benite, 
Enfin  c'est  un  example,  en  ce  siecle  tortu, 
D'amour,  de  charite,  d'honneur  at  de  vertu. 

Such  portraiture  as  this  redeems  Regnier's  faults  of  style  —  and 
of  person.  He  is,  if  we  make  due  allowances,  the  Villon  of  his 
time ;  and  because  of  his  spontaneity  he  has  never  lacked  readers. 
Mile  Le  Jars  de  Gournay  (1556-1645)  had  no  such  good  for- 
tune. She  who  called  herself  the  fille  d'alliance  of  Montaigne, 
whose  works  she  edited,  was  old-maidish  in  appearance  and 
character.  On  the  other  hand,  she  was  not  lacking  in  esprit, 
and  her  prose  work  L' Ombre  (1627)  defends  Ronsard  and 
banters  Malherbe  in  an  engaging  and  picturesque  style.  It 
appeared  to  her  that  Malherbe's  entire  contribution  consisted  in 
polissure,  and  she  regretted,  but  in  vain,  that 

ils  tondent  la  poesie  de  liberte,  de  dignite,  de  richesse,  et  pour 
le  dire  en  un  mot,  de  fleur,  de  fruit  et  d'espoir. 

The  third  figure  of  the  opposition,  Theophile  de  Viau  (1596- 
1626),  is  described  better  as  a  free-lance  than  as  an  ally  of 
Regnier  and  Mile  de  Gournay.  Indeed,  he  was  not  above 
combining 

La  douceur  de  Malherbe  et  I'ardeur  de  Ronsard. 


218  THE    AGE    OF    HENRY   IV 

But  life  made  him  a  profligate,  and  he  squandered  hie  powers  on 
unworthy  objects  and  in  defying  —  per  bel  air —  the  pedantry 
of  Malherbe.  He  is  generally  remembered  by  his  irregular 
tragedy  Pyrame  et  Thisbe  (1617),  where  with  true  Elizabethan 
freedom  he  produced  the  hyperbole: 

Le  voila,  le  poignard  qui  du  sang  de  son  maitre 
S'est  souille  lachement;  il  en  rougit,  le  traitre; 

and  thus  merited  the  censure  of  Boileau.  But  libertin^ 
that  he  was,  he  possessed  an  inborn  sense  of  form  and  a  feeling 
for  Nature.  Note  the  harmony  of  the  lines  that  he  attributes  to 
Apollo : 

C'est  moi  qui  penetrant  la  durete  des  arbres 

Qui  fais  taire  les  vents,  qui  fais  parler  les  marbres, 
Et  qui  trace  au  destin  la  conduite  des  rois; 

and  compare  the  soft,  caressing  mood  of  his  SoUtvde: 

Un  froid  et  tenebreux  sUence 
Dort  a  I'ombre  de  ces  ormeaux, 
Et  les  vents  battent  les  rameaux 
D'une  amoureuse  violence. 

If  Theophile  was  a  late-comer,  a  survival  of  the  age  of  Ronsard, 
his  verse  shows  that  after  Malherbe  lyrism  was  not  dead  in  France 
but  only  slumbering.  Twenty-two  editions  of  his  works  appeared 
in  fifty  years,  and  the  youthful  Academy  picked  him  as  one 
of  the  authors  on  whose  vocabulary  its  Dictionary  should  be 
based.  It  was  the  satire  of  Boileau  that  killed  his  vogue;  but 
some  of  his  quality  passed  into  Voiture  and  Racine,  until  finally 
Romanticism  gave  it  a  glorious  rebirth. 

>  On  the  libertins  or  epicureans,  see  Bk.  Ill,  Ch.  V. 


BOOK  III 
PRE-CLASSICISM 

CHAPTER  I 
SOCIAL   FORM   AND   THE    SALON   WRITERS 

The  seventeenth  century  is  the  grand  siecle  of  the  French. 
It  is  for  them  what  the  age  of  Elizabeth  is  for  the  English,  the 
Cinquecento  for  the  Italians.  It  is  then  that  France  has  her 
most  representative  writers,  those  who  reflect  the  national 
qualities  at  their  best.  It  is  then  that  the  Renaissance  ideal  of 
absolute  monarchy,  realized  in  Louis  XIV,  places  France  at  the 
political  head  of  Em-ope.  Not  only  does  the  much  abused 
phrase  I'Etat  c'est  moi  express  the  degree  of  imity  to  which 
French  cultiu-e  was  to  attain,  but  the  coiurt  at  Versailles  is  the 
symbol  of  this  resplendent  time.  Here  politics  and  art  and 
literatm-e,  centering  about  the  person  of  the  King,  achieve  a 
harmonious  cooperation  that  is  the  keynote  of  Classicism. 

This  "  point  of  perfection  in  art,"  which  La  Bruyere  later 
compares  to  "ripeness  in  Nature,"  was  however  not  reached 
Different  at  once.  The  Classical  Period  itself  does  not  begin 
Periods  \mi\\  1653,  with  the  triumphal  entry  of  Mazarin 

into  Paris  after  the  Wars  of  the  Fronde,  and  it  ends  before  the 
centxuy  is  over,  with  the  Quarrel  of  the  Ancients  and  the  Moderns 
in  1687.  The  preceding  age,  from  1624  —  when  Richelieu  came 
into  power  —  until  1653,  is  one  of  struggle  and  preparation. 
We  give  it  the  name  of  Pre-Classicism,  as  showing  at  once  its 
direction  and  its  formative  character. 

In  politics  this  period  stands  for  the  destruction  of  the  enemies 
of  the  crown,  both  within  and  without  the  kingdom.  With  great 
singleness  of  purpose  Richelieu  shattered  the  last  stronghold  of 
the  Protestants  (La  Rochelle,  1628),  combatted  the  supremacy 

219 


220      SOCIAL    FORM    AND    THE    SALON    WRITERS 

of  Spain,  crushed  the  conspiracy  of  the  nobles  led  by  Cinq-Mars, 
and  in  every  way  strove  for  national  unity.  His  own  interest 
in  letters,  and  Richelieu's  literary  gifts  were  not  conspicuous, 
was  made  contributory  to  this  purpose.  He  worked  for  the 
principle  of  national  authority  in  literature  with  the  same  zeal 
with  which  he  discouraged  the  French  admiration  for  Spain 
(see  below,  his  attitude  on  the  Cid).  The  hand  he  took  in  the 
establishment  of  the  French  Academy  in  1629  is  another  proof 
of  his  policy;  namely,  to  give  the  country  a  standard  of  speech 
which  though  national  should  be  universally  clear  and  precise. 
Mazarin,  who  succeeded  Richelieu  as  prime-minister  —  a  post 
that  he  held  during  the  minority  of  Louis  XIV  —  was  the  in- 
direct cause  and  central  figure  of  the  Wars  of  the  Fronde. 
These  were  the  last  attempts  of  the  feudal  aristocracy  to  throw 
off  the  usurpations  of  the  crown.  Serious  as  the  revolt  was, 
it  had  in  it  the  elements  of  opera-bouffe.  The  Frondeurs, 
including  such  illustrious  persons  as  the  Grand  Conde,  Cardinal 
de  Retz  and  the  Duchess  of  Longueville,  were  divided  among 
themselves;  personal  vanity  and  bombast  influenced  greatly 
their  actions;  and  when  peace  and  order  were  finally  restored  in 
Paris,  the  effect  on  the  youthful  Louis  XIV  was  to  discourage  in 
him  any  attempt  to  govern  the  country  by  constitutional  means. 

It  was  principally  in  the  development  of  social  form  or 
etiquette  that  the  Pre-Classical  period  was  fruitful.  Under 
the  impact,  first  of  Italy,  but  also  of  Spain,  social  intercourse 
is  cultivated  on  a  new  scale;  good  manners  and  deportment 
are  encouraged  for  the  distinction  they  give ;  and  this  movement 
furnishes  the  background  for  most  of  the  art  and  literature  of 
the  century. 

The  courtiers  of  Henry  IV  deserve  that  name  only  by 
tolerance.  Fresh  from  the  battle-field,  they  carried  into  social 
relations  the  swagger,  the  rudeness,  the  license  of  their  honest 
but  boisterous  natures.  It  is  true  that  Henry's  own  attitude 
was  offset  by  his  marriage  in  1600  to  Marie  de  Medicis,  who 
invited  the  Italian  Marino  to  Paris  in  1615.  Marino  was  a 
representative  of  the  euphuistic  or  affected  style,  and  he 
undoubtedly  had  an  influence  on  the  refinement  of  manners  and 
speech  in  France.    At  the  same  time,  the  birth  of  social  form 


HOTEL    DE    RAMBOUILLET  221 

occurred  not  at  the  French  court  but  in  the  house  of  a  private 
citizen:  the  famous  Catherine  de  Vivonne,  Marquise  de  Ram- 
bouillet. 

Catherine  was  the  daughter  of  Jean  de  Vivonne,  French 
ambassador  to  Rome,  and  Julia  Savelli,  a  Roman  lady  of 
The  Hotel  de  distinction.  She  had  married  Charles  d'Angennes, 
Rambouillet  ^ho  in  1611  became  the  Marquis  de  Rambouillet. 
Of  her  social  and  intellectual  charms  Mile  de  Scudery  writes  as 
follows  in  one  of  her  well-known  "  literary  portraits  ": 

L'esprit  de  Cleomire  [one  of  the  names  applied  to  Catherine, 
Arthenice  is  another]  n'est  pas  un  de  ces  esprits  qui  n'ont  de 
lumiere  que  celle  que  la  nature  leur  donne,  car  elle  I'a  cultive 
soigneusement.  Elle  salt  diverges  langues,  et  n'ignore  presque 
rien  qm_merit£-diltFe  su;  mais  elle  le  salt  sans  iairfi-semUant 
dejfi-sayoir,  et  on  dirait,  a  I'entendre  parler,  tant  elk  estjnodBSte, 
qu'eUe  ne  parte  de  toutes  choses  admirablement  que  par  le  simple 
sens  commun  et  par  le  seul  usage  du  monde. 

But  distinguished  as  Catherine  was,  her  delicacy  was  overdone. 
Her  sensibilities  were  offended  by  such  a  word  as  teignevx 
("  scm-vy  ") ,  and,  as  Tallemant  des  Reaux  records,  she  and  her 
husband  "  vivaient  un  peu  trop  en  c6remonie." 

Yet  it  was  precisely  through  ceremony  that  she  aimed  to  give 
her  countrymen  that  much  needed  refinement.  Withdrawing 
in  1613  from  a  court  which  seemed  to  her  barbarous,  Catherine 
opened  her  house  near  the  Louvre  to  her  own  circle  of  admirers 
and  friends.  The  house  had  been  previously  remodeled,  ac- 
cording to  plans  made  by  the  Marquise  herself,  to  receive  a 
larger  company  than  did  most  dwellings  of  the  period.  The 
drawing-room,  which  was  also  the  Marquise's  bed-room,  had 
been  tinted  in  blue  —  hence  the  Chamhre  hleue  —  and  had  been 
divided  by  a  railing,  behind  wmcfi"  stood  tETbed.  On  each  side 
of  the  bed  were  spaces  known  respectively  as  the  devant  and 
the  ruelle.  It  was  the  habit  of  Catherine,  seated  on  the  bed,  to 
receive  the  evening's  guests  first  in  one  passage  and  then  in  the 
other;  so  that  ruelle  soon  became  synonymous  with  a  reception 
itself  —  just  as  later  on,  when  with  advancing  years  the 
Marquise  moved  her  bed  into  an  alcove,  an  alcoviste  is  one  who 
frequents  such  receptions. 

The  company  who  were  invited  to  share  this  ofiicial  intimacy 


222      SOCIAL    FORM    AND    THE    SALON    WRITERS 

were  not  only  people  of  rank  but  also  men  of  letters.  Among 
the  former  were  Richelieu,  the  Due  de  la  Tremoille,  Mme  de 
Longueville,  the  Marquis  de  Montausier,  ^  and  later,  Mme  de 
La  Fayette  and  Mme  de  Sevigne.  The  men  of  letters  included 
most  of  the  illustrious;  notably,  Malherbe,  Chapelain,  Voiture, 
Scudery,  Rotrou  and  Corneille.  Conversation,  of  course,  was  the 
great  attraction  of  this  feast  of  reason;  although  actual  parlor 
games  —  imported  from  Italy  —  dancing,  music  and  impromptus 
of  various  kinds,  were  part  of  the  entertainment.  Yet  conversa- 
tion claimed  the  foreground  with  these  adepts  of  culture,  and 
their  discourse  sparkled  with  conceits  after  the  manner  of  Marino 
and  hyperboles  in  the  style  of  the  Spaniard  Gongora. 

Affected  purism  or  "  preciosity  "  has  a  bad  name.  At  the 
beginning   of   the   seventeenth   century,   forms   of    affectation, 

p  ,  .  .  ,  partly  independent  of  each  other,  spread  through 
Europe  like  a  disease.  Lyly's  Euphues  appeared  in 
England  as  early  as  1579;  considerably  later  in  Spain  came  the 
culteranismo  of  Gongora.  But  in  France  the  ■precievx  move- 
ment was  probably  the  most  productive  of  good  results.  The 
Marquise  lived  until  1665,  and  the  Hotel  de  Rambouillet  had 
several  periods  of  influence. 

Its  greatest  brilliancy  was  from  1630  to  1648.  Between 
these  years  it  served  the  useful  purpose  of  listening  eagerly  to 
a  letter  from  Balzac,  a  criticism  by*  Chapelain,  a  play  by 
Corneille  —  even  if  it  pronounced  Chapelain's  epic  ^  "  beautiful 
but  excessively  tiresome "  and  went  into  raptures  over  the 
Guirlande  de  Julie,  a  chaplet  of  poems  presented  by  Montausier 
to  the  Marquise's  daughter  on  her  birthday.  The  effect  of 
such  feminine  control  was  bound  to  be  two-sided.  On  the  one 
hand,  conversational  and  epistolary  style  flourished;  both 
language  and  literature  shook  off  the  last  vestiges  of  pedantry 
and  gained  measurably  in  precision  and  sparkle;  never  was  wit 
more  brilliant  or  more  trenchant.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
cleavage  between  "society"  and  the  "people"  is  increased; 
literature  becomes  mainly  the  expression  of  a  super-refined 
class;  the  quip  or  pointe  is  cultivated  for  it-s  own  sake,  and  ttie 

'  Montausier  was  the  suitor  of  Julie  d'Angennes,  the  Marquise's  daughter.    It 
is  characteristic  that  he  was  kept  waiting  fifteen  years  before  Julie  married  him, 
'  ZjO  Pitcelle... 


PRECIOSITY  223 

commonplace  shunned.  It  is  enough,  in  order  to  understand 
the  loss  to  language,  to  note  that  a  useful  word  like  poitrine 
was  tabooed  because  the  butcher  said  poitrine  de  veau  or  that 
Somaize  in  his  Dictionnaire  des  Pretieuses  records  soustien  de 
la  vie  for  "  bread."  Most  of  all,  the  romances  of  the  age  were 
to  suffer  from  this  restriction:  their  chai'acters  do  not  eat 
or  drink,  nor  breathe  any  other  atmosphere  than  that  of  their 
own  sublimated  sentiments. 

For  many  of  these  characteristics  the  Hotel  de  Rambouillet 
was  not  to  blame.  The  word  jwecieifae,  meaning  an  "  affected 
woman  "  gains  currency  about  lb5S','"while  a  "  marmered  style  " 
is  a  recurrent  phenomenon  in  French  from  the  Middle  Ages 
forward.  But  what  a  distinguished  woman  mi^t  permit 
herself,  in  an  imitator  would  seem  distorted  and  out  of  place, 
and  Catherine  had  many  imitators.  Among  them  were  Mme  de 
Sable  —  the  friend  of  Pascal  —  and  Mile  Paulet,  called  la  belle 
lionne  because  of  her  tawny  hair.  Most  noteworthy  of  all  is 
Mlig^de-Scudfiry,  whose  samedis,  over  which  she  presided  under 
the  name  of  Sappho,  gave  the  entree  to  people  quite  as 
literary  as  the'  frequenters  of  the  Marquise,  but  less  distinguished 
in  social  rank  and  thus  visibly  more  affected  in  their  attitude. 
Finally,  when  we  add  to  these  great  ladies  those  numerous 
provincial  dames  who  easily  fell  a  victim  to  the  refining  habit, 
we  understand  the  reason  in  1659  for  Moliere's  Precieuses 
ridicides,  where  not  only  the  imitation  but  preciosity  itself  is 
satirized.  From  this  date  on,  ^precieuse  could  have  no  other 
than  an  unfavorable  meaning,  while  the  movement  itself  lapsed 
of  its  own  ineptitude.  As  Menage  remarked,  when  after  the 
performance  of  Moliere's  comedy  he  took  Chapelain  aside: 

Monsieur  .  .  .  nous  approuvions,  vous  et  moi,  toutes  les 
sottises  qui  viennent  d'etre  critiquees  si  finement  et  avec  tant  de 
bon  sens.  II  nous  faudra  bruler  ce  que  nous  avons  adore  et  adorer 
ce  que  nous  avons  brule. 

Moreover,  at  that  moment  the  eyes  of  the  cultivated  world 
were  fixed  on  another  spectacle:  the  rising  glory  of  the  court 
of  Louis  XIV.  With  this  arbiter  of  elegance  no  other  could 
compete,  though  the  literary  and  artistic  salon  is  henceforth  a 
French  institution. 


224      SOCIAL    FORM    AND    THE    SALON    WRITERS 

Associated  intimately  with  the  Hotel  de  Rambouillet  are 
two  letter-writers  of  note.  The  first  is  Jean-Louis  Guez,  Sieur 
Louis  Guez  de  Balzac  (1597-1654),  whose  grandiloquence  laid 
de  Balzac  ^jjg  foundation  for  French  oratory  and  the  rise  of  a 
Classical  style. 

Educated  by  the  Jesuits,  Balzac  traveled  and  then  entered  the 
service  of  a  French  grandee,  the  later  Cardinal  de  la  Valette, 
with  whom  he  passed  two  years  in  Rome.  But  the  greater 
part  of  Balzac's  life  was  spent  on  his  estates  in  Angouleme, 
whence  he  kept  in  contact  with  the  refined  world  by  his  writings, 
especially  his  Letters.  In  addition  to  these  and  various  discours 
addressed  to  Mme  de  Rambouillet,  Balzac  also  wrote  a  Prince, 
the  Socrate  chretien  and  Aristippe  ou  de  la  cour.  But  it  was 
his  Letters,  the  first  of  which  appeared  in  1624  and  which  were 
an  event  at  the  Hotel  de  Rambouillet,  that  made  him  famous. 

In  Balzac's  ideas  there  was  nothing  very  original;  little  that 
cannot  be  found  in  Amyot  or  Montaigne  or  the  ancients. 
Moreover,  no  writer  is  less  intimate;  Balzac  has  no  abandon, 
no  moment  when  he  is  not  consciously  building  a  phrase.  As 
Lanson  remarks,  it  is  the  author  and  not  the  man  who  speaks 
to  us  in  him.  Balzac  wraps  in  a  cloak  of  rhetoric  even  the 
little  things  of  life.  Thanking  a  friend  for  a  gift  of  peacocks, 
he  writes: 

Je  connais  mes  richesses  et  en  suis  connu,  et  apres  avoir  lu 
jusqu'a  ne  voir  goutte,  je  viens  delasser  ma  vue  travaiUee  dans  cet 
admirable  vert,  qui  m'est  tout  ensemble  un  divertissement  et 
un  remede. 

But  he  accomplished  two  notable  things.  He  made  French 
prose  eloquent  by  giving  it  cadence,  and  he  incorporated  into  it 
the  Renaissance  concept  of  the  Roman  patriot  and  of  the 
honnete  homme.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  with  what  effect  his 
high-sounding  phrases  fell  on  the  ears  of  Mme  de  Rambouillet's 
circle,  especially  when  they  contained  such  grandiose  common- 
places as: 

Un  peu  d'esprit  et  beaucoup  d'autorit6,  voila  ce  qui  a  toujoure 
gouverne  le  monde. 


BALZAC    AND    VOITURE  225 

Thus  Balzac  did  for  prose  what  Malherbe  had  done  for  verse. 
His  type  of  Roman  lives  again  in  the  plays  of  Corneille;  note 
the  following  from  the  Letter  on  Cinna,  addressed  to  Corneille 
himself: 

L'empereur  le  fit  consul,  et  voua  I'avez  fait  honnete  homme: 
mais  vous  I'avez  pu  faire  par  les  lois  d'lin  art,  qui  polit  et  orne  la 
verite. 

That  is,  the  French  Cirma  is  a  Roman  plus  the  rules  of  decorum, 
and  it  is  the  fimction  of  art  to  embellish  nature. 

The  significance  of  Balzac,  then,  lies  in  the  impetus  he  gave 
to  writing  as  such.  He  lacked  the  genius  to  create  ideas  or 
to  invent  new  forms.  He  spent  his  life  in  making  phrases,  but 
of  these  he  was  a  master-builder.  He  understood  the  harmonies 
of  French  to  an  eminent  degree,  and  he  taught  his  generation 
the  value  of  paragraphs,  transitions  and  the  mot  propre.  His 
sentences,  unlike  those  of  his  predecessors,  are  balanced  and 
well-proportioned.  Thus  he  fashioned  the  instrument  of 
rhetorical  French  prose  for  future  writers;  the  style  of  Bossuet 
is  built  upon  that  of  Balzac. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  so-called  CEuvres  of  Vincent  Voiture 
(1598-1648)  remain  landlocked  in  Mme  de  Rambouillet's 
Vincent  salon.    They  are  in  every  way  its  expression;  and 

Voiture  therefore  the  elegant  badinage  with  which  they  are 

filled  has  long  since  lost  its  flavor.  However,  Voiture  was  not 
a  professional  writer,  and  his  poems  and  letters  were  not  published 
until  after  his  death. 

Son  of  a  wine  merchant  of  Amiens,  Voiture  was  another  of 
Cardinal  de  la  Valette's  proteges.  He  was  presented  early 
in  life  to  the  Marquise,  whose  unofficial  master-of-ceremonies 
he  became.  Grace  and  wit  fitted  him  well  for  this  role;  and  he 
organized  dances  and  excursions,  played  practical  jokes  on  the 
Marquise  and  bantered  his  associates  in  trifling  verse  and  prose. 
These  gifts  and  an  undercurrent  of  sound  judgment  won  him 
the  favor  of  Richelieu,  who  sent  him  on  diplomatic  missions  and 
permitted  him  to  round  out  his  career  as  an  honnete  homme. 

In  his  Letters  Voiture  displays  finesse  and  an  innate  delicacy 
of  phrasing,  which  are  in  sharp  contrast  with  the  Spanish  bombast 
then  in  fashion.    How  effective  his  mockery  was  appears  from 


226      SOCIAL    FORM    AND    THE    SALON    WRITERS 

the  Letter  to  Mme  de  Rambouillet  on  the  word  car,  which  it 
was  rumored  the  Academy  would  banish  from  the  language. 
He  writes: 

Je  ne  sais  pour  quel  interSt  lis  tachent  d'oter  a  car  ce  qtii  lui 
appartient  pour  le  donner  a  pour  ce  qiie,  ni  pourquoi  ils  veulent 
dire  avec  trois  mots  ce  qu'ils  pouvaient  dire  avec  trois  lettres.  On 
ne  fera  point  de  difficulte  d'attaquer  mais,  et  je  ne  sais  si  si 
demeurera  en  surete. 

But  his  greatest  merit  is  as  a  writer  of  vers  de  sodete  — a  genre  of 
which  he  really  established  the  vogue.  He  revived  what  was 
best  in  the  lighter  lyric  vein  —  for  example,  the  rondeau  —  and 
he  made  these  shorter  forms  the  perfect  vehicle  of  grace  and 
distinction.  His  charming  Sonnet  a  Uranie,  with  its  time-old 
hyperbole  — 

Je  benis  man  martyre,  et  content  de  mourir, 
Je  n'ose  murmurer  centre  sa  tyrannie, 

had  the  honor  of  rallying  a  group  of  partisans,  the  Uranists, 
during  the  Fronde;  while  Mme  de  Rambouillet's  praises,  but 
hardly  her  traits,  survive  in  the  following  madrigal  from 
his  pen: 

Jamais  I'oeil  du  soleil 

Ne  vit  rien  de  pareil, 

Ni  si  plein  de  delice, 

Rien  si  digne  d'amour, 

Si  ce  ne  fut  le  jour 

Que  naquit  Arthenice. 

Among  Voiture's  rivals  and  followers  were  Benserade,  whose 
sonnet  on  Job  was  preferred  to  that  on  Uranie;  Boisrobert,  the 
favorite  of  Richelieu;  Maleville,  another  sonneteer;  and 
Sarrasin,  a  clever  writer  of  ballades  and  of  prose.  Yet  none  of 
these  could  surpass  the  exquisite  gallantry  of  Voittire. 

While  polite  society  was  thus  cultivating  manners,  a  smaller 
group,  known  oflBcially  as  les  doctes,  was  busy  at  codifying  the 
Ihe  rules  of   art.    At  first  the  meetings   were   secret. 

Group"*^  They  began  in  1626  when  various  literary  men 
formed  the  habit  of  dropping  in  on  Valentin 
Conrart,  a  wealthy  Parisian,  for  the  exchange  of  ideas.  The 
group  included  Gombault,  a  minor  dramatist,  Godeau,  bishop 
of  Vence  and  known  to  the  precievx  world  as  th«  Mage  de  Mon, 


THE  FRENCH  ACADEMY  227 

and  the  critic  Chapelain.  In  1629  Richelieu  proposed  the 
formation  of  a  formal  body  for  the  pursuit  of  literature.  This 
plan  was  finally  accepted,  and  the  new  society  took  the  simple  and 
effective  name  of  I'Academie  frangaise  —  in  imitation,  more  or 
less,  of  the  various  Academies  then  flourishing  in  Italy. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  Academy  was  in  March,  1634, 
although  Parliament,  jealous  of  its  own  prerogatives,  waited 
until  1637  before  granting  a  charter.  From  the  very  start  the 
memtiership  of  the  organization  was  limited  to  forty,  and  in 
1640  Patru  introduced  the  custom  of  receiving  a  new  member 
with  a  discours.  The  members  themselves  also  propounded 
various  topics;  thus  Chapelain  spoke  against  "  love,"  Gombault 
discussed  the  still  more  elusive  matter  of  the  Je  ne  sais  quoi, 
and,  lastly,  Chapelain  proposed  the  excellent  idea  of  making 
a  Dictionary  and  of  compiling  a  Grammar,  a  Rhetoric  and  a 
Poetic  Art. 

The  Dictionary  alone  saw  the  light,  though  not  until  1694,  the 
date  of  the  first  edition.  The  work  had  been  entrusted  to 
Claude  Favre  de  Vaugelas  (1585-1650),  a  native  of  Savoy  and 
the  author  in  1647  of  the  excellent  Remarques  sur  la  langue 
frangaise.  Vaugelas  followed  Malherbe  in  declaring  for  a 
,  purified  form  of  French,  based  on  "  usage."  But  unlike  Malherbe, 
he  meant  by  usage  the  speech  pf_the^  court  and  of  "  the  best 
authors  of  the  time."  So  that  again  thetendency  was  toward 
aristocratic  norms  and  a  neglect  of  the  every-day  French  of  the 
people.  In  fact,  the  Dictionary  urged  the  elimination  of 
"  les  vieux  miots,"  "  mots  nouvellement  inventes,"  "  les  termes 
d'emportement  et  qui  blessent  la  pudeur,"  as  well  as  the 
technical  words  once  dear  to  Ronsard.  This  severity,  however, 
did  not  pass  unnoticed.  As  early  as  1650  Menage  —  the 
grammarian  —  launched  a  witty  satire,  which  began: 

A  nos  seigneurs  academiques, 
Nos  seigneurs  les  hypercritiques, 
Souverains  arbitres  des  mots, 
Doctes  faiseurs  d'avant-propos, 
] ''.'  Cardinal-historiographes. 

And  Furetiere,  driven  from  the  Academy  because  of  his  indepen- 
dence, found  in  Holland  an  asylum  for  a  Dictionary  of  his  own, 
published    after    his    death    in    1690.    Moreover,    Vaugelas 


228      SOCIAL    FORM    AND    THE    SALON    WRITERS 

himself  —  with  all  his  prestige  —  did  not  live  to  complete  his 
own  work:  he  died  insolvent,  and  his  imfinished  manuscript 
was  among  the  papers  seized  by  his  creditors.  Nevertheless, 
when  the  Dictionary  was  restored  to  the  Academy  it  was 
completed  along  the  lines  Vaugelas  had  laid  down.  Only  in  the 
fourth  edition  is  the  "  language  of  the  people  "  considered,  to- 
gether with  various  words  taken  from  the  "  arts  and  sciences." 
In  general,  then,  the  role  of  the  Academy  has  been  reactionary 
from  the  beginning.  Even  in  the  seventeenth  century  such 
illustrious  names  as  Descartes,  Pascal  and  Moliere  are  lacking  on 
its  roster.  Preserver  of  tradition,  the  Academy  has  often  been 
fifty  years  behind  the  times.  But  this  conservatism  has  lent 
weight  to  its  pronouncements.  Time  and  again  its  definitions 
have  been  invoked  to  solve  knotty  questions,  even  in  diplomacy, 
and  amid  the  changing  policies  and  politics  of  France  the 
Academy  has  been  the  guardian  of  the  best  French  culture. 
The  oft-cited  witticism  on  the  Academicians: 

lis  sont  quarante,  mais  ils  ont  de  I'esprit  comme  quatre 

is  brilliant  but  unjust. 

Academic  in  criticism,  Jean  Chapelain  (1595-1674)  was 
thoroughly  so  in  poetry.  An  eclectic  as  to  culture,  he  lacked 
the  inspiration  and  the  talent  to  be  creative.  His 
long-heralded  epic,  La  Pucelle —  on  the  theme  of 
Joan  of  Arc —  appeared  in  1656,  and  although  it  met  with  a 
succes  d'estime  among  people  like  Mme  de  Longueville,  even  she 
admitted  that  it  was  a  bore.  But  while  we  may  admit  with 
Boileau  that  Chapelain  is  a  mediocre  poet,  as  a  critic  he  had  an 
important  share  in  formulating  the  Classical  doctrine.  He  wrote 
an  ode  on  Richelieu  which  ingratiated  him  in  the  latter's  favor. 
In  1632  he  even  became  secretary  to  Louis  XIII.  It  was  by  virtue 
of  the  esteem  he  enjoyed  that  he  wielded  his  influence  on  the 
Academy  and  that  he  molded  the  Sentiments  sur  le  Cid  in  a 
way  not  to  be  unfavorable  to  Corneille.  His  Letters,  though 
without  literary  merit,  are  valuable  in  reconstructing  the  details 
of  his  time.  Finally,  his  library,  rich  in  Italian  works,  contained 
the  treatise  of  Castelvetro  on  Aristotle's  Poetics  from  which  the 
"  rules  "  of  the  drama  were  to  be  derived ;  but  of  this,  more  in 
a  subsequent  chapter.  Between  Malherbe  and  Boileau  the 
notable  name  in  criticism  is  that  of  Chapelain. 


CHAPTER  II 
HONORE    D'URFE    AND    THE    ROMANESQUE 

The  devotees  of  "  society,"  however,  craved  other  outlets 
of  expression  than  the  quips  and  conceits  of  Mme  de 
Rambouillet's  circle.  They  had  youth  and  imagination,  and 
they  sought  a  larger  canvas  for  the  portrayal  of  their  ideals  than 
the  framework  of  the  salon  permitted.  This  they  found  in  a 
revival  of  prose  fiction,  which  leads  us  back  momentarily  to  the 
sixteenth  century. 

The  barber  in  Cervantes'  immortal  work  proclaims  the  Amadis 
de  Gaula  —  the  Spanish  version  of  which  appeared  in  1508  — 
"the  best  of  its  kind  in  the  chivalric  line,"  and  so  it  remains 
until  long  after  the  time  we  are  considering.  In  1540  d'Herberay 
des  Essarts  translated  the  Amadis  into  French.  Although  the 
supernatural  agencies  of  the  story  did  not  appeal  to  its  Gallic 
admirers,  the  purely  chivalric  adventures,  the  love-making  and 
the  tone  of  courtesy  it  breathed  struck  upon  sympathetic  ears. 
Another  work  that  stimulated  the  portrayal  of  adventure  in  the 
service  of  love  was  the  Greek  tale  of  Theagenes  and  Chariclea, 
translated  in  1549  by  the  able  hand  of  Amyot.  But  again  it  was 
Italian  influence,  coming  this  time  through  Spain,  that  gave  the 
real  start  to  a  revival  of  French  fiction.  Throughout  the 
sixteenth  century  the  pastoral  romance  had  flourished  in  Italy, 
notably  in  forms  modeled  upon  Sannazzaro's  Arcadia.  So  that 
when  in  1607  Honore  d'Urfe  undertook  to  adapt  to  French  sur- 
roundings the  Diana  Enamorada  of  Montemayor,  itself  an  adap- 
tation of  Sannazzaro's  work,  the  ground  was  prepared  and  the 
times  were  ready  for  such  an  attempt.  Since  love  is  "  the  desire 
for  immortality  in  beauty,"  ^  it  follows  (so  argued  d'Urfe) 
that  loving  is  to  seek  the  person  worthy  of  this  ideal.  This 
quest,  minutely  pursued,  is  the  theme  of  the  thirty  and  more 
episodes,  with  their  seven  pairs  of  lovers,  of  d'Urf^'s  Astree. 

'  See  Plato's  Symposium,  §  207, 
229 


230        HONORE    D'URFE    AND    THE    ROMANESQUE 

Chance  placed  the  birth  of  Honore  d'Urfe  (1568-1625)  in  the 
busy  port  of  Marseilles,  whither  his  mother  had  gone  on  a  visit. 
D'Urfe's  ^^^  ^^^^  home  and  the  Arcadian  scene  of  his  story- 
Life  was  the  county  of  Forez,  near  Lyons.  Here  the 
d'Urfes  had  lived  for  centuries  and  here  Honore,  fresh  from 
the  College  de  Tournon  in  1585,  spent  the  most  peaceful  and 
enjoyable  years  of  his  life.  Thirty  years  later  he  sentimentally 
reflects  on  these  haunts  of  his  boyhood: 

Belle  et  agreable  riviere  de  Lignon,  sur  les  bords  de  laquelle  j'ai 
passe  si  heureusement  men  enfance  et  la  plus  tendre  partie  de  ma 
premiere  jeunesse  ...  a  I'ombre  de  tes  arbres  femllus  et  a  la 
fraicheur  de  tes  belles  eaux,  quand  I'innocence  de  mon  age  me  lais- 
sait  jouir  de  moi-meme,  et  me  permettait  de  gouter  en  repos  les 
bonheurs  et  les  felieites  que  le  ciel  .  .  .  repandait  sur  le  bien- 
heureux  pays  que  tu  arroses  de  tes  claires  et  vives  ondes. 

From  this  peaceful  retreat  Honore  was  torn  by  the  civil  wars 
in  France.  He  joined  the  party  of  the  Leaguers,  was  twice 
thrown  into  prison  by  his  adversaries,  and  finally  retired  to 
Aimecy  in  Savoy  and  devoted  himself  to  literatm-e.  A  notable 
fact  is  that  he  is  thus  a  contemporary  and  compatriot  of  Saint 
Frangois  de  Sales.  Besides  his  great  romance,  he  wrote  a  pastoral 
poem  named,  after  its  hero,  Sereine  (160Q-1604),  and  an  un- 
finished heroic  on  the  House  of  Savoy,  La  Savoysiade.  Of  the 
Astree,  Honors  actually  wrote  three  volumes,  the  first  of  which 
appeared  in  1607,  with  a  dedication  to  Henry  IV.*  But  so 
great  was  their  success  that  he  planned  at  least  a  fourth,  which 
was  published  a  year  before  Honore's  death  through  the  efforts 
of  his  niece  and  his  secretary,  Baro.  This  was  followed  in  1626 
by  two  additional  spurious  volumes,  appearing  over  the  name  of 
Borstel,  Sieur  de  Gaubertin. 

The  charm  of  the  Astrie  lies  in  the  reality  of  its  setting  and 
the  nobility  of  its  sentiment.  Its  characters  are  the  virtuosi 
The  "AstrSe"''^  *^®  pastoral,  won  to  a  life  of  peace  and  frankly 
in  disguise.  All  are  courtly,  adepts  In  conversa- 
tion, if  need  be,  poets.  The  events  are  staged  in  Merovingian 
times,  on  the  banks  of  the  Lignon.  Celadon  has  been  in  love  for 
three  years  with  Astree;  but  Alcippe,  father  of  Celadon,  is  a 
Capulet,  and  the  lovers  arrange  that  Celadon  shall  feign  devotion 

'  The  third  volume,  dedicated  to  Louis  XIII,  appeared  in  1619. 


THE    ASTREE  231 

to  another  shepherdess.  Misunderstanding  ensues:  Astree  scorn- 
fully banishes  Celadon  from  her  presence,  and  the  unhappy 
youth  seeks  death  in  the  waters  of  the  Lignon.  Rescued  by 
nymphs,  he  escapes  the  amorous  pursuit  of  Galatee,  their 
princess,  and  finds  refuge  in  a  cave,  near  which  he  raises  bowers 
to  his  beloved,  also  a  temple  of  leaves,  where  are  inscribed  the 
Twelve  Laws  of  Love.  Celadon  then  places  in  the  hand  of  the 
sleeping  Silvandre  a  letter  to  Astree,  who  infers  that  it  is 
Celadon's  wraith  who  is  writing.  At  last,  the  Druid  Ademas 
brings  together  Astree  and  her  lover,  now  disguised  as  the  fair 
Alexis,  daughter  of  Ademas.  The  consequence  is  that  Astree 
loves  the  supposed  Alexis.  A  second  banishment  ensues. 
Celadon  in  despau-  offers  his  body  to  the  lions  of  the  Fountain 
of  Love,  but  they  refuse  to  prey  on  so  true  a  lover,  and  the 
work  closes  with  a  grand  reunion,  in  which  Celadon  and  Astree, 
Silvandre  and  Diane,  the  light-hearted  Hylas  who  refuses  to 
believe  in  the  constancy  of  love,  all  take  part. 

Into  this  framework  are  woven  the  "  affairs  "  of  many  other 
lovers,  each  with  his  particular  traverse,  as  well  as  considerable 
warlike  adventure  and  much  edifying  discussion  of  I'honneste 
amitie  or  gallantry.  Thus,  Ademas  explains  to  Celadon  the 
genesis  of  love  in  Neo-Platonic  terms: 

Toute  beaute  precede  de  cette  souveraine  bonte  que  nous  appe- 
lons  Dieu,  et  c'est  un  rayon  qui  s'elance  de  lui  sur  toutes  choses 
creees. 

We  learn  that  lovers  attract  one  another  like  magnets,  and  that 
thus  joined,  their  souls  mount  to  the  pure  essence  of  all  loving. 
But  the  real  expositor  of  this  theme  is  Silvandre,  the  model  of 
fidelity,  just  as  Hylas,  the  inconstant  shepherd,  is  the  foil  to  the 
extravagances  of  others.  Indeed,  there  is  a  peculiar  irony  in  the 
fact  that  d'Urfe  has  made  Hylas,  a  Provengal,  the  voice  of 
Gallic  common  sense.  Hylas,  to  whom  inconstancy  was  an 
article  of  faith,  seems  the  master-creation  of  this  idyll;  and  one 
can  picture  the  delight  with  which  some  of  Mme  de  Rambouillet's 
frequenters  read  the  passages  in  which  Hylas'  raillery  brings 
back  to  earth  his  nympholept  companions.  If  the  heroic 
romance  of  the  century  derives  from  the  Astree,  its  counter- 
part— the  roman  comiqv^  —  may  well  have  taken  hints  from 
d'Urf  e's  mocking  shepherd. 


232      HONORE    D'URFE    AND    THE    ROMANESQUE 

But  it  would  be  easy  to  exaggerate  the  merits  of  d'Urfe's 
work.  The  Italian  pastoral  is  a  poetic  fiction  consistently 
maintained.  D'Urfe's  attempt  to  make  it  a  lesson-book  in 
which  the  crude  would  learn  good  manners,  and  above  all,  the 
mixture  of  the  heroic  with  the  idyllic,  jar  on  the  modem  reader 
as  infractions  of  good  taste.  Granted  that  the  period  rather  than 
d'Urfe  is  responsible  for  the  blemishes  in  the  Astree,  it  is  yet  true 
that  d'Urfe's  tendency  to  treat  the  sentimentalizings  of  his 
characters  as  important  moral  truths  needs  but  the  confrontation 
with  a  Montaigne  or  a  Du  Vair  to  show  how  vaporous  his  idea  is. 
D'Urfe  has  the  suavity  of  Saint  Frangois  de  Sales,  but  he  lacks 
the  latter's  underlying  strength,  and  successful  as  the  Astree  was, 
it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  author  and  his  public  were 
both  enamored  of  panache  —  that  quality  which  Rostand  wittily 
defined  as  "  a  delicate  refusal  to  take  life  seriously." 

On  the  other  hand,  d'Urfe  has  considerable  descriptive  power 
(the  Astree  still  was  a  favorite  with  Rousseau) ,  a  marked  sense 
of  distinction,  charm  of  style,  and  the  ability  to  render  courtly 
traits  effectively.  All  this  made  for  the  vogue  of  his  romance 
during  the  first  half  of  the  century.  The  Astree  supplied  endless 
themes  of  conversation  to  the  salons.  It  was  a  veritable  mine 
for  plots  and  characters  of  the  drama;  a  year  before  the  Cid 
a  troupe  of  actors  still  advertised  plays  by  Du  Ryer,  Scudery 
and  Mairet,  as  containing  "  subjects  borrowed  from  the  Astree." 
Particularly,  it  committed  the  novel  in  France  to  an  analysis  of 
sentiment,  and  in  its  union  of  a  pastoral  with  a  pseudo-historical 
setting,  it  laid  the  foundation  for  numerous  romances  that  were 
to  follow  in  its  wake. 

The  first  of  these  is  La  Carithee  (1621)  by  Marin  le  Roy,  Sieur 
de  Gomberville  (1600-1674).  This  is  a  pale  reflection  of  the 
Historical  Astree,  with  scarcely  more  history  than  the  iSoman 
Romances  jj^j^g  ^f  Germanicus,  its  hero.  But  the  same  author's 
Polexandre  (5  vols.,  1629-1637)  replaces  the  pastoral  by  the  full- 
blown heroic,  developed  amid  exotic  surroundings,  which  gave  the 
work  an  immense  success.  The  principal  scene  of  this  romance  is 
the  Canary  Islands,  where  the  heroine  Alcidiane  is  protected  by  a 
shore  that  disappears  from  view  as  the  mariner  approaches  it. 
To  win  this  inaccessible  bride  Polexandre  goes  through  inextri- 
cable   adventures    with    Turks,    Moroccans,    Portuguese    and 


HISTORICAL   ROMANCES  233 

Spaniards;  he  patiently  listens  to  a  whole  course  on  Mexican 
history  by  Zelmatide,  heir  to  the  Empire  of  the  Incas;  and  he 
himself  becomes  Prince  of  the  Isle  of  the  Sun,  to  which  gorgeous 
ships  bear  gifts.  Wild  and  extravagant  as  Gomberville  is,  he 
has  an  eye  for  color,  and  his  fantasies  on  America  found  favor 
with  a  generation  to  whom  the  New  World  was  the  land  of 
marvels  and  of  gold. 

If  Polexandre  is  French  in  background,  Desmarets'  Ariane 
(2  vols.,  1632),  which  excels  through  its  brevity,  transports  us 
to  the  Rome  of  Nero.  It  contains  the  usual  love  intrigue,  inter- 
woven with  the  burning  of  the  city  and  a  number  of  unlikely 
adventures,  until  the  hero  Melinte  weds  the  sumptuous  Ariane. 
But  Desmarets,  known  also  by  his  successful  comedy,  Les 
Visionnaires,  has  a  direct  style,  which  graces  particularly  the 
numerous  letters  and  oracles  with  which  his  tale  abounds. 

The  historical  subject  was  now  to  the  fore;  Corneille  was 
exploiting  it  in  the  drama,  when  the  Gascon,  Gautier  Coste  de 
La  Calpre-  la  Calprenede  (1609-1663),  began  staging  it  mag- 
nede  nificently  in  his  romance  Cassandre  (10  vols.,  1642- 

1645).  This  work  was  soon  followed  by  the  still  more  elaborate 
Cleopatre  and  Faramond  ou  I'Histoire  de  France,  each  in  twelve 
volumes.^  La  Calprenede  also  wrote  tragedies,  but  he  owed 
his  reputation  to  his  romances,  which  continued  to  be  read 
in  England  until  Richardson's  Pamela  destroyed  their  hold 
in  the  eighteenth  century.  What  distinguishes  La  Calprenede 
is  the  adroit  handling  of  long  narrative.  His  works  abound  in 
"  oracles,"  "letters,"  descriptions  of  tournaments  and  disguises. 
The  author  plunges  inXmedias  res  and  develops  his  characters 
through  narrative  which  is  given  either  by  themselves  or  by 
subordinate  personages.  One  feature,  the  "  literary  portrait," 
found  in  previous  romances,  is  elaborated.  But  the  main  trait 
is  that  the  plot  moves  rapidly  on,  uncloyed  by  long-spun  dis- 
quisitions on  love;  also  the  Oriental  setting  is  deftly  unfolded, 
and  the  separate  episodes  have  point  and  direction.  All  this 
was  a  great  gain,  aside  from  the  fact  that  the  names  of  La 
Calprenede's  heroines  were  soon  on  all  lips  and  that  "  fier  comme 
Artaban  "  —  one  of  his  heroes  —  has  become  proverbial  in 
French. 

•  The  last  five  volumes  of  Faramond  are  by  a  continuator,  Vaumorifere. 


234.      HONORE    D'URFE    AND    THE    ROMANESQUE 

Still  Oriental  and  Roman,  though  contemporary  in  their  refer- 
ence to  actual  figures  and  events  of  the  day,  are  the  works  of 
The  Madeleine  de  Scudery  (1608-1701),  with  whom  her 

ScudSrys  brother  George  collaborated,  at  least  in  name.  With 
these  authors,  the  sentimental  romance  reached  its  greatest 
popularity,  which  was  destroyed  only  by  the  combined  satire  of 
Moliere  and  Boileau. 

The  Scuderys,  brother  and  sister,  were  from  Normandy. 
George  early  entered  the  army,  but  resigned  in  1630  and  began 
cultivating  the  dramatic  muse.  As  we  shall  see,  he  took  a 
leading  part  in  the  Quarrel  of  the  Cid,  and  like  many  contempo- 
raries he  tried  his  hand  on  an  epic,  Alaric,  which  had  the  honor  of 
making  Boileau  very  angry.  His  position  in  the  world  gave  him 
the  entree  to  the  Hotel  de  Rambouillet.  Hither  he  led  his  sister 
(about  1639),  and  two  years  later  they  published  their  first 
romance,  Ibrahim  ou  I'lllustre  Bassa,  the  scene  of  which  is  laid 
in  Constantinople  under  Soliman  II.  In  1649-1653  their  joint 
labors  resulted  in  the  ten  parts  of  the  celebrated  Artamene  ou  le 
Grand  Cyrus.  Here,  beneath  the  thin  veil  of  the  Persian  war, 
the  entire  aristocratic  world  —  from  the  Grand  Conde  (Cyrus) 
to  Voiture  (Aristhee)  and  Chapelain  (Callicrate)  —  found 
itself  reflected  in  detailed  "  portraits."  The  stir  that  this  work 
produced  can  be  imagined.  Tallemant  des  Reaux  aflSrms  that 
a  key  to  the  romance  was  in  circulation ;  and  we  may  be  sure  that 
more  than  one  key  was  used.  Meanwhile,  however,  Madeleine  de 
Scudery  had  begun  her  ownjmtii^,  where  precievx  gallantry 
rose  to  melodramatic  proportions  in  the  form  of  maps  and  indices 
of  sentiment,  like  the  well-known  Carte  de  Tendre  in  Clelie 
and  the  so-called  Conversations  galantes.  Once  more,  it  is  a 
question  of  whether  it  is  sweeter  to  be  loved  than  to  love,  of 
love  via  friendship,  of  absence  as  a  cure  to  love,  and  so  on. 

The  Scuderys'  third  romance,  Clelie,  histoire  romaine  (10  vols., 
1654^1660),  plants  these  flowers  of  preciosity  on  Roman 
soil  and  surrounds  them  with  the  noisy  atmosphere  of  the  Fronde. 
Clelie  is  the  daughter  of  a  noble  Roman,  Clelius,  whose  family 
Tarquin  has  compelled  to  fly  from  Rome  to  Carthage.  On  the 
voyage  thither  Clelius'  own  son  is  lost  and  in  his  place  Aronce, 
son  of  Porsenna,  is  rescued  and  later  brought  up  with  Clelie, 
who  of  course  becomes  the  lady  of  his  choice.    Then  follow 


REALISTIC    ROMANCES  235 

various  adventures  and  rivalries.  Clelie  has  other  suitors  for 
her  hand  —  among  them  the  tyrant  Tarquin  himself,  a  conspi- 
racy is  formed  against  Tarquin  by  Brutus,  and  this  patriot's 
history  is  narrated  in  detail.  Finally,  Porseima,  in  obedience 
to  an  oracle,  deserts  Tarquin  and  allows  his  son,  Aronce,  to 
marry  Clelie,  while  Tarquin  retreats  to  Cumae.  But  the 
interest  of  the  work  lies  in  the  "  conversations "  and  the 
twenty-seven  or  more  "  portraits,"  including  such  notabilities  as 
Louis  XIV,  Fouquet,  Mile  de  Scudery  herself,  the  Duchess  of 
Longueville,  Ninon  de  Lenclos  and  Scarron  —  in  short,  most  of 
the  social  set  of  the  age.  In  Clelie  the  long-winded  heroic 
romance  attains  its  summit,  and  fortunately  its  term. 

Thus,  differing  from  La  Calprenede  mainly  in  the  systematic 
use  of  the  disguised  character.  Mile  de  Scudery  supplies  the 
sociology  with  which  to  judge  the  grand  siecle  in  its  making. 
Her  works  offer  an  opportunity  to  the  historian  which  Victor 
Cousin  {La  Societe  frangaise)  has  not  failed  to  seize.  Outside 
of  the  idealized  "  portrait,"  however,  they  contain  little  that 
coinmon  sense  and  art  could  approve,  and  the  ridicule  that  they 
evoked  came  near  destroying  the  genre  they  represent.  Luckily, 
Mme  de  La  Fayette  rescued  the  novel  for  Classicism  by  substi- 
tuting psychology  for  heroics  in  her  Princesse  de  Cleves,  but 
Mme  de  La  Fayette  was  a  follower  not  of  the  Scuderys  but  of 
Comeille  (Ch.  IV).  As  for  the  sentimental  novel,  Moliere 
derided  it  in  his  Precieus^s-ndJssdes,  and  Boileau  sounded  its 
death-knell  when  in  Les  Heros  de  roman  (1664) ,  a  Lucianic  dia- 
logue, he  marched  the  heroes  of  the  romances  down  to  Hades, 
to  be  cast  into  Lethe. 

Such  reaction  and  satire,  however,  were  not  new.  As  early  as 
1622,  Charles  Sorel  (1602-1674),  obviously  inspired  by  Spanish 
The  Realistic  works,  began  his  Histoire  comtique  de  Francion, 
Typ«8  a  tale  of  picaresque  character,  in  which  such  writers 

as  Malherbe,  Racan  and  Balzac  appear  in  disguise.  Five  years 
later  he  published  Le  Berger  extravagant,  where  in  the  manner 
of  Cervantes  he  recounts  the  mishaps  of  a  young  Parisian  whose 
mind  has  been  upset  by  reading  the  Astree.  Amid  the  latter's 
pastoral  ravings  is  placed  an  attack  on  all  fiction,  both  prose 
and  verse.  The  work,  which  was  extremely  popular,  is  also 
directed  against  the  pompous  and  precieiix  style.    But  the  weak 


236      HONORS    D'URFE    AND    THE    ROMANESQUE 

side  of  Sorel  is  his  pedantry.  His  wit  is  too  obvious,  his  ar- 
raignment too  sweeping,  and  he  lacks  the  realistic  and  sympa- 
thetic insight  for  which  the  Don  Quixote  is  immortal.  A  similar 
fault,  that  of  pettiness,  attaches  to  the  Roman  bourgeois  (1666) 
of  Antoine  Furetiere  (1620-1688),  the  friend  of  Moliere  and 
Racine.  Here  the  types  are  Parisian  bourgeois;  Sorel  himself 
figures  among  them,  and  precieux  society  comes  in  for  its  due, 
Mile  de  Scudery  (Polymathie)  being  extolled  for  her  wit  but 
derided  for  her  ugliness.  A  telling  stroke  of  Fm-etiere's  is  the 
tariff  of  prices  he  gives  for  the  insertion  of  a  character  in  a 
romance.  As  satire,  the  Roman  bourgeois  is  the  most  graphic 
account  the  century  produced  of  the  foibles  of  the  middle  class, 
however  inferior  it  may  be  as  art  to  Moliere's  Bourgeois  gentil- 
homme. 

The  novelist  of  the  period  in  whom  realism  does  approach  art 
is  Paul  Scarron  (1610-1660).  Hopelessly  deformed  and  bent 
by  disease,  Scarron,  in  spite  of  his  loose  morals,  had  an  inflexible 
spirit  which  evidently  won  him  the  affection  of  the  remarkable 
lady  he  married:  Frangoise  dAubigne,  granddaughter  of  the 
Protestant  poet,  and  later,  as  Mme  de  Maintenon,  the  most 
influential  woman  in  France.  Scarron  had  a  turn  for  the 
burlesque,  which  he  manifests  in  his  plays  and  also  in  his 
Virgile  travesti,  a  vulgar  satire  on  the  epics  of  his  day  that  he 
should  have  allowed  to  die  by  their  own  dead  weight.  His  one 
noteworthy  feat  was  Le  Roman  comique  (1651),  the  history  of  a 
strolling  troupe  of  comedians,  thought  by  some  critics  to  be 
Moliere's.  Here  we  have  nol  only  types  but  genuine  characters, 
individualized  in  their  proper  setting  and  possessing  the  imprint 
of  actuality.  The  narrative  is  short  and  sprightly,  and  its  vigor 
contrasts  sharply  with  the  sugary  tone  of  La  Calprenede  and 
the  Scuderys. 

It  must  be  apparent  from  the  foregoing  survey  that  the  French 
novel  of  the  seventeenth  century  does  not  stand  for  that 
Tjjg  observance  of  rule  and  order  toward  which  French 

Romanesque,  literature  as  a  whole  was  moving.  The  reasons  for 
this  are  clear.  In  the  first  place,  the  romance  was 
not  an  Aristotelian  or  Horatian  form.  Thus  there  were  no 
classical  rules  to  follow;  and  as  for  the  influence  of  the  late 
Greek  romances,  their  tendency  was  entirely  in  favor  of  the  dif- 


THE    ROMANESQUE  237 

fuseness  and  complicated  intrigue  that  one  observes  in  the  Amadis 
and  the  Astree.  In  the  second  place,  those  Italian  critics  who 
treated  the  romance  were  careful  to  note  its  distinctive,  modern 
character,  as  not  bound  by  form  but  as  open  to  this  imagination 
in  search  of  the  new  and  adventurous.  Lastly,  feudalism  itself, 
the  survival  of  Arthurian  themes  in  Ariosto,  Tasso  and  the 
Amadis,  as  well  as  the  printing  in  the  sixteenth  century  of  many 
Old  French  romances,  are  factors  that  served,  each  in  its  way, 
to  further  the  revival  of  prose  fiction. 

However,  the  Age  of  Louis  XIII  was  romantic,  if  not  emo- 
tionally in  the  modem  sense,  at  least,  intellectually  or  ration- 
ally. The  salons  with  their  extravagances,  their  cult  of  Spanish 
and  Italian  mannerisms,  their  dabbling  with  the  je  ne  sais  quoi, 
their  naive  desire  to  see  themselves  "  portrayed  "  ideally,  illus- 
trate this  fact.  In  the  field  of  politics  the  Wars  of  the  Fronde 
exemplify  it  again:  it  was  the  toying  with  politics  rather  than 
any  systematic  attempt  at  revolution  that  made  the  Frondeurs 
such  easy  victims  to  the  astuteness  of  a  Richelieu  or  a  Mazarin. 
It  was  these  intellectual  vagaries,  impelled  by  a  laudable  desire 
to  excel  and  be  brilliant,  that  inspired  seventeenth-century 
romance.  Rostand  has  revived  the  spirit  of  the  time  in  his 
Cyrano  de  Bergerac,  which  brings  back  not  only  the  relatively 
obscure  author  of  the  Etats  et  empire  de  la  lune  but  also  the 
whole  epoch  of  his  life  (1619-1655),  with  its  buoyancy,  its  af- 
fectations, its  humor  and  its  heroism. 

Moi,  e'est  moralement  que  j'ai  mes  elegances, 

says  Cyrano  in  the  play.  This  is  not  yet  the  grandeur  d'dme 
of  a  Cornelian  hero,  but  an  approach  to  it.  The  truth  is  that 
with  all  its  faults  the  romanesque  always  possesses  a  moral 
element  of  generosity  and  distinction.  As  a  literary  form, 
however,  the  sentimental  novel  of  the  period  failed  because  it 
lacked  the  necessary  curbs,  both  from  within  and  from  without. 
These  it  was  finally  to  acquire  from  the  drama,  and  thus 
seventeenth-century  fiction  excels  only  in  the  single  instance 
-oLiMPnncesse  de  Cleves  (see  Book  IV,  Ch.  I) . 


CHAPTER  III 
THE    DRAMA   PREVIOUS    TO    CORNEILLE 

The  Edict  of  1548,  by  which  Parliament  established  the 
Confrerie  de  la  Passion  in  control  of  the  Parisian  stage  (Bk.  I) , 
had  relegated  the  mysteres  sacres  to  the  provinces.  Such  plays 
of  medieval  inspiration  as  survived  in  the  capital  assumed  a 
secular,  classical  form,  which  —  as  we  shall  see  —  was  often 
more  apparent  than  real.  In  1578  the  Confrerie  itself,  unable 
to  change  with  the  changing  world,  took  professional  actors  into 
its  pay;  and  finally  it  rented  the  Hotel  de  Bourgogne  to 
outside  troupes  of  actors.  In  1583  its  boards  were  occupied  by 
Italian  players,  the  Gelosi,  famous  for  their  portrayal  of  the 
so-called  Improvised  Comedy  or  Commedia  dell'  arte;  and  these 
were  followed  in  1599  by  the  Comediens  frangais  ordinaires  du  roi, 
a  strolling  troupe  which  under  the  leadership  of  Valleran 
Lecomte  had  won  favor  at  court.  It  was  to  compete  with  this 
troupe  that  the  actor  Mohdory  opened  a  second  Parisian  theater, 
in  the  quarter  of  the  Marais,  in  1628.  But  the  Confrerie  was 
not  easily  dispossessed;  clinging  to  the  proprietorship ' of  the 
Hotel  de  Bourgogne,  it  interfered  in  theatrical  affairs  until 
in  1676  Louis  XIV,  annoyed  at  its  meddling,  dissolved  the 
corporation. 

Within  these  dates  (1548-1676)  came  the  rise  and  development 
of  French  Classical  drama. 

In  considering  its  origins  it  is  important  to  keep  two  facts  in 
mind.  First,  in  the  sixteenth  century  the  French  shared  with 
the  rest  of  Europe  the  view  that  the  drama  is  "  an  exposition  of 
emotion,  of  misery  or  joy  "  rather  than  "  a  conflict  of  wills  in  the 
form  of  action."  Secondly,  it  is  less  from  tragedy  or  comedy 
thus  conceived  that  the  Classical  drama  descends,  than  from  a 
hybrid  form,  called  tragi-comedy,  as  developed  by  Gamier  and 
Hardy,  and  as  perfected  by  Corneille.  Tragi-comedy  is  the  real 
link  between  the  medieval  theater,  with  its  multiplex  stage- 

238 


RENAISSANCE    TRAGEDY  239 

setting,  and  the  plays  of  Moliere  and  Racine.  Thus  we  can 
distinguish  two  preliminary  periods:  (1)  1548-1600  —  the  period 
when  France,  together  with  other  countries,  is  striving  to  pro- 
duce a  type  of  expository  lyrical  drama;  and  (2)  1600-1636  — 
the  period  when  the  more  popular  tragi-comedy  is  definitely 
established  and  then  (1628),  through  the  influence  of  the 
unities,  is  transformed  into  the  Classical  forms  of  tragedy  and 
comedy. 

The  Renaissance  had  inherited  the  name  "  tragedy  "  from  the 
medieval  granomarians.  A  tragedy  was  any  plot,  whether 
The  Renais-  drama  or  not,  that  ended  in  bloodshed  and  horror: 
sance  Type  "  Injustices  que  I'on  raconte  es  tragedies,"  said 
o  rage  y  j;[-i{.olas  Oresme.  But  the  concept  that  tragedy  is  a 
dramatic  representation  of  human  misery  is  Senecan.  In  this 
respect  the  Italians  again  anticipated  their  northern  neighbors, 
the  first  vernacular  drama  on  a  Senecan  model  being  the 
Sophonisba  of  Trissino  in  1515.  Italian  actors  and  stage-settings 
were  popular  at  the  court  of  Francis  I;  and  in  1548  Sebillet 
(see  Bk.  II,  Ch.  I)  said  in  his  Art  poetique: 

La  moralite  frangoise  represente  en  quelquechose  la  tragedie 
grecque  ou  latine,  singulierement  en  ce  qu'elle  traite  sujets  graves 
et  principaux.  Et  si  le  Frangois  s'estoit  range  a  ce,  que  la  fin  de 
la  moralite  fust  toujours  triste  et  douloureuse,  la  moralite  seroit 
tragedie. 

Greek  influence  was  added  to  Senecan  by  the  translations  of 
Lazare  de  Baif  from  Euripides  and  Sophocles,  and  with  the  same 
insistence  on  the  tragic  ending,  foir  Baif  defines  as  follows:. 

Tragedie  est  une  moralite  composee  des  grandes  calamitez,  meur- 
tres  et  adversitez  survenus  aux  nobles  et  excellents  personnages 
comme  .  .  .  CEdipus  qui  se  creva  les  yeux  apres  qu'U  lui  fust 
declare  comme  il  avoit  eu  des  enfants  de  sa  propre  mere,  apres 
avoir  tue  son  pere. 

Thus,  it  is  clear  that  when,  after  1548,  the  French  began  writing 
tragedies  of  their  own,  the  underlying  concept  was  lyric  rather 
than  dramatic;  the  chief  element  of  the  plot  was  the ^fMnau£mmji;. 
and  the  subject  invariably  was  the  misfortune  which  befalls 
several  souls  or  the  misfortunes  which  befall  one  soul.  A  typical 
model  was  the  Hecuba  of  Euripides,  of  which  there  were  four 


240     THE    DRAMA    PREVIOUS    TO    CORNEILLE 

translations  besides  innumerable  editions.  Here  the  audience 
delighted  in  the  spectacle  of  a  queen  who  has  become  a  slave,  a 
wife  who  witnesses  her  husband's  death,  a  mother  who  sees  her 
son  and  daughter  perish;  three  calamities  overwhelming  a  noble 
and  virtuous  character.  And  the  best  example  in  all  literature  of 
this  lyrical  form  of  tragedy  is  Shakespeare's  King  Lear,  where, 
with  characteristic  lack  of  poetic  justice,  the  destruction  of  Lear 
carries  with  it  the  just  and  the  unjust  to  a  terrible  end.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  no  lyrical  tragedy  written  in  France  is  com- 
parable to  this  masterpiece. 

The  main  difference  between  Renaissance  tragedy  and  the 
old  moralite  therefore  was  one  of  form  —  granting  the  adoption 
also  of  the  Greek  or  Latin  subject.  The  plot  was  now  divided 
into  acts  instead  of  journees,  to  agree  with  Horace ;  the  occasions 
for  lyrical  verse  were  increased  through  the  use  of  monologues, 
descriptions  and  choruses,  modeled  on  the  ancients;  above  all, 
attention  was  given  to  stylistic  expression,  and  when  a  tragedy 
was  acted  —  though  few  sixteenth-century  tragedies  were  —  an 
elaborate  Renaissance  setting  was  the  rule.  Obviously,  such 
plays  had  but  little  action,  since  the  victim,  and  not  the  agent 
of  the  drama,  was  the  main  character  in  the  plot. 

Most  of  the  above  traits  appear  in  the  first  French  tragedy, 
Cleopatre  captive,  by  Etienne  Jodelle  (1552).  Here  the  action 
begins  only  after  the  death  of  Antony.  In  the  first  act  the 
ghost  of  the  murdered  Roman  recounts  the  story  of  his  tragic 
love,  Cleopatra  discusses  with  her  attendants  a  dream  she  has 
had,  and  the  chorus  dilates  upon  the  inconstancy  of  fortune. 
In  the  second  act  Octavius  deliberates  on  the  fate  reserved  for 
the  Egyptian  queen.  The  agony  of  Cleopatra  is  then  the  sub- 
ject of  the  third  and  fourth  acts,  which  are  followed  by  a  reci- 
tal of  her  death.  In  the  entire  play  there  is  but  one  real  epi- 
sode (that  of  Seleucus),  the  work  being  an  endless  elegy  on  an 
inevitable  death.  Unfortunately,  Jodelle  for  all  his  association 
with  the  Pleiade  was  an  inferior  poet,  and  rare  are  the  lines  in 
which  beauty  of  expression  redeems  paucity  of  incident  and 
action.  Yet  there  is  imagination  in  the  words  in  which  Cleopatra 
envisages  Antony's  love: 

Ha!  rorgueil  et  les  ris,  la  perle  detrempee. 
La  delicate  vie  effeminant  ses  forces, 
Estoient  de  nos  malheurs  les  subtiles  amorces. 


RENAISSANCE  TRAGEDY  241 

Jodelle's  tragedy  was  played  before  the  court  at  the  Hotel 
de  Reims.  In  1560  Jacques  Grevin's  La  Mort  de  Cesar  was 
performed  at  the  College  de  Beauvais.  Republican  Rome  was 
a  favorite  subject  with  the  Renaissance,  and  Grevin  followed  the 
general  outlines  of  a  Latin  tragedy  on  Caesar  by  Muret.  Being 
a  superior  poet,  he  infused  the  well-ordered  original  with  warmth 
and  idealism.  Mark  Antony,  with  the  toga  of  the  dead  Caesar 
in  his  hands,  is  not  yet  the  Shakespearean  spellbinder,  but  his 
plea  for  the  rights  of  conquest  over  against  the  rights  of  the 
people,  as  set  forth  by  Cassius,  is  dramatic  in  concept  and 
expression.  There  is,  in  fact,  in  the  clash  of  Grevin's  lines  an 
occasional  approach  to  the  rhetoric  of  Corneille: 

Cesar 

C'est  peu  d'avoir  vaincu  puisqu'il  faut  vivre  en  doute. 

Antoine 

Mais  s'en  peut-il  trouver  un  qui  ne  vous  redoute? 

Better  than  either  of  the  plays  mentioned  is  Saul  le  furieux  by 
Jean  de  la  Taille,  in  1562.  Like  Grevin,  La  Taille  was  a  Protes- 
tant with  a  classical  education;  but  he  had  greater  knowledge 
of  dramatic  technique.  When  his  tragedy  appeared  in  print 
(1572),  it  was  preceded  by  a  treatise  on  the  Art  de  la  tragedie 
in  which  the  dramatic  unities  are  borrowed  from  the  Italian 
work  of  Castelvetro  (see  below) .  The  theme  of  Saul  is  the  man 
crushed  by  fate.  Saul,  who  had  been  the  instrument  of  the 
Divine  will,  now  becomes  its  victim.  But  his  spirit,  struggling 
with  doubt,  open  revolt  and  heroic  despair,  remains  uncon- 
quered  in  the  face  of  death.  Meeting  destruction  at  the  head 
of  his  troops,  he  says: 

.  Je  ne  veux,  abaissant  ma  haute  majeste, 

Eviter  le  trepas  qui  predit  m'a  este; 
Je  veux  done  vaUlamment  mourir  pour  ma  patrie; 
Je  veux  acquerir  gloire  en  vendant  cher  ma  vie. 

The  play  closes  on  this  note  of  moral  grandeur,  which  is  the 
more  firmly  conceived  inasmuch  as  the  opposing  fate  is  God 
Himself. 

Thus  Biblical  and  Graeco-Roman  themes  alternate  as  the 
subjects  of  tragedy.  A  trilogy  by  Louis  Desmasures  —  a  friend 
of  the  Pleiade  —  covers  the  life  of  King  David:  David  combat- 


242     THE    DRAMA   PREVIOUS    tO    CORNEILLE 

tant,  David  triomphant  and  David  fugitif  (1566).  By  the  early 
age  of  eighteen  Jacques  de  la  Taille  (a  brother  of  Jean)  had 
composed  a  Ddire  and  an  Alexandre.  But  the  most  prolific,  and 
in  general  the  most  original,  dramatist  of  the  age  was  Robert 
Gamier  (1535-1601). 

Of  Garnier's  six  classical  tragedies,  the  Hippolyte  (1573)  is 
the  most  interesting  because  it  continues  the  tradition  of  Seneca. 
Robert  Far    from    aliticipating    Racine,    Gamier    makes 

Gamier  Phaedra  die  of  love,  not  remorse,  and  lets  her  find 

in  death  the  union  with  Hippolytus.  Thus  the  lyrical  strain  is 
strong  in  Gamier,  and  death  crowns  Phaedra's  passion  with  a 
halo  of  glory: 

Mes  pensers  ne  sont  plus  d'amoureuse  detresse, 
Je  n'ai  rien  de  lascif  qui  votre  ame  reblesse  — 

is  the  final  reflection  of  this  chastened  heroine.  On  the  other 
hand,  as  Faguet  has  shown,  Garnier's  Les  Juives  (1580)  is 
the  Athalie  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Elegiacal  by  nature  and 
hence  slow  in  action,  this  Biblical  tragedy  is  yet  powerful  in 
dramatic  suspense.  The  plot  is  the  story  of  Zedekiah,  King  of 
Judea,  overwhelmed  by  the  cruelty  of  Nebuchadnezzar.  The 
first  act  reveals  the  situation:  the  life  of  the  King  and  his  city 
are  threatened;  the  chorus  of  Jews  bewails  the  oncoming  doom. 
In  the  second,  an  appeal  to  the  conqueror's  wife  gives  new  hope. 
In  the  third,  Nebuchadnezzar  veils  his  grim  purpose  in  obscure 
language.  The  fourth  shows  the  family  of  Zedekiah,  imprisoned, 
but  trustful  as  to  their  final  release.  In  the  fifth,  the  blow  falls 
as  from  a  clear  sky:  Zedekiah 's  children  are  murdered,  his  high- 
priest  is  beheaded,  and  he  himself  is  blinded. 

Garnier's  style  lacks  richness,  but  his  motivation  is  well-knit 
and  his  characters  stand  out  as  individuals.  With  his  tragi- 
comedy Bradamante  —  his  most  original  work  —  we  shall  deal 
in  another  place.  As  for  his  verse,  it  often  has  the  harmony  of 
the  Pleiade.  How  Ronsardian  he  can  be  appears  in  such  lines 
as  these,  from  the  chorus  of  Hippolyte: 

Faisons,  6  mes  compagnes, 
Retentir  lea  montagnes 
Et  les  rochers  secrets 
De  nos  regrets! 


MONTCHRETIEN  243 

In  Gamier,  lyrical  tragedy  had  reached  its  apogee;  with  An- 

Montchretien  *°^^^  de  Montchretien   (1575-1621)   it  had  a  final 

flare  before  its  extinction  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

Montchretien's  life  was  full  of  incident,  with  which  the  spn- 
tentious  rhetoric  of  his  writings  is  in  sharp  contrast.  Son  of  an 
apothecary  of  Falaise,  left  an  orphan  and  robbed  of  his  patri- 
mony in  youth,  he  made  his  way  as  a  servant,  won  back  his 
estate  and  became  embroiled  in  duels.  In  1605  he  was  in  Eng- 
land. There  his  tragedy,  L'Ecosscdse,  on  the  subject  of  Mary 
Stuart,  won  the  approbation  of  James  I,  who  effected  his  return 
to  France.  He  then  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  steel.  But 
he  agitated  against  Louis  XIII,  joined  the  recalcitrant  Protes- 
tants and  was  shot  down  with  several  of  his  followers.  He  left 
considerable  lyric  and  some  epic  poetry,  six  tragedies  and  a 
bergerie. 

Of  the  dramas  the  Biblical  tragedy,  Aman  ou  la  vanite,  and  the 
aforenamed  L'Ecossaise  ou  le  desastre  are  the  best.  But  they  are 
good  only  in  their  lyrical  qualities:  a  smooth  and  elegant  dic- 
tion and  an  abundant  imagery  which  is  all  too  harmonious. 
"What  is  man?  "  asks  Montchretien: 

Une  fleur  passagere 
Que  la  chaleur  flestrit  ou  que  le  vent  fait  choir, 
Une  vaine  fumee,  ou  une  ombre  legere. 
Que  Ton  volt  au  matin,  qu'on  ne  voit  plus  au  soir. 

His  Aman  has  five  acts;  Racine,  a  far  greater  poet,  found  in 
the  same  subject  material  for  only  three.  The  first  two  acts  of 
L'Ecossaise  are  composed  of  rhetorical  speeches,  ending  in  the 
death-sentence  pronounced  by  Queen  Elizabeth;  the  next  two 
contain  the  expostulations  and  prayers  of  the  victim;  and  the 
last  act  is  the  recital  of  Mary's  execution.  Thus,  Montchretien 
closes  a  type  of  tragedy  which  lacked  the  vigor  and  originality 
to  make  it  blossom  into  life.  It  was  not,  as  a  type,  suited  to  the 
French  sqnse  of  clarity  and  poetic  justice.  Moreover,  those 
Frenchmen  who  essayed  it  were  not  of  the  first  rank. 

As  regards  comedy,  the  failure  of  the  sixteenth  century  was 
even  greater  than  in  tragedy.  "  Comedy,"  said  the  best  comic 
Renaissance  writer  of  the  time,  "  shows  dexterity  of  the  mind," 
Comedy  ^^^  ^  comedy  writer  who  is  merely  dexterous  is  not 


244     THE    DRAMA    PREVIOUS    TO    CORNEILLE 

apt  to  be  true  to  life.  This  misconception,  however,  was  not 
due  to  inadequate  models.  By  1339  the  plays  of  Terence  had 
almost  all  been  translated  into  French.  In  1567  Baif  gave  a 
clever  rendering  of  the  Miles  gloriosus  of  Plautus.  The  types  of 
Italian  comedy  of  intrigue,  the  commedia  dell'arte,  were  gaining 
rapid  and  lasting  recognition:  we  shall  see  how  Moliere  learned 
from  them.  That  curious  medley  of  genres,  the  Spanish  Celes' 
Una,  went  through  five  translations.  Nevertheless,  the  French 
were  neither  first-class  imitators  of  foreign  wares  nor  wielders 
of  a  successful  comedy  of  their  own. 

Thus  Jodelle's  Eugene  (1552)  is  a  jarce  dressed  up  in  classical 
costume.  It  is  divided  into  regular  acts  and  scenes,  and  some  of 
the  characters  have  a  gravity  of  tone  that  is  not  unlike  the  later 
bourgeois  drama  or  drame.  But  the  pointed  satire  of  the 
wealthy  and  dissolute  priest,  Eugene,  is  farcical  in  concept  with- 
out achieving  the  light  and  frolicsome  spirit  of  the  medieval 
genre.  A  similar  wavering  spoils  the  effect  of  Jacques  Grevin's 
La  Tresoriere,  although  the  same  author's  Les  Ebahis  (1561) 
has  the  merit  of  ridiculing  Italian  affectation  in  the  character 
of  Pantalone  —  himself  a  favorite  comedy  type  —  and  of 
realistically  portraying  the  dotard  in ,  love.  In  imitation  of 
the  Italians,  Jean  de  la  Taille's  Les  Corrivaux  (about  1563)  and 
Odet  de  Turnebe's  Les  Contents  (1584)  employ  prose  instead  of 
eight-syllable  verse.  The  latter  play  is  also  noted  for  its  sprightly 
dialogue  and  its  clever  delineation  of  the  "  nurse,"  another 
popular  Renaissance  type.  Lastly,  the  best  sixteenth-century 
comedy  in  French  is  a  direct  adaptation  from  the  Italian; 
namely,  Larivey's  "  Ghosts  "  or  Les  Esprits. 

A  descendant  of  the  Florentine  publishers  Giunti,  whose  name 
he  Gallicized,  Larivey  was  a  cleric  of  Troyes  who  mingled  re- 
Larivey  hgion  with  a  bent  for  the  burlesque  and  licentious. 

Although  his  Six  premieres  comedies  facetieuses  in 
prose  (1549)  were  never  performed,  Larivey  had  an  eye  for 
the  dramatic  and  knew  the  French  equivalents  for  Italian 
roguery  and  picaresque  phrase.  Les  Esprits,  based  on  Lorenzino's 
Aridosio,  has  fewer  characters  than  its  original,  but  these 
are  well  drawn,  and  in  particular  the  third  act  —  with  the 
conjuring  of  the  "  ghosts  "  by  M.  Josse,  sorcerer,  and  the  delud- 
ing of  RuflSn,  the  importunate  creditor  —  devdops  excellent 


ALEXANDRE    HARDY  245 

farce.  As  late  as  1611  Larivey  published  other  comedies,  none 
of  which  reach  the  high  level  of  the  earlier  group.  It  should  be 
noted  that  Moliere  read  Larivey  with  profit. 

A  position  between  tragedy  and  comedy  was  given  by  the 
Renaissance  to  the  dramatized  bergerie  or  pastorale.  As  the  last 
The  Pas-  name  indicates,  the  chief  features  of  this  genre  are 
torale  the  disguise  of  the  characters  as  shepherds  and  the 

idyllic.  Arcadian  setting  made  fashionable  by  Sannazzaro.  The 
traits  in  question  appear  first  in  a  comedy  called  Les  Ombres 
(1566),  by  Filleul.  The  translation  of  Tasso's  Aminta  and 
Guarini's  Pastor  Fido  thereupon  increased  the  vogue  of  such 
idealized  portraiture,  especially  among  the  aristocratic-  But  it 
was  not  until  after  1600  that  Hardy  made  the  pastorale  a  distinct 
genre  by  separating  it  from  the  leading  dramatic  form  of  his 
time,  tragi-comedy. 

The  striking  thing  about  Hardy  is  his  timeliness.  He  came  at 
a  moment  when  the  theater  needed  a  practical  person  to  guide 
Alexandre  it:  one  who  was  not  primarily  a  poet  or  a  theorist 
Trari^  *°*  ^^^  ^  playwright  trained  to  the  stage  and  the  ro- 
comedy  manesque  taste  of  the  theater-going  public.     This 

role  Alexandre  Hardy  (1570-1632)  was  eminently  qualified  to 
fill.  Employed  by  the  comedians  of  Valleran  Lecomte  as  a 
sort  of  poete  a  gages,  Hardy  slaved  to  supply  them  with  a  reper- 
tory, at  first  in  the  provinces  and  then  in  Paris  at  the  Hotel 
de  Bourgogne.  That  his  output  does  not  rank  high  as  literature 
is  not  surprising  —  particularly  when  we  consider  that  he  pro- 
duced hundreds  of  plays,  of  which  only  eleven  tragedies,  twenty- 
five  tragi-comedies  and  five  pastorales  were  ever  published. 
Lanson  thinks  he  scented  the  importance,  without  being  able  to 
realize  it,  of  psychological  action,  and  queries  whether  Hardy 
had  not  read  Montaigne.  Certainly  he  knew,  besides  much 
miscellaneous  literature,  the  Astree  with  its  elaborate  love 
analyses. 

In  the  main.  Hardy  followed  the  lead  of  Gamier  and  pushed 
'the  drama  toward  a  freer  and  yet  firmer  issue.  The  tragedies, 
with  which  he  apparently  began,  retain  the  Renaissance  feature 
of  a  long  denouement:  in  La  mort  d' Alexandre,  Alexander  drinks 
poison  early  in  the  play,  thus  leaving  two  full  acts  for  a  dis- 
play of  his  suffering.    But  Hardy  innovated  even  in  tragedy, 


i 


246     THE    DRAMA   PREVIOUS    TO    CORNEILLE 

from  a  practical  point  of  view:  he  eventually  gives  up  the  chorus, 
increases  the  number  of  characters  and  strives  in  every  way  to 
set  the  action  before  the  eyes  of  the  spectator.  The  result  is  a 
fortified  unity  of  action.  In  Coriolan  the  question  is,  Shall 
Rome  or  Coriolanus  be  the  victim  of  ingratitude?  But  this 
strengthening  is  coupled  with  a  disregard  for  the  imities  of  place 
and  time.  Thus  Hardy's  tendency  was  toward  a  form  of  the 
drame  libre,  and  in  view  of  the  stage  setting  of  the  Hotel  de 
Bourgogne,  which  represented  several  localities  at  once,  he  next 
turned  to  tragi-comedy. 

This  genre  had  arisen  out  of  the  detritus  of  the  medieval 
stage.  The  name  "  tragi-comedy  "  alone  is  classic,  Plautus  hav- 
ing used  it  to  designate  a  comic  plot  containing  characters  of 
high  rank  (gods  and  kings).  In  1545,  however,  the  Italian  critic 
Giraldi  applied  the  term  to  a  tragic  plot  with  a  happy  ending, 
and  with  this  usage  the  sixteenth  century  fell  in.  Indeed,  after 
1552  the  name  was  employed  for  any  play  of  medieval  origin 
which  possessed  "  a  happy  denouement  and  at  least  a  partly 
classical  form "  (Lancaster)  —  so  that  not  only  the  miracle 
but  also  the  mystere  and  the  farce  came  thus  to  be  disguised. 
When,  therefore,  the  generation  of  1600  became  enamored  of  the 
romanesque  (Ch.  II),  it  was  the  non-historic,  romanesque  plot 
for  which  tragi-comedy  was  used.  In  Hardy  the  genre  is  vir- 
tually a  dramatized  novel. 

Here  again  Hardy  takes  his  departure  from  Gamier,  whose 
Bradamante  (1550)  was  the  best  model  to  follow.  Borrowed 
from  the  Orlando  Fvrioso  —  and  it  is  noteworthy  that  Gamier 
drew  directly  on  a  "  romance  "  —  the  subject  of  this  play  is  the 
marriage  of  Roger  and  Bradamante.  Charlemagne  had  decreed 
that  the  latter  should  marry  the  man  who  could  conquer  her  in 
combat.  Roger  wins  the  contest  but  in  behalf  of  Leon,  who  had 
previously  saved  Roger's  life ;  an  appeal  is  then  made  to  the  Em- 
peror, who  declares  that  the  matter  shall  be  decided  by  a  duel 
between  the  rivals.  Leon  now  discovers  Roger's  identity  and, 
rather  than  oppose  him,  magnanimously  gives  up  Bradamante. 
The  double  marriage  of  Roger  and  Bradamante  and  Leon 
with  Charlemagne's  own  daughter  then  brings  the  play  to 
an  end. 

How  closely  Hardy  adopted  Garnier's  technique  can  be  seen 


\ 


ALEXANDRE  HARDY  247 

from  his  Oesippe  ou  les  devx  amis  and  his  Elmire  ou  I'heweuse 
bigamie.  Both  plays  are  novelistic  in  origin,  Oesippe  being  a 
tale  of  Boccaccio's,  and  Elmire  the  well-known  Legend  of  the 
Count  of  Gleichen.  Both  deal  with  a  love-affair;  both  disregard 
the  unities;  and  both  end  happily.  Thus  Hardy  brought  the 
stage  into  active  cooperation  with  contemporary  taste,  and  won 
for  the  drama  what  it  had  previously  lacked;  namely,  popular 
support.  His  style  is  undistinguished,  his  attempts  to  imitate 
Ronsard  often  absurd,  and  his  lack  of  probability  startling; 
but  his  drama  has  action  and  he  enormously  enriched  its  sources 
of  material.  From  Amyot's  Theagene  et  Chariclee  he  drew 
eight  plays  of  five  acts  each;  La  Force  du  sang  and  La  beUe 
Egyptienne  are  dramatized  novelas  of  Cervantes;  Phraate  is 
taken  from  Giraldi  Cinthio,  and  so  forth.  Finally,  Hardy  made 
the  pastorale  a  distinct  genre  by  giving  it  a  completely  bucolic 
atmosphere  (no  chivalry,  no  royal  personages)  and  a  light, 
bantering  tone,  in  ten-syllable  verse. 

In  short,  it  was  Hardy's  achievement  to  reconcile  stage- 
craft and  dramatic  art,  and  to  set  up  tragi-comedy  as  a 
point  of  departure  for  future  experimentation.  It  is  significant 
that  Schelandre's  Tyr  et  Sidon,  a  tragedy  in  1608,  is  transformed 
into  a  tragi-comedy  in  1628  and  is  preceded  by  the  words  of 
Ogier: 

That  to  separate  the  coinic  and  tragic  elements  in  the  same 
play  is  to  ignore  the  condition  of  men's  lives,  of  whom  the  days 
and  hours  are  often  intermingled  with  laughter  and  tears,  with 
contentment  and  affiction,  according  as  they  are  moved  by  good 
or  evil  fortmie. 

This  sounds  like  the  practical  creed  of  Shakespeare.  More  es- 
pecially it  voices  the  opinions  of  De  Laudun,  whose  Art  poetique 
(1598)  had  argued  against  the  unities,  and  of  Lope  de  Vega, 
whose  Arte  nuevo  de  hacer  comedias  (1609)  was  having  its 
effect  in  France  by  the  side  of  Spanish  subjects  and  models. 

The  period  from  1628  to  the  appearance  of  the  Cid  (1636)  is 

marked  by  unusual  productivity,  considerable  quibbling  as  to 

dramatic  principles  and  the  final  establishment  of 

the   unities.    In   this   struggle   the   court   and  the 

public  were  on  one  side;  on  the  other  were  the  theorists  led  by 

Chg.pelain  and  Richelieu,  and  known  as  les  doctes. 


248     THE    DRAMA    PREVIOUS    TO    CORNEILLE 

At  first  Hardy's  irregularity  was  all  the  rage.  The  leading 
dramatists,  Rotrou,  Du  Ryer  and  Scudery,  all  wrote  tragi- 
comedies; and  the  more  romanesque  the  subject  the  better.  As 
late  as  1639  it  was  by  means  of  a  tragi-comedy  ^  that  Scudery 
tried  to  silence  the  Cid;  whereas  Rotrou's  Occasions  perdues 
(1633)  added  the  direct  imitation  of  the  Spanish  comedia  to  that 
of  the  novel.  There  was,  in  fact,  scarcely  a  dramatic  freedom 
(blank  verse,  prose,  murders  on  the  stage)  that  did  not  find 
some  defender  in  France. 

Nevertheless,  the  generation  of  Malherbe  was  now  in  the 

saddle.    The  Hotel  de  Bourgogne  might  favor  the  romanesque 

drama:  the  friends  of  rule  and  order  had  the  offi- 
Segulars 

cial  world  on  their  side,  and  when  the  Theatre  du 

Marais  opened  its  doors  (1628)  it  did  so  for  a  presentation  of 
their  wares.  The  spokesman  of  this  movement,  Jean  de  Mairet 
(1604-1686),  lacked  genius  but  he  heeded  the  critics,  who,  to- 
gether with  the  followers  of  the  Marquise  de  Rambouillet, 
pushed  him  to  the  front. 

As  early  as  his  Chryseide  et  Arimant  (1625),  a  tragi-comedy, 
Mairet  had  shown  a  tendency  toward  unity  of  plot.  In  1631  he 
published  Silvanire,  another  tragi-comedy,  with  a  preface  on 
the  unities  which  emphasized  two  points:  (1)  the  subject  of  a 
tragedy  must  be  known  and  hence  grounded  in  history,  and 
(2)  the  law  of  verisimilitude  must  be  observed  —  and  he  adduced 
the  example  of  the  Italians  and  the  ancients.  Finally,  in  1634 
he  put  forth  the  first  concrete  example  of  such  a  tragedy  in 
his  Sophonisbe.  The  expense  lavished  on  the  performance, 
marked  by  the  use  of  special  scenery  and  "  crystal  chandeliers  " 
was  equalled  only  by  the  enthusiasm  with  which  the  Hotel  de 
Rambouillet  welcomed  the  play.  Dramatically  speaking,  how- 
ever, there  was  little  to  recommend  it  —  except  that  it  was 
superior  to  Mirame,  a  "  regular  "  tragedy  by  Richelieu  and  one 
of  his  favorites,  Desmarets  de  Saint-Sorlin. 
The  Three  Meantime,  the  main  critical  factor  in  the  struggle 
Unities  foj,  "  regularity  "  was  Castelvetro's  version  of  Aris- 

totle's Poetics  (1570) ,  a  copy  of  which  was  in  Chapelain's  library. 

'  L' Amour  tirannigue,  praised  highly  by  Balzac.  Scudfiry  was  constantly  passing 
from  one  dramatic  camp  to  the  other. 


THE    DRAMATIC    UNITIES  249 

Castelvetfo  supplied  the  technique,  for  which  Scaliger  (Poetics, 
1561)  had  outlined  the  theory,  that  led  to  the  triumph  of  the 
dramatic  unities. 

From  Aristotle,  Scaliger  deduced  the  fundamental  ideas  that 
each  literary  genre  has  its  discoverable  norm  and  that  the  drama 
in  particular  should  approach  as  closely  as  possible  to  the  por- 
trayal of  actual  truth.  The  spectator,  he  thought,  should  be 
moved  by  the  actions  of  the  play  exactly  as  if  they  were  those  of 
historical  reality.  This  interpretation  of  verisimilitude  or 
vraisemblance  —  which  is  quite  opposed  to  Aristotle's  own  idea 
of  "  poetic  truth  "  —  is  fvmdamental  in  French  Classicism.  What 
made  it  so  is  that  Castelvetro  based  the  technique  of  the  drama 
entirely  upon  stage  representation.  Since  the  stage  is  a  cir- 
cumscribed space,  he  argued,  it  follows  that  the  action  must 
be  limited  in  time  to  the  period  spent  by  the  spectators  in  the 
theater.  Thus,  out  of  Aristotle's  unity  of  action  and  his  obser- 
vation that  "  tragedy  endeavors,  so  far  as  possible,  to  confine 
itself  to  a  single  revolution  of  the  sim,"  there  arose  the  fixed 
unities  of  time,  place  and  action.  It  is  evident  why  after  a 
lapse  of  some  fifty  years  Chapelain  should  have  advocated  them 
anew,  about  1630.  The  stage  area  of  the  Hotel  de  Bourgogne 
was  restricted,  yet  the  multiplex  stage-setting  forced  the  actor 
into  that  part  of  the  background  in  which  the  action  was  located. 
Not  only  verisimilitude  but  common  sense  demanded  a  simpli- 
fication: this  the  imities  gave. 

But  the  drama  suffered  thereby  in  picturesqueness ;  and  despite 
Chapelain  many  authors  refused  to  sacrifice  le  beau  sujet  to  the 
rules.  How  Comeille  found  a  solution  of  this  difficulty  by  mak- 
ing thp  drama  psychological  —  through  the  substitution  of 
the  external  action  by  an  inner  one,  often  in  defiance  of  verisi- 
militude—  the  ensuing  chapter  will  show. 

In  the  main,  Chapelain  won  the  day:  the  Abbe  d'Aubignac's 
Pratique  du  theatre  (1640-1657)  proclaimed  the  sacred  nature 
of  the  rules ;  they  became  part  of  the  "  decorum  "  of  the  drama  at 
the  very  moment  when  kings  and  lovers  alike  were  condemned 
to  observe  the  forms  of  polite  society.  The  unities  did  not  sup- 
press the  emotions;  on  the  contrary,  they  made  their  expression 
intense.  Thus  the  French  drama  attained  that ,  concentration 
which  it  alone  has.    This  last  step  is  the  achievement  of  Racine. 


250     THE    DRAMA    PREVIOUS    TO    CORNEILLE 

As  to  criticism,  the  final  attitude  of  Classicism  is  foimd  in  the 
words  of  Boileau: 

Un  rimeur,  sans  peril,  dela  les  Pyrenees, 
Sur  la  scene  en  un  jour  rassemble  des  annees. 

Mais  nous,  que  la  raison  a  ses  regies  engage. 
Nous  voulons  qu'avec  art  Taction  se  menage; 
Qu'en  un  lieu,  qu'en  un  jour,  un  seul  fait  accompli 
Tienne  jjisqu'a  la  fin  le  theatre  rerrvpli. 


CHAPTER  IV 
PIERRE    CORNEILLE 

Pierre  Corneille,  surnamed  the  Great,  "  non-seulement,"  said 
Voltaire,  "  pour  le  distinguer  de  son  frere  mais  du  reste  des 
homines,"  was  by  origin  and  disposition  a  Norman-  The  poet 
rejoices  at  the  fact  in  one  of  his  early  playS.  He  was  born  in 
Rouen,  in  1606,  as  son  of  a  barrister  who  by  dint  of  long  and 
faithful  service  came  to  be  made  a  noble ;  indeed,  in  the  very  year 
that  his  son  produced  the  Cid.  The  eldest  of  six.  children,  Pierre 
was  first  educated  at  a  Jesuit  school,  where  he  twice  won  prizes 
for  excellence  in  Latin  verse,  and  then  he  studied  law.  But  he 
made  little  use  of  his  legal  training  until,  in  1628,  he  purchased 
the  ofiBces  of  attorney-general  in  the  "  department  of  waters  and 
forests  "  and  "  of  harbors."  This  double  duty  he  fulfilled  con- 
scientiously for  over  twenty  years,  returning  from  Paris  to 
Rouen  as  occasion  required.  Public  documents  show  him  as 
"investigating"  an  illegal  sale  of  wood  made  by  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  and  as  "  defending  "  the  ship-builders  of  Havre  against 
the  pilots  of  Rouen.  Thus  in  reality  the  law  was  Corneille's  pro- 
fession; the  theater  his  avocation.  In  addition,  Corneille  was  a 
church-warden  in  1652  and  kept  the  accounts  of  his  parish. 
Another  singular  post  for  a  great  dramatic  poet. 

But  poetry,  especially  the  drama,  was  the  ruling  interest  of  his 
long  and  fruitful  life.  Tradition  aflBrms  that  his  first  play, 
Melite  (1629),  embodies  a  love  affair  of  his  youth:  an  attach- 
ment he  had  formed  for  a  certain  Catherine  Hue  who  in  1637 
became  Mme  du  Pont.  Certain  it  is  that  Melite,  performed  in 
Paris  by  Mondory  at  the  opening  of  the  Theatre  du  Marais, 
was  a  success,  and  that  Corneille  had  found  a  public  for  his  pro- 
ductions. At  a  stroke,  he  had  won  all  hearts  by  the  simplicity 
and  grace  with  which  he  had  presented  the  rather  common- 
place theme  of  the  girl  who  prefers  charm  to  riches  in  her  suitors. 
Prom  now  on,  Corneille  was  a  constant  visitor  to  the  capital  and 

251 


262  PIERRE   CORNEILLE 

a  regular  producer  of  plays.  So  well  had  he  succeeded  that  in 
1633  he  ventured  to  boast:  "  few  are  my  equals  in  the  drama  and 
none  surpass  me."  This  he  states  in  a  Latin  poem  declining  an 
invitation  to  welcome  in  verse  the  visit  of  Louis  XIII  and  Riche- 
lieu to  Forges-les-eaux  near  Rouen.  But  apparently  the  Cardi- 
nal did  not  resent  the  refusal,  for  in  1635  We  find  Comeille 
among  the  five  collaborators  on  Richelieu's  Comedie  des 
Tuileries.  A  year  later  he  rose  to  fame  with  the  tragi-comedy 
of  the  Cid. 

But  the  Cid  also  provoked  opposition.  Corneille's  rivals  in 
the  drama  were  Mairet  and  Scudery;  the  fact  that  Mondory's 
troupe  had  won  such  a  triumph  aroused  their  irritation,  which 
broke  loose  against  our  poet  when  in  some  verses  entitled  Excuse 
a  Ariste  he  flagrantly  said:  "  I  owe  to  myself  alone  all  my  re- 
nown." Such  vainglory  could  not  be  brooked,  and  after  some 
preliminary  skirmishes  Scudery  published  his  Observations  sur 
le  Cid,  the  main  points  of  which  were  that  the  play  violates 
the  "  dramatic  rules  "  and  that  the  subject  is  worthless  and  stolen 
from  the  Spanish.  At  length  the  matter  was  submitted  to  the 
newly  formed  Academy  for  a  decision;  this  body  demurred,  pre- 
sented an  opinion  largely  the  work  of  Chapelain,  and  then  in 
1637  issued  the  well-known  Sentiments  upholding  Scudery  on 
the  ground  of  verisimilitude  but  lauding  Corneille  for 

la  force  et  la  delicatesse  de  plusieurs  de  ses  pensees  et  eet  agre- 
ment  inexplicable  qui  se  mele  dans  tous  ses  defauts. 

For  the  nonce  the  rivals  seemed  to  have  scored.  Corneille's 
pride  was  hurt ;  how  deeply  it  is  impossible  to  say.  It  is  known 
that  in  1639  he  paid  Chapelain  a  visit.  At  all  events,  after  three 
years,  spent  partly  in  Rouen,  whither  business  and  family  cares 
had  called  him,  Corneille  produced  Horace.  Here  was  a  tragedy 
according  to  the  "  rules,"  on  a  historical  Roman  subject,  glori- 
fying patriotism  —  a  combination  sure  to  please  Richelieu. 
Corneille  had  found  the  type  of  "  moral "  tragedy  in  which  not 
only  he  but  also  his  successors  were  to  excel. 

Shortly  after  the  appearance  of  Cinna  in  1640  Corneille  mar- 
ried Marie  de  Lamperike,  a  lady  belonging  to  the  same  noblesse 
de  robe  or  legal  gentry  as  himself.  He  was  now  in  the  plenitude 
of  his  powers  as  a  dramatic  poet.    With  that  mixture  of  self- 


CORNEILLE'S  LIFE  253 

assurance  and  bourgeois  timidity  which  was  peculiarly  his,  he 
alternately  mingled  with  the  gay  life  of  the  capital  and  kept  a 
watchful  eye  on  his  interests  in  Rouen  —  writing  verses  for  the 
Guirlande  de  Julie,  exchanging  visits  with  men  of  letters,  or  ex- 
ercising the  sedate  and  exacting  duties  of  a  provincial  magistrate. 
In  1647  he  was  elected  to  the  Academy,  five  years  after  Riche- 
lieu's death,  and  after  twice  having  seen  others  preferred  to 
himself.  Then  came  the  failure  of  his  tragedy  Pertharite  (1652) 
and  his  retirement  to  Rouen,  where  he  remained  seven  years, 
devoting  himself  mainly  to  a  verse  translation  of  the  Imitation 
of  Christ. 

His  return  to  the  theater  followed  a  performance  of  Moliere's 
troupe  in  Rouen  toward  Easter,  1658.  The  irresistible  charm  of 
one  of  the  actresses,  Mile  du  Pare  —  then  in  her  prime  —  doubt- 
less rekindled  Corneille's  enthusiasm  for  the  stage.  This  and 
the  fact  that  at  the  instance  of  Pellisson  his  pension  had  recently 
been  renewed  led  Corneille  to  reappear  on  the  boards  with 
(Edipe.  Other  plays  followed,  but  his  hold  on  the  public  was 
only  for  a  time.    A  second  failure  awaited  him  in  Attila,  1667. 

Meantime  Corneille  had  published  his  plays  in  a  three-volume 
edition  (1660)  together  with  explanatory  prefaces,  the  Examens, 
and  three  essays  on  dramatic  art  —  the  latter  in  reply  to  the 
critical  Pratique  du  theatre  of  the  Abbe  d'Aubignac  (Ch.  III). 
Moreover,  he  had  the  courage,  in  the  admirable  prologue  of  his 
Toison  d'or,  to  warn  Louis  XIV  against  the  dangers  of  his  im- 
perialistic policy: 

Ah!  Victoire,  pour  fils  n'ai-je  que  des  soldats?  ■ 

A  vaincre  tant  de  fois  mes  forces  s'affaiblissent; 
L'Etat  est  florissant,  mats  les  peuples  gemissent; 
Leurs  membres  dechames  courbent  sous  mes  hauts  faits, 
Et  la  gloire  du  trone  accable  les  sujets. 

But  later  on  this  critical  note  disappears  entirely  from  Cor- 
neille's works  and  the  Roi-Soleil  is  lauded  to  the  skies. 

The  chief  embitterment  of  this  later  period  was  the  rising  fame 
of  Racine.  Boursault,  who  to  be  sure  was  no  friend  of  Racine's, 
depicts  Corneille  for  us,  alone  in  his  box,  gloomy  and  sulking, 
at  the  first  performance  of  Britannicus  (1669).  A  year  later  the 
two  poets  are  brought  into  active  competition  on  the  stage  with 


264  PIERRE   CORNEILLE 

the  subject  of  Berenice,  which  Fontenelle  —  Comeille's  biog- 
rapher—  avers  was  given  them  independently  by  Henrietta  of 
England,  the  sister-in-law  of  Louis  XIV.  However  that  may 
bp,  Corneille's  Tite  et  Berenice,  performed  exactly  eight  days 
after  Racine's  great  tragedy,  was  a  distinct  failure.  Comeille 
still  had  his  partisans;  Mme  de  Sevigne  was  one  of  them;  but  it 
is  abundantly  clear  that  neither  his  gifts  nor  his  method 
were  able  to  vie  with  the  genius  of  Racine  in  treating 
such  a  subject.  Obviously  he  had  outlived  his  day.  The  world- 
empire  of  Louis  XIV  was  not  romanesque  but  real;  its  dramas 
were  externally  unheroic  in  order  to  be  internally  the  more  in- 
tense—  just  as  the  spirit  of  comedy  had  ceased  to  be  sentimental 
and  had  become  actual  and  mordant,  striking  at  the  foimdations 
of  the  society  which  Comeille  had  so  gloriously  idealized.  Val- 
iantly, it  must  be  said,  the  old  poet  struggled  on.  He  had  long 
since  moved  to  Paris  and  was  sharing  his  home  with  his  less 
gifted  but  suaver  younger  brother,  Thomas  Corneille,  who  was 
also  writing  for  the  stage.  He  even  tried  the  Racinian  manner  — 
he  who  in  his  prime  had  essayed  every  dramatic  expression — but 
in  vain;  the  collapse  of  Surena  in  1674  forced  him  into  definite 
rptirement.  The  last  years  of  his  life  were  clouded  by  sorrows, 
personal  and  domestic.  An  occasional  poem  addressed  to  the 
King  alone  reminds  us  that  he  was  still  among  the  living.  At 
last  the  end  came ;  in  1682  he  finished  the  labor  of  half  a  century 
with  a  final  revision  of  his  works,  and  two  years  later  his  proud 
but  shattered  spirit  was  at  rest.  He  was  buried  at  Paris  in  the 
church  of  Saint-Roch.  His  brother  Thomas  succeeded  him  in  the 
Academy,  and  Racine  —  now  living  in  retirement  himself  —  pro- 
nounced a  eulogy  which  for  critical  insight  and  beauty  of  diction 
is  one  of  the  noteworthy  docimaents  of  that  august  body. 

Corneille's  career  as  a  dramatist  thus  falls  into  three  distinct 
periods. 

The  first,  the  period  of  preparation,  begins  with  Melite.  This 
comedy,  written  practically  without  rules  or  models,  was 
Corneille's  followed  by  a  trial  of  tragi-comedy  in  Clitandre. 
Dramas  Then  came   four   additional   comedies,   interrupted 

by  the  Senecan  tragedy  Medee  and  eclipsed  by  the  Cid. 
These  early  comedies,  however,  are  far  from  being  second- 
rate.     It  was  something  to  have   swept  away   the   conven- 


THE   CID  255 

tional  comedy  types  of  Rome  and  Italy,  with  their  intrigues, 
disguises,  concealments  of  sex  and  the  like,  and  to  have 
gone  directly  after  "  life."  It  was  even  more  to  the  poet's 
credit  that  the  figures  with  which  he  replaced  them  are 
true  to  the  courtly  world  of  Louis  XIII.  In  the  Place 
Royale  and  the  Galerie  du  Palais  he  shows  the  places  this 
society  frequented:  the  shops  and  bookstalls  where  they  made 
their  purchases  and  waged  the  warfare  of  youth  and  love.  If 
their  speech  is  precieux,  it  represents  that  part  of  Paris  brought 
up  on  the  Astree.  A  creation  of  Comeille's  is  the  suivante  or 
soubrette  who  replaces  the  nurse  of  earlier  comedy.  Thus  the 
first  plays  of  Corneille  approach  the  sentimental  comedy  of  the 
later  dramatist  Marivaux:  in  La  Veuve  —  the  best  of  them  — 
a  trickster  is  caught  in  his  own  trap  and  the  situation  is  deftly 
and  delicately  handled.  On  the  other  hand,  L'lllusion  comique 
is  a  boisterous  fantasy  on  a  Spanish  model,  a  type  of  comedy 
that  the  poet  was  to  perfect  in  Le  Menteur  (1643). 

The  Cid  (1636)  begins  for  Corneille,  as  well  as  for  France, 
the  period  of  dramatic  masterpieces.  Now  indeed  "  the  sun  had 
arisen  and  the  stars  might  retire,"  as  Scudery  had  said  on  an 
earlier  occasion.  Everyone  knows  that  Comeille's  play  is  in- 
diebted  to  the  Mocedades  del  Cid,  by  the  Spanish  dramatist 
Guillen  de  Castro.  But  Corneille  shifted  the  interest  from  the 
outer  world  of  incident  to  the  inner  world  of  psychology  —  the 
truly  French  world  —  and  thereby  created  a  new  type  of  action. 
FoiroaUythe  Cid  may  be  a  tragi-comedy_3Jt|i__a  rpmanesque 
subject  and  aliappy  ending,  yet  intrinsically  it  is  the  first  French 
Iragedy.  The  youthful  Chimene  loves  the  youthful  Rodrigue, 
not  for  himself,  but  because  of  his  heroism;  and  to  merit  his 
heroism  she  herself  becomes  heroic. 

Tu  n'as  fait  le  devoir  que  d'un  homme  de  bien, 
Mais  aussi,  le  faisant,  tu  m'as  appris  le  mien, 

says  Chimene  to  the  lover  whom  fate  has  made  the  slayer  of  her 
father.  If  love  triumphs  in  this  play,  it  is  yet  true  that  in  the 
intellectualized  atmosphere  which  these  characters  breathe  in- 
dividual impulse  must  always  submit  to  public  duty.  The  Cid 
is  a  tragedy  inasmuch  as  it  involves  this  renunciation,  over  and 
over  again.    Contrary  to  the  Spanish,  Comeille's  characters  are 


256  PIERRE   CORNEILLE 

contending  forces  of  will,  impulse,  pride  and  duty  —  and  the 
greatest  of  these  is  duty.  Compare  Romeo  and  Juliet  and  you 
will  note  in  the  treatment  of  a  similar  situation  the  gulf  that 
divides  not  only  two  poets  but  two  civilizations. 

With  his  next  two  plays,  Horace  and  Cinna   (both  1640), 

Comeille  chose  subjects  better  suited  to  illustrate  his  theme.  Both 

plays  deal  with  Roman  history,  both  are  termed  "tragedies" 

and  observe  the  imities.    The  combat  between  the  Horatii  and 

the  Curiatii  is  turned  into  a  mental  conflict  because  the  two 

families  are  bound  by  marriage  and  love:  Horace,  more  patriot 

than  lover,  wins  out,  whereas  Curiace,  less  heroic  but  more 

human,  dies  in  battle  —  leaving  his  beloved  to  be  slain  by  her 

own  brother,  Horace,  for  cursing  his  patriotism.    In  Cinna  the 

inain  struggle  occurs  in  the  mind  of  Augustus,  swaying  between 

/magnanimity  and  vengeance  as  regards  the  conspirators  against 

'his  life,  and  choosing  magnanimity,  as  Prospero  does  in  the 

^Tempest  —  but  with  more  rhetorical  emphasis: 

Je  suis  maitre  de  moi  comme  de  I'univers, 
Je  le  suis,  je  veux  I'etre. 

In  Polyeucte  (1641  or  1642)  Corneille  carries  the  theme  of  duty 
into  the  field  of  religion.  The  Christian  martyr,  Polyeucte,  has 
a  Roman  wife  whom  duty  teaches  to  love  her  husband,  and 
finally  as  a  Christian  convert  to  win  others  to  his  cause.  In 
all  this  there  is  an  overstrain,  a  tendency  to  carry  the  victory  of 
the  human  will  to  an  extreme,  to  produce  "  admiration  "  rather 
than  pity  and  fear,  as  is  generally  the  case  in  tragedy.  Yet  in 
the  four  plays  mentioned  we  see  the  genius  of  Corneille  at  its 
best.  Enamored  of  spiritual  strength  in  the  service  of  society, 
he  had  portrayed  it  under  the  guise  of  family,  country,  monarchy 
and  religion,  in  original  and  enduring  dramatic  form. 

The  winter  of  1643  brought  another  tragedy.  La  Mort  de 
Pompee,  in  which  the  stoicism  of  the  dead  Pompey  is  the 
energizing  force  of  the  characters  in  the  play,  and  then  follows 
Le  Menteur  —  Corneille's  most  distinguished  comedy.  Again 
the  subject  is  borrowed  from  the  Spanish;  this  time  a  more  or 
less  free  adaptation  of  Alarcon's  La  Verdad  Sospechosa. 
Dorante,  the  victim  of  the  comedy,  is  not  so  much  a  liar  as 
a  prey  to  his  inborn  bent  for  romancing.    His  lies  are  thus  a 


LATER   DRAMAS  257 

continuous  extravaganza  —  lightly  and  gayly  expressed,  yet  in  a 
style  remarkable  for  its  fitness  and  measure.  Corneille  could 
not  resist  writing  a  Suite  du  Menteur,  which  besides  having  the 
defects  of  a  sequel  shows  that  his  return  to  comedy  was  only  a 
digression.  The  extraordinary  or  exceptional  was  henceforth 
his  field,  but  seriously  and  even  solemnly  conceived,  and  tending 
more  and  more  to  melodrama  as  time  went  on. 

Rodogune  (1645)  was  Corneille's  own  favorite  and  over  a  cen- 
tury later  called  forth  the  special  criticism  of  Lessing.  Only  the 
strictest  attention,  it  is  true,  will  enable  the  spectator  to  follow 
the  complicated  motivation  of  the  first  four  acts  of  this 
tragedy  —  never  did  Corneille  "  invent  "  more  —  but  the  fifth  act 
in  which  the  Medea-like  heroine,  Cleopatre,  stands  revealed  has 
some  of  the  majestic  terror  of  ancient  tragedy.  And  like  an 
idyll,  in  the  midst  of  so  much  horror,  Corneille  has  set  the 
fraternal  love  of  Cleopatre's  two  sons,  both  in  love  with 
Rodogune,  their  mother's  rival,  yet  each  longing  to  sacrifice 
himself  for  the  other.  Once  more  only,  in  Nicomede,  is 
Corneille  able  to  attain  the  grandiose;  but  this  play  is  properly 
a  tragi-comedy  and  adds  little  to  Corneille's  previous  achieve- 
ments. Andromede,  a  spectacle-play  set  to  music,  and  Don 
Sanche  d'Aragon,  in  some  respects  the  prototype  of  the  romantic 
drama  of  1830,  are  evidence  of  his  undiminished  versatility  as 
a  playwright.  However,  his  inspiration  is  waning,  and  as 
we  enter  upon  his  third  and  last  period  this  fact  is  all  too 
apparent. 

CEdipe,  brought  out  in  1659  at  the  request  of  Fouquet, 
Louis  XIV's  notorious  Chancellor,  of  the  Exchequer,  is  a  strange 
misconception  of  this  epic  character  coupled  with  a  protest  — 
placed  in  the  mouth  of  Theseus  —  in  behalf  of  free-will. 
Stranger  still  is  the  fact  that  the  love  affair  with  which  Corneille 
tried  to  embellish  it  ga^e  the  play  great  popularity  during  the 
second  part  of  th^^.  seventeenth  century.  Politics  —  the  raison 
d'Etat  —  becomes  the  obsession  in  these  last  plays.  As  early 
as  Horace,  Camille,  when  speaking  of  the  gods,  had  said: 

lis  descendent  bien  moins  dans  de  si  bas  etages 
Que  dans  I'ame  des  rois,  leurs  vivantes  images, 
De  qui  I'independante  et  salute  autorite 
Est  un  rayon  secret  de  leur  divinite. 


258  PIERRE   CORNEILLE 

The  Marechal  de  Grammont  is  supposed  to  have  called  Othon 
(1664)  "  the  breviary  of  kings."  Certainly  the  exaltation  of 
the  monarchy,  in  the  Machiavellian  sense,  never  rose  higher  than 
in  the  maxim  of  this  play  that: 

Tous  les  crimes  d'Etat  qu'on  fait  pour  la  couronne, 
Le  ciel  nous  en  absout,  alors  qu'il  nous  la  donne. 

Thus  Othon,  Pulcherie,  Sertorius,  are  rhetorical,  financially 
perhaps  profitable  to  Comeille,  but  evoking  the  opprobrimn  of 
Boileau  and  Bossuet.  "  God,"  said  the  latter,  "  sends  kings  to 
His  Law  to  learn  their  duties."  Such,  as  we  said,  is  the  fate  of 
a  genius  who  has  outlived  his  time,  although  personally  the  poet 
never  compels  our  admiration  more  than  when  he  hau^tily 
admits  the  truth  in  the  lines,  addressed  to  Louis  himself: 

C'est  le  dernier  eclat  d'un  feu  pret  a  s'eteindre; 
Sur  le  point  d'expirer  il  tache  d'eblouir 
Et  ne  frappe  les  yeux  que  pour  s'evanouir. 

As  Brunetiere  makes  clear,  Corneille's  sense  of  style  remained 
unimpaired  to  the  end. 

Comeille,  therefore,  belongs  definitely  to  the  Pre-Classical 
Period:  the  age  of  the _£omanesque.  His  dramas,  which 
Point  of  bristle  with  the  word  vertu,  are  like  a  long- 
view  ana  drawn-out  page  of  Balzac's  Discours  sur  le 
summary  n 

II  estime  [says  Balzac]  plus  un  jour  employe  a  la  Vertu,  qu'une 
longue  vie  delicieuse;  im  moment  de  gloire  qu'un  siecle^e  Volupte 
.  .  .  Rome  etait  la  boutique,  ou  les  dons  du  ciel  etaient  mis 
en  oeuvre.  .  .  .  EUe  a  su  melerj  comme  il  faut,  I'art  aveo 
I'a venture;  la  conduite  avec  la  fureur;  la  qualite  divine  de  I'intel- 
ligence  dans  les  actions  brutales  de  la  partie  irascible. 

Three  propositions  that  fit  Comeille  to  the  dot.  It  has  been 
claimed  that  his  characters  are  modeled  on  real  life:  Richelieu, 
Retz,  Turenne,  being  heroic  in  the  Cornelian  sense.  But  this 
is  merely  to  say  that  in  his  quest  of  life  he  souglit  the 
exceptional.  His  was  an  age  of  actiQn,  of  strengthj_of  rapid 
and  simple  decisions;  wken,  men  were  .atruggling_  to  realize  an 
ideal,  and  intelligence  and  will-power  were  ia.tbe_ascendency. 
Of  such  a  view  of  humanity  the  dramas  of  Corneilfe  are  the 
quintessence:  in  their  constant  appeal  to  the  reason,  in  their 


LITERARY     QUALITIES  259 

0YeE:flinpha,sis  on  the  will,  in  their  complex_..^et-,sad£lciaaving 
plots,  and  in  the  crashing  rhetoric  of  their  jt;^e;  nay  even  in  the 
vgnM^^ffi£P]^io^SlaM3M^^l^^l2iS^'^S.they  contain. 

Having  said  this,  there  remains  that  inexplicable  thing  called 
"  genius,"  which  no  amount  of  background  can  even  partially 
explain.  Corneille  took  the  irregular  drama  of  the  age  of  Hardy 
and  gave  it  <iontent  and  form.  In  comedy,  which  he  made 
presentable  to  a  cultured  audience,  he  shows,  in  a  joyous  rather 
than  a  critical  mood,  the  extravagances  to  which  human  nature 
is  liable  and  the  foibles  to  which  it  succumbs.  Le  Menteur  has 
none  of  the  trenchant  ridicule  of  the  later  Moliere,  but  it  also 
lacks  the  cruel  pessimism  of  that  observer  of  men.  In  lyrical 
tragedy  Corneille  could  emulate  Seneca,  but  his  Medee  remains 
an  emulation,  little  else.  What  made  tragi-comedy  his  medium 
is  that  his  genius  was  romantic,  but  romantic  in  an  unusual 
and  very  definite  sense.  His  muse  was  the  Reason,  not  my 
reason  or  yours,  but  the  '  spcm^ed  reason^I  jEocTij^iythe 
peculiarly  i^'fench  contribution  to  the  Renaissance.  Imaginative 
as'"Ee  "^117  Corneille  saw  its  possibilities,  and  lawyer-like  he 
states  them  as  only  a  lawyer  could:  bereft  of  their  accessories 
but  with  "  an  intensity  of  intellectual  precision  that  bums  and 
blazes."  Of  all  this  the  four  great  dr amas,"''SienCtd,  ""Horace, 
Cinna  and  Polyeucte,  are  a  continuous  illustration.  Each  has 
^jgreat  subject,  timely  and  yet  universal  —  boBaL.  patriotism, 
absolutism  and  martyrdom  —  anoeacK'pfoblem  Corneille  solves 
by  a  victory  of^he  dey^CTatiw^  will,  Te!ore™wK 
"MEidCTations,  no  matter  how  human  tlieYlmay  be,  give  way. 
Indeed,  his  failures  may  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  one  cannot 
multiply  such  victories  indefinitely  and  write  successful  plays. 

As  a  consequence,  Corneille's  characters  are_  Neo-Platonic 
types,  actuated  by  a  superimposed  rational  self.  They  do*  not 
Cha     t  succumb  to  Fate,  they  make  Fate  subserve  their 

particular  ends.  The  poet's  interest  in  them  may 
be  psychological;  they  themselves  are  generally  poor  psychol- 
ogists. They  understand  but  one  thing  and  strive  for  it  in  a 
straight  line.  Horace,  exasperated  by  his  sister,  justifies  his 
fury  with  the  strange  words: 

C'est  trop,  ma  patience  a  la  raison  fait  place; 
Va  dedans  las  enfers  plaindre  ton  Curiace. 


260  PIERRE   CORNEILLE 

And  the  villains  of  Corneille's  plays  are  similarly  motivated; 
rarely,  as  in  the  case  of  Felix  in  Polyeucte,  do  they  show  any 
criminal  subtlety  or  political  astuteness.  This  masculine 
simplicity  is  of  course  imfavorable  to  the  portrayal  of  women 
types;  and,  but  for  such  notable  exceptions  as  Camille  (Horace) 
and  Emilie  {Cinna) ,  Corneille's  hf-rninps  nrp.  not  wnmanly  in  the 
usual  sense.  aLthg-Word.  Either,  like  Pauline,  in  Polyeucte,  they 
are  "  obedient "  to  the  point  of  mysticism,  or  they  are  furies  with 
scarce  a  vestige  of  humanity,  like  Cleopatre  in  Rodogune. 

As  for  plot  and  action,  Corneille's  dramas  stand  midway 
between  the  loosely  constructed  tragi-comedies  of  Hardy  and 
the  finished  Classical  product  of  Racine.  Although 
he  accepted  the  unities  in  Horace,  he  was  never  more 
than  a  nominal  Aristotelian.  Again  and  again,  but  especially  in 
his  Discours,  he  used  the  Italian  critics  to  justify  himself  against 
Aristotle.  His  whole  conception  of  drama  —  as  of  life  —  was 
invraisemblable.  In  the  preface  of  Heraclius  he  has  the  boldness 
to  say  that  "  le  sujet  d'une  belle  tragedie  doit  ne  pas  etre 
vraisemblable."  Corneille  understood  as  little  as  his  critics  the 
real  purport  of  Aristotle's  distinction  between  the  truth  of  history 
and  the  truth  of  poetry,  and  so,  like  Mairet  before  him,  he  tried 
to  conform  to  the  critics  by  treating  a  historical  subject.  While 
his  plots  culminate  in  a  "  crisis  " —  as  all  French  Classical  tragedy 
does  —  he  constantly  confuses  the  spectator  by  multiplying  the 
obstacles  which  his  heroes  have  to  overcome,  and  he  never  quite 
succeeds  in  obtaining  more  than  a  conventional  observance  of  the 
unities.    The  stage  direction  for  Horace  reads: 

La  scene  est  a  Rome,  dans  une  salle  de  la  maison  d'Horace 

—  this  arrangement  whereby  the  characters  all  meet  in  the  same 
room  being,  to  a  large  extent,  casuistical.  Thus,  master-play- 
wright that  he  was,  Corneille  is  not  yet  formally  a  Classic. 

Of  the  last  fact,  his  style  —  that  truly  Cornelian  style  —  is 
probably  the  best  evidence.  His  lofty  and  grandiose  ideas 
Style  have  a   fitting  garment  in  his  high-sounding  and 

brilliant  diction.  Certain  of  his  lines  rise  to  a  climax 
like  a  storm,  and  then  break  on  the  ear  with  a  crash  of  sovind 
unique  in  French  poetry.  Occasionally  he  attains  a  simple  grace 
that  is  all  too  rare  in  his  work,  as  when  he  writes: 


DU   RYER   AND   ROTROU  261 

Souvent  un  je  ne  sais  qu'on  ne  peut  exprimer 
Nous  surprend,  nous  emporte,  et  nous  force  d'aimer. 

On  the  other  hand,  Corneille  oftem  lacks  taste:  some  of  his 
lines  are  sublime  ;^>others  are  banal  or  unconsciously  grotesque. 
Too  often  he  is  over-emphatic,  merely  sententious  as  when  he 
answers  one  maxim  with  another  (the  well-known  coupe  cor- 
nelienne),  and  unnecessarily  precieux  —  in  short,  a  rhetorician. 
Further,  he  repeats  rime-words  and  even  entire  verses.  But  let 
us  not  forget  that  Malherbe  had  placed  poetry  on  stilts;  in 
Corneille  it  was  learning  once  more  to  soar,  not  in  images  of 
sense  but  in  unadorned  flashes  of  thought.  The  genius  of  Cor- 
neille must  be  sought  in  his  best  verse  as  well  as  in  his  best  plays. 

Out  of  the  oblivion  into  which  the  greatness  of  Corneille  has 
cast  his  contemporaries  in  the  drama,  two  names  survive  as 
Du  Ryer  possessing  some  of  the  glamour  of  their  illustrious 
andRotrou  comrade.  They  are  Pierre  Du  Ryer  (1605-1658) 
and  Jean  Rotrou  (1610-1650) . 

Du  Ryer  began  to  write  earlier  than  Corneille  in  the  manner  of 
Hardy.  Indeed,  his  Cleomedon  (1633)  is  still  taken  from  the 
Astree,  although  it  contains  such  Cornelian  lines  as: 

Qui  conserve  un  sceptre  est  digne  de  I'avoir, 
and 

Qui  vante  ses  aieux  ne  vante  rien  de  soi 

—  another  proof  that  rhetoric  was  what  people  liked.  After 
the  C-id,  Du  Ryer  took  to  writing  tragedies.  The  best  of  these 
is  Scevole  (1644) ,  in  many  ways  a  counterpart  and  to  some  extent 
a  copy  of  Cinna.  While  Du  Ryer  knew  his  audiences,  whose 
emotions  he  echoes  —  especially  in  Alcionee,  a  tragedy  with  a 
romanesque  subject  —  his  verse  lacks  distinction  and  his  talent 
was  not  original.  » 

On  the  other  hand,  Rotrou  fills  a  niche  of  his  own,  although 
he  was  a  great  admirer  and  a  friend  of  Corneille.  His  gifts  are 
a  vivid  imagination  —  shown  particularly  in  the  range  of  his 
subjects  — and  a  real  sense  of  pathos.  Thirty-five  of  his  plays 
have  come  down  to  us,  consisting  of  comedies,  tragi-comedies 
and  tragedies.  He  began  to  write  young,  presumably  as  a 
successor  of  Hardy,  for  the  Hotel  de  Bourgogne.  His  first 
play  was  L'Hypocondriaque  (about  1628) ,  containing  the  motive 


262  PIERRE   CORNEILLE 

of  letters  that  are  intercepted  and  the  ensuing  madness  of  one 
of  the  characters.  It  is  possible  that  Corneille  borrowed  this 
motive  for  his  own  Melite,  although  it  was  a  commonplace  at 
the  time.  Besides  borrowing  from  the  Romans  and  Spaniards, 
Rotrou  preceded  Racine  as  a  student  of  Sophocles,  and  while 
his  version  of  the  Antigone  is  not  remarkable,  Racine  mentions 
it  in  one  of  his  Examens.  But  his  leaning  was  nevertheless  in 
the  direction  of  the  Cornelian  type  of  drama. 

His  best  tragi-comedy  is  Lawre  persecutee,  where  we  find  the 
vigorous  line: 

Je  veux  08  que  je  veux,  parce  que  je  le  veux; 

and  his  masterpiece  in  tragedy,  Le  veritable  Saint-Genest  (1645), 
while  partly  drawn  from  Lope  de  Vega's  Lo  Fingido  verdadero, 
recalls  Polyeucte.  Rotrou's  tragedy  represents  an  actor  who 
in  performing  the  martyrdom  of  Adrian  is  so  carried  away  by 
the  heroism  of  his  role  that  he  openly  professes  his  faith  and 
receives  a  martyr's  crown.  The  play  within  a  play  —  as  in 
Hamlet  —  was  a  favorite  device  of  the  time ;  Corneille  had  used 
it  in  his  Illusion  comique,  but  Rotrou's  tragedy  is  the  best 
example  of  it  in  French. 

Rotrou  wrote  two  other  noteworthy  tragedies:  Venceslas 
(1647)  and  Cosroes  (1648).  The  latter,  which  goes  back  to  the 
same  source  as  Heraclius,  is  close  in  situation  to  Nicomede.  The 
former,  taken  from  a  Spanish  play  by  Francisco  de  Rojas, 
exhibits  Rotrou's  emotional  genius  in  a  plot  that  would  have 
pleased  Corneille.  Venceslas  is  king  of  Poland;  his  sons  are  both 
in  love  with  the  same  woman ;  the  one  kills  the  other  rashly  and 
through  an  error;  Venceslas,  placed  in  the  dilemma  of  passing 
judgment  on  his  own  son,  abdicates  in  his  favor.  In  the  main 
the  situation  is  that  of  Rojas,  the  title  of  whose  drama  is:  No 
hay  ser  padre  siendo  rey;  but  the  motivation,  as  well  as 
the  compassionate  language  of  the  characters  involved,  is 
Rotrou's  —  an  indication  that  with  more  care  and  less  haste 
he  might  have  produced  a  really  great  drama.  But  Rotrou, 
in  addition  to  being  a  playwright,  was  a  public-spirited  citizen 
of  the  little  town  of  Dreux,  whose  inhabitants  honored  him  with 
an  official  post.  His  death  has  a  halo  of  glory:  he  died  during 
an  epidemic  at  Dreux,  a  victim  to  his  sense  of  public  duty. 


■'■■     '     '     /■''    !.+ 


X 

( 


CHAPTER  V 
DESCARTES 

The  rational  spirit  of  the  Renaissance  has  its  purest  expression 
in  Cartesianism  or  the  philosophy  of  Descartes.  As  we  have 
seen,  Calvin  defined  the  province  of  knowledge  as  limited  to 
God  and  ourselves.  Similarly,  Ramus  had  appealed  .from 
scholastic  philosophy  to  human  reason,  although  the  reason  he 
had  in  mind  was  that  revealed  by  the  ancients.  Finally, 
Montaigne  set  his  own  reason  by  the  side  of  that  of  the  ancients 
and,  skeptical  a,s  he  was  in  regard  to  both,  he  thereby  demon- 
strated the  necessity  of  a  method  of  thought.  It  remained  for 
Descartes  (1)  to  discover  the  method;  and  (2)  to  show  by  it 
that  the  moderns  are  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  the  ancients. 

Thus  Descartes  is  the  founder  of  modern  philosophic  thought: 
he  began  where  the  ancients  stopped,  with  the  problem  of 
cognition  ("  By  what  means  do  we  know?  ") ;  he  defined  the 
reason  scientifically  {Cogito  ergo  sum  —  "I  think,  therefore 
I  am  ") ;  and  he  opened  the  door  to  the  idea  of  progress,  so 
essential  to  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries. 

Rene  Descartes  (Cartesius)  was  a  survival  of  the  sixteenth- 
century  type  of  Frenchman.  Apparently,  no  man  was  less 
social.  Yet  no  man,  certainly  no  philosopher,  traveled  about 
the  world  more  in  order  to  acquaint  himself  with  the  subjects 
he  was  to  treat.  He  was  born  at  La  Haye,  between  Tours  and 
Poitiers,  in  1596.  His  family  belonged  to  the  nobility,  and  as  a 
matter  of  fact  Descartes  was  never  compelled  to  make  a  living 
or  do  anything  he  did  not  like.  Educated  at  the  Jesuit 
college  of  La  Fleche,  he  left  it  in  1612  thoroughly  con- 
vinced of  the  futility  of  book  learning  but  with  a  strong 
aptitude  for  mathematics.  After  a  short  stay  in  Paris, 
where  like  Pascal  he  developed  an  interest  in  gambling,  Descartes 
took  his  law  degree  at  Poitiers  (1516)  and  then  enlisted  in  the 
army  of  Maurice  of  Nassau  in  Holland,  in  order  to  gain  experi- 

263 


264  DESCARTffl?*^^^* 

ence  of  life.  Here  he  wrote  his  first  treatiSB?"  ft  Xj^mpendivm 
musicae,  which  applies  to  music  the  principles  'pf  geometry, 
The  Thirty  Years  War  then  led  him  to  take  service  with  the 
Bavarian  army,  and  it  was  in  1619  that  —  being  in  winter 
quarters,  "  alone  in  a  room  with  his  stove"  —  the  idea  came  to 
him  of  making  mathematics  the  foundation  of  a  universal  theory 
of  knowledge. 

With  characteristic  caution,  Descartes  was  willing  to  abide 
his  time.  His  first  concern  was  with  Nature,  not  with  meta- 
physics. Accordingly,  we  find  him  at  Prague,  seeking  traces  of 
Tycho  Brahe  and  of  Kepler;  he  visits  Rome  and  Florence  in 
search  of  Galileo,  whose  astronomical  views  are  in  accord  with 
his  own ;  in  the  Alps  he  makes  observations  as  to  avalanches  and 
lightning.  From  1626  to  1628  he  is  again  in  Paris,  meeting 
with  the  men  of  his  time  and  active  in  their  discussions.  At 
one  of  these  gatherings  Descartes  sets  forth  the  error  of  reasoning 
by  syllogisms  and  thus  wins  the  plaudits  of  the  Cardinal  de 
Berulle,  who  urges  him  to  publish  his  own  philosophy. 
Accordingly,  Descartes  definitely  left  France  for  Holland  on  the 
maxim  that  bene  qui  latuit,  bene  vixit  ("  he  who  has  been  well 
hid  has  lived  well ")  in  order  to  procure  the  necessary  philo- 
sophical repose. 

His  first  residence  in  Holland  was  at  Franeker,  where  it  is 
said  he  wrote  the  Meditationes  de  prima  philosophia  in  1629. 
All  the  while  he  is  also  busy  with  experiments  in  physics.  Yet 
his  chief  scientific  work,  the  Traite  du  monde,  was  never 
published  as  such.  Hearing  of  the  condemnation  of  Galileo, 
Descartes  destroyed  his  treatise  and  vowed  never  to  publish  any 
of  his  writings.  From  this  resolve  he  was  fortunately  shaken 
by  his  affection  for  his  illegitimate  child  Francine.  For  her,  the 
only  human  being  that  he  really  loved,  he  planned  to  issue  at 
least  a  summary  of  his  ideas.  To  this  wish,  more  than  to 
anything  else,  we  owe  the  Discours  de  la  methode,  printed 
anonymously  at  Leyden  (1637)  and  the  first  of  his  works  to  be 
published.  But  Francine  died  soon  after  and  thus  never  read 
her  father's  "  autobiography  of  a  thought,"  as  M.  Lanson  has 
cleverly  named  the  Discours. 

Emboldened  by  this  first  adventure  in  print,  Descartes  brought 
out  his  Meditationes   (1641),  and  there  followed  a  period  of 


HIS   WORKS  266 

controversy  in  which  he  was  as  ardently  defended  as  he  was 
bitterly  attacked.  But  among  his  adherents  was  one  amiable 
and  powerful  person:  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Frederick  V,  Elector  Palatine.  She  had  long  been  Descartes' 
favorite  pupil.  In  1649  he  completed  for  her  the  Traite  des 
passions  de  I'dme  —  next  to  the  Discours  the  most  important 
French  work  that  he  wrote.  Through  Elizabeth,  Descartes  now 
became  acquainted  with  Catherine,  Queen  of  Sweden.  Finding 
Holland  no  longer  safe,  he  accepted  Catherine's  invitation  to 
visit  Stockholm  and  be  her  tutor.  But  the  northern  climate 
and  the  early  hour  of  five  in  the  morning,  set  by  the  Queen  for 
their  interviews,  were  too  severe  a  drain  on  a  constitution  that 
had  never  been  robust.  Soon  after  his  arrival  Descartes  fell  ill 
of  pneumonia  and  died  in  February,  1650.  His  body  together 
with  his  unpublished  manuscripts  was  returned  to  France  in 
1667.  But  the  oration  prepared  for  Descartes'  funeral  was  never 
pronounced;  a  royal  order  forbade  it  just  as  the  Congregation 
of  the  Index  in  1663  had  forbidden  the  circulation  of  his  works. 
As  early  as  1641,  however,  a  Jansenist,  the  Due  de  Luynes,  had 
translated  the  Meditationes  into  French. 

While  Descartes'  works  constitute  an  entity  in  that  all  are 
applications  of  the  same  mathematical  ideal,  yet  the  Discours 
Works  and      de  la  methode  and  the  Traite  des  passions  have 
Significance     particular  significance  for  the  student  of  literature. 
Written   designedly   in   French    for   the   purpose   of   bringing 
philosophy  —  or  the  problem  of  being  —  within  the  ken  of  les 
honnetes  gens,  they  respectively  establish  the  two  pivots  upon 
which  this  problem  turns:    (lJ_J;hejtaTitii_.'?dth_Xfigaxd.-.ta--our 
^existence;  and  (2)  the  truth  with  regard  to  our  conduct.    LeariTl 
to  see  things  rationally,  says  Descartes,  and  you  will  realize  that  / 
two  plus  two  makes  four  not  only  in  theory  but  in  fact;  act  onj 
this  principle,  and  error  will  disappear  from  the  world. 

Of  the  two  works  in  question,  the  Traite  des  passions,  though 
posterior  to  the  Discours  in  date,  belongs  essentially  to  the 
The  "Traite  Pre-Classical  age.  It  contains  the  mechanics  of 
des  Comeille's  conception  of  character.    Not  that  the 

treatise  accounts  for  Corneille's  conception,  but  it 
elucidates  it  —  rationally.  Descartes  explains  our  passions  on 
the   basis   of   what   he   terms   the    "  animal    spirits."    Being 


266  DESCARTES 

particles  of  blood,  to  which  the  heart  communicates  its  heat, 
the  "  animal  spirits,"  according  to  Descartes,  are  the  channels 
through  which  the  brain  receives  impressions  of  the  external 
world.  When  excited  by  a  stimulus  from  either  the  external 
world  or  the  brain,  they  produce  passion  and  thus  influence  our 
actions.  It  was  not  Descartes'  fault  that  his  knowledge  of 
physiology  was  defective;  he  could  not  go  beyond  the  discovery 
of  Harvey  on  the  circulation  of  the  blood;  "  qu'on  me  donne 
I'etendue  et  le  mouvement,"  he  said,  "  et  je  vais  faire  le  monde  "; 
—  more  important  is  the  fact  that  he  views  the  passions  un- 
sentimentally  as  part  of  this  "movement,"  and  that  he  views 
them  as  originating  with  the  body. 

Morally,  then,  a  passion  is  to  be  judged  by  its  action  or  result, 
with  which  it  is  inextricably  bound  up.  A  passion  is  good  or 
bad  only  in  so  far  as  the  ensuing  action  is  beneficial  or  harmful 
to  mankind ;  and  the  latter  question  can  be  decided  only  by  the 
reason-  For  the  reason  supplies  the  judgment  with  which  to 
approve  or  condemn  a  passion.  Thus  love  is  good  when  it 
leads  us  to  choose  good  things: 

pour  ee  que,  joignant  a  nous  de  vrais  biens,  eUe  nous  perfectionne 
d'autant. 

The  love  of  Rodrigue  and  Chimene,  Descartes  would  have  said, 
is  good  inasmuch  as  it  makes  them  sacrifice  self  to  duty ;  Horace 
was  justified  in  killing  Camille  because  his  passion  had  the 
approval  of  his  reason.  It  is  clear  that  Descartes  considers  the 
reason  as  autonomous:  no  passion  can  sway  it,  and  therefore 
no  passion  is  in  itself  interesting  or  worthy  of  detailed  description. 
To  the  Cartesian  there  are  no  mysteries,  no  obscurities,  no 
shades  of  feeling  —  such  as  we  shall  find  in  Racine.  What  is 
important  to  him  is  the  mind,  wi,th  its  faculty  of  judgment, 
a  vicious  act  being  invariably  attributed  to  a  false  or  bad 
judgment. 

But  if  reason,  argues  Descartes,  is  the  absolute  judge  of  good 
and  evil,  it  yet  has  no  power  to  enforce  its  choice  between  them- 
This  depends  on  the  will,  which  is  the  faculty  whereby  we  set  one 
passion  against  another  or  with  the  help  of  the  imagination  evoke 
a  good  passion  which  is  lying  dormant.  There  is  no  stronger 
advocate  of  the  free-will  than  Descartes.    He  summarizes: 


THE    DISCOURS   DE   LA   METHODE  267 

La  volonte  est  tellement  libre  de  sa  nature  qu'elle  ne  peut  ja- 
mais etre  contrainte  .  .  .  les  actions  sont  absolument  en  son 
pouvoir  (de  Tame)  et  ne  peuvent  qu'  indirectement  etre  changees 
par  le  corps. 

Such  an  extreme  attitude  is,  as  we  noted  above  (Ch.  IV),  ro- 
mantic. In  this  respect  Descartes  is  the  child  of  his  age,  the 
traite  des  passions  being  a  complete  (though  probably  un- 
conscious) vindication  of  its  ideals. 

The  Discours  de  la  methode,  while  maintaining  the  dualism  — 
essential  to  Descartes'  philosophy  —  of  thought  and  matter,  is 
The  "Dis-  ^  ^^^  more  sober  piece  of  reasoning.  Its  object  is 
cours  de  la  no  other  than  to  show  how  Descartes  arrived  at  a 
™®  "  *  criterion  for  scientific  truth,  and  it  records  the 
experience  step  by  step  for  the  benefit  of  the  reader,  the  subtitle 
being  Pour  bien  conduire  sa  raison  et  chercher  la  verite  dans  les 
sciences.  Thus  it  is  the  method  that  matters  in  philosophy  or 
science,  not  the  conclusions,  which  will  vary  according  to  the 
material  at  hand.  Herein  lies  the  progressiveness  of  Cartesian- 
ism  as  a  whole. 

Descartes  begins  ab  ovo,  by  rejecting  the  acquired  learning 
of  the  ages.    In  a  memorable  sentence  he  states  that: 

le  bon  sens  est  la  chose  du  monde  la  mieux  partagee. 

Why  not  use  it?  since  it  constitutes  the  greatness  of  man.  Let 
us  therefore  accept  nothing  that  after  examination  our  bon  sens 
does  not  inevitably  sanction.  Under  the  ban  of  this  analysis 
would  fall  most  of  the  things  that  Descartes  had  learned  at 
La  Fleche,  more  especially  of  course  scholastic  philosophy.  An 
apparent  exception  is  made  of  mathematics  and  theology ;  of  the 
first  because  Descartes  is  convinced  a  priori  of  its  value,  and  of 
the  second  because  he  would  remain  orthodox  and  is  not  concerned 
with  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 

Assuming,  he  says,  .that  we  can  doubt  everything  —  the 
authority  of  the  senses,  the  truthfulness  of  God,  the  accuracy 
of  mathematics  —  there  remains  one  thing  that  we  who  doubt 
cannot  question;  namely,  that  we  think.  And  if  we  think,  we 
exist;  hence  cogito  ergo  sum.  Upon  this,  the  most  logical  of  all 
propositions,  the  certainty  of  all  our  knowledge /depends.  Thaf 
is,  whatever  the  mind  perceives  clearly  and  distinctly  must  be 


268  DESCARTES 

\_true.  The  later  objection  of  Gassendi,  that  thinking  does  not 
prove  existence,  that  we  might  as  well  say  "  I  walk,  therefore 
I  am,"  Descartes  answered  with  the  statement  that  of  all  our 
actions  we  can  be  certain  only  of  the  one;  namely,  that  we  think. 

On  this  simple  foundation  Descartes  proceeds  to  construct  the 
existence  of  God  and  of  the  universe. 

The  existence  of  God  is  capable  of  three  proofs.  The  first 
is  that  we  find  the  idea  of  God  within  us,  and  that  there  must  be 
a  primal  substance  behind  the  idea.  Again,  the  reality  of  God 
may  be  inferred  from  our  own  imperfection,  the  consciousness 
of  which  shows  our  dependence  on  a  being  that  is  perfect.  And 
thirdly,  the  strongest  proof  of  God  is  gained  from  our  clear  and 
entire  conception  of  Him.  Just  as  the  mind  knows  that  in  every 
triangle  the  three  angles  are  equal  to  two  right  angles  because 
the  fact  is  involved  in  the  idea  of  a  triangle,  so,  says  Descartes, 
existence  is  a  necessary  predicate  of  a  perfect  being.  This  proof, 
the  so-called  ontological  one,  of  a  Supreme  Being,  had  ali'eady 
been  used  by  Saint  Anselm  of  Canterbury.  Wherein  Descartes' 
argument  differs  from  Anselm's  is  the  fact  that  actiudity  to 
Descartes  is  contained  in  perfection:  you  cannot  conceive  that 
a  being  is  perfect  who  does  not  exist. 

Upon  this  perfect  and  eternal  Being,  Descartes  then  throws  the 
responsibility  for  the  external  world.  He  is,  so  to  speak,  the 
Deus  ex  machina  who  establishes  the  union  between  our  thinking 
selves  and  the  natural  world  about  us.  God  is  the  only  complete 
substance,  containing  within  Himself  the  attributes  of  the  other 
two  incomplete  substances,  mind  and  matter.  Mind  has  as  its 
attribute  thought,  and  matter  has  as  its  attribute  extension. 
God  possesses  both  qualities;  and  therefore  it  is  from  Him 
that  our  knowledge  of  matter  is  derived.  It  is  inconsistent 
with  God's  perfection  to  deceive  us,  and  thus  our  notions  of 
matter,  in  proportion  as  we  think  them  clearly  and  distinctly, 
must  be  true. 

The  style  in  which  Descartes  has  propounded  these  ideas  is 
not  always  of  the  best.  His  aloofness  from  society  had  kept 
him  in  ignorance  of  the  contemporary  worship  of  form.  He  has 
neither  the  delicacy  of  Voiture  nor  the  eloquence  of  Balzac.  Too 
often  his  sentences  are  involved  and  his  thought  burdens  and 
chokes  his  phrase.    Yet  his  expression  has  order  and  sequence, 


HIS   INFLUENCE  269 

his  definitions  are  clear  and  accurate,  and  his  similes  are  simple 
and  well  chosen.  His  two  treatises  are  addressed  to  the  general 
reader;  it  was  an  achievement  to  have  done  this  with  so  diflBcult 
and  abstruse  a  subject.  With  Descartes,  philosophy  ceases  to 
occupy  exclusively  the  learned,  and  supplies  reading-matter  also 
for  the  average  educated  person  in  France.  He  himself  has 
defined  such  reading  in  the  famous  words: 

Une  conversation  avec  les  plus  honnetes  gens  des  siecles  passes 
.  .  .  et  meme  une  conversation  etudiee  en  laquelle  ils  ne  nous 
decouvrent  que  les  meilleures  de  leurs  pensees. 

It  must  not  be  thought  that  Cartesianism  won  immediate  or 
complete  acceptance.  First  of  all,  Descartes'  ideas  were  too 
Influence  of  bold,  his  conclusions  too  far-reaching,  not  to  produce 
Descartes  opposition  even  among  those  who  were  his  partisans. 
His  mechanical  theory  of  nature,  dependent  only  on  extension  and 
movement,  penetrated  the  salons  and  provoked  at  least  the 
discussion  that  such  a  novelty  would.  In  the  Femmes  savantes 
Moliere  ridicules  the  blue-stockings  who  revel  in  such  Cartesian 
terms  as  tourbUlons  and  mondes  tombants.  Mme  de  Sable 
and  Mme  de  Grignan  were  themselves  confirmed  Cartesians; 
whereas  Mme  de  Sevigne,  fond  of  animals,  objected  to  a 
philosopher  who  would  deny  her  pets  a  soul,  just  as  did  La 
Fontaine,  who  in  his  Discours  a  Mme  de  la  Sabliere  expostulated: 

Qu'est-ce  done?  une  montre.    Et  nous?  c'est  autre  chose. 
Voici  de  la  fagon  que  Descartes  I'expose, 
Descartes,  ce  mortel  dont  on  eut  fait  un  dieu 
Chez  les  paiens.    .    .    . 

In  the  second  place,  there  was  tradition:  that  of  antiquity  and 
that  of  the  church.  The  current  of  the  times  was  strongly  set 
for  a  triumphal  union  of  the  two  in  the  absolutism  of  Louis  XIV. 
Against  this  current  the  scientific  method  of  Cartesianism 
struggled  in  vain;  it  could  at  best  move  with  it,  not  against  it, 
and  add  its  power  to  the  general  stream.  And  this  it 
accomplished  by  giving  clarity  and  precision  to  the  ideas  which 
Classicism  was  to  treat;  and  also  by  insisting  —  more  effectively 
than  would  otherwise  have  been  possible  —  on  the  subordination 
of  beauty  to  truth:  the  type  of  rational  truth  which  Descartes 
had  defined.  Even  to  Pascal,  who  regarded  Descartes  as  inutile 
et  incertain,  the  dignity  of  man  consists  nevertheless  in  reason- 


270  DESCARTES 

ing.  It  was  the  dogmatism  of  the  reason  —  the  tendency  of 
Cartesianism  to  deny  the  soul  all  other  qualities  but  this,  to  make 
the  existence  of  God  Himself  depend  on  the  thinking  ego  —  that 
brought  forth  the  greatest  opposition. 

In  the  field  of  philosophy  the  enemies  of  Descartes  were  the 
so-called  libertins.  We  have  met  with  a  similar  group  among  the 
Opponents  of  poets  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  century  (Bk.  Ill, 
Descartes  ch.  IV).  They  now  combatted  the  dogmatism  of 
Descartes  with  the  skepticism  of  Montaigne;  while  not  denying 
the  "  reason,"  they  questioned  its  unerring  validity.  Specififcally 
they  objected  to  the  Cartesian  theory  of  innate  ideas,  and 
temperamentally  they  had  an  aversion  for  the  severity  of 
Descartes'  ethics,  they  themselves  being  epicureans.  Bayle  and 
Fontenelle  continue  this  line  of  attack  in  the  eighteenth  century 
(see  Part  III,  Bk.  II) .  Meantime,  the  libertins  were  all  those  to 
whom  nature  —  in  the  Rabelaisian  sense  of  Mother  Nature  — 
is  the  safest  guide  in  life.  Guy  Patin,  the  physician,  and  es- 
pecially Moliere  belong  to  this  group;  whereas  Pierre  Gassendi 
(1592-1622),  the  chief  philosopher  of  the  libertins,  was  Moliere's 
teacher.^ 

Gassendi,  who  claimed  to  be  an  orthodox  Christian,  was  a 
frank  epicurean.  He  wrote  in  Latin  and  applied  the  philosophy 
of  Lucretius  (the  atomic  theory)  to'  the  domain  of  physics. 
This  was  in  direct  opposition  to  Descartes,  for  whose  "  innate 
ideas  "  Gassendi  substituted  an  empiricism  which  made  the  mind 
an  emanation  of  the  body.  Like  the  Jesuits,  he  held  to  the 
view  —  handed  down  from  the  Middle  Ages  —  that  "there  is 
nothing  in  the  mind  which  was  not  first  in  the  senses."  But  he 
coupled  this  view  with  a  rather  broad  eclecticism  or  tolerance, 
and  the  force  of  his  arguments  won  him  a  large  following,  despite 
his  unoriginality.  Thus  Gassendi  represents  the  liberal  current 
of  the  century,  running  counter  to  its  idealism  and  dogmatism. 

But  Cartesianism  was  to  have  a  recrudescence  during  the 

Malebranch     ^^coi^*^  P^^"*  of  the  century.    This  was  due  mainly 

to  Nicholas  Malebranche.    Born  at  Paris  in  1638, 

Malebranche  at  the  age  of  twenty-two  became  a  member  of  the 

'  other  Merlins  were  Cyrano  de  Bergerac,  La  Mothe  le  Vayer,  Saint-Evre- 
mond,    and  the  notorious  Ninon  de  Lenclos  of  whom   Mme  de  S6vign6  said: 
'Qu'elle  est  dangereuse,  oette  Ninon!" 


MALEBRANCHE  271 

Congr^ation  de  I'Oratoire,  and,  being  won  over  to  the  phil- 
osophy of  Descartes,  he  enlarged  its  scope  in  the  Recherche  de 
la  verite  ^  and  then  applied  his  theory  to  controversial  questions 
in  his  Traite  de  la  Nature  et  de  la  Grace  —  a  book  that  Bossuet 
criticized  tersely  in  the  words  "  pulchra,  nova,  falsa."  Male- 
branche  died  in  the  heat  of  controversy  in  1715. 

Malebranche's  point  of  departure  was  Descartes'  separation  of 
mind  and  matter,  and  their  coalescence  in  God.  The  problem 
had  already  disturbed  his  predecessor,  Arnold  Geulincx  (1625- 
1669) ,  a  Dutch  Cartesian.  Geulincx  had  sought  the  principle  of 
union  in  what  he  called  "  occasionalism."   My  will  is  the  occasion 

—  he  argued  —  whereby  my  body  moves.  It  is  not  that  my  will 
moves  my  body,  but  that  God  who  has  imparted  motion  to 
matter  has  so  arranged  the  world  that  my  body  moves  when 
my  will  acts.  This  type  of  casuistry  Malebranche  expands  by 
a  return  to  Neo-Platonism. 

In  this  way,  God  not  only  becomes  the  author  and  cause  of 
all  things  but  it  is  in  ilim  that  all  things  have  their  being  and 
perfection.  The  Deity  comprises,  says  Malebranche,  the  world 
of  matter  as  well  as  the  archetypes  (the  Platonic  Ideas)  to  which 
it  is  related.  As  to  reason,  God  is  its  supreme  form;  and  ac- 
cording as  man  grows  intelligent  he  beholds  the  operation  of 
reason  in  everything  —  in  Nature,  in  himself  and  in  religion. 
Reason  is  the  logos,  made  visible  in  Christ. 

Malebranche  was  a  mystic  and  a  theologian.  Hence,  he  took 
the  step  from  which  Descartes  held  back;  namely,  that  of  identi- 
fying theology  with  philosophy.  His  system,  as  such,  based  on 
the  confusion  of  reason  with  God,  was  to  lead  straight  to  the 
monism  of  Spinoza,  to  whom  all  individual  being  seemed 
accidental  and  God  alone  the  exclusive  reality. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  appeal  to  reason "  as  authority  is  the 
logical  and  extreme  position  of  Cartesianism.  Applied  to  the 
world  of  phenomena,  reason  is  made  the  driving  force  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  It  destroys  tradition,  places  the  moderns  — 
in  their  self-consciousness  —  above  the  ancients,  suggests  the 

>  Thus  in  1674  Malebranche  did  for  Descartes  what  Charron  had  done  for 
Montaigne  at  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

'  On  reason  as  bans  gens  —  the  practical,  as  distinguished  from  abstract,  reason 

—  see  below,  under  Classicism. 


272  DESCARTES 

idea  of  progress  and  perfectibility,  and  in  its  attention  to  the 
sciences  undermines  the  rule  of  art  as  incorporated  in  the  ancients. 
On  the  last  question,  the  pages  of  Malebranche's  La  verite  deal- 
ing with  Aristotle  are  significant. 

The  seventeenth  century,  however,  was  more  literary  than 
scientific,  in  spite  of  Descartes.  As  Voltaire  said,  it  was  a 
century  "  de  grands  talents  bien  plus  que  de  lumieres."  Al- 
though the  philosophy  of  Descartes  stands  at  the  apex  of  the 
Renaissance,  of  which  it  is  the  philosophy,  we  should  bear  in 
mind  that  in  the  seventeenth  century  it  was  merged  with  the 
current  of  Graeco-Roman  tradition,  as  pointed  out  above. 
From  this  happy  fusion  came  the  underlying  restraint  of  the 
Classical  Spirit. 


Rigaud,  "Louis  XIV' 


BOOK   IV 
CLASSICISM 

CHAPTER  I 

LOUIS    XIV   AND    THE    CLASSICAL    SPIRIT 

The  reign  of  Louis  XIV,  the  longest  in  French  history,  ex- 
tended from  1643  to  1715.  Louis  was  but  a  child  of  five  when 
he  came  to  the  throne,  and  the  Queen-mother,  Anne  of  Austria, 
continued  the  policy  of  Richelieu  with  the  help  of  the  astute 
but  unscrupulous  Mazarin.  Thus  the  young  King  was  bred  in 
the  school  of  the  most  uncompromising  absolutism  under  the 
direction  of  an  Italian.  A  "  realist "  in  politics,  Mazarin  had 
but  one  aim:  to  serve  himself  by  serving  his  king.  In  this  he 
was  aided  by  a  sentimental  attachment  for  the  Queen-mother 
herself.  Mazarin's  greatest  achievement,  the  Peace  of  West- 
phalia (1648),  had  made  France  a  self-sufiBcient  modern  state. 
By  the  annexation  of  Metz  and  Alsace,  it  had  indicated  her 
present  boundaries,  and  by  reducing  the  Holy  Roman  Empire 
to  an  empty  shadow  it  left  France  the  leading  continental  power. 
Through  this  peace,  says  Lavisse,  "  la  France  a  pratique  la 
premiere  avec  eclat  la  politique  de  I'egoisme  national."  Other 
nations  could  but  follow  in  her  wake.  So  that  when  Mazarin 
died  in  1661,  the  framework  of  absolute  monarchy  was  complete: 
the  Roi-Soleil  had  only  to  step  into  it  and  supply  the  picture  of 
his  own  commanding  personality.  Louis  was  not  a  genius.  He 
was,  in  the  common  opinion  of  historians,  more  of  an  actor  than  a 
creator  —  in  the  political  sense.  But  until  the  fatal  Revocation 
of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  in  1685  he  strove  wisely,  on  an  ever  as- 
cending scale,  for  the  development  of  those  qualities  for  which 
France  and  French  culture  are  justly  famed.  In  the  words 
of  Voltaire:  "  I'Etat  devint  un  tout  regulier,  dent  chaque  ligne 
aboutit  au  centre."  This  center  was  the  king  —  in  art  and 
literature  as  well  as  politics.    Louis  is  the  embodiment  of  the 

273 


274    LOUIS   XIV    AND   THE    CLASSICAL    SPIRIT 

cultural  ideal  inherent  in  the  Renaissance.  He  is  the  uomo  di 
virtu  made  real.  But  being  a  realization,  he  is  also  an  end.  The 
year  1685  marks  the  pinnacle  of  his  career.  With  the  Quarrel  of 
the  Ancients  and  the  Modems  in  1687  a  new  period  of  French 
history  begins. 

Personally,  Louis  blended  admirably  the  qualities  of  mind  and 
body  required  for  such  a  difi&cult  role.    He  was  twenty-two  when 
^         Mazarin  died,  and  besides  the  charm  and  grace 
Traits  of       of    youth    he    had    a    majesty    of    bearing    which 
^°^^  reflected  a  self-possessed  but  generous  attitude  of 

mind.  "  Le  metier  de  Roi,"  he  tells  us  in  his  Memoirs, 
"est  grand,  noble,  delicieux."  If  fortime  had  honored  him, 
he  at  least  meant  to  prove  worthy.  Never  was  a  king  more 
industrious  nor,  with  few  exceptions,  more  circumspect'  In 
his  work  of  organization,  it  is  true,  he  was  assisted  by  the 
cool-headed  Colbert  —  him  whom  Mme  de  Sevigne  had 
fitly  termed  "  le  Nord."  Colbert  was  a  Cartesian  and  an  in- 
defatigable worker;  he  prepared  for  his  royal  master  a  dossier 
on  every  conceivable  matter:  law,  commerce,  politics,  war,  and 
even  literature  and  painting.  It  behooved  Louis,  he  thought,  to 
"  divide  up  "  the  affairs  of  state  and  set  them  in  their  "  natural 
order."  Owing  to  Colbert  the  fiscal  and  the  legal  system  were 
modernized,  the  French  colonies  were  developed  through  the 
establishment  of  a  merchant-marine,  and  the  Canal  du  midi, 
connecting  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Atlantic,  was  planned  and 
in  part  carried  out.  But  if  Colbert  proposed,  it  was  Louis  who 
"  disposed  "  and  where  it  was  feasible  executed  his  own  orders. 
Doubtless  Louis  should  have  followed  Colbert's  advice  and 
given  his  country  peace;  whereas,  glorious  as  they  were,  his 
wars  exhausted  his  people's  strength.  When  Louis  realized  his 
mistake,  Colbert  was  dead  and  the  damage  irreparable.  On 
the  other  hand,  Louis  did  not  generally  lack  prudence.  Not  be- 
ing a  quick  thinker,  he  improvised  nothing.  His  speeches  —  one 
might  add,  his  every  act  —  were  prepared  with  care.  Passion- 
ate by  nature,  as  his  successive  "  afifairs  "  with  Marie  Mancini, 
La  Valliere,  Madame  de  Montespan  and  Madame  de  Maintenon 
show,  he  was  in  no  sense  a  profligate  and  rarely  allowed  emotion 
'  to  control  his  mind.  When  his  own  brother,  the  weak  Duke  of 
Anjou,  asked  him  for  a  sinecure,  he  slyly  replied:  "the  best 


VERSAILLES  275 

sinecure  is  the  heart  of  your  King."  Thus,  in  the  main,  Louis 
was  hard-working,  intelligent,  moderate  and  extraordinarily 
regular.  "  With  a  calendar  and  a  watch  in  hand,"  wrote  Saint- 
Simon,  "  one  could  at  a  distance  of  three  hundred  leagues  pre- 
dict what  he  was  doing." 

But  it  should  be  observed  that  the  chief  function  of  this 
monarch  was  to  "  act  a  part."  Where  pomp  and  ceremony  are 
The  Court  of  the  rule,  pride  and  vanity  become  a  second  nature* 
Louis  XIV  ^ji(j  mindful  of  the  disruptive  forces  that  produced 
the  Fronde,  the  monarchy  bent  every  energy  to  organize  its 
"glory"  in  a  concrete  form.    Says  Lavisse: 

Louis  voulut,  dans  cette  concupiscence  de  gloire  .  .  .  etre 
glorieux  comme  Augusta,  le  protecteur  des  lettres,  comme  Con- 
stantin  et  Theodose,  les  protecteurs  de  I'Eglise,  comme  Justinian, 
le  legislateur.    "  II  faut,"  pensait-il,  "  de  la  variete  dans  la  gloire." 

But  however  varied  the  manifestations  of  glory,  they  were 
clearly  to  center  upon  the  King.  Colbert,  who  in  1664  bought  the 
office  of  superintendent  of  buildings,  virtually  became  a  minister 
of  fine  arts.  He  awarded  pensions  to  scholars  and  writers,  he 
acted  as  vice-protector  of  the  Academy,  he  gave  employment  to 
artists  and  architects  —  in  short,  he  directed  the  intellectual 
life  of  the  country  with  the  same  masterful  design  as  he  did  the 
finances  and  the  laws.  But  it  was  Louis  himself  who  created 
Versailles  —  the  focus  of  all  this  activity,  the  vast  stage  of  French 
grandeur,  the  symbol  at  once  of  his  absolutism  and  his  uni- 
versality. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  on  the  magnificence  and  cost  of  the 
court  of  Versailles.  The  palace,  which,  with  its  galleries,  court- 
yard, park,  fountains,  embodied  the  art  of  Le  Vau,  Mansart,  Le 
N6tre,  Le  Brun  and  Perrault,  was  planned  to  admit  a  multitude 
—  not  as  guests  but  as  spectators  and  workers.  Taine  estimates 
that  the  official  household  of  the  King  involved  some  fifteen 
thousand  individuals  with  an  outlay  of  forty  to  fifty  million 
francs  or  one  tenth  of  the  public  revenue.  What  concerns  us 
here  is  the  symbolic  aspect  of  the  place,  the  fact  that  human 
life  could  be  organized  on  so  formal  a  plane,  that  it  was  in  effect 
possible  to  compress  the  activities  of  a  nation  into  the  dimensions 
of  a  well-ordered  salon.    For  the  Court  of  Versailles  was  not 


276      LOUIS  XIV  AND  THE  CLASSICAL  SPIRIT 

an  inner  circle  —  closed  to  the  eyes  of  the  world  —  but  a  con- 
tinuous public  function,  in  which  every  act  of  the  monarch,  from 
his  getting  out  of  bed  {le  lever)  to  his  evening  prayer  and  retire- 
ment {le  coucher)  was  elaborately  staged  and  observed.  When, 
for  example,  the  youthful  Louis  wished  to  proclaim  his  attach- 
ment for  La  Valliere,  he  gave  at  Versailles  the  "  Plaisirs  de 
rile  enchantee  "  —  a  fete  that  lasted  nine  days,  and  in  which 
Moliere  was  the  chief  entertainer.  Riding  on  a  chariot,  the 
great  dramatist  impersonated  Pan,  the  most  pagan  of  the 
gods;  and  he  celebrated  in  verse  the  justification  for  Louis' 
passion: 

Dans  I'age  oil  Ton  est  aimable 

Rien  n'est  si  beau  que  d'ajmer. 

Thus  the  court  of  Louis  XIV  appealed  to  the  sociability  and 
the  histrionic  sense  of  the  French.  It  was  exclusive  only  in  the 
respect  that  training  and  genius  made  it  so.  It  is  noteworthy 
that  the  main  talents  of  Louis'  reign  were  of  bourgeois  extrac- 
tion: Racine,  Boileau^^Ioliere  and  La  Fontaine.  Only  La 
Ilochjyoucauld,J\iadame3iIEaTF^  were  of 

the  hereditary  noble  class.  Yet  noble  or  cleric  or  bourgeois, 
it  was  part  of  Louis'  deliberate  plan  to  make  them  all  contribute 
to  his  fame:  Racine  and  Boileau  as  historiographers,  Bossuet 
as  chaplain  to  the  court  and  as  tutor  to  the  Dauphin,^  Moliere 
as  chief  entertainer  and  comedien  du  roi.  '  To  ignore  such  a 
king  was  practically  to  forego  worldly  success.  "  Sachez," 
says  one  of  Moliere's  characters,  "  que  les  courtisans  ont  d'aussi 
bons  yeux  que  d'autres;  qu'on  pent  etre  habile  avec  un  point 
de  Venise  et  des  plumes-,  aussi  bien  qu'avec  une  perruque  courte 
et  un  petit  rabat  uni,"  and  finally,  "  que  la  grande  epreuve  .  .  . 
c'est  le  jugement  de  la  cour."  Even  the  vagabond  La  Fontaine 
—  as  free  a  spirit  as  France  has  ever  produced  —  was  to  recognize 
the  fact.  ' 

It  would  have  been  impossible,  however,  for  Louis  to  con- 
centrate upon  Versailles  unless  he  had  had  the  resources  of  Paris 
Paris:  The  *°  draw  from.  By  the  seventeenth  century  Paris 
^"^^an  Aspect  had  become  what  it  has  remained  since:  the  metrop- 
olis with  a  character  and  temper  of  its  own;  "the 
torch-bearer  of  France,"  as  Victor  Hugo  has  called  it,  but  not 

*  Known  as  Monseigneur. 


CLASSICAL    TRAITS  277 

the  whole  of  France  nor  the  expression  of  a  single  faith,  religious, 
political  or  artistic.  Yet  if  French  literature  has  a  metropolitan 
aspect,  this  was  never  more  the  case  than  during  Louis'  reign. 
The  ancients  had  seen  in  their  cities  —  Athens  and  Rome  — 
the  opportunity  for  a  definite  and  well-rounded  life  of  culture; 
and  the  French  succeeded  to  this  idea,  again  through  the  medium 
of  Italy.  Ronsard  and  Du  Bellay  had  been  proud  of  the  fact 
that  they  hailed  from  the  provinces;  but  the  Classical  Boileau 
is  first  and  foremost  a  Parisian.  Nicolas  Poussin,  the  court 
painter,  admits  without  hesitation: 

J'ai  choisi  la  demeure  de  la  ville,  et  non  pas  celle  des  champs 
ou  je  vivrais  deconsole. 

Thus  Classical  culture  has  the  two  phases,  summed  up  in  the 
expression  la  cour  et  la  ville,  and  between  them  it  would  be  hard 
to  choose.  For  if  the  court  gave  form  and  polish,  it  was  the 
city  that  furnished  matter  and  ideas  to  literature  and  art. 
Vaugelas,  that  arbiter  elegantiarum  in  respect  to  language,  is 
forced  to  grant  that: 

Le  consentement  des  bons  auteurs  (most  of  them  Parisians)  est 
comme  le  sceau,  ou  une  verification,  qui  authorise  le  langage  de 
la  cour,  et  qm  marque  le  ban  usage. 

And  so  it  happens  that  Racine,  a  Jansenist  at  heart,  produces 
the  most  courtly  form  of  tragedy;  that  Moliere,  a  radical  in 
almost  any  other  age,  lifts  his  voice  in  behalf  of  the  social 
virtues;  and  that  Pascal,  a  dissenter  if  there  ever  was  one, 
clothes  his  thought  in  the  most  aristocratic  of  styles.  Variety 
in  xmity  is  therefore  the  hall-mark  of  French  Classicism.  It 
is  without  doubt  a  literature  of  form,  but  it  is  also  a  literature 
of  great  individuals,  whose  personal  qualities  are  none  the 
less  marked  for  being  artistically  on  much  the  same  plane. 
In  the  alignment  of  Classical  traits,  reason  would  come  first, 
ihenjTt,  thensociaZj2n2i»-aod  finally  nature.  With  all  of  these 
The  Classical  except  the  last  we  have  dealt  in  preceding  chapters. 
Tiaits  ^g  TffQ  have  seen,  the  idea  of  reason  permeates  the 

Renaissance  as  that  of  faith  does  the  Middle  Ages  and  as  the  idea 
of  personality  characterizes  modern  times.  In  regard  to  art, 
its  influence  dates  from  the  Pleiade  and  the  introduction  of 
criti^l  theories  from  Italy.    In  both  respects  there  was  —  as 


278    LOUIS  XIV  AND  THE  CLASSICAL  SPIRIT 

we  have  observed  —  a  return  to  Graeco-Roman  antiquity ;  thus 
the  authority  of  the  ancients  became  in  a  measure  sacrosanct. 
Yet  there  could  be  no  organization  without  social  form,  which 
would  harmonize  conflicting  ideals  under  the  banner  of  decorum 
and  give  to  the  social  body  ease  and  grace  of  expression.  This 
was  the  work  of  the  Hotel  de  Rambouillet  and  the  various  salons 
arising  therefrom.  Lastly,  as  a  culmination  of  these  traits, 
came  a  better  understanding  of  man's  intrinsic  qualities,  a 
psychological  grasp  of  his  actual  being  —  in  a  word,  nature,  which 
thus  is  the  crowning  feature  of  the  Classical  edifice. 

It  cannot  be  too  strongly  stated  that  to  the  seventeenth 
century  nature  was  primarily  "  human  nature."  The  generation 
of  1660,  thinks  Brunetiere,  was  quite  capable  of  enjoying  land- 
scape; but  it  enjoyed  it  objectively,  sans  phrases.  It  was  far  from 
conceiving  landscape,  in  its  primitive  majesty  and  beauty,  as 
an  inspiration  for  poetry  and  art.  That  revelation  was  to  be 
reserved  for  Rousseau  and  the  eighteenth  century  to  make. 
Meantime,  this  was  the  age  of  the  formalism  of  Le  Notre,  when 
the  regularity  of  the  drawing-room  was  the  model  for  gardening, 
when  trees  and  shrubbery  were  arranged  like  furniture,  and  lawns 
were  currently  called  des  tapis  verts.  In  general,  then,  the 
fundamental  idea  was  la  belle  nature;  that  is,  "  civilized  nature," 
a  world  thought  of  as  conforming  to  the  universal  laws  of  the 
human  mind.  The  more  the  opposing  factors  of  mind  and  matter 
could  be  harmonized,  the  better  —  provided  always  that  reason 
or  mind  remained  in  the  ascendency.  On  this  basis  Boileau 
laid  down  the  rule: 

Jamais  de  la  nature  il  ne  faut  s'ecarter; 
and,  in  England,  Pope  repeats  this  thought  in  the  dictum: 

True  wit  is  Nature  to  advantage  dressed, 
What  oft  was  thought  but  ne'er  so  well  expressed. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  departure  from  nature  was  now  the  predeux, 
the  bizarre,  the  grotesque  and  the  ijwrg^^emblabl^ -^ike  flie 
lawless  and  savage  aspects  of  a  universe  untouched  by  the 
civilizing  hand  of  man.  "  Let  there  be  no  mistake,"  says  that 
later-day  Classicist  Brunetiere,  "  if  the  heroes  of  Shakespeare 
are  more  passionate  than  others,  they  are  not  on  that  account 
more  true  to  life  but  only  more  brutal "  — 


CLASSICAL    TRAITS  279 

ils  sont  plus  proches  de  la  nature  dans  la  mesure  oh  lersont 
aussi  les  sauvages  et  les  barbares. 

Classicism  would  admit  of  no  such  imperfection. 

But  if  Classicism  is  at  once  natural,  artistic  and  rational  — 
it  is  by  its  very  definition  opposed  to  an  exaggeration  of  any 
one  feature.  The  real  Classicists  (Pascal,  Boileau,  Racine,  La 
Fontaine,  Bossuet  and  Moliere)  held  not  only  to  reason  but 
also  to  intuition  as  the  two  essential  qualities  of  man.  They 
did  so  with  Pascal,  who  maintained  —  and  this  is  the  most  ex- 
treme statement  of  his  position: 

Le  cceur  a  ses  raisons  que  la  raison  ne  connait  point; 

and  again  with  Boileau,  who  said: 

Mais  la  nature  est  vraie,  et  d'abord  on  la  sent. 

There  has  been  much  discussion  of  the  famous  passage  in  which 
Pascal  sets  in  opposition  these  two  functions  of  man  as  the 
esprit  de  geometrie  and  the  esprit  de  finesse.  By  the  one,  he 
aflBrms,  we  reason  abstractly,  and  by  the  other  we  apprehend 
immediately  and  concretely.  Other  terms  are:  Ig^Qijpn  (the 
pure  reason)  and  le  bons  sens  (the^  practicai^jre,ason) .  And  it 
is  the  second  quality,  so  frequently  emphasized  by  both  Moliere 
and  Boileau,  that  is  invoked  for  the  guidance  of  mankind.  Cer- 
tainly, the  trait  is  typical  of  the  French  honnete  homme,  who  by 
antecedent  training  has  acquired  the  aptitude  to  judge  delicately 
and  therefore  correctly.^  Cleante  in  Tartuffe  holds  this  point 
of  view  when  he  says: 

Les  hommes  la  plupart  sont  etrangement  faits! 
Dans  la  juste  nature  on  ne  les  voit  jamais. 

—  whereas  the  man  of  good  breeding  is  considerate  and  balanced 
in  his  conduct.  But  names  are  deceptive,  and  the  esprit  de 
finesse  ranges  all  the  way  from  le  bon  sens  to  the  most  delicate 
intuition.  Similarly,  in  the  field  of  art  it  appears  as  le  bon  gout 
or  taste;  and,  again,  to  some  critics  taste  is  based  on  inflexible 
rational  laws,  whereas  to  others  it  is  mainly  delicacy  of  perception 

'  "Measure"  as  eharacteristip  of  the  honnSte  homme —  a  reflection  of  the  Italian 
sprezzaiura  —  is  seen  in  La  Rochefoucauld's  maxim  that  "I'honnfete  homme 
est  celm  qui  ne  se  pique  de  rien." 


280    LOUIS  XIV  AND  THE  CLASSICAL  SPIRIT 

or  feeling.  La  Bruyere,  who  believed  that  there  is  "  un  bon  et  un 
mauvais  gout,"  nevertheless  made  the  criterion  of  taste  a  matter 
of  cultivated  instinct.^  The  important  point,  however,  is  that 
Classicism  conceives  of  man's  nature  as  "  complete."  The  gesta- 
tion, of  centuries  is  achieved:  man  has  become  conscious  of  him- 
self, of  his  position  in  the  universe,  of  his  functions,  of  what  he 
can  and  cannot  do  in  life.  If  he  is  sensible  like  the  Chrysaldes 
and  Aristes  of  Moliere's  Comedy,  he  will  know  that  the  "  middle 
course  "  {le  juste  milieu)  is  the  best,  that  it  is  folly  to  fly  to 
extremes,*  that  only  he  is  happy  who  can  bring  his  life  into 
accord  with  the  lives  of  his  fellow-men.  But  even  when  he 
is  not  sensible,  when  like  the  Phaedra  or  Orestes  of  Racine 
he  is  mad  with  passion,  or  like  Pascal  he  is  at  odds  with  the 
universe,  his  reason  mirrors  his  weakness  and  justifies  the 
position  that: 

Toute  notre  dignite  consiste    .    .    .    en  la  pensee.    Travaillons 
done  a  bien  penser:  voila  le  principe  de  la  morale. 

In  other  words,  Classicism  clings  to  reason  as  the  foimdation 
of  intuition,  and  its  "  nature  "  is  the  harmony  between  idea  and 
fact. 

In  this  essential  position,  Classicism  is  the  realism  of  seven- 
teenth-century literature.  Racine  and  Moliere  are  related  to 
Corneille  as  Honore  de  Balzac  is  to  Victor  Hugo.  The  difference 
is  that  neither  Balzac  nor  Hugo  regards  man  as  a  finality,  and 
least  of  all  as  a  rational  finality,  such  as  he  is  to  both  Corneille 
and  Racine.  The  Classical  world,  we  repeat,  is  a  closed  universe. 
Its  tendency  is  constantly  to  identify  the  city  and  the  world 
(in  urbe  et  orbe).  Classicism  gravitates  towards  a  center,  not 
away  from  it.  Humanity  is  not  asked  in  Nietzsche's  phrase, 
"  to  surpass  itself,"  but  to  be  itself.  The  breadth  of  Classicism 
lies  in  the  supreme  fact  that  it  considers  nothing  human  as  alien 
to  it  —  though  this  is  true  only  as  an  ideal.  In  fact,  having 
decided  what  is  normal  for  man  or  a  special  group  of  men,  the 
Classicist  sets  up  this  norm  as  his  model  and  imitates  it.  And 
how  is  this  norm  determined?    The  simplest  answer  to  this  ques- 

'  "Celul  qui  le  sent  et  qui  I'aime  a  le  goftt  parfait:  oelui  qui  le  sent  et  qui  I'aime 
en  degk  ou  au  del&  a  le  goftt  d6feotueux."  —  Dea  Ouvrages  de  I'eiprit. 

<  Compare  Pascal,  Penaiea,  378:  "C'est  sortir  de  rhumanit^  que  de  sortii  du 
milieu." 


CLASSICAL  TRAITS  281 

tion  is  to  say :  by  a  comparison  of  civilized  men  throughout  the 
ages;  and  to  the  seventeenth  century  such  a  comparison  neces- 
sarily embraced  the  ancients.  Thus  French  Classicism  is  not 
merely  a  revival  of  ancient  classicism,  but  an  attempt  to  define 
the  genus  Man  by  eliminating  from  him  all  that  seemed  local 
and  ephemeral.  Racine's  tragedies  are  not  Greek,  Roman  or 
French;  they  are  —  within  the  limits  we  have  stated  —  universal. 

Having  said  this,  we  must  grant  that  there  is  little  or  no  room 
in  such  a  program  for  the  imagination.  "  The  fairyland  of  fancy," 
where  genius  "may  wander  wild,"  is  in  itself  contrary  to  the 
Classical  creed.  The  Classical  vocabulary  is  restricted  to  words 
that  were  socially  approved  as  universally  expressive.  °  Even 
the  rational  imagination,  considered  as  "  quickness,"  or  "  wit," 
or  "  conceit "  —  qualities  so  much  lauded  in  Pre-Classical  days 
—  had  become  abhorrent  to  the  age  of  Boileau  and  La  Bruyere, 
who  regarded  false  wit  as  lacking  in  common  sense  and  judg- 
ment. The  amiable  and  sensible  Bouhours  defines  le  bel  esprit 
as  le  bon  sens  qui  brille.^  In  all  this.  Classicism  again  repre- 
sents a  reaction,  and  correctness  or  "  decorum  "  easily  became  a 
tyranny.  Above  all,  and  here  is  the  objector's  best  argument, 
Classicism  would  leave  no  illusions,  no  mysteries,  no  undis- 
covered bourns,  in  man's  spiritual  makeup.  Where  the  momen- 
tum is  towards  clearness  and  precision  it  is  away  from  lyricism 
or  metaphysics. 

On  the  other  hand,  genius  is  always  an  exception  and  no 
system  can  fully  explain  the  great  work  of  art.  Racine  has  a 
lyrical  side  just  as  Pascal  is  metaphysical,  if  any  Frenchman 
ever  was.  If  Classicism  means  anything  it  signifies  control  and 
not  suppression.  Indeed,  the  French  spirit  is  so  nearly  Classical 
that  it  would  be  hazardous  to  attempt  a  distinction.  What 
makes  it  so  is  the  sense  of  balance:  the  ability  of  the  cultivated 
Frenchman,  illustrated  again  and  again  in  history,  though 
never  better  than  in  the  generation  of  1660,  to  strike  a  middle 
course.  The  Classical  traits  of  reason,  art,  social  form,  and 
nature  were  then  held,  so  to  speak,  in  suspension  —  not  in  fixed 
proportions,  but  in  deference  to  the  value  of  each.  Beneath  the 
veneer  ,of    art,    there    were    the    social    problems,    rationally 

*  Racine's  vocabulary  is  much  leas  than  one-half  that  of  Shakespeare. 

•  See  Wright,  French  Classicism,  page  104. 


282     LOUIS  XIV  AND  THE  CLASSICAL  SPIRIT 

considered,  with  great  wealth  of  observation.  Or  the  emphasis 
might  be  reversed:  a  social  or  scientific  problem  is  to  the  fore 
and  art  is  accessory;  yet  the  form  being  artistic  the  problem 
treated  carries  delight  and  conviction  to  its  public.  It  may  be 
doubted  whether,  as  "  truth,"  the  character  types  of  Racine  and 
Moliere  have  ever  been  equalled.  They  have  their  limitations, 
of  course.  They  may  lack  individual  freedom,  power  —  some 
may  say  —  beauty.  But  that  they  are  "  real "  is  beyond  cavil. 
Thus  the  Age  of  Louis  XIV  is  the  representative  French  age. 
Classicism  is  the  harmonious  inter-working  of  life  and  art. 
It  is  the  time  when  the  individual  and  the  type  are  most  evenly 
matched;  when  men  look  beyond  the  individual  for  the  actual 
traits  of  the  type,  and  when,  at  the  same  time,  "  a  mesure  qu'on 
a  plus  d'esprit,  on  trouve  qu'il  y  a  plus  d'hommes  originaux. 
Les  gens  du  conmiun  ne  trouvent  pas  de  difference  entre  les 
hommes."  Into  these  words  Pascal  has  distilled  the  essence  of 
French  seventeenth-century  culture. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE    WRITERS    OF    MEMOIRS    AND    MAXIMS 
WOMEN  WRITERS 

The  first  Classicist,  in  his  attitude  towards  human  nature,  was 
La  Rochefoucauld.  There  is  an  exquisite  page  by  Sainte-Beuye 
La  Roche-  in  which  the  great  critic  recalls  that  Mme  de  Sevigne 
foucauld  once  suggested  papering  a  bedroom  with  the  backs 
of  playing-cards.  Thus  the  trumps  of  the  evening  before  would 
appear  to  us  in  the  morning  in  a  wholly  different  light:  we  had 
retired  believing  in  Chimene,  Polyeucte,  Auguste  or  some  other 
queen  or  king  of  romance ;  we  would  awaken  to  behold  the  other 
side  of  the  picture.  This  other  side  of  life,  le  revers  de  la  medaUle, 
is  La  Rochefoucauld.  He,  too,  has  his  interest,  the  interest  of  a 
fresh  discovery.  And  as  we  proceed  to  drain  his  bitterness  and 
wax  enthusiastic  over  it,  we  ourselves  grow  calm  and  collected, 
aware  of  the  fact,  which  La  Rochefoucauld  never  allows  us  to 
forget,  that  life  has  the  two  sides,  ideal  and  real,  separated  by 
an  attitude. 

Frangois  VI,  Due  de  la  Rochefoucauld,  Prince  de  Marsillac, 
was  bom  at  Paris  in  1613.  He  had  an  adventurous  and  noisy 
youth,  taking  a  very  active  part  in  the  Fronde. 
"  II  y  eut,"  sai9  Cardinal  de  Retz,  "  toujours  du 
je  ne  sais  quoi  en  tout  M.  de  La  Rochefoucauld."  This  irresolu- 
tion, seen  chiefly  in  a  sentimental  attachment  for  women  —  Mme 
de  Chevreuse,  the  Duchess  of  Longueville,  Mme  de  Sable  and 
Mme  de  La  Fayette  —  led  him  to  turn  his  back  on  fortune. 
Wounded  at  the  combat  of  the  Porte  Saint-Antoine,  and  disap- 
pointed at  the  triimiph  of  Mazarin,  he  retired  in  1653,  first 
abroad,  and  then  to  his  estate  at  Verteuil.  In  1656  he  returned 
to  Paris  to  enjoy  a  disillusioned  but  peaceful  old  age  in  the  dis- 
tinguished circles  which  he  helped  to  create.  He  died  in  1680,  in 
the  arms  of  Bossuet.  His  Memoires  were  first  published  in  1662, 
and  his  Maxifnes  in  1664-1665. 

283 


284     THE    WRITERS    OF    MEMOIRS    AND    MAXIMS 

Unlike  Montaigne,  La  Rochefoucauld  prizes  his  personal  ob- 
servation as  on  a  par  with  general  truth;  he  distinguishes  the 
two,  does  justice  to  each,  and  hence  is  aware  of  the 
bearing  of  each  on  the  other.  His  truest  observa- 
tion is  probably  that  "  Nobody  deserves  to  be  praised  for  doing 
good  unless  he  possesses  the  power  of  doing  evil."  Goodness 
to  him  is  an  exceptional  act  —  this  is  the  keynote  of  his  aris- 
tocratic code.  The  fact  that  humanity  is  mostly  a  failure 
is  no  reason  why  it  should  always  be  one.  Thus  La  Roche- 
foucauld's "  truths "  are  the  reflections  of  a  spirit  essentially 
idealistic. 

The  Memoires  are  the  record  of  his  own  failures,  objectively 
told.  With  intentional  coldness  the  work  recounts  the  fiasco 
of  the  Fronde  and  the  futile  attempt  of  La'  Rochefoucauld  to 
free  the  Queen  from  the  tyranny  of  Richelieu.  The  Maximes 
crystallize  the. poignancy  of  himian  experience  in  a  phrase.  In 
"  itself,  the  maxim  was  a  pFoduct  of  the  salon  of  Mme  de  Sable. 
This  great  lady,  daughter  of  the  Marechal  de  Souvre,  united  good 
breeding  with  a  keen  intelligence  and  an  interest  in  the  Jansen- 
ists  of  Port-Royal.  Under  her  direction  it  became  a  social  game 
not  only  to  draw  portraits  in  words  but  also  to  summarize  discus- 
sions in  a  sentence.  For  this  there  were  Italian  models,^  and  Mme 
de  Sable's  own  "  maxims  "  were  not  without  merit,  while  those  by 
a  certain  Esprit  —  the  Faussetes  des  vertus  humaines  —  attained 
considerable  vogue.  Those  of  La  Rochefoucauld  were  offered  at 
the  lady's  shrine  as  incense:  years  were  given  to  polishing  and 
improving  each  maxim;  and  when  the  slender  volume  at  last 
appeared  it  was  to  undergo  both  excision  and  expansion  and, 
thanks  to  the  later  influence  of  Mme  de  La  Fayette,  considerable 
softening  in  tone.  The  success  of  the  Maximes  rests  as  much  on 
the  happy  turn  of  the  thought  —  the  trimness  and  ingenuity  of 
expression  —  as  upon  the  observations  expressed.  La  Ro.che- 
foucauld  has  an  instinct,  improved  by  practice,  for  the  jaot 
jjrogre.  "  Quand  les  vices  nous  quittent,"  he  says,  "  nous  nous 
flattens  de  la  cr^ance  que  c'est  nous  qui  les  quittons."  And 
again,  "  Les  vices  entrent  dans  la  composition  des  vertus,  comme 
les  poisons  entrent  dans  la  composition  des  remedes."  For  the 
most  part,  however,  the  exaggeration  is  slight  and  the  observa- 

<  See  espeoially  Guazio,  La  civil  Conversaaone,  1574. 


RETZ  286 

> 

tion  is  not  only  telling  but  also  profound.  Thus  poetry  unites 
with  truth  in  such  maxims  as  "  With  true  love  it  is  as  with  appa- 
ritions—  every  one  talks  of  them  but  few  persons  have  seen 
them,"  and  "  Virtues  lose  themselves  in  self-interest  as  rivers 
lose  themselves  in  the  sea."  Like  Moliere,  La  Rochefoucauld 
is  a^CTSoiseless^ritic  of  life.  He  is  not  without  pity,  but  he 
is  as  relentless  to  himself  as  to  society  in  regard  to  the  motives 
which  we  constantly  misrepresent,  for  "  Society  rewards  more 
often  the  appearance  of  merit  than  merit  itself." 

Finally,  there  is  his  Parnassian  style  —  a  style  that  has  the/| 
quality  of  an  inscription:  lapidary,  concise,  completely  adequate] 
But  it  is  a  style  without  relief,  having  no  transitions,  and  hencelj/ 
wearisome  in  the  long  rim.    La  Rochefoucauld  is  not  a  greats 
writer:  he  harps  too  much  on  one  string,  but  the  vibrations  from 
that  string  are  true  to  human  nature  the  world  over. 

Without  a  scintilla  of  La  Rochefoucauld's  nobility  but  possess- 
ing far  more  dash  and  brilliancy  was  his  contemporary,  Paul  de 
The  Cardinal  Gondi,  Cardinal  de  Retz  (1614^1679).  Never  a 
de  Retz  sentimentalist,  Retz  was  an  Italian  by  birth  and 
tradition,  and  he  sought  to  play  a  role  as  a  worldly  and  profligate 
churchman.  At  seventeen  he  wrote  the  Histoire  de  la  conjuration 
de  Fiesque,  a  work  that  opened  Richelieu's  eyes  to  the  potential 
dangers  of  this  fledgling.  In  1652  he  was  made  a  cardinal  through 
intrigue.  Imprisoned  because  of  his  part  in  the  Fronde,  he  es- 
caped, passed  eight  years  in  Spain,  Holland  and  Rome,  and  in  1662 
returned  to  France  after  having  resigned  his  bishopric  with  a 
grandeur  d'dme  which  was  truly  Cornelian  (Lanson).  His 
Memoires,  written  about  1671  though  not  published  until  1717, 
are  an  attempt  to  rehabilitate  himself  in  the  eyes  of  posterity  — 
another  trait  of  the  Frondeur.  In  an  admirable  portrait  of  him 
La  Rochefoucauld  emphasizes  these  qualities:  "  beaucoup  d'ele- 
vation,  d'etendue  d'esprit,  et  plus  d'ostentation  que  de  vraie 
grandeur  de  courage." 

There  is  something  demoniac  in  Retz's  audacity  (Dowden), 
of  which  the  Memoires  are  the  expression.  This  work  relates  what 
Retz  desired  to  be  believed.  He  changes  dates,  falsifies  facts  and 
motives,  but  is  always  vivid  and  intensely  real.  In  particular, 
his  account  of  the  "  Journee  des  Barricades  "  pulsates  with  the 
vigor  of  an  actual  occurrence  and  reveals  his  power  as  a  de- 


286     THE    WRITERS    OF    MEMOIRS    AND    MAXIMS 

scriptive  artist  of  the  first  rank.  The  same  trait  appears  in  the 
extended  correspondence  he  exchanged  with  the  notables  of  his 
time.  Retz  is  particularly  strong  in  his  discussion  of  politics  and 
in  his  portraits.  In  both  directions  he  shows  astuteness  and  a 
sense  of  color,  although  brilliancy  of  idea  and  of  style  remains 
his  chief  asset.  Thus  in  every  regard  he  is  a  survival  of  the  age 
of  Corneille. 

Another  Frondeur,  but  this  time  an  ardent  defender  of  the 
royal  faction,  was  Charles  de  Marguetel  de  Saint-Denis,  Seigneur 
Saint-  de  Saint-Evremond  (1613-1703).    Yet  in  his  writ- 

Evremond  jngg  he  maintains  a  detached  point  of  view.  Hav- 
ing publicly  criticized  the  Peace  of  the  Pyrenees,  he  had  to  leave 
France  (1661)  in  order  to  escape  the  Bastille.  He  retired  to 
England  and  there  spent  forty-two  years  of  his  life,  dying  on 
the  threshold  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  being  the  only 
Frenchman  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey.  Thus  Saint-Evre- 
mond spans  the  century,  touching  only  its  extremes  and  unin- 
fluenced by  Classicism  itself.  He  is  one  of  the  really  "free" 
spirits.  Precieux  and  libertin  by  origin,  he  holds  to  Corneille 
against  the  rising  fame  of  Racine,  and  he  concludes  by  admiring 
Bayle  and  by  breaking  a  lance  for  the  Modems  (see  below)  in 
his  treatise  Sur  les  Poemes  anciens  (1685).  Less  of  a  writer  than 
a  cosmopolite  of  liberal  ideas,  he  was  not  keen  to  publish, 
and  in  fact  his  Veritables  CEuvres  did  not  appear  until  after 
his  death  in  1705.  These  works  consist  of  reflections  on 
diverse  topics,  generally  more  interesting  than  sound,  but 
always  expressed  with  ease  and  simplicity.  Sainte-Beuve  re- 
garded him  as  the  most  distinguished  example  of  the  courtiers 
of  1660. 

Others  there  were  of  a  similar  but  less  worthy  type,  such  as  the 
vainglorious  Chevalier  de  Mere  (1609-1684)  and  the  captious  but 
Women  very  able  and  witty  Bussy-Rabutin    (1618-1693). 

Writers  Mere  gave  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  elaborate 

definitions  of  the  honnete  homme,  besides  suggesting  to  Pascal 
various  fruitful  reflections ;  whereas  Bussy  excelled  by  the  perfect 
trimness  of  his  epistolary  style,  seen  above  all  in  his  cor- 
respondence with  distinguished  women.  But  it  is  these  latter 
who  illustrate  best  the  mundane  spirit  and  the  background  of 
social  brilliancy  and  intrigue  upon  which  Classicism  was  nurtured. 


MME    DE    LA    FAYETTE  287 

This  background  is  still  covered  with  a  veil  of  romance  in  the 
works  of  Mme  de  La  Fayette,  the  "  truest "  woman  whom  La 
Mme  de  Rochefoucauld  had  ever  known.  Her  maiden  name 
La  Fayette  ^^g  Marie-Madeleine  Pioche  de  la  Vergne,  and  she 
was  born  in  Havre  (1634) ,  of  which  city  her  father  was  governor. 
She  received  an  excellent  education,  partly  at  the  hands  of 
Menage  and  of  Rapin,  and  was  early  introduced  to  the  precieux 
circles  of  the  capital.  Married  at  twenty-one  to  the  Comte  de 
La  Fayette,  she  became  the  intimate  of  Mme  de  Sevigne  and  of 
the  gracious  but  tmhappy  Henrietta  of  England,  whose  Memoirs 
she  wrote.  During  the  later  years  of  his  life  La  Rochefoucauld 
found  in  her  a  devoted  friend,  and  she  in  him  doubtless  a  helpful 
literary  mentor.  She  survived  him  by  thirteen  years,  dying  in 
1693. 

Her  greatest  work  is  La  Princesse  de  Cleves  (1678),  one  of 
the  classic  novels  of  French  literature.  This  was  preceded  by 
several  works "  published  \mder  the  name  of  Segrais,  the  most 
interesting  of  which  is  Zayde,  histoire  es-pagnole,  in  which  Mme 
de  La  Fayette  attempts  to  reduce  to  reasonable  proportions 
the  complicated  intrigue  of  the  heroic  romances  (see  Bk.  Ill, 
Ch.  ,n).  But  success  along  this  line  was  reserved  for  the  first- 
mentioned  work;  borrowing  the  technique  of  the  Cornelian 
drama  and  applying  it  for  the  first  time  to  the  domain  of  the 
novel,  the  author  here  presents  a  simple  situation  in  terms  that 
are  psychologically  true  to  life. 

The  subject  of  La  Princesse  de  Cleves  is,  according  to  Lanson, 
that  of  "  Polyeucte  moins  la  religion."  A  married  woman  loves 
a  courtier  who  is  not  her  husband,  and  becoming  aware  of  the 
growth  of  her  affection  appeals  to  her  husband  to  protect  her 
against  herself.  Thinking  himself  deceived,  M.  de  Cleves  falls 
ill  and  dies,  though  not  without  being  told  of  his  error;  where- 
upon his  wife,  free  to  choose  her  lover,  chooses  a  life  of  seclusion 
instead.  The  plot  and  personages  were  borrowed  in  part  from 
Perefixe,'  who  recounts  an  event  at  the  court  of  Henry  II.  But 
the  motivation,  the  characterization  and,  above  all,  the  charm 
of  the  novel  belong  to  Mme  de  La  Fayette.    There  is  about  the 

story  an  air  of  the  medieval  roman  d'aventure;  and  although 

> 

'  She  began  with  a  short-story,  Mile  de  Montpensier,  1662. 
•  Histoire  de  Henri  le  Grand,   1662. 


288     THE    WRITERS    OF    MEMOIRS    AND    MAXIMS 

realism  is  not  its  strongest  side,  its  pathos  and  its  beauty  are 
alike  impressive  —  and  its  psychology  is  that  of  an  aristocra,tic 
soul.  As  regards  form,  La  Princesse  de  Cleves  is  a  landmark  in 
the  history  of  its  genre.  With  it  the  historical  romance  acquires 
not  only  depth  but  proportion  as  well. 

On  the  whole,  Mme  de  La  Fayette  writes  simply  and  without 
affectation ;  her  style  is  luniinous  rather  than  passionate,  nor  does 
it  lack  ironic  touches  and  an  occasional  bit  of  malice. 

A  letter-writer  only,  but  probably  the  greatest  one  the  world 
has  ever  had,  is  Mme  de  Sevigne.  Her  correspondence  is  the 
Mme  de  "  tableau-vivant "  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
Sevigne  fQj.  social  portraiture  it  equals  the  works  of  Saint- 

Simon,  while  written  with  much  more  fairness  though  less  scope. 

Marie  de  Rabutin-Chantal,  who  at  eighteen  married  the 
Marquis  of  Sevigne  —  a  Breton  nobleman  —  was  born  at  Paris 
in  1626  and  died  at  Grignan  in  1696.  A  granddaughter  of  that 
Mme  de  Chantal  whom  Frangois  de  Sales  knew,  and  a  cousin 
of  Bussy-Rabutin,  she  belonged  to  one  of  the  best  families  in 
France.  Left  an  orphan  in  childhood,  she  fell  to  the  care  of  an 
uncle,  the  Abbe  de  Coulanges,  who  gave  her  an  excellent  educa- 
tion, to  which  both  Chapelain  and  Menage  contributed  instruc- 
tion in  foreign  languages.  Personally,  she  had  beauty  despite 
the  square  nose  and  the  yeux  bigarres  with  which  she  reproached 
herself.  In  addition,  she  possessed  a  sparkling  wit  and,  what  is 
more  remarkable  for  her  time,  an  outright  and  sincere  manner 
of  speech.  Thus  she  was  fitted  to  become  a  social  leader  with- 
out falling  a  prey  to  preciosity  or  to  worldly  intrigue. 

Her  husband,  another  light-hearted  Frondeur,  was  killed  in  a 
duel  (1651),  leaving  his  young  wife  with  two  children,  a  daughter 
Frangoise,  and  a  son  Charles.  She  married  her  daughter  (1668) 
to  the  Comte  4&-€r«^^a,  a  lieutenant-general  of  Provence,  and 
supported  her  sonTn  the  army.  Meanwhile,  she  consoled  herself 
for  her  solitude  by  leading  an  active  social  life.  In  1677  she 
bought  the  Hotel  Carnavalet,  where  she  kept  open  house  until 
her  death.  But  she  also  visited  other  parts  of  France,  passing 
the  summer  at  Les  Rochers,  the  family  estate  in  Brittany, 
or  going  to  Provence  for  a  sojourn  with  her  daughter.  Mme 
de  Sevign6  was  fond  of  bucolic  Nature,  while  the  great  passion 
of  her  life  —  the  only  passion  that  ever  blinded  her  —  was 
her  affection  for  her  daughter. 


MME  DE  SEVIGNE  289 

The  great  bulk  of  her  Letters,  and  they  fill  many  volumes, 
are  addressed  to  Mme  de  Grignan.  Others  were  written  to 
Tiie  L  tt  Bussy-Rabutin,  Mme  de  La  Fayette,  and  a  few 
friends  —  in  short,  a  rather  intimate  circle.  But 
in  a  day  when  the  means  of  commimication  were  slow  and 
journalism  was  in  its  infancy,*  the  arrival  of  a  letter  was  an 
event  and  the  composition  thereof  a  matter  of  consequence. 
Thus,  writing  from  the  center  of  the  world  to  her  daughter  in 
the  provinces,  Mme  de  Sevigne  was  not  merely  a  purveyor  of 
information  on  all  important  subjects,  but  also  a  sympathetic 
and  imaginative  critic.  Indeed,  her  greatest  gift  is  a  vivid 
imagination,  one  which  permitted  her  to  gauge  at  a  distance  the 
effect  that  her  messages  would  make  upon  the  recipient.  As 
M.  Lanson  has  observed,  her  Letters  have  light,  color  and  move- 
ment. They  are  not  over-emotional:  the  execution  of  the  Mar- 
quise de  La  Brinvilliers  (convicted  of  poisoning)  becomes  under 
her  pen  a  masterpiece  of  piquant  description.  Or  take  her 
Letter  on  the  Death  of  Turenne,  written  a  full  month  after  this 
general  died;  nothing  that  is  significant  is  omitted,  the  details 
are  presented  vividly,  with  extraordinary  freshness  —  but  what 
is  more,  they  are  intelligently  presented,  the  particular  passes 
over  into  the  general,  and  such  facts  as  escaped  her  eye  her 
fancy  supplies.  Having  no  theory  to  uphold,  she  thus  becomes 
the  mirror  of  her  age.  In  a  style  that  is  at  once  brilliant  and 
rational,  she  touches  upon  all  aspects  of  her  time:  the  court,  the 
city,  the  country-side,  her  own  domestic  life  and,  lastly,  her 
extensive  and  solid  reading.  The  Letters  are  not  only  an  in- 
valuable social  and  literary  document  but  also  the  expression 
of  a  spirited  and  sensible  woman  of  the  world.  They  include 
also  the  doings  of  her  many  friends,  for  she  was  amiable  and 
widely  esteemed. 

Masculine  perseverance,  rather  than  feminine  charm  and  wit, 
accounts  for  the  remarkable  role  which  Mme  de  Maintenon 
Mme  de  was  to  play  in  the  destinies  of  France.  Noteworthy, 
Maintenon  ^q^^  jg  ^jjg  paradox  between  her  common-sense  mind 
and  the  startling  romance  of  her  career.  "  C'est  une  fortune 
d'aventuriere,  avec  I'esprit  le  moins  aventurier  du  monde," 
says  M.  Lanson. 

'  La  Gazette  de  France  published  four  pages  weekly,  from  1631  on,  and  LeMer- 
eure  Gaiant  began  as  a  auarterly  in  1672. 


290     THE    WRITERS    OF    MEMOIRS    AND    MAXIMS 

Granddaughter  of  the  great  Protestant  poet,  Frangoise 
d'Aubigne  (1635-1719)  '  was  born  in  a  prison.  Taken  to  the 
West  Indies  by  her  father,  whom  she  lost  in  childhood,  placed 
in  a  convent  in  order  to  be  converted  to  Catholicism,  dependent 
on  her  own  efforts  for  an  education,  she  married  early  the 
talented  but  broken-down  Scarron.  On  the  latter's  death,  her 
steadfastness  won  her  the  position  of  governess  to  the  children 
of  Mme  de  Montespan  and  Louis  XIV.  This  was  her  "  stroke 
of  fortune."  Painstaking,  regular,  faithful  to  the  point  of  self- 
effacement,  she  gradually  became  the  confidant  and  friend  of  the 
King  —  and  soon  after  the  death  of  Marie-Therese  she  was 
secretly  married  to  him  (1684).  As  her  correspondence  makes 
clear,  she  had  not  the  genius  to  intrigue  for  this  post;  on  the 
contrary,  it  came  to  her  by  force  of  circumstance;  among  all 
those  close  to  Louis  she  alone  had  the  power  to  heal  and  reform, 
at  least  to  attenuate,  the  ills  of  Louis'  declining  years.  Thus 
she  made  it  her  calling  to  bring  him  back  to  the  chvu-ch. 

It  is  possible  to  exaggerate  this  influence.  At  the  same  time, 
the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  (1685),  following  so 
quickly  upon  her  marriage,  had  her  approval,  just  as  it  was 
due  to  her  that  Louis  henceforth  surrounded  himself  with  fol- 
lowers and  not  with  leaders.  In  one  respect  Mme  de  Maintenon 
showed  genius ;  namely,  in  the  foundation  of  Saint-Cyr,  a  school 
for  the  daughters  of  poor  but  well-born  people.  Here  she,  a 
Romanist,  carried  into  execution  the  principles  of  the  Jansenists 
of  Port-Royal.  It  was  for  Saint-Cyr  that  Racine  wrote  his  last 
two  plays:  Esther,  with  which  he  justly  triumphed,  and  Atkalie, 
with  which  he  unjustly  failed. 

As  for  literature,  Mme  de  Maintenon  is  known  by  various 
Lettres,  Avis,  Conversations  and  Proverbes.  Of  all  these  it  is  the 
Lettres  that  reflect  her  character  best.  They  are  not,  like  Mme 
de  Sevigne's,  the  creation  of  genius.  But  they  reveal  a  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature,  a  sense  of  justice  and  balance,  and  a 
passion  for  Reason  —  a  name  by  which  Mme  de  Maintenon  was 
currently  known.  Again  the  masculine  note  is  dominant;  ac- 
cordingly, Mme  de  Maintenon  is  just  to  others,  direct  and 
natural,  and  her  business  letters  in  particular  are  products  of 
a  practical  and  efficient  mind. 

•  In  1676  Loviis  XIV  gave  her  the  title  of  Marquise  de  Mamtenoc 


CHAPTER  III 
MOLIERE    AND   LA    FONTAINE 

By  giving  rise  to  the  writing  of  Memoirs  and  Letters  the, 
Fronde  had  distilled  the  pungency  of  realism.  Li  the  two 
geniuses  before  us  realism  is  a  gift  of  the  gods;  hence  it  is 
creative  rather  than  merely  critical  and  ironic.  Moliere  and 
La  Fontaine  are  linked  with  the  tradition  of  Rabelais:  both 
belong  to  the  libertin  or  epicurean  current  of  the  century ;  both 
affirm  life  on  a  rational,  common-sense  basis;  in  both  dwells 
the  spirit  of  comedy.  "What  great  writer  has  most  honored 
my  reign? "  Louis  XIV  once  asked  of  Boileau.  "  Moliere, 
Sire,"  replied  the  great  critic.  La  Fontaine,  being  more  lyrical, 
is  less  universal;  but  he  is  a  great  French  poet,  possessed  of 
a  sensitive  and  highly  artistic  temperament. 

Jean-Baptiste  Poquelin,  who  took  the  stage-name  of  Moliere, 
was  born  in  the  Rue  Saint-Honore  (Paris)  about  the  middle  of 
Moliere's  January,  1622.  His  mother,  Marie  Cresse,  who  was 
^'*®  well-to-do  in  her  own  right,  died  when  her  eldest 

was  tqn.  Jean  Poquelin,  his  father,  bought  in  1631  the  post  of 
tapissier  ordinaire  de  la  maison  du  roi,  to  which  was  later  added 
the  title  of  valet  de  chambre.  There  were  but  eight  such  "  royal 
upholsterers,"  and  it  is  clear  that  the  Poquelin  family  enjoyed 
some  distinction  among  the  bourgeoisie.  In  1637  the  reversion 
of  the  father's  office  was  settled  on  the  poet,  who  was,  however,  to 
have  an  excellent  education.  The  College  de  Clermont,  today 
the  College  Louis-le-Grand,  had  been  founded  in  Paris  by  the 
Jesuits  and  was  attracting  the  scions  of  the  better-class  citizens. 
Thither  Moliere  was  sent.  He  there  followed  the  regular  courses 
in  science  and  grammar,  which  included  a  careful  study  of 
Plautus  and  Terence,  and  he  became  attached  ^o  his  schoolmate, 
Chapelle,  who  was  already  somewhat  of  a  wit  and  society  dan4y. 
When  young  Chapelle  and  Cyrano  de  Bergerac  were  placed 
under    the    tutelage    of    the    philosopher    Gassendi,    Moliere 

291 


292  MOLIERE    AND   LA    FONTAINE 

probably  joined  them.  Certain  it  is  that  Mohere  tried  his  hand 
at  a  translation  of  Lucretius'  De  rerum  natura,  the  influence 
of  which  is  reflected  in  Le  Misanthrope  (Act  II,  Sc.  IV) .  The 
result  of  such  an  education  was  two-fold:  it  grounded  the 
poet  in  a  knowledge  of  Roman  Comedy,  and  it  initiated  him 
into  the  philosophy  of  epicureanism. 

It  is  also  said  —  this  time  by  an  enemy  of  the  poet  —  that 
Moliere  studied  law  at  Orleans.  But  this  is  doubtful,  as  is 
also  the  claim  that  the  poet  accompanied  Louis  XIII  as  an 
apprentice  "  upholsterer  "  to  Narbonne  in  1642.  Whatever  may 
have  been  his  previous  intention,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  he 
renoimced  his  father's  succession  and  became  an  actor  —  and  an 
impresario. 

His  associates  in  this  career  were  a  family  of  vagabond 
players,  the  Bejarts,  one  of  whom,  Madeleine  Bejart,  figures 
cruelly  in  his  private  and  professionaf  life.  With  them  Moliere 
founded  the  so-called  Illustre  Theatre.  But  the  difficulty  of 
finding  a  stage  for  their  performances  and  the  choice  of  heavy 
tragedy  parts,  for  which  Moliire  in  particular  was  unsuited, 
spelled  disaster,  and  by  1645  the  elder  Poquelin  was  obliged 
to  rescue  his  son  from  a  debtors'  prison. 

For  a  period  of  thirteen  years,  the  company  then  toured  the 
provinces  as  "  barn-stormers."  The  ox-cart  of  Madeleine  be- 
came the  chariot  of  Thespis ;  Scarron  in  his  Roman  comique  has 
described  the  vicissitudes  of  a  strolling  troupe  which  cannot  be 
unlike  those  that  proved  Molifere's  metal.  Hard  as  these  years 
were,  they  had  their  compensation.  The  company  won  the  ser- 
vices of  Mile  Du  Pare,  then  in  her  prime ;  it  displayed  its  wares 
before  princely  patrons;  and  finally,  it  discovered  Moliere's 
genius  as  a  writer  of  comedy  —  L'Etourdi  ("  The  Blunderer  ") , 
the  first  of  his  undoubted  plays,  being  performed  at  Lyons  in 
1655.  We  learn  this  from  La  Grange,  who  joined  the  troupe  in 
1658,  and  whose  Registre  is  the  most  authentic  account  of  the 
poet's  subsequent  activity.  In  the  interval  Moliere  had  pro- 
duced his  Depit  amoureux  ("  Lovers'  Quarrel  ") ,  like  his  first 
play,  composed  in  the  manner  of  the  Italian  Comedy  of  Masks. 

But  real  success  awaited  him  in  Paris.  His  troupe  had  re- 
turned to  the  capital  in  1658  and  on  the  invitation  of  Monsieur 
(the  Duke  of  Anjou)  had  given  a  performance  before  the  court. 


THE    EARLY    COMEDIES  293 

A  week  later  the  company  was  given  permission  to  use  the  stage 
of  the  Petit  Bourbon,  a  theater  adjoining  the  Louvre.  Here  it 
was,  on  November  eighteenth,  1659,  that  all  Paris  laughed  at 
Les  Precieuses  ridicules.  Apt  and  timely,  this  trim  little  satire 
was  a  page  from  real  life.  And  it  was  in  Moliere's  true  vein, 
bubbling  over  with  hilarious  humor.  But  if  it  pleased  the  multi- 
tude, it  angered  the  blue-stockings  and  the  petty  marquises 
who  resented  the  fidelity  of  Mascarille's  impersonation.  Ob- 
viously, Moliere  had  sown  dragon's  teeth.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  had  won  the  support  of  the  Grand  Monarque,  who  rejoiced 
when  Moliere  returned  to  the  charge  with  Les  Fdcheux  ("  The 
Bores  "),  a  dramatic  skit  which  was  composed  overnight  for  the 
royal  visit  to  Vaux-le-Vicomte,  and  which  elicited  the  following 
praise  from  La  Fontaine: 

jamais  il  ne  fit  si  bon 
Se  trouver  a  la   comedie    .    .    . 
Nous  avons  change   de  methode; 
Jodelet  n'est  plus  a  la  mode, 
Et  maintenant  il  ne  faut  pas 
Quitter  la  nature  d'lm  pas. 

Meanwhile,  our  dramatist  was  busy  with  more  serious  ques- 
tions. L'Ecole  des  maris  (1661)  broaches  the  eternal  question 
of  the  education  and  marriage  of  women.  The  theme  was  a 
favorite  one  during  the  Renaissance:  Terence's  Adelphi  had 
shown  how  futile  harsh  methods  are  with  the  young  male;  the 
Spanish  Mendoza  had  shifted  the  interest  to  the  treatment  of 
wives  in  his  Marido  hace  mujer  ("  The  Husband  makes  the 
Wife ") .  On  this  double  basis  Moliere  constructed  his  play. 
Sganarelle,  who  treats  his  charge  severely,  is  outwitted  by  her; 
whereas  Ariste,  who  consents  to  Leonor's  "  young  wishes",  cap- 
tures her  affection.  As  pure  comedy,  based  on  an  obvious  but 
easily  ignored  truth,  the  Ecole  des  maris  is  admirable;  Voltaire 
thought  it  "  the  best  that  Moliere  ever  contrived,"  but  Voltaire 
was  writing  in  the  eighteenth  century.  A  goodly  portion  of 
Moliere's  spectators  might  well  be  nettled  at  his  liberalism.  They 
manifestly  were  when  in  December,  1662,  the  dramatist  brought 
out  his  far  more  emphatic  Ecole  des  femmes,  with  its  immortal 
contrast  of  old  age  and  youth  as  revealed  in  the  characters  of 
Amolphe  and  Agnes. 


294.  MOLIERE    AND   LA    FONTAINE 

One  need  not  see  in  an  author's  work  mainly  the  revelation 
of  his  own  life  in  order  to  realize  that  L'Ecole  des  femmes  treats 
the  incompatibility  problem  unsparingly.  On  Shrove  Monday, 
1662,  Moliere  had  married  Armande  Bejart,  the  daughter  of 
Madeleine  and  many  years  his  junior.  Frenchman  that  he 
was,  he  could  have  had  no  illusions  on  such  a  relationship.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  his  play  vindicates  the  right  of  youth  and  woman 
to  choose  a  mate.  Agnes  is  no  Miranda,  but  it  is  nature  that 
guides  her  and  no  evil  instinct  of  her  own;  whereas  Arnolphe, 
the  comic  character  of  the  plot,  is  a  victim  of  his  personal 
machinations.  Here,  then,  we  see  Moliere's  genius  for  treating  a 
serious  situation  comically.  Herein  lies  the  germ  of  his  great- 
ness: his  passion  for  truth -telling,  his  sense  of  contrasts,  his 
clear-sighted  vision  of  inevitable  fact  —  and  also  his  heroism, 
which  compels  him  to  speak  when  speaking  is  contrary  to  his 
interest,  to  rail  when  the  subject  of  his  raillery  is  his  personal 
misery  and  suffering.  Quite  aside  from  his  plays,  the  character 
of  Moliere  has  endeared  him  to  the  world. 

Among  his  contemporaries,  however,  there  were  those  whom 
his  frankness  scandalized.  And  these,  together  with  his  former 
victims,  now  gathered  for  an  attack.  De  Vise  said  he  lacked 
literary  principles;  the  Prince  de  Conti,  a  former  friend,  ac- 
cused him  of  indecency;  the  Jansenists  quoted  against  him 
Nicole's  Traite  de  la  comedie,  a  vehement  piece  of  polemic 
literature.  To  this  uproar  Moliere  replied  with  the  charming 
Critique  de  I'Ecole  des  jemmes  and  the  clever  Improinptu  de 
Versailles.  The  first,  in  the  form  of  a  salon  conversation,  con- 
tains excellent  dramatic  criticism,  and  the  second,  portraying  the 
rehearsal  of  a  play  to  be  given  before  the  King,  exploits  Moliere's 
ideas  on  acting,  and  burlesques  the  rival  players  of  the  Hotel 
de  Bourgogne.  The  result  was  that  all  the  reactionary  forces 
of  the  capital  launched  a  cabal  that  was  to  pursue  the  poet  to 
his  grave. 

For  the  nonce  the  King  encouraged  the  poet  with  a  pension 
of  one  thousand  francs;  and  others  who  sided  with  him  were 
Colbert  and  especially  Boileau,  henceforth  a  reliable  friend. 
The  next  six  years  were  to  see  the  masterpieces  Tartufje,  Don 
Juan,  Le  Misanthrope  and  L'Avare.  Undoubtedly  Moliere  had 
the  material  ready  to  hand,  but  would  he  have  written  these 
works  without  the  stimulus  of  opposition? 


THE    MASTERPIECES  295 

In  May,  1664,  Louis  XIV  gave  at  Versailles  the  festival 
known  as  "  The  Pleasures  of  the  Enchanted  Isle,"  in  honor  of 
Mile  de  la  Valliere.  Here  seemed  a  chance  to  strike  a  blow 
at  the  upholders  of  cant  and  reaction.  Accordingly,  Moliere 
came  forward  with  the  first  three  acts  of  Tartuffe.,  To 
his  astonishment,  the  play  was  immediately  forbidden  after 
its  first  performance.  Evidently  Moliere  had  imdervalued  the 
power  of  his  opponents.  It  might  do  for  a  Bossuet  to  excoriate 
hypocrites  in  his  sermon  on  Le  Jugement  dernier;  for  the  stage 
to  attempt  it  was  an  imheard-of  insult.  Besides,  excepting 
the  momentary  defection  of  Louis,  the  stakes  were  set  in  France 
for  a  religious  revival  on  a  large  scale.  To  distinguish  hypocrisy 
from  religious  zeal  is  always  a  delicate  task;  in  1664  it  was 
an  impossible  one.  But  Moliere  was  not  to  be  suppressed. 
Unable  to  play  Tartuffe,  he  produced  Don  Juan  ou  le  Festin  de 
Pierre  (1665),  in  which  hypocrisy  becomes  the  crowning  vice  of 
the  "  grand  seigneur  m^chant  homme."  A  vast  improvement 
on  its  Spanish  and  Italian  sources,  the  French  Don  Juan 
is  a  character  study  on  a  Shakespearean  scale  —  doubtless, 
one  of  the  greatest  of  Moliere's  creations.  But  again  the  censor 
interfered,  though  not  until  the  play  had  been  performed  some 
fifteen  times  to  crowded  houses.  In  fact,  the  very  year  of  its 
appearance  Moliere's  company  received  the  title  of  "  Troupe 
royale  "  and  an  allowance  of  six  thousand  livres.  Then  came 
U Amour  medecin  ("  Love  as  a  Doctor  ") ,  ultimately  derived  from 
the  Old  French  fabliau  of  the  Vilain  mire,  and,  after  a  consider- 
able interval,  Le  Misanthrope  and  Le  Medecin  malgre  lui.  Two 
of  these  plays  are  again  militant:  this  time  the  poet  lashes  the 
medical  Tartuffes;  whereas  Le  Misanthrope,  often  called  "the 
French  Hamlet,"  states  the  problem  of  the  Individual  versus 
Society  —  two  forces  irreconcilable,  unless,  like  Philinte  in  the 
play,  men  can  be  made  to  compromise: 

La  parfaite  raison  fuit  toute  extremite, 
Et  veut  que  Ton  soit  sage  avec  sobriete. 

Thus,  in  a  nutshell,  Moliere  sums  up  the  Classical  doctrine  in  all 
its  implications. 

He  himself  now  Sittempted  a  compromise.  Tartuffe  is  tried 
on  the  stage  in  the  guise  of  L'Imposteur  (1667),  the  hero  being 


296  MOLIERE    AND   LA    FONTAINE 

no  longer  a  cleric  but  a  man  of  the  world,  and  the  action  being 
lengthened  so  that  he  may  scheme  to  marry  his  victim's  daughter. 
This  ruse  of  Moliere's  did  not  succeed.  But  it  did  benefit 
his  play,  for  when  Pope  Clement  proclaimed  a  Paix  de  I'Eglise 
and  the  ban  against  Moliere  was  finally  lifted,  the  drama  ap- 
peared as  Tartujfe  (1669),  in  its  expanded  five-act  form. 

The  rest  of  Moliere's  story  is  quickly  told.  In  the  four  or 
five  years  that  remained  to  him  of  life  he  was  content  to  please 
his  King  and  go  his  own  way,  heedless  of  what  his  enemies  might 
contrive.  His  health  was  now  impaired  by  a  serious  illness; 
his  father,  whose  solvency  he  had  twice  rescued  by  a  loan,  died 
in  1669;  but  his  success  as  a  producer  was  reasonably  secure. 
U Amphitryon  and  L'Avare  had  appeared  in  1668  —  the  one  in 
a  lighter,  the  other  in  a  heavier  vein,  though  both  are  modeled  on 
comedies  of  Plautus.  In  the  first,  Moliere  toys  delightfully  with 
the  amorous  proclivities  of  Jupiter  (Louis  XIV)  "  emprisonne 
dans  sa  grandeur,"  while  in  L'Avare  he  improves  on  Plautus  by 
representing  the  miser  as  rich,  and  avarice  as  a  fixed  trait  of 
character.  Georges  Dandin,  Monsieur  de  Pourceaugnac,  Le 
Bourgeois  gentilhomme,  La  Comtesse  d'Escarbagnas  are  four 
social  portraits  drawn  largely  from  real  life;  all  on  the  general 
theme  that  man  must  not  aspire  in  the  wrong  direction,  or 
Nature  (this  time,  "  society  ")  takes  vengeance.  The  social  or 
intellectual  climber  is  foredoomed.  This  philosophy  shines  forth 
most  clearly  in  Les  Femmes  savantes,  the  next  to  the  last  play 
from  Moliere's  pen.  Here,  in  inimitable  verse,  the  poet  gives 
us  a  picture  of  a  typical  "woman's  club"  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  Trissotin  (a  caricature  of  the  Abbe  Cotin)  is  the  ex- 
ploiter of  these  ambitious  women;  Vadius  (possibly  Menage) 
is  a  self-centered  pedant.  One  may  sympathize  with  the  in- 
tellectual aims  of  the  strong-minded  Philaminte;  but  shall  her 
daughters'  happiness  be  sacrificed  to  these  ideals?  There  can 
be  but  one  answer,  and  the  charming  Henriette  gives  it: 

Et  qu'est-ce  qu'a  mon  age  on  a  de  mieux  a  faire 

Que  d'attacher  a  soi,  par  le  titre  d'epoux, 

Un  homme  qui  vous  aime  et  soit  aime  de  vous? 

And,  finally,  we  come  to  the  heroic  Malade  imaginaire,  Moliere's 
last  gibe  at  physicians  and  their  victims.   Argan,  the  "  imaginary 


MOLIERE'S   ART  297 

invalid,"  would  sacrifice  his  family  to  his  paranoia.  Thus  the 
poet  never  tired  of  puncturing  the  egoisms  of  life.  What 
justifies  the  epithet  of  heroic,  applied  to  this  play,  is  that  Moliere, 
a  real  not  an  imaginary  invalid,  acted  the  part  of  Argan  in  it 
and  during  the  third  performance,  on  February  17,  1673,  had  a 
hemorrhage  from  which  he  died.  Three  days  later,  at  nine 
in  the  evening,  his  fellow-actors  biuried  him  in  the  cemetery  of 
Saint-Joseph. 

"  C'est  une  etrange  entreprise  que  celle  de  faire  rire  les  hon- 
netes  gens,"  says  Moliere.  True  comedy  requires  experience 
Moliere's  on  the  part  of  poet  and  audience;  both  must  be 
^^  cultured,  sophisticated,  and  to  a  certain  extent  dis- 

illusioned. To  laugh  at  our  ills  demands  a  fortitude  of  spirit, 
greater  than  that  necessary  for  tragedy.  Further,  it  implies 
a  ready  passage  of  wit  from  actor  to  spectator;  the  apperceptions 
must  be  quick,  discriminating,  and,  above  all,  sincere.  It  is 
no  exaggeration  to  say  that  in  Moliere  comedy  achieves  all 
this;  and  he  is  therefore  the  greatest  comic  genius  among  the 
moderns. 

In  the  first  place,  Moliere  is  profound.  His  friend  Boileau 
called  him  "  le  grand  contemplateur,"  which  is  another  way 
of  saying  that  he  looked  human  nature  through  and  through. 
Consequently  the  sources  of  his  laughter  are  genuine.  With 
a  flash,  he  penetrates  the  absurdity  and  presents  it  to  us  in  a 
phrase,  an  attitude,  a  gesture.  "  Nous  avons  change  tout  cela," 
is  the  reply  of  the  physician  whose  ignorance  is  so  abysmal 
that  he  places  the  heart  on  the  right  side  of  the  body;  Orgon, 
convinced  of  Tartuffe's  humility,  lulls  his  own  mind  to  sleep 
with  the  phrase,  "  Le  pauvre  homme  " ;  "  Tant  de  choses  en  deux 
mots,"  says  the  simple-minded  M.  Jourdain, — "  Oui,"  replies 
his  betrayer,  "  la  langue  turque  est  comme  cela."  Moliere  rarely 
strikes  a  false  note  —  which  is  the  more  remarkable  when  we 
consider  how  rapidly  he  wrote.  The  reason  is  that  his  comedy 
is  a  comedy  of  character  rather  than  one  of  situation.  To  be 
sure,  his  point  of  departure  is  the  farce  and  the  romantic  Spanish 
comedia,  to  say  nothing  of  the  Italian  Comedy  of  Masks,  from 
which  he  borrowed  not  only  situations  and  plots  but  also  comic 
types,  such  as  Mascarille  and  Sganarelle.  In  many  respects, 
he  remained  essentially  a  farceur,  as  M.  Lanson  contends.   At  the 


298  MOLIERE    AND   LA   FONTAINE 

same  time,  given  the  time  and  opportunity,  his  imagination  al- 
ways transcended  the  type  and  reached  the  individual.  Thus 
in  Le  Bourgeois  gentilhomme  we  forget  "  the  farce  "  and  remem- 
ber the  innocent,  kindly  but  beguiled  figure  of  M.  Jourdain; 
and  in  L'Avare  the  screamingly  amusing  incidents  of  the  plot 
sink  into  oblivion  beside  the  hard,  old  and  cringing  form  of 
Harpagon,  the  miser.  In  all  this  Moliere's  touchstone  was  natm:e. 
Realist  that  he  was,  he  knew  that  for  the  most  part  human 
character  cannot  be  changed.  Reason  and  ridicule  are  good 
weapons,  but  only  for  protection  —  they  do  not  win  souls.  The 
Alceste  of  Le  Misanthrope  remains  atrabilious  to  the  end.  Don 
Juan  is  "an  alarming  image  of  intellectual  power  and  pride"; 
we  rejoice  at  his  doom  but  we  cannot  hope  for  his  salvation. 
Even  Tartuffe,  the  seducer  and  swindler,  has  a  sinister  grandeur 
that  came  to  him  with  birth. 

The  second  great  trait  t)f  Moliere  is  his  unalterable 
common  sense.  On  occasion  Moliere  could  be  gay:  Les  Pre- 
cieuses  ridicules  and  Le  Medecin  malgre  lui  are  continuous  ripples 
of  laughter.  More  often,  however,  his  comedies  verge  on  tragedy 
—  a  notable  example  being  Le  Misanthrope  which  varies  with 
one's  point  of  view:  Rousseau  regarded  its  action  as  tragic. 
But  Moliere  never  fails  us  in  common  sense.  Thus  his  point  of 
vjew  has  balance,  measure,  universality  of  application.  Unlike 
BeiBarTShaw^ liTK^'~c6nMeirce^'^he"wi"s3^^^  of  the  world  at 
large.  To  Shaw,  illusion  is  part  of  the  universe'?  structure; 
not  so  with  Moliere.  The  self-deceptions  of  his  characters  are 
individualistic;  they  can  be  dealt  with  competently  by  society, 
taken  generally.  This,  as  we  have  noted,  is  the  Classical  creed. 
Hence  the  comic  in  Moliere  is  what  flies  in  the  face  of  the  sense 
of  mankind:  Alceste  is„  ridiculous  because  he  wants  to  have 
things  his  own  way.  So,  too,  we  may  allow  that  Philaminte  — 
in  Les  Femmes  savantes  —  is  admirable  in  her  devotion  to  gram- 
mar and  astronomy;  she  becomes  comic  when  this  trait  destroys 
her  commion  sense. 

Finally,  there  is  Moliere  the  artist.  "  Encore  ime  fois,  je  le 
trouve  grand,"  said  Fenelon,  "mais  ne  puis-je  parler  en  toute 
liberte  sur  ses  defauts?"  To  the  "  decorous  "  seventeenth  century 
Moliere's  faults  were  obvious.  His  style  seemed  careless,  in- 
qrganicj  slf^dash.   It  was  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  style  of  every- 


MOLIERE'S   STYLE  299 

•day  Parigiao.  speech,  conversational,  yet  fitting  his  personages 
"IiEeagarb. 

Et  fort  devotement  il  mangea  deux  perdrix 
Avec  une  moitie  de  gigot  en  hachis 

is  the  verbal  nutshell  in  which  Dorine  encases  Tartuffe.  Tartuffe, 
notably,  is  an  artistic  masterpiece.  The  first  two  acts,  with 
their  description  ot  a  French  bourgeois  household,  the  exposition 
they  contain  of  the  hypocrite's  character  as  revealed  by  its  effect 
on  others,  the  coup  de  theatre  produced  by  Tartuffe's  opening 
words  in  Act  III: 

Laurent,  serrez  ma  haire  avec  ma  discipline 
Et  priez  que  tou jours  le  Ciel  vous  illumine 

—  aroused  the  admiration  not  only  of  Goethe  but  also  of  dra- 
matic critics  the  world  over.  Or  take  Le  Misanthrope  —  nowhere 
is  there  a  more  harmonious  blending  of  social  wit  and  psycho- 
logical observation.  The  scene  is  a  salon  of  the  age  of  Louis 
XIV:  Celimene,  who  presides  over  it,  will  not  give  up  her  role  in 
order  to  marry  Alceste;  the  latter,  whose  sensitiveness  embroils 
him  with  others,  will  marry  her  on  this  condition  only.  The 
situation  is  an  impasse  —  yet  it  is  Moliere  who  makes  us  realize 
the  fact,  once  for  all.  Amphitryon,  one  of  the  most  charmingly 
written  of  the  plays,  is  a  poetic  treatment  of  a  distinctly  shady 
affair.  The  comedy  of  Plautus  adhered  to  the  tenets  of  a  myth ; 
these  Moliire  had  to  discard.  Never  did  a  dramatist  set  him- 
self a  more  delicate  task.  Yet  how  excellent  is  the  treatment 
and  how  modern  in  its  psychology!  If  Jupiter  would  win 
Alcmene  he  of  course  could;  but  Moliere  stresses  the  fact  that 
he  wins  her  only  as  Amphitryon  and  never  as  Jupiter  —  is  this 
a  lover's  triumph? 

To  conclude  —  we  may  admit  that  being  a  playwright  and 
an  actor  Moliere  worked  against  odds,  hastily.  Many  a  scene 
in  his  works  is  pure  farce,  thrown  in  as  a  filler,  in  order  to 
produce  a  laugh  or  relieve  a  tenuous  situation.  His  denouements, 
in  particular,  are  weak,  though  Moliere's  emphasis  on  character 
necessarily  made  a  happy  ending  difficult.  In  any  case,  he  was 
not  a  strenuous  Aristotelian.  But  French  comedy  —  with  the 
notable  exception  of  Corneille's  Menteur  —  was  in  low  estate  in 


300  MOLIERE    AND   LA   FONTAINE 

his  day.  It  was  Moliere  who  raised  it  to  the  highest  plane,  as  a 
criticism  of  life.  To  compare  his  contemporaries,  Quinault,  Baron, 
Montfleury,  shows  how  true  this  is.  What  a  gallery  of  portraits 
he  has  left  usl  How  vivid  is  his  presentation,  how  brilliant  his 
wit!    Above  all,  how  well  he  knew  the  human  race! 

Contrasted  with  Moliere,  La  Fontaine  is  not  at  first  impressive. 
A  writer  of  fables  and  short-stories  (the  latter  of  a  dubious  char- 
.  acter),  his  preeminence  in  these  lighter  genres  is 
due  to  lightness  and  delicacy  of  touch,  to  an  instinct 
for  the  nuance,  to  a  desire  for  finish  and  perfection  —  all  of  which 
qualities  endear  him  to  the  French  but  render  him  less  accessible 
than  Moliere  to  foreigners. 

By  nature  a  vagabond  and  a  dreamer,  Jean  de  La  Fontaine 
was  born  at  Chateau-Thierry  in  1621.  The  profligacy  of  this 
son  of  Champagne  showed  itself  early.  Lacking  in  self-control, 
he  was  sent  to  the  religious  seminary  of  the  Oratoire ;  then  like 
Moliere  he  studied  law.  Returning  to  his  native  heath,  he 
planned  to  succeed  his  father  as  maitre  des  eaux  et  forets  and 
allowed  himself  to  be  married  at  twenty-six,  to  Marie  Hericart, 
a  romantic  child  of  fifteen;  with  the  inevitable  result  of  a  dis- 
agreement, which  sent  La  Fontaine  back  to  Paris  to  try  his 
fortune  in  literature. 

In  his  reading,  La  Fontaine  had  adored  the  Astree  and 
delved  into  the  mimic  world  of  Ovid,  "  in  which  every  plant  and 
flower  has  a  story,  and  nearly  always  a  love  story."  His  own 
writing  began  with  an  adaptation  of  the  Eunuchus  of  Terence 
(1654)  — notable,  if  at  all,  because  it  is  his  longest  work.  Al- 
ready, however,  his  ep'icurean  attitude  declares  itself  and'  his 
gift  of  phrase  is  apparent.  In  1657  he  became  a  hanger-on  of 
Fouquet,  still  the  wealthy  and  powerful  minister  of  Louis  XIV; 
in  this  capacity  he  wrote  various  short  poems,  the  best  of  which 
is  Adonis,  showing  a  remarkable  feeling  for  bucolic  nature; 
and  in  1661  he  became  acquainted  with  Moliere.  Parasite  that 
he  was,  he  yet  had  the  courage  to  stand  by  Fouquet,  after  the 
latter's  fall  from  grace,  in  the  Elegie  aux  nymphes  de  Vaux, 
one  of  the  most  eloquent  of  his  compositions.  Henceforth  his 
protectors  were  women. 

From  1667  to  1672  his  patroness  was  the  gay  and  pleasure- 
loving  Duchesse  de  Bouillon,  niece  of  Mazarin.    In  his  para- 


LA    FONTAINE  301 

phrase  of  Psyche,  belonging  to  this  period,  he  records  his  con- 
verse with  Boileau,  Racine  and  probably  Moliire,  in  the 
gardens  of  Versailles,  and  in  the  role  of  Polyphile  celebrates 
his  joy  in  all  creation,  natural  and  artificial: 

Volupte,  volupte,  qui  fut  jadis  maitresse 
Du  plus  bel  esprit  de  la  Grece, 


J'aime  le  jeu,  Tamour,  les  livres,  la  musique, 
La  vUle  et  la  campagne,  enfin  tout    . 

Jusqu'  au  sombre  plaisir  d'un  coeur  melancholique. 

Could  a  soul  born  for  pleasure  speak  more  plainly?  It  was 
probably  Boileau  who  induced  him  to  publish  a  first  volume  of 
Nouvelles  en  vers  (1665),  containing  a  translation  of  Ariosto's  La 
Gioconda  and  a  tale  from  Boccaccio.  This  was  soon  followed 
by  a  collection  of  Contes  et  Nouvelles,  to  which  other  collec- 
tions were  added  in  the  course  of  La  Fontaine's  life.  The 
spontaneity,  grace  and  vivacity  of  the  verse  were  admired, 
but  the  defenders  of  morality  protested  rightly  against  the 
success  of  a  book  which  made  licentiousness  attractive.  La 
Fontaine  replied  in  the  name  of  art ;  and  among  the  notables  on 
his  side  was  not  only  his  patroness  but  also  Mme  de  Sevigne. 
When  the  Duchesse  de  Bouillon  became  involved  in  the 
"  affaire  des  poisons,"  La  Fontaine  transferred  his  allegiance 
to  the  Marquise  de  la  Sabliere.  Her  hospitable  and  cultured 
spirit  consoled  him  for  the  loss  of  other  friends;  just  as  it  is 
said  that  on  her  retirement  from  the  world  she  took  three 
things  with  her:  her  cat,  her  dog  and  La  Fontaine.  Never  was 
a  spiritual  relationship  described  better  than  in  the  famous 
Discours  (see  Bk.  Ill,  Ch.  V)  which  La  Fontaine  addressed  to 
her  —  hers  is  a  world  of 

Propos,  agreables  commerces, 
Oil  le  hasard  foumit  cent  matieres  diverses; 

Jusque-la  qu'en  votre  entretien 
La  bagatelle  a  part:  le  monde  n'en  croit  rien. 

Laissons  le  monde  et  sa  croyance. 

Mme  de  la  Sabliere  also  inspired  La  Fontaine's  inaugural 
speech  before  the  French  Academy.  He  had  been  elected  in 
1683,  but  Louis  XIV  withheld  his  confirmation  until  that  body 


302  MOLIERE    AND   LA    FONTAINE 

had  installed  Boileau  —  to  whom  our  poet  had  been  preferred 
—  and  La  Fontaine  had  given  some  assurance  of  reform.  The 
last  years  of  his  life  were  passed  under  the  roof  of  Hervart, 
maitre  de  requites;  here  he  died  in  1695.  Three  days  before 
his  end  he  wrote  in  perfect  candor  to  his  friend  Maucroix: 

Mourir  n'est  rien,  mais  songes-tu  que  je  vais  comparaitre  devant 
Dieu?    Tu  sais  comme  j'ai  vecu. 

One  can  view  such  a  character  only  sympathetically.  La  Fon- 
taine was  what  the  French  call  un  bonhomme;  unfit  for  the 
sterner  duties  of  life,  he  was  childhke,  outspoken  and  likeable. 
He  treated  life,  as  he  treated  himself,  "  without  a  disguise." 
The  only  discipline  he  admitted  was  his  art,  and  to  it  he 
paid  unremitting  homage. 

It  was  Mme  de  Bouillon  who  first  called  her  favorite  a  fablier. 
By  this  epithet  she  recognized  the  born  story-teller.  La 
»  Fontaine's  canvases  are  not  large;  his  imagination 
worked  best  in  a  small  compass.  In  an  earlier  age 
he  might  have  been  a  jongleur,  regaling  his  Gallic  listeners  by  the 
fireside  of  a  tavern,  during  some  wintry  night.  As  it  is,  he  polishes 
the  esprit  gaulois  for  the  devotees  of  a  salon.  His  Contes,  as  we 
have  said,  are  strikingly  indecent.  But  they  were  not  written  for 
prudes,  and  the  skill  with  which  the  tales  are  handled  is  their 
most  conspicuous  element.  On  the  other  hand,  they  have 
neither  the  range  nor  the  poetry  of  the  Fables,  in  which  genre 
La  Fontaine  is  the  greatest  master  since  Aesop. 

The  first  six  books  of  Fables  appeared  when  La  Fontaine 
was  forty-seven  (1668),  and  succeeding  books,  to  the  nmnber  of 
twelve,  followed  at  intervals  imtil  1680.  As  the  poet  says  in 
his  dedication  to  the  Dauphin: 

Je  chants  les  heros  dent  Esope  est  le  pere. 

But  to  Nevelet's  Mythohgica  Aesopica  (1610  and  1660),  on 
which  he  drew,  he  added  Sanskrit  apologues  from  Bidpai  and 
Latin  fables  by  Phaedrus  and  others.  Besides,  as  we  have 
seen  in  previous  chapters,  the  "  beast-epic "  was  no  novelty 
to  the  French;  although  it  is  improbable  that  La  Fontaine's 
memory  of  his  French  predecessors  went  back  beyond  Marot. 
Marot  uses  the  Fable  of  the  Lion  and  the  Rat  admirably  in 


THE   FABLES  303 

order  to  make  a  special  plea ;  La  Fontaine  draws  a  more  general  i- 
lesson  and,  in  this  particular  case,  contents  himself  with  aTew 
bold  strokes  of  the  brush.  Otherwise,  the  method  of  the  two 
poets  is  similar:  a  remarkable  observation  of  detail,  the  ability 
to  convey  swiftly  the  himior  of  the  situation,  aTvivid  merging 
of  the  human  and  the  animalistic. 

But  it  remained  for  La  Fontaine  to  ejctract  from  the  genre 
its  full  poetic  value.  His  first  step  is  to  establish  a  balance  1 
between  the  subjective  and  the  objective  worlds,  that  of  men 
and  that  of  the  animals.  La  Fontaine  is  careful  to  anthropo- 
morphize Nature  only  to  the  extent  of  maintaining  his  particular 
fiction. 

Tout  parle  dans  men  ouvrage,  et  meme  les  poissons, 

he  remarks,  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye.  Again,  in  Le  Chine  et  le 
Roseau  the  Reed  answers  the  condescending  Oak  with  the  as- 
surance of  one  who  is  humanly  conscious  of  his  position: 

Votre  compassion    .    .    . 
Part  d'un  bon  natural;  mais  quittez  ce  souci; 

then  La  Fontaine  resumes  the  objective  attitude;  a  storm  sweeps 
in  from  the  north ;  the  Reed  bends  before  it,  but  the  Oak  is  up- 
rooted; and  this  final  scene  assumes  epic  proportions: 

si  bien  qu'il  deracine 
Celui  de  qui  la  tete  au  ciel  etait  voisine, 
Et  dont  les  pieds  touchaient  a  Teinpire  des  morts. 

In  this  way,  the  individual  fables  are  miniature  dramas  of  which  • 
one  would  not  change  a  particle.  La  Cigale  et  la  Fourmi 
tells  the  fate  of  the  improvident;  they  need  expect  no  pity: 
"Eh  bien!  dansez  maintenant"  is  the  Ant's  merciless  reply 
to  the  Grasshopper  who  chirred  all  summer.  The  Wolf,  being 
stronger  than  the  Lamb  (Le  Loup  et  I'Agneau) ,  needs  no  further 
justification  than  just  this  for  his  rapacity,  since  "la  raison 
du  plus  fort  est  toujours  la  meilleure."  On  occasion  La  Fontaine 
could  strike  off  as  good  maxims  as  La  Rochefoucauld,  to  whom 
he  more  than  once  pays  tribute.  "  The  Frogs  desiring  a  King  " 
represent  the  stupidity  of  the  masses;  they  ultimately  get 
what  they  deserve:  an  oppressor.    But  La  Fontaine  is  not  al- 


304  MOLIERE    AND   LA    FONTAINE 

ways  in  this  cynical  mood;  he  can  be  playful,  joyous,  reflective 
and  even  tender.  The  Cat  teased  by  the  Mice  is  judiciously 
taken  as  a  "  sage  et  discrete  personne  ";  the  Mice  themselves 
are  playfully  termed  "la  gent  trotte-menu";  the  Wood-Cutter 
weighed  down  by  life's  cares  evokes  sympathy: 

Quel  plaisir  a-t-il  eu  depuis  qu'il  est  au  monde? 

Thus  the  method  is  to  shift  the  interest  from  one  point  of  the 
situation  to  another;  to  give  us  glimpses  rather  than  full-tone 
pictures;  to  vary  the  metre  with  the  mood;  to  strike  off  in  a 
phrase  or  even  a  word  the  essence  of  the  matter.  All  this  shows 
Classical  balance  and  control. 

Another  featiu-e  of  the  Fables  is  "  style."  La  Fontaine  had 
at  his  command  immense  technical  resources.  He  knew  French  as 
few  of  his  contemporaries  did;  his  language  is  the  French  of 
the  soil,  rich  and  colorful,  like  that  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
Much  of  his  vocabulary  doubtless  came  to  him  from  his  ex- 
tensive reading:  thus  he  calls  the  Cat,  Raminogrobis,  Grippe- 
minaud  or  Rodilard;  the  Stomach  is  Messer  Caster;  the  Lion 
—  a  certain  one,  at  least  —  is  a  "parent  de  Caligula."  Yet 
concision  is  La  Fontaine's  watchword,  and  the  mot  propre  his 
goal.  Why  should  the  Crow  eat  a  "  cheese "  and  the  Fox 
covet  it?  Did  La  Fontaine  know  nothing  about  natural 
history?  Manifestly,  he  was  no  literalist  but  a  poet,  and  to 
the  poet  the  symbol  is  everything  and  the  word  only  what  it 
suggests  according  to  the  context.  Thus  his  verse  is  a  con- 
tinuous creation,  not  only  in  rich  and  suggestive  detail  but  also 
in  rhythmical  variety  and  beauty.  It  is  vers  libre  in  the  sense 
merely  that  each  Fable  has  its  particular  verse,  each  idea  or 
mood  its  particular  line  —  adapted,  in  all  cases,  to  the  thought 
to  be  expressed.  But  La  Fontaine  does  not  violate  traditional 
metres,  he  invents  no  new  ones,  and  his  very  freedom  is  the 
product  of  painstaking  art  and  care.  The  fact  is  that  he 
makes  verse  do  what  he  intends  —  now  it  is  gay  and  swift, 
now  solemn  and  grave,  but  it  is  always  poetic. 

Lastly,  the  philosophy  of  the  Fables  is  that  of  Classicism 
in  general,  and  of  the  libertins  in  particular.  An  epicurean 
by  instinct.  La  Fontaine  became  a  "  realist  "  through  experience. 
The  "  morals  "  of  his  Fables  count  for  little.    Far  be  it  from 


LA  FONTAINE'S   PHILOSOPHY  305 

La  Fontaine,  with  his  bent  for  pleasure,  to  dogmatize  on  life. 
Much  more  important  are  the  pictures  he  etches,  the  love  of 
truth  he  reveals.  Least  of  all  were  his  books  intended  for  little 
children.  Again,  Taine's  idea  that  the  Fables  consciously 
satirize  the  monarchy  of  Louis  XIV  goes  too  far  and  would  be 
one-sided,  if  it  were  true.  Such  a  Fable  as  Les  Animaux  malades 
de  la  peste  is  a  typical  picture  of  the  miscarriage  of  justice;' 
the  blame  falls  on  the  Ass  because  he  is  an  "  ass,"  and  the 
concluding  moral: 

Selon  que  vous  serez  puissant  ou  miserable, 
Les  jugements  de  cour  vous  rendront  blanc  ou  noir, 

applies  as  well  to  the  police-courts  as  to  the  tribunal  presided 
over  by  a  king.  Thus  La  Fontaine  is  an  observer.  He  has 
few  illusions;  but  he  glorifies  common  sense.  Happy  are  they 
who  have  tolerance  and  measure,  who  know  that  a  "  rat  is  no 
elephant,"  and  who  have  learned  that: 

Patience  et  longueur  de  temps 
Font  plus  que  force  ni  que  rage. 

As  for  himself,  he  wrote  in  the  Discows  a  Mme  de  la  Sabliere: 

La  bagatelle,  la  science, 

Les  chimeres,  le  rien,  tout  est  bon;  je  soutiens 

Qu'il  faut  de  tout  aux  entretiens. 

He  extracted  from  life,  as  its  essence,  the  joy  and  the  humor 
of  a  spectacle,  and  these  he  incorporated  in  his  perfect  verse. 
Few  poets,  even  among  the  French,  have  been  better  craftsmen. 


CHAPTER  IV 
PASCAL   AND   RACINE 

Up  to  this  point  Classicism  has  offered  us  a  finite  universe 
in  which  "  common  sense  "  operates  as  the  measure  of  all  things. 
What  cannot  be  reconciled  with  "  common  sense  "  is  discarded. 
This  is  but  an  application  of  the  Aristotelian  Golden  Rule, 
worked  out  in  a  rational,  social  milieu.  With  Pascal  and 
Racine  we  enter  a  field  of  enlarged  vision  and  perception.  Thci 
torturing  claims  of  "  conscience  "  now  make  themselves  heard; 
and  humanity  is  turned  aside  from  its  worldliness  to  be  con- 
fronted, in  the  case  of  Pascal,  with  the  problem  of  the  Infinite, 
and,  in  the  case  of  Racine,  with  the  problem  of  Evil.  Such 
deepening  of  the  spirit  is  due  primarily  to  Jansenism,  which 
we  shall  now  consider  briefly  in  its  bearing  on  the  century. 

Cornelius  Jansen,  bishop  of  Ypres,  had  died  in  1638.  Three 
years  after  his  death  appeared  his  treatise,  entitled  Augustinus, 

which  advocated  a  return  to  the  Christianity  of 
Jansenism       „,      .  ^.  x    ,,,,,.„      . 

St.  Augustme,  presented  under  the  foUowmg  cap- 
tions: (1)  that  "free-will"  ceased  with  the  fall  of  Adam;  (2) 
that  human  nature  is  thus  thoroughly  depraved  and  can  be  re- 
deemed through  no  effort  of  its  own;  and  (3)  that  redemption 
can  come  only  through  "  grace."  The  position  of  Jansen  is 
essentially  that  of  Calvin,  with  the  important  difference  that 
the  authority  of  Rome  is  never  questioned  and  that  the  mystery 
of  the  sacraments  is  reaflBrmed.  Thus  Jansenism  is  not  op- 
posed to  Catholicism  but  only  to  those  Catholics  who  had  made 
salvation  a  path  of  roses,  a  chemin  de  velours.  Such  were, 
above  all,  the  Jesuits.  Following  in  the  footsteps  of  Molina 
(1588),  they  had  taken  the  stand  that  God  renounces  his 
omnipotence  in  so  far  as  he  allows  humanity  the  power  and 
privilege  of  saving  itself.  In  short,  the  Jesuits  maintained  that 
man  has  the  "  free-will "  necessary  for  salvation. 
The  person  who  gave  the  ideas  of  Jansen  the  impetus  of  hie 

306 


JANSENISM  307 

personality  was  his  friend,  Jean  de  Hauranne,  Abbe  de  Saint- 
Cyran.  In  1636  he  became  directeur  spirituel  of  Port-Royal- 
de-Paris,  an  institution  with  which  the  fortunes  of  Jansenism 
are  intimately  bound  up.  The  older  foundation  was  Port-Royal- 
des-Champs  in  the  valley  of  the  Chevreuse.  Through  the  efforts 
of  a  member  of  the  Arnauld  family  —  called  Mere  Angelique  — 
early  in  the  century  this  convent  underwent  a  religious  reform, 
which  not  only  affected  the  Arnaulds  as  ,a  group  but  also  at- 
tracted other  people  of  station  and  influence.  In  1626  the  transfer 
was  made  to  Paris,  the  original  convent  becoming  a  retreat  to 
which  men  of  distinction,  known  as  solitaires,  retired  in  order  to 
lead  a  life  of  study  and  meditation.  The  intellectual  activity 
of  Port-Royal  was  considerable.  It  busied  itself  with  the  ques- 
tion of  education,  was  receptive  to  the  ideas  of  Descartes  (at 
least,  as  regards  "  method  " ) ,  and  particularly  fostered  the 
study  of  Latin  andt  Greek  classics  with  the  view  of  enriching 
"  human  nature "  and  redeeming  it  from  itself.  Thus  Jan- 
senism gave  its  followers  a  cultural  and  scientific  training 
which,  aside  from  the  moral  discipline  involved,  is  its  greatest 
contribution  to  the  age.  If  Descartes  still  inveighs  against  the 
"  medieval "  instruction  he  received  at  La  Fleche,  a  Jesuit 
school,  Racine  can  have  only  words  of  gratitude  for  his  Jan- 
senist  teachers.  Among  the  educators  of  Port-Royal,  three  are 
especially  noteworthy  —  Claude  Lancelot,  the  main  author  of 
the  well-known  Grammaire  generale  et  raisonnee  (1660) ; 
Pierre  Nicole,  to  whom  more  than  to  anyone  else  is  due  the 
Port-Royal  Logique  ou  I'art  de  penser  (1662);  and,  most  im- 
portant of  all,  Antoine  Arnauld,  the  author  in  1643  of  La 
frequente  communion. 

This  treatise  fanned  the  controversy  between  Jesuits  and  Jan- 
senists  into  a  bright  flame.  A  great  lady,  the  Princesse  de 
Guemenee,  had  been  invited  by  Mme  de  Sable  to  a  ball;  she 
refused  on  the  ground  that  having  "  communed  "  it  behooved 
her,  according  to  Saint-Cyran,  to  abstain  from  worldly  pleasures. 
Mme  de  Sable  consulted  the  Jesuits,  who  replied  that  the  Com- 
munion is  not  an  extraordinary  event  in  our  life  but  an  aid  or 
succor  for  the  sinful ;  the  more  freely  it  is  taken,  the  better.  The 
matter  was  not  settled  by  Arnauld's  treatise;  nor  were  things 
improved  when  Innocent    X  condemned  the  Augustinus  of 


308  PASCAL    AND    RACINE 

Jansen,  and  Arnauld  took  up  its  defence.  Finally,  in  1656,  the 
quarrel  reached  a  climax.  Unable  to  uphold  the  Jansenist  cause 
alone,  and  being  rebuked  also  by  the  Sorbonne,  Arnauld  looked 
about  him  for  a  champion.  So  it  happened  that  Pascal  came  to 
his  rescue  with  the  first  Lettre  a,  un  provincial,  on  January  23 
of  that  year. 

Nature  gave  Blaise  Pascal  a  frail  body  and  a  singularly  active 
and  brilliant  mind.  He  was  bom  in  Clermont-Ferrand  (1623)^ 
as  the  yotmgest  son  of  a  distinguished  famille  de 
robe.  In  1631  the  family  moved  to  Paris,  where 
Pascal's  father  continued  to  instruct  his  son  in  languages  and 
mathematics.  For  the  latter  science  Blaise  showed  great  apti- 
tude and  while  still  a  child  wrote  a  book  on  Conic  Sections. 
This  was  followed  by  experiments  in  atmospheric  weight,  con- 
ducted with  much  skill,  and  a  treatise  containing  Nouvelles 
experiences  touchant  le  vide  (published  in  1647).  But  over- 
study  had  the  inevitable  result  of  undermining  his  already  weak 
physique;  and  becoming  acquainted  with  the  works  of  Jansen, 
Saint-Cyran  and  Arnauld,  he  ha3  what  is  generally  called  his 
"  first  conversion,"  in  which  his  entire  family  shared. 

In  the  case  of  Blaise,  however,  there  was  a  brief  respite  in 
which  he  tasted  the  pleasures  of  the  world.  This  occurred  in 
1649,  when  the  rest  of  the  family  went  on  a  visit  to  Auvergne 
and  Blaise  remained  in  Paris.  At  that  time  the  master  of  his 
thoughts  was  Montaigne,  the  skeptic  —  and  his  actual  compan- 
ions were  such  worldlings  as  the  Due  de  Roaimez,  the  Chevalier 
de  Mere  and  the  libertin  Miton.  From  them  it  is  assumed  that 
Pascal  derived  his  sense  of  literary  style,  besides  various 
of  his  philosophical  ideas  and  the  attitude  which  underlies  the 
short  essay  Sur  les  Passions  de  I'amour,  if  the  work  is  really  by 
Pascal's  pen.  Meanwhile,  he  appears  to  have  kept  alive  his 
interest  in  science.  He  invented  a  counting-machine,  worked 
out  a  hydraulic  press,  studied  the  question  of  probability  in 
games  of  chance  (a  contact  with  Descartes),  and  anticipated 
to  a  certain  extent  the  higher  mathematics  of  calculus.  Then 
came  his  final  "  conversion." 

Such  events  are  always  open  to  speculation.  But  whether  we 
explain  it  by  the  accident  in  which  his  life  was  saved  as  by  a 
miracle  or  account  for  it  on  a  Freudian  basis,  the  fact  is  that  on 


THE    PROVINCIAL    LETTERS  309 

November  23,  1654,  Pascal  suffered  the  change  of  heart  which 
made  him  definitely  renounce  the  world  and  drove  him  into  the 
arms  of  Port-Royal.  Thus  it  was  that  he  came  to  place  his 
great  talent  at  the  service  of  Arnauld  in  1656.  Besides  the 
Provinciales,  published  at  first  anonymously  and  then  under  the 
pseudonym  of  Montalte,  Pascal  planned  an  Apology  of  the  Chris- 
tian Religion,  of  which  Pensees  are  presumably  the  stray 
fragments.  They  were  found  after  his  death,  among  his  papers; 
but  for  various  reasons,  among  which  was  the  fear  that  they 
might  be  unorthodox,  a  complete  edition  of  them  did  not  appear 
until  1844.  In  addition  to  their  many  excellences,  the  Pensees 
confirm  the  view  as  to  their  author's  intense  but  keenly  intel- 
lectual .nature.  His  character  was  tried  but  not  shaken  by  the 
experiences  through  which  he  had  passed.  We  shall  never  know, 
of  course,  the  part  that  physical  illness  played  in  his  renuncia- 
tion of  science.  But  that  Pascal  considered  it  as  complete  is 
apparent  from  the  written  words  discovered  on  his  dead  body: 
" renonciation  totale  et  douce"  — "  joie,  joie,  joie,  pleurs  de 
joie."    He  was  only  thirty-nine  when  he  died  in  1662. 

"  Silence,"  said  Pascal,  "  is  the  worst  of  persecutions ;  the  saints 
never  held  their  peace."  The  Lettres  Provinciales  show  how 
"  Les  Lettres  knowingly  he  made  this  assertion.  They  are  eight- 
Provinciales "  ggjj  jq  number.  The  first  three  and  the  last  three 
treat  of  Arnauld's  affair  with  the  Sorbonne;  the  intervening 
twelve  openly  assail  the  moral  philosophy  of  the  Jesuits.  Taken 
as  a  whole,  they  show  us  Pascal  the  ironist  at  his  best;  logic, 
subtlety  and  a  sense  of  comedy  are  here  placed  at  the  service  of 
a  cause  which,  in  spite  of  its  emotional  appeal,  Pascal  was  com- 
pelled to  defend  with  purely  intellectual  arms.  In  doing  so,  he 
created,  so  togspeak,  French  controversial  style.  The  subject 
of  ihe  LeU/^maj  have  lost  its  interest  today.  But  their 
reasoning  il^Ple  the  play  of  sunlight  on  a  mountain  brook; 
the  effect  is  scintillating,  vibrating  and  enchanting.  Never 
was  a  theological  question  presented  with  greater  charm. 
Having  in  the  First  Letter  subtly  confounded  those  who,  with- 
out examination  of  the  text,  assert  that  the  Augustinus  con- 
tains the  propositions  which  the  Pope  and  the  Sorbonne  con- 
sidered heretical,  Montalte  (Pascal)  —  in  his  role  of  an  amiably 
inquisitive   layman  —  probes    in   the    Second   Letter   into   the 


310  PASCAL    AND    RACINE 

question  of  grace.  The  Jesuits  affirm  that  divine  grace  is 
sufficient  but  they  deny  that  it  is  efficacious. 

"To  come  to  business,  Father,"  says  Montalte  to  his  inter- 
locutor, "this  grace  given  to  all  men  is  sufficient?"  "Certainly," 
said  he.  "And  yet  it  has  no  effect  without  efficacious  grace?" 
"  None  whatever,"  he  rephed.  "  Then,"  returned  I,  "  all  have 
enough  grace,  and  all  do  not  have  enough  —  the  grace  is  sufficient 
in  name,  and  insufficient  in  reaUty.  On  my  word.  Father,  that 
is  a  very  subtle  doctrine." 

This  shows  the  temper  of  Pascal's  method.  Obviously  he  is  not 
fair.  The  one  hope  of  safety  for  the  Jansenists  lay  in  rousing 
public  indignation  against  the  persecutors.  Pascal  was  too 
astute  to  misquote  his  enemies,  in  fact,  he  is  scrupulous  in  giving 
chapter  and  line  of  his  victim's  text.  But  he  is  sensational, 
and  he  does  keep  his  reader's  eye  fixed  on  the  most  noto- 
rious casuist  that  the  Jesuits  possessed,  the  Spaniard  Escobar. 
Many  a  biographer  of  Pascal  has  been  disturbed  by  his  hero's 
flat  denial  of  any  close  connection  with  Port-Royal.  Again, 
Pascal  is  technically  correct  inasmuch  as  he  was  not  himself 
a  solitaire.  Yet  Qiost  of  these  objections  vanish  when  we  con- 
sider the  nobility  of  the  Jansenist  creed,  the  necessity  of  defend- 
ing that  creed  against  an  overwhelming  group  of  powerful  en- 
emies, and  lastly  Pascal's  zealous  nature.  He  was  not  only  a 
thinker  but  also  a  stylist  and  a  lyricist.  Once  started  on  a 
subject,  he  could  not  refrain  from  penetrating  to  its  marrow. 
Several  of  his  Letters  cost  him  weeks  of  continuous  labor;  all 
were  rewritten  at  least  six  times.  When  pressed  for  his  Six- 
teenth Letter  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  police  were  on  the  heels 
of  his  printer,  he  remarked:  "  This  letter  is  long  because  I  did 
not  have  time  to  make  it  shorter." 

Thus  it  was  the  Provinciales  (named  thus  because  ostensibly 
addressed  to  a  reader  in  the  provinces)  that  gavef  Pascal  liter- 
"Les  ary  renown  during  his  lifetime.    Here  was  a  work 

Pensees"  combining  the  logic  of  Descartes  with  the  insight 
and  charm  of  a  man  of  the  world.  Most  men,  Pascal  thought, 
could  be  classified  according  to  whether  they  had  the  one  or  the 
other  quality  —  the  esprit  de  geometric  or  the  esprit  de  finesse. 
It  was  characteristic  of  his  own  genius  that  he  had  both  traits; 
and  therefore  the  Letters  won  immediate  recognition  as  a  land- 


THE    PENSEES  811 

mark  in  French  prose.  But  while  their  subject  is  ephemeral, 
that  of  the  Pensees  has  never-ending  interest. 

Here  again  the  approach  to  the  problem  —  the  defence  of 
Christianity  —  is  through  the  gateway  of  skepticism.  Pascal 
the  Pyrrhonist  is  little  more  than  a  seventeenth-century 
Montaigne,  made  perfect  as  to  style.  Man  is  irretrievably 
caught  between  the  two  Infinities  —  the  macrocosm  and  the 
microcosm,  the  infinitely  large  and  the  infinitely  small. 

Qu'est-ee  que  rhomme  dans  la  nature?  Un  neaiit  a  I'egard  de 
rinfinj,  un  tout  a  I'egard  du  neant,  un  milieu  entre  rien  et  tout. 

Que  fera-t-il  done,  sinon  d'apercevoir  quelque  apparenee  du 
milieu  des  choses,  dans  un  desespoir  etemel  de  connaitre  ni  leur 
prineipe  ni  leur  fin? 

Furthermore,  man  is  vain,  hopelessly  vain: 

Le  nez  de  Cleopatre:  s'il  e<it  ete  plus  court,  toute  la  face  de  la 
terre  aurait  ete  changee.'' 

Notre  propre  interet  est  encore  im  merveiUeux  instrument  pour 
nous  crever  les  yeux  agreablement. 

If  these  reflections  betray  the  ideas  of  others,  Pascal  reassures 
us:  "  Do  not  say  that  I  have  said  nothing  new:  the  disposition 
of  the  matter  is  new.  In  playing  tennis  both  use  the  same  ball, 
but  the  one  places  it  better."  Certainly  the  metaphysical  at- 
titude, the  torture  and  pathos  of  speculation  —  le  frisson  meta- 
physique  —  is  new,  at  all  events  in  French;  and  so  is  the  in- 
ference that  despite  all  his  weakness  man  is  yet  a  superior 
being: 

LTioDome  n'est  qu'un  roseau,  le  plus  faible  de  la  nature,  mais 
c'est  un  roseau  pensant. 

Moreover,  there  is  intuition,  the  highest  of  our  qualities: 

Nous  connaissons  la  verite,  non  seulement  par  la  raison,  mais 
encore  par  le  coeur. 

C'est  le  coeur  qui  sent  Dieu,  et  non  la  raison. 

How  then  is  truth  to  be  attained?  Only  in  one  way  — through 
union  with  God.    The  dissonance  of  human  nature,  our  moral 

•  This  is  more  obviously  a  reflection  on  the  r61e  of  Chance  in  history. 


312  PASCAL    AND    RACINE 

depravity,  the  inability  to  see  beyond  the  circuit  of  our  own 
experience  —  all  this  is  overcome  in  Jesus  Christ.  In  Him  we 
are  made  whole  and  perfect. 

Like  most  seekers  of  finality,  Pascal  can  solve  the  problem 
of  truth  only  by  self-immolation.  But  he  annihilates  the  ego  — 
le  moi  hdissable,  as  he  called  it  —  in  so  far  merely  as  it  is 
egocentric,  as  its  foibles  and  sophisms  block  the  road  to  truth. 
He  never  gave  up  his  confidence  in  man  as  a  thinker  nor  in  our 
superiority  to  the  brute  world  of  Nature.  The  acquisitions  of 
culture  he  would  not  svu-render  —  far  from  it.  Saint-Evremond 
said  that  Jansenism  is  the  preciosity  of  religion;  an  opinion  to 
which  we  can  in  the  main  subscribe. 

Thus  Pascal's  Pensees  are  the  expression  of  a  great  intelligence. 
Many  of  them  have  the  austerity  of  a  Hebrew  prophecy;  most 
of  them  have  also  a  bewitching  beauty  of  thought  and  expres- 
sion. They  seem  most  modern  when  they  are  most  abrupt  and 
simple,  as  in  flashes  like: 

Condition  de  rhomme:  inconstance,  ennui,  inquietude. 

No  style  could  be  more  direct,  no  feeling  more  intense  than 
Pascal's.  The  agony  of  his  soul  often  gives  to  his  phrase  the 
force  of  an  interjection.  Yet  the  longer  passages  in  the  Pensees 
have  a  placid  depth,  a  scientific  objectivity,  a  rigor  of  logical 
structure,  which  show  that  the  poet  in  Pascal  was  always  sub- 
ordinate to  the  scientist.  It  is  probable  that  Pascal  saw  deeper 
into  the  recesses  of  the  human  soul  than  any  other  French- 
man. It  is  certain  that  no  Frenchman  ever  imited  feeling  and 
intelligence  into  a  greater  expression  of  beauty. 

There  is  in  Pascal  a  quality  that  reminds  us  of  Milton;  but 
Racine,  the  greatest  dramatist  in  France  after  Moliere.  has 
jj    .  been  difficult  for  Anglo-Saxons  to  understand.  Bred 

in  the  Shakespearean  tradition,  they  find  him  stilted 
and  artificial,  "  with  an  incapacity  for  the  finest  original  strokes 
of  poetry,"  and  "  an  almost  unlimited  capacity  for  writing 
from  models  "  (Saintsbury) .  It  is  needless  to  point  out  that  such 
a  view  is  thoroughly  superficial.  To  be  sure,  Racine  was  em- 
inently a  court  poet;  without  the  background  of  Versailles  and 
Louis  XIV  his  tragedies  are  unthinkable;  his  characters  move 
across  the  stage  in  full-bottomed  wigs  and  with  peerless  external 
manners;  of  his  own  Andromache,  Racine  remarked: 


RACINE'S   LIFE  313 

J'ai  cm  me  conformer    .    .    .    d  I'idee  que  nous  avons  main- 
tenant  de  cette  princesse. 

He  was  not  interested  in  "  local  color,"  nor  in  that  more  modern 
fetish,  "  archeological  detail."  His  was  the  task  of  interesting 
a  court  to  which  decorum  was  a  necessity.  But  let  the  reader 
penetrate  the  shell  of  Racine's  dramas,  and  he  will  behold  an 
unmasking  of  characters,  a  penetration  of  hidden  motives  — 
in  short,  a  truth  to  human  nature,  that  is  startling  in  its  psy- 
chology. Thus,  at  the  outset,  it  becomes  clear  why  Racine  realized 
the  Classical  ideal  of  art  and  nature  united.  Racine  is  in  prac- 
tice what  Boileau  is  in  theory.  To  him  truth  and  beauty  are  one ; 
and  as  a  consequence  his  dramas  are  swift,  concentrated  in 
action,  taking  life  at  a  "  crisis  " —  as  Napoleon  said  —  discard- 
ing whatever  seems  unessential,  and  thus  achieving  as  complete 
a  realization  of  a  literary  genre  as  seems  possible.  Shakespeare's 
plays,  superior  as  they  are  in  scope,  are  to(|ay  difficult  to  per- 
form. On  the  other  hand,  Racine's  conception  of  tragedy  is  still 
the  model  of  what  an  acting-play  should  be. 

Jean  Racine  was  a  child  of  the  Ile-de-France.  He  was  born 
at  La  Ferte-Milon  about  the  twenty-first  of  December,  1639. 
Racine's  Losing  both  parents  in  childhood,  he  was  placed 
^'-**  at  ten  in  the  Jansenist  college  at  Beauvais  and  at 

fifteen  in  the  maison  des  Granges  at  Port-Royal,  where  Pierre 
Nicole  taught  him  Latin  and  Lancelot  taught  him  Greek.  His 
early  reading  included  the  romance  of  Theagenes  and  Chariclea 
by  Heliodorus,  in  which  occurs  the  theme  of  adulterous  love, 
and  he  delighted  also  in  the  "  nature  poetry  "  of  the  lovelorn 
Theophile  de  Viau  anJl  Tristan  I'Ermite.  If  he  was  introspec- 
tive by  nature,  such  contacts  fostered  his  introspection. 

In  1658  he  attended  the  College  d'Harcourt  in  Paris  and  dwelt 
for  a  while  with  his  cousin  Nicolas  Vitart  at  the  house  of  the  Due 
de  Luynes.  Vitart,  who  was  both  a  Jansenist  and  an  hormete 
homme,  had  an  interest  in  literature  and  was  liberal  with  his 
purse.  Here  Racine  met  La  Fontaine  and  the  Abbe  Le  Vasseur, 
the  latter  of  whom  introduced  him  to  two  of  the  popular  ac- 
tresses of  the  day.  Then  his  relatives  became  concerned  and 
sent  him  to  Uzes,  in  the  south  of  France,  to  study  theology  under 
an  uncle's  supervision.  The  hope  was  that  he  would'  thus  ob- 
tain a  church  benefice.    From  Uzes,  Racine  wrote  letters  full 


314  PASCAL   AND   RACINE 

of  charm  and  grace  to  his  friends  in  Paris.  Already  his  style 
is  singularly  pure  and  precise,  and  as  appears  from  other  evi- 
dence, his  reflections  on  Pindar,  Homer,  the  Bible  (especially 
the  Book  of  Job)  are  interesting  and  original.  The  result, 
therefore,  of  Racine's  education  was  three-fold:  it  developed 
his  sensitive,  artistic  nature;  it  gave  him  a  knowledge  of  Greek 
classics,  including  Euripides  and  Sophocles;  and  it  led  him 
to  identify  the  Greek  sense  of  fate  with  the  Jansenist  doctrine 
of  original  sin. 

In  the  autumn  of  1662  Racine  reappeared  in  Paris,  having 
given  up  hope  of  an  ecclesiastical  preferment  and  determined 
to  succeed  as  a  writer.  He  began  with  a  display  of  official  verse, 
Sur  la  convalescence  du  Roi  and  La  Renommee  aux  Muses,  the 
latter  of  which,  admirably  expressed,  won  him  the  esteem  of 
Boileau  and,  finally,  the  entree  to  the  court.  In  1664  Moliere 
played  La  Thebdide,  Racine's  first  tragedy,  at  the  Palais-Royal. 
The  circle  of  the  poet's  friends  was  now  complete;  besides  La 
Fontaine,  Boileau,  Moliere,  it  included  Chapelle  and  Furetiere, 
their  meetings  occurring  at  such  cabarets  as  the  Mouton  blanc, 
where  the  repasts  served  were  not  merely  literary. 

The  Thebdide  is  not  a  great  play,  though  it  had  a  momentary 
success.  For  its  sources  Racine  drew  on  Euripides  {The  Phoe- 
nician Women) ,  Seneca  and  the  Antigone  of  Rotrou.  But  where 
these  were  involved,  Racine  was  simple,  and  his  tendency  to- 
wards unity  of  plot  is  quite  apparent.  Necessarily,  at  twenty- 
three,  he  showed  the  influence  of  the  elder  Comeille,  which  was 
again  a  factor  in  Racine's  second  play  in  1665.  But  although 
the  Alexandre  is  a  heroic-comedy  and  contains  such  Cornelian 
rhetoric  as: 

Je  suis  venu  chercher  la  gloire  et  le  danger, 

an  evident  reference  to  Louis  XIV,  it  is  clear  that  Racine  is 
addressing  a  different  public  from  that  of  his  great  predecessor. 
In  the  serious  drama  of  the  time  heroics  had  been  supplanted 
by  love.  This  was  due  partly  to  the  influence  of  the  novel; 
more  so,  however,  to  the  success  of  Thomas  Corneille's  Timocrate 
(1656),  the  most  popular  stage  play  of  the  century,  and  of  the 
works  of  Philippe  Quinault.  Mediocre  as  Timocrate  was  artis- 
tically, it  dramatized  La  Calpren^de's  CUop&tre,  and  its  languor- 


ANDROMAQUE  31d 

ous  hero  soothed  an  audience  grown  weary  of  Cornelian  grandeur. 
Similarly,  Quinault's  Stratonice  (1660)  approached  opera  in 
harmonious  lyrism  and  in  mere  elegance  of  expression.  From 
such  works  as  these  Racine  was  now  to  take  his  cue.  Mean- 
while he  had  broken  with  Moliere,  in  a  rather  discreditable 
manner,  by  taking  away  from  Moliere's  troupe  the  Alexandre 
and  giving  it  to  the  rival  company  of  the  Hotel  de  Bourgogne. 
The  triumph  of  Andromaque  (1667)  is  a  parallel  to  that  of 
the  Cid.  Love  is  the  theme,  but  unlike  his  contemporaries 
Racine  treats  this  subject  dramatically  and  with 
romaque  ^j^^  utmost  simplicity.  The  plot  turns  on  the 
maternal  love  of  Andromache  for  her  son:  as  Andromache 
causes  Pyrrhus,  jailor  of  her  son  and  victim  of  her  charms, 
to  hope  or  despair,  so  Pyrrhus  approaches  or  leaves  Hermione, 
who  in  turn  calls  or  repels  Orestes.  Orestes  kills  Pyrrhus, 
and  Hennione,  unable  to  live  without  him,  hurls  at  his  slayer 
the  reproach: 

Ah!  fallait-il  en  oroire  une  amante  insensee? 

whereupon  Orestes  goes  mad  on  learning  of  her,  death.  Racine 
took  his  material  from  the  poets  of  antiquity  (Homer,  Euripides, 
Vergil) ;  in  the  balancing  of  characters  there  is  some  similarity 
with  the  Cid;  otherwise  the  3rama  is  a  stroke  of  genius  —  swift, 
powerful  and  beautifully  expressed.  "  Pas  im  vers,"  says 
Lemaltre,  "qui  n'exprime,  en  mots  rapides  et  forts  comme  des 
coups  d'epee,  les  illusions,  les  souffrances,  I'egoisme,  la  folie  et 
la  mechancete  de  I'amour." 

Contemporary  critics,  however,  were  not  all  on  Racine's  side. 
Many  of  them  still  preferred  the  great  Corneille  and  were  not 
so  indulgent  even  as  Mme  de  Sevigne,  who  yielded  "  six  reluc- 
tant tears  "  when  she  saw  the  play.  Racine,  always  irritable, 
replied  with  sarcasm  and  invective.  Then  he  turned  aside  to 
produce  his  one  comedy,  Les  Plaideurs  (1668).  In  part  an 
imitation  of  The  Wasps  of  Aristophanes  but  especially  a  rol- 
licking satire  of  the  antiquated  Paris  law-courts,  this  comedy 
was  coldly  received  until  Louis  XIV  saw  it  and  laughed,  when 
suddenly  all  Paris  discovered  its  wit  and  charm.  Racine's 
next  tragedy,  Britannicus  (1669),  was  a  direct  challenge  to 
the  admirers  of  Corneille. 


316  PASCAL    AND    RACINE 

As  he  himself  has  said  (see  the  prefaces  to  the  play) ,  Racine 
here  offers  us  a  historical  play,  bereft  of  unnecessary  inci- 
aents,  conforming  absolutely  to  the  unities,  and 
"Britanmcus  concentrated  into  one  powerful  action:  the  un- 
chaining of  the  brute  in  the  character  of  Nero.  The  situation, 
drawn  from  the  Annals  of  Tacitus,  is  political,  and  it  is 
domestic;  Versailles  might  well  take  heed.  Nero,  still  young 
enough  to  fear  his  mother  Agrippina  (who  has  committed  every 
crime  for  his  sake)  and  his  "tutor"  Burrhus,  is  tempted  by 
the  innocence  of  Junia,  betrothed  to  Britannicus.  He  knows 
the  evil  of  such  a  passion  and  confesses  it  to  himself: 

Et  c'est  cette  vertu,  si  nouvelle  a  la  cour, 
Dont  la  perseverance  irrite  mon  amour. 

During  three  acts  he  hesitates.  In  the  foiu'th,  Agrippina  makes 
a  last  attempt  to  bend  him  to  her  maternal  will.  Narcissus, 
Nero's  depraved  counselor,  shatters  all  opposition:  Britannicus 
is  poisoned,  Narcissus  is  slain  and  Junia  becomes  a  vestal  vir- 
gin, while  Agrippina  foretells  the  burning  of  Rome. 

It  is  quite  clear  that  the  success  of  Britannicus  fell  below 
Racine's  expectations.  Louis  XIV  might  be  charmed  and  thus 
again  show  his  insight  and  magnanimity;  Saint- 
Evremond  reports  that  the  public  considered  the 
idea  of  the  play  noire  et  horrible.  In  any  case,  the  poet's  next 
production,  Berenice  (1670),  is  so  devoid  of  physical  action 
or  violence  as  to  be  a  tragedy  only  by  implication.  It  is, 
indeed,  the  extreme  of  what  Racine  thought  a  tragedy  might 
be;  namely,  a  dramatic  elegy. 

It  is  said  that  Heru-ietta  of  England,  Duchess  of  Orleans, 
suggested  the  subject  of  Berenice  independently  to  Comeille 
and  to  Racine  (see  above,  Bk.  Ill,  Ch.  IV).  She  may  even,  as 
Voltaire  aflBrms,  have  hinted  to  Racine  that  Louis  XIV  would 
be  pleased  with  a  situation  which  would  recall  his  youthful 
affection  for  Marie  Mancini.  However  that  may  be,  this  time 
Racine  turned  six  words  of  the  historian  Suetonius  —  Titus 
reginam  Berenicen  dimisit  invitiis  mvitam  —  into  a  fiv«-act 
drama.  As  regards  form  it  was  Racine's  greatest  triumph;  the 
Abbe  d'Aubignac's  rules  were  amply  vindicated.  Yet  beneath  the 
surface  of  its  external  beauty,  Berenice  contains  a  tremendous 


PHEDRE  317 

struggle:  the  renunciation  of  each  other  by  two  royal  lovers  for 
reasons  of  state.  Titus  gives  up  'Berenice  because  the  inexorable 
laws  of  Rome  forbid  an  emperor  to  marry  a  foreigner.  Thus 
in  the  Jittle  room  of  the  palace,  where  the  scene  is  laid,  the 
destinies  of  empires  are  decided  and  the  tragedy  of  royalty  — 
the  greatest  tragedy,  that  of  the  spirit  —  is  laid  bare.  Can 
there  be  any  doubt  of  the  realism  of  this  drama  in  such  an  age 
as  Racine's? 

If  Berenice  is  Roman,  Bajazet  (1672)  is  Oriental  not  only  in 
subject  but  also  in  its  display  of  violence.  This  drama  has  been 
called  the  French  Othello;  and  it  may  be  that  its  heroine,  Roxane, 
was  as  inscrutable  to  the  French  seventeenth  century  as  the  Moor 
of  Venice  was  to  the  age  of  Shakespeare  (Wright) .  At  all  events, 
a  drama  of  the  seraglio  had  its  interest  after  Moliere's  Bourgeois 
gentilhomme  (where  the  Grand  Turc  was  burlesqued),  while 
Racine's  treatment  of  the  Vizier  Acomat  shows  that  he  could 
depict  a  thoroughly  virile  character.  Then  followed  Mithridate 
(1673)  and  Iphigenie,  the  latter  of  which  was  presented  at  Ver- 
sailles in  1674. 

Mithridate  is  again  characterized  by  the  submergence  of  the 
political  side  of  the  drama  —  the  purely  external  part  —  to  the 
love  affair  of  the  hero  with  Monime,  the  incorporation  of 
feminine  chastity,  fidelity  and  courage.  With  Iphigenie  Racine 
returns  to  the  Greeks.  No  play  of  Racine's  is  more  regal. 
Yet  the  French  Iphigenia  is  a  pale  reflex  of  Euripides'  national 
heroine:  shte  loves  Achilles,  and  death  means  to  her  the  sacrifice 
of  that  love;  just  as  Eriphile,  Racine's  own  creation,  is  the 
voice  of  sensual  passion,  leaving  ruin  in  her  path,  destined  to 
be  Iphigenia's  substitute  in  death  and  uttering  phrases  of 
haunting  beauty: 

Je  sentis  le  reproche  expirer  dans  ma  bouche. 


J'oubliai  ma  colere  et  ne  sus  que  pleurer. 

This  brings  us  to  a  culmination  in  Racine's  career.  PhMre 
(1677),  his  masterpiece,  led  to  his  retirement  as  a  writer  for  the 
,  »      stage  at  the  age  of  thirty-nine.    Could  anything 

^  "  be  more  3ramatic?  Unless  it  be  the  conflict  of 
the  tragic  motives  that  form  the  basis  of  the  play  itself. 
Phedre  is  a  complete  recast  of  the  Euripidean  Hippolytos. 


318  PASCAL    AND    RACINE 

Racine's  first  and  most  significant  change  is  the  emphasis  he 
places  upon  the  heroine.  The  chaste  Hippolytos  becomes,  so 
to  speak,  a, sighing  marquis  of  Louis'  court,  whereas  Phaedra, 
the  most  powerful  woman's  role  in  all  French  drama  —  and 
destined  by  Racine  for  the  actress  La  Champmesle  —  is  a 
female  Nero;  but  with  one  important  difference:  she  has  a 
searching,  Jansenist  conscience.  In  other  words,  Phedre  is 
not  only  a  tragedy  of  jealousy  but  also  one  of  remorse;  it  is 
a  picture  of  sinning  and  suffering  humanity  driven  by  fate  to 
its   doom.    And   yet  this   Christian   Phaedra,   the   victim   of 

Venus  toute  entiere  a  sa  proie  attachee, 

remains  intrinsically  Greek.  Never  does  Racine  allow  us  to 
forget  her  origin.  She  is  the  daughter  of  Minos  and  Pasiphae 
and  the  granddaughter  of  the  Sun.    Driven  to  bay,  she  cries  out: 

Miserable!  et  je  vis!  et  je  soutiens  la  vue 
De  ce  sacr6  soleil  dont  je  suis  descendue! 
J'ai  pour  aieul  le  pere  et  le  maitre  des  dieux; 
Le  ciel,  tout  runivers  est  plain  de  mes  aieux. 

This  harmonizing  of  civilizations,  Greek,  Christian  and  French, 
is  the  pinnacle  of  Classicism.  As  a  play,  Phedre  may  lack  the 
fine  proportion  of  Andromaque,  but  as  an  expression  of  passion 
on  a  grand  scale  it  is  probably  unsurpassed  in  literature. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  actual  cause,  the  poet's  retire- 
ment was  opportune.  His  sensitive  nature,  together  with  his 
vanity  as  a  successful  playwright,  had  made  him  scores  of  en- 
emies. The  Duchess  of  Bourbon,  learning  that  he  was  busy  on 
Phedre,  had  induced  Pradon — a  second-rater — to  oppose  Racine 
with  a  play  on  the  same  subject.  Determined  to  have  her  favorite 
succeed  and  Racine  fail,  she  bought  up  the  seats  in  two  theaters 
(see  Boileau's  Sevtenth  Epistle),  and  during  six  successive  eve- 
nings packed  the  one  with  applauding  spectators  and  left  the 
other  empty  except  for  a  handful  of  hissers.  Such  an  intrigue 
had  its  undoubted  effect.  In  addition,  Racine's  own  play 
might  make  him  consider.  Was  he  not,  in  the  theme  of 
Phedre,  lending  a  hand  to  acts  of  violence?  Mme  de  Brin- 
villiers  had  recently  been  executed  for  poisoning;  other  crimes 
no  less  sinister  were  gossiped  about;  Racine's  own  name  was 


ATHALIE  319 

unfavorably  associated  with  the  sudden  death  of  the  actress 
Mile  Du  Pare. 

Yet  the  Jansenists  saw  in  Phedre  signs  of  contrition  on  Racine's 
part.  At  least  the  play  did  not  mince  Phaedra's  guilt;  she  could 
be  considered  only  as  a  pagan  woman  lacking  in  God's  grace. 
Thus  the  Jansenists  welcomed  Racine's  return  to  their  fold. 
On  their  advice  he  married  a  woman  who  knew  nothing  of  the 
stage,  and  devoted  himself  to  bringing  up  a  family.  He  had  long 
since  become  a  member  of  the  Academy.  This  relationship  led 
him  to  maintain  an  external  interest  in  literature.  Moreover, 
he  did  not  break  with  the  court,  and  we  find  him,  as  historio- 
grapher to  the  King,  journeying  in  the  trail  of  Louis'  armies. 

Finally,  after  twelve  years  of  dramatic  silence,  he  composed 
at  the  behest  of  Mme  de  Maintenon  his  Biblical  tragedy  of 
"Esther"  and ^siAer  (1688-1689).  Intended  for  the  schoolgirls 
"  Athalie  "  of  Saint-Cyr,  it  was  there  performed  by  the  daugh- 
ters of  the  nobility  themselves  before  the  brilliant  and  ad- 
miring guests  of  Louis.  The  beauty  of  Esther  lies  in  the 
melody  of  its  verse  and  its  power  as  a  spectacle.  Mme  de 
Maintenon  doubtless  saw  in  the  portrayal  of  the  Jewish  queen 
a  reference  to  her  own  fortunes.  Then  came  Athalie  (1691)  — 
the  last  of  Racine's  plays  and  as  regards  form  (choruses,  recits, 
and  the  like)  one  of  his  masterpieces.  Here  the  protagonist 
is  God;  the  plot  relates  how  the  child  Joash  triumphs  over  his 
enemies  —  the  enemies  of  church  and  state  —  including  the 
frenzied  and  heretical  Athaliah.  But  Mme  de  Maintenon 
feared  the  excitement  such  a  play  might  cause  at  Saint-Cyr, 
and  she  had  the  performance  given  privately,  without  scenery 
and  without  costumes;  so  that  few  except  Boileau  recognized  its 
greatness  during  Racine's  lifetime.  The  first  presentation  of 
Athalie  to  a  Parisian  public  was  in  1716. 

The  dramatic  situation  is  not  so  intense  in  Athalie  as  in 
Racine's  secular  tragedies.  The  action  is  lyrical,  much  as  in 
the  Old  French  mystere.  Yet  nowhere  in  Racine's  works  is  his 
power  as  an  artist  more  apparent.  His  choruses,  modeled  on 
the  Greek  drama,  heighten  and  relieve  the  action.  His  verse 
was  never  so  expressive,  so  well  suited  to  the  solemnity  of  his 
theme,  so  freely  and  exquisitely  managed.  Moreover,  the  setting, 
laid  in  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  enters  into  the  verse  and  gives  to 


320  PASCAL    AND   RACINE 

the  drama  an  impressive  grandeur  which  it  would  be  hard  to 
match.  If  Phedre  is  Racine's  greatest  tragedy,  Athalie  is  his 
most  perfect  dramatic  poem. 

With  the  "  failure  "  of  Athalie  Racine's  poetic  career  ends. 
A  slight  rebuff  from  the  King  may  have  hastened  his  death. 
His  Jansenism  was  not  eyed  with  favor,  and  when  he  appealed 
to  Louis  to  relieve  France  of  the  burden  of  war  (we  remember 
that  Corneille  had  made  a  similar  request)  the  King  was  visibly 
displeased.  Before  Mme  de  Maintenon  could  dispel  the  mis- 
understanding, Racine  had  died  in  April,  1699,  in  his  sixtieth 
year. 

As  we  have  observed,  Racine's  works  are  important  in  two 
respects:  as  drama  and  as  poetry.  As  a  writer  of  stage-plays 
Racine's  Art  Racine  aims  primarily  at  one  thing;  namely,  at 
and  Style  dramatic  effect.  What  is  not  essential  to  the  dra- 
matic conflict  he  discards,  and  what  is  lacking  to  it  he  adds.  Thus 
he  is  not  historical  in  the  Cornelian  sense;  for  he  alters  history 
in  behalf  of  simplicity,  and  he  will  a9d  a  non-historical  character 
in  order  to  strengthen  the  plot.  Peu  d'inddents  et  peu  de  matiere 
is  his  own  statement  of  his  aim.  Thus  his  plays  have  verisi- 
militude: they  are  true  to  life  even  when  they  are  not  true  to 
fact.  It  is  extraordinary,  as  in  the  case  of  Berenice,  how  he 
discerns  the  drama  that  lurks  in  a  few  words  of  some  ancient 
poet  or  historian.  The  power  to  visualize  this  into  an  acting 
play  of  universal  application  is  the  greatest  element  in  his  genius. 
Lemaitre,  who  has  written  the  best  book  on  Racine,  calls  this 
quality  invention,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  no  poet  ever  had 
more  of  it. 

Consequently,  striving  as  he  does  for  concentration,  it  is  not 
difficult  for  Racine  to  observe  the  unities.  Having  chosen  the 
"  crisis  "  which  he  wishes  to  present,  Racine  leads  up  to  it  in  his 
first  two  and  solves  it  in  his  last  two  acts,  thus  determining  his 
plot.  This  settled,  the  unity  of  place  is  of  no  great  importance: 
either  the  place  is  an  apartment  in  a  palace  (which  might  just 
as  well  be  in  Versailles  as  in  Greece) ,  or  it  may  be  shifted  about 
somewhat,  as  Racine  suggests  in  the  preface  to  Esther,  for  the 
amusement  of  the  spectators.  As  for  the  unity  of  time,  this  is 
coincident  with  the  "  crisis  "  and  the  events  which  immediately 
precede  and  follow  it.    In  all  respects,  Racine's  plays  had  the 


RACINE'S  STYLE  321 

added  advantage  of  obeying  the  Classical  rules  as  outlined  by 
d'Aubignac  and  Boileau. 

As  a  poet  Racine  has  two  preeminent  qualities:  a  strongly 
lyrical  vein  and  an  imaginative  and  harmonious  style.  Racine 
is  a  great  psychologist.  But  his  idea  of  character  is  of  something 
dark  and  subtle.  He  turns  our  gaze  on  the  mysteries  of  the 
heart,  not  like  Comeille  on  the  triumphs  of  the  reason  and  the 
will.  The  result  is  that  the  larger  part  in  his  dramas  is  played 
by  women.  In  Andromaque,  Berenice,  Bajazet,  Iphigenie  and 
Phedre  it  is  always  a  woman  who  dominates  the  action.  The 
protagonist  of  Britannicus  is  Nero,  but  he  is  swayed  by  love  and 
not  primarily  by  the  desire  of  power,  like  the  more  masculine 
Shakespearean  heroes.  While,  therefore,  Racine's  field  is  re- 
stricted, he  treats  love  in  all  of  its  varieties,  from  passion  to 
devotion,  including  jealousy,  coquetry,  tenderness  and  rapture. 
It  is  Racine's  knowledge  of  Greek,  in  which  respect  he  is  unique 
among  les  grands  classiques,  that  accounts  for  the  creative 
quality  of  his  style.  Paraphrasing  Sainte-Beuve,  Lemaitre 
says:  "il  rase  la  prose,  mais  avec  des  ailes."  Racine's  similes 
and  metaphors  are  simple,  direct,  inevitable;  he  does  not  seek 
the  out-of-the-way  or  the  unexpected.  Orestes,  hoimded  by 
fate,  sums  up  his  misery  in  the  phrase: 

J'ai  mendie  la  mort  chez  des  peuples  cruels; 

Berenice  expresses  her  scorn  of  flatterers  in  the  words: 

Je  fuis  de  leurs  respects  I'inutUe  longueur. 

To  suggest  the  silence  of  the  night  by  the  sea-shore,  there  is 
the  line: 

Mais  tout  dort,  et  I'armee,  et  les  vents,  et  Neptune; 

and  the  omnipotence  of  God  crashes  upon  the  ear  in  the  al- 
literation of: 

Et  du  haut  de  son  trone  interroge  les  rois. 

In  spite  of  a  rather  small  vocabulary,  Racine  understood  the 
range  of  French  verse  to  perfection.  He  can  pass  from  sustained 
utterance  to  pure  familiarity;  he  can  be  ironic  and  sublime. 
In  short,  his  style  matches  his  thought  and  gives  to  French  verse 
a  precise  beauty  and  an  undying  splendor. 


322  PASCAL    AND    RACINE 

Compared  to  his  contemporaries  Eacine  is  like  an  oasis  in 
a  desert.  Pradon  imitated  Racine  but  is  remembered  only 
by  his  opposition  to  Racine  in  the  matter  of  Phedre.  Quinault 
and  Thomas  Corneille  had  of  com-se  been  entirely  outdistanced. 
Thus  on  Racine's  retirement  the  theater  was  left  without  a 
great  leader.  Minor  dramatists  there  were:  Chancel,  LongpierrC; 
La  Fosse.  Campistron,  in  particular,  singled  out  Racine's  weaker 
qualities  for  imitation.  The  Comedie  frangaise  had  been  foimded 
in  1680,  but  its  repertory  consisted  mainly  of  the  plays  of 
Corneille,  Rotrou  and  Racine.  The  curtain  falls  on  the  theater 
of  the  century  without  producing  another  great  name. 


CHAPTER  V 
BOILEAU   AND   BOSSUET 

BoiLEAXJ  IS  the  Nestor  of  French  Classicism.  His  sterling 
character  reveals  itself  in  two  respects:  first,  as  a  judicial  rather 
than  an  imaginative  critic,  and,  secondly,  as  a  sympathetic  friend 
of  the  great  writers  of  the  age. 

Common  sense  is  again  the  guiding  principle  of  all  his  work. 
It  lies  at  the  root  of  the  Art  poetique  (1674),  of  the  doctrine 
that  grounded  his  criticism  in  "  la  haine  d'un  sot  livre  "  and 
caused  him  to  make  literature  consist  in  "  true  thoughts  and  just 
expressions."  Common  sense,  in  its  most  intellectual  aspects, 
inspired  the  attacks  of  his  Satires  and  all  his  protests  against 
extravagances.  It  divides  his  minor  works  into  so  many  ex- 
coriations of  the  varieties  of  human  folly.  It  made  Boileau, 
in  the  eyes  of  extremists,  "  reason  incarnate."  Common  sense 
is  the  distinctive  mark  of  the  man  in  his  private  life  and  his 
relations  with  other  men. 

Nicolas  Boileau,  known  to  his  contemporaries  as  Despreaux, 
was  born  at  Paris  in  1636  —  the  year  of  the  Cid  —  and  lived 
Boileau's  there,  until  his  death  in  1711,  the  prudent  career  of 
^*^*  a   confirmed   bachelor.    He   was   "  bourgeois "   by 

descent,  breeding  and  disposition.  His  two  brothers,  like  him- 
self, had  strongly  marked  leanings  toward  satire.  Nicolas  had 
a  rather  narrow  youth  and  his  views  of  country  life  amounted 
to  no  more  than  glimpses:  two  facts  which  help  to  explain  the 
lack  of  feeling  in  his  poetry.  His  education  must  have  given 
him  a  knowledge  of  Latin  and  Greek  and  an  esteem  for  polite 
literature;  he  shows  early  some  taste  for  theology  and  consider- 
able distaste  for  the  law,  the  profession  from  which  so  many 
French  writers  have  reacted  into  letters. 

When  Boileau  reacted,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he  displayed 
his  balance  in  refusing  to  alter  forthwith  his  moderate  manner 

323 


324s  BOILEAU   AND    BOSSUET 

of  life.  It  was  the  death  of  his  father  that  had  left  him  free  for 
poetry,  and  we  shortly  find  him  cultivating  the  muses  with  an 
illustrious  body  of  friends. 

Chief  among  these  was  the  celebrated  trio  —  Racine,  Moliere, 
La  Fontaine  —  whose  early  work  Boileau  did  so  much  to  form, 
and  whose  fame  he  greatly  helped  to  establish.  If  he  represents 
the  "  defense  "  of  Classicism,  they  are  its  "  illustration."  But 
this  early  association  was  marked  less  by  dogma  than  by  en- 
thusiasm. We  have  previously  mentioned  (Ch.  IV)  their  meet- 
ings at  the  Mouton  blanc  and  similar  cabarets.  To  Racine 
especially  Boileau's  friendship  was  helpful.  He  acted  as  a 
damper  to  the  dramatist's  temperamental  outbursts,  and  he 
recognized  the  merit  of  Phedre  in  the  striking  appraisal: 

la  douleur  vertueuse 
De  Phedre  malgre  soi  perfide,  incestueuse. 

On  the  whole,  Boileau's  tastes  ran  more  to  the  society  of  men 
than  to  that  of  women,  though  we  see  him  consorting  with  La 
Champmesle,  Racine's  actress-friend,  and  with  the  beautiful 
and  brilliant  Ninon  de  Lenclos. 

He  began  publication  with  Les  Satires  in  1666.  Already  the 
way  to  success  had  been  paved  by  their  circulation  in  manu- 
script and  by  readings  before  distinguished  auditors.  But  he 
was  not  an  assiduous  frequenter  of  "  salons  ";  as  a  courtier,  when 
his  fame  had  spread,  he  paid  the  usual  compliments  to  Louis  XIV, 
without  losing  his  self-respect  and  independence.  Boileau  and 
Racine  were  both  historiographers  to  the  King,  and  in  this  ca- 
pacity they  went  campaigning  —  as  we  have  seen  —  doubtless 
to  the  amusement  of  the  military  men.  Neither  was  at  home  on 
horseback  or  in  the  field;  yet  Louis  XIV  was  satisfied  with 
Boileau's  efforts  and  insisted  on  his  being  made  an  Academician 
(Ch.  III).  The  Art  poetique  had  preceded  Boileau's  election, 
but  the  enlightened  authority  of  Louis  was  of  more  immediate 
effect  on  the  Academy  than  was  the  celebrated  poem. 

About  1677  Boileau  was  taken  up  by  a  "grand  seigneur,"  De 
Lamoignon,  who  appears  in  the  mock-epic  called  Le  Lutrin,  and 
who  gathered  at  his  mansion  the  more  thoughtful  society  of 
that  time.  In  this  setting  the  critic  felt  at  ease,  though  he  was 
never  a  brilliant  conversationalist.    Ttie  latter  part  of  his  life 


BOILEAU'S    WORKS  325 

was  spent  more  and  more  in  retirement,  clouded  by  two  serious 
quaxrels:  the  one  with  the  Jesuits  in  behalf  of  Arnauld,  Pascal's 
friend ;  the  other  with  Charles  Perrault  in  behalf  of  the  ancients 
(see  Part  III,  Bk.  I,  Ch.  I) .  As  an  old  man,  Boileau  lost  the  use 
of  his  voice,  and  this  together  with  other  infirmities  soured  his 
disposition.  He  lived  well  into  the  new  century,  but  his  work 
is  indissolubly  connected  with  the  Age  of  Louis  XIV. 

Thus  Boileau  was  a  French  bourgeois  to  the  core.  His  idea 
of  human  nature  — 

Etudiez  la  cour  at  connaissez  la  ville  — 

is  that  of  his  period  in  general;  it  looks  neither  back  of  Ver- 
sailles and  Paris  nor  beyond  them.  He  was  a  Parisian  as 
Dickers  was  a  Cockney,  each  the  product  and  the  expression 
of  his  universe.  But  Boileau  was  a  prudent  and  sensible  citizen. 
He  had  plain  habits,  lived  in  a  simple  and  straightforward  way, 
and  was  constant  to  his  friends  and  principles.  His  respect  for 
letters  prevented  him  from  being  a  hack  or  accepting  any  gall- 
ing patronage.  "  Reason  "  even  made  him  speak  the  truth  to 
Louis  about  the  latter's  verses  and  tastes.  He  was  not  expansive 
or  emotional.  But  he  warms  to  the  attack,  and  his  best  work 
is  that  in  which  his  common-sense  aesthetics  are  at  stake.  If 
literature  is  a  criticism  of  life,  Boileau's  life  was  a  criticism 
of  literature. 

We  may  follow  Sainte-Beuve  in  dividing  Boileau's  work  into 
three  periods:  that  of  the  early  Satires,  during  the  sixties,  a 
Boileau's  vigorous  and  youthful  phase;  the  next  decade, 
Works  when  the  critic  assumes  the  part  of  a  "  legislator 

of  Parnassus,"  writing  the  Art  poetique,  the  mellower  Satires 
and  most  of  the  Lutrin;  and,  finally,  the  period  of  his  weakest 
efforts  in  satire  and  epistle,  when  his  inspiration  is  disturbed  by 
the  defense  of  Jansenism  and  the  quarrel  with  Perrault. 

Of  the  two  elements,  satire  and  criticism,  it  is  hard  to  say 
which  predominates  in  Boileau's  work.  Frequently  they  are 
coordinated.  But  certainly  much  of  his  writing,  besides  that 
labelled  "  satire,"  is  satiric  in  idea  and  execution.  Several  of 
the  Epitres  —  modeled  on  those  of  Horace  —  contain  impatient 
indictments  of  human  folly.  The  best  of  these  are  the  Seventh 
Epistle  (to  Racine)  and  the  Ninth,  which  mirrors  Boileau's  view 


326  BOILEAU    AND    BOSSUET 

of  his  own  calling.  The  mock-heroic  called  Le  Lutrin,  in  the 
style  of  Tassoni's  Secchia  rapita  and  Pope's  Rape  of  the  Lock^ 
narrates  a  theological  dispute  about  a  reading  desk  in  the  Sainte- 
Chapelle,  Here  the  satire  rallies  the  clergy  for  their  sloth  and 
ease,  while  mimicking  in  burlesque  the  artifices  of  various  ancient 
and  modern  epics.  The  poem  is  notable  for  its  grace  and  wit, 
qualities  which  find  an  even  more  amusing  expression  in  Boileau's 
Les  Heros  de  roman.  This  is  a  prose  dialogue,  in  the  manner  of 
Lucian,  where  the  personages  in  the  romances  of  La  Calprenede 
and  Mile  de  Scudery  file  before  the  judges  of  Hades,  to  give 
themselves  away  by  their  stilted  and  ridiculous  conversation- 
Ridicule,  then,  is  the  acid  test  which  Boileau  constantly  applies. 
This  quality  appears  to  the  best  advantage  in  the  Satires  proper. 
Here  Boileau,  imitating  Horace  and  Juvenal,  transmutes  into 
Parisian  terms  the  perennial  violations  of  le  bon  sens.  To  quote 
his  own  words: 

Des  sottises  du  temps  je  compose  men  fiel. 

The  Satires  are  of  two  classes,  general  and  literary.  Boileau 
expresses  the  folly  of  gluttony  in  the  Third  Satire;  of  certain 
types  (the  pedant,  the  miser,  the  gallant,  and  so  on)  in  the 
Fourth;  of  false  nobility  in  the  Fifth;  of  unreasonable  desires 
and  ambitions  in  the  Eighth;  of  women  in  the  Tenth.  In  the 
Seventh  and  the  famous  Ninth  he  states  his  views  concerning 
the  social  value  of  satire;  and  the  Second,  addressed  to  Moliere, 
discusses  the  discord  between  "  la  rime  et  la  raison  "  which  it 
was  Boileau's  endeavor  to  solve. 

But  the  Satires  also  constitute  a  polemic.  Many  of  their  shafts 
are  aimed  at  the  extreme  fashions  then  in  repute,  which  Boileau 
did  much  to  mitigate  if  not  banish.  Thus  he  excoriates  the  epic- 
writing  school  of  Chapelain;  the  feminizing  romancers  and  the 
preciemes;  the  writers  of  "  conceits  "  and  pointes,  and,  finally, 
those  who  burlesque  great  works  of  art,  like  Scarron  and  his 
Virgile  travesti.  All  these  faults  and  foibles  of  the  time  are 
scored  by  Boileau  in  dozens  of  passages.  Thereupon,  having 
accomplished  the  work  of  destruction,  the  theorist  in  Boileau 
turns  to  erect  the  working  code  of  Classicism. 

The  manner  in  which  Boileau  crystallizes  the  Classical  dogma 
(see  Ch.  I)  will  best  appear  from  an  analysis  of  the  Art  poetique. 


THE   ART   POETIQUE  327 

The  first  canto  deals  with  the  poet's  vocation  and  the  quaUties 
of  literary  composition.  The  vocation  must  be  founded  in 
The  "  Art  nature,  since  the  poet  is  born  rather  than  made, 
poetique  "  ^nd  nature  also  disposes  him  to  the  kind  of  poetry 
that  he  should  undertake.  This  conventional  tribute  to  Pegasus 
having  been  paid,  reason  steps  in  and  directs  the  remainder  of 
the  canto: 

Aimez  done  la  raison:  que  tou jours  vos  ecrits 
Empruntent  d'elle  seule  et  leur  lustre  et  leur  prix. 

Let  there  be  no  "mad  inspiration,"  because  to  the  Classicist, 
imagination  is  inferior  to  reason.  The  latter  principle  is  now 
made  to  control,  in  detail,  such  necessary  poetic  qualities  as 
inevitability  in  expression,  variety,  noble  rather  than  burlesque 
language,  clearness  and  purity,  polish  and  order,  the  rules  of 
versification  and  harmony. 

Thus  good  sense  becomes  the  arbiter  of  art,  and  it  is  primarily 
with  the  art  of  versification  that  Boileau  is  concerned.  He 
interposes  a  biased  sketch  of  French  poetry  that  emphasizes 
this  attitude.   There  was  nothing  of  significance  before  Malherbe: 

Enfin  Malherbe  vint,  et,  le  premier  en  France, 
Fit  sentir  dans  les  vers  una  juste  cadence, 
D'un  mot  mis  en  sa  place  enseigna  le  pouvoir, 
Et  reduisit  la  muse  aux  regies  du  devoir. 

The  last  line  states  the  chief  defect,  not  only  of  Malherbe,  but 
of  Boileau  himself  and  of  the  whole  trend  of  the  Classical  theory. 
Malherbe  is  praised,  not  as  the  first  poet,  but  as  the  first 
harmonious  versifier. 

The  second  canto  takes  up  the  minor  Classic  genres:  the  idyll 
or  eclogue,  the  elegy,  the  ode,  the  sonnet  and  the  epigram. 
These  are  considered,  principally  on  the  authority  of  the  ancients, 
as  the  most  acceptable  forms,  and  each  is  treated  with  reference 
to  its  special  style  and  aptitudes.  The  Old  French  forms  are 
condemned  in  the  name  of  "  good  sense  and  art,"  while  satire, 
both  ancient  and  modem,  is  recommended  as  a  weapon  of  truth. 
The  third  canto,  in  its  treatment  of  tragedy,  epic  and  comedy, 
instances  Boileau's  general  indebtedness  to  the  theories  springing 
from  Horace  and  Aristotle.    The  tragic  writer  must  strive  for  a 


328  BOILEAU   AND    BOSSUET 

"  gentle  terror  "  and  a  "  charming  pity,"  by  force  of  passion 
rather  than  of  reasoning.  But  the  external  rules  of  reason  must 
nevertheless  be  observed;  especially  — 

Qu'en  un  lieu,  qu'en  un  jour,  un  seul  fait  accompli 
Tienne  jusqu'a  la  fin  le  theatre  rempli. 

Boileau  admits  that 

Le  vrai  peut  quelquefois  n'etre  pas  vraisemblable; 

in  which  case,  however,  the  probable  rather  than  the  actual 
truth  must  be  told.  As  we  have  seen,  the  Renaissance  had  placed 
a  momentous  stress  on  verisimilitude,  of  which  the  theater  is 
the  stronghold  —  and  this  idea  Boileau  repeats.  He  then  gives 
due  importance  to  other  elements  of  tragedy,  such  as  the  recital 
of  events,  the  climactic  rise  and  the  sudden  catastrophe  —  in 
short,  "  crisis  action."  Love,  he  says,  is  now  the  main  interest, 
but  it  must  be  truly  depicted  and  should  seem  an  amiable  weak- 
ness ;  above  all  —  and  here  we  hear  the  voice  of  decorum  —  each 
age  and  each  person  must  keep  the  "  proper  character  "  in  action 
and  in  language;  for 

La  scene  demande  une  exacte  raison. 

The  section  on  the  epic  is  interesting  mainly  as  showing  that 
the  hope  for  a  great  modern  French  epic  poem  was  not  yet  dead. 
Boileau  holds  by  the  Iliad  and  the  Aeneid  as  standards.  In 
ruling  out  the  use  of  Christian  mythology  he  condemns  Tasso 
and,  quite  unawares,  Milton,  as  well  as  his  more  usual  butts, 
the  small  fry  of  epic-writers  of  the  time. 

Comedy,  for  the  Classical  generalizer,  again  tends  to  portraits 
and  types.    In  order  to  paint  them. 

Que  la  nature  done  soit  votre  ^tude  unique. 

She  is  the  great  portrait-painter.  Study  of  nature  —  in  town 
and  court  —  is  what  makes  the  excellence  of  Moliere,  whenever 
he  does  not  dip,  unworthily,  into  farce.  There  should  be  no 
mixture  of  tragedy  and  comedy:  the  Classicist  abhors  any  me- 
lange des  genres.  Let  reason  guide  the  comic  action  and  re- 
frain from  jests  at  the  expense  of  le  bon  sens.  , 

The  fourth  canto  consists  mainly  of  thrusts  at  Claude  Perrault 
and  of  general  advice  to  poets  as  representative  men. 


BOILEAU    AS    CRITIC  329 

The  Art  poetique  is,  in  its  very  limitations,  a  most  important 
document.  It  sums  up,  for  the  seventeenth  century,  the  literary 
ideals  which  it  helps  to  promulgate  throughout  the  eighteenth. 
Its  narrowness  of  range  was  broad  for  that  time,  and  what  it 
lacks  in  range  it  has  in  thoroughness  and  polish.  If  we  add  a 
few  points  from  the  Ninth  Epistle  and  mention  one  general 
underlying  inspiration,  we  have  practically  the  whole  of  Boileau's 
doctrine. 

The  Epistle  in  question  lays  down  categorically  that 

Rien  n'est  beau  que  le  vrai    .    .    . 

This  is  intended  to  rule  out  disordered  fancy,  but  it  operates 
also  as  an  argument  against  sovereign  imagination.  It  tends 
to  make  logical  truth  the  sole  foundation  of  art.  The  Epistle 
continues: 

Mais  la  nature  est  vraie    .    •    . 

The  material  for  imitation  then  is  nature,  and  properly  human 
nature,  according  to  types.  But  nature  should  be  followed  in 
a  broad  way,  not  specialized  or  localized,  adapted  rather  for 
universal  appeal.  The  guide  in  this  matter  of  just  imitation 
is  again  reason. 

Such  are  the  outlines  of  Boileau's  "  civilized  "  program.  In 
it  he  again  and  again  pays  homage  to  the  ancients,  not  because 
they  are  the  ancients  but  rather  as  the  models  in  the  imitation 
of  universal  nature.  Thus  he  unfurls  the  Classical  banner,  under 
which,  championing  the  geniuses  of  his  age,  he  fought  against 
the  lesser  writers  —  who  were  mostly  hostile  to  his  applications 
of  truth,  nature  and  reason.  As  a  critic,  he  is  the  successor  of 
Malherbe,  whose  precepts  he  elevates  and  broadens.  He  is  the 
first  great  author  to  insist  upon  the  importance  of  "  taste " 
{le  gout),  which  in  the  eighteenth  century  becomes  a  point  of 
frequent  discussion.  Underlying  his  thought  is  the  conviction 
that  the  great  work  of  art  is  always  simple,  truthful  and  intelli- 
gible. Thus  he  has  an  understan'ding  of  the  eternal  human 
values,  lifted  above  time  and  place.  Accordingly,  his  main 
critical  judgments  have  been  strikingly  in  agreement  with  those 
of  posterity. 

At  the  same  time,  Boileau  is  not  a  creative  critic.    In  his 


330  BOILEAU   AND    BOSSUET 

Satires  aione  does  he  sound  an  individual  note  —  that  of  the 
concrete  and  picturesque  detail: 

J'appelle  un  chat  un  chat  et  Relet  un  fripon. 

He  is  not  a  profound  psychological  observer,  a  moraliste,  like 
Pascal  or  La  Rochefoucauld;  he  lacked  the  temperament  for 
such  profundity.  Save  in  the  Art  poetique,  he  shuns  the  abstract 
style,  which  he  frequently  satirizes.  He  cannot  depict  the  inner 
world  of  sentiment,  or  of  subjective  ideas  and  impressions. 

At  his  best,  then,  he  is  the  lawgiver  of  Classicism.  He  knew 
and  formulated  its  technique.  The  balanced  Alexandrines  of 
the  Art  poetique,  its  fixed  divisions,  its  terse  epigrammatic  lines, 
recalling  those  of  Pope  —  who  was  Boileau's  greatest  imitator  — 
its  clear  and  smooth  finish,  are  evidence  of  his  sense  of  Classical 
harmony.  But  again  like  Malherbe,  he  achieved  these  results 
only  through  effort.  His  early  Satires,  in  particular,  show  want 
of  ease  and  suggest  the  difBculties  with  rime  of  which  he  com- 
plains in  addressing  Moliere.  But  he  overcame  this  handicap, 
and  his  middle  period  proves  that  he  was  as  thoroughly  Classical 
in  his  style  as  in  his  doctrine.  Thus  the  Parisian  bourgeois 
vindicated  his  position  as  the  guardian  of  Classical  culture. 

If  Boileau  was  the  defender  of  authority  in  literatiu-e,  Bossuet 
was  its  evangelist  in  religion.  No  one  has  ever  preached  a  re- 
actionary  program  more  eloquently  than  he,  nor,  be 
it  said  in  his  honor,  with  greater  sincerity.  A  devout 
Catholic,  he  was  not  what  we  should  call  an  original  thinker;  he 
defined  a  heretic  as  "  celui  qui  a  une  opinion."  For  this  reason 
alone  it  is  diflScult  to  agree  with  Nisard  and  Brunetiere,  who 
regard  Bossuet  as  entirely  representative  of  Louis  XIV's  time. 
But  he  had  a  seductive  personality,  a  great  intelligence  —  placed 
in  the  service  of  a  high  moral  idea  —  and  he  treated  vital  ques- 
tions with  the  simple  seriousness  of  a  really  great  soul. 

Jacques-Benigne  Bossuet,  born  at  Dijon  (Burgundy)  in  1627, 
came  of  a  family  of  sturdy  magistrates.  Educated  by  the  Jesuits 
in  the  two  antiquities,  Hebrew  and  Graeco-Roman,  he  was  sent 
to  Paris  to  complete  his  studies  at  the  College  de  Navarre,  his 
subjects  being  philosophy  and  theology.  At  twenty-four  he  be- 
came a  Doctor  of  the  Sorbonne  and  was  soon  made  archdeacon 
of  Metz,  having  previously  declined  the  social  allurements  which 


BOSSUET'S  LIFE  331 

Paris  offered  to  his  talents.  He  remained  at  Metz  until  1659, 
combatting  Protestants  and  Jews  and  fortifying  himself  generally 
in  his  vocation.  But  the  influence  of  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul, 
whose  natiu-al  Christian  charity  Bossuet  admired,  brought  him 
back  to  the  capital,  where  during  ten  years  his  fame  as  an 
orator  grew  until  it  reached  the  purlieus  of  the  court.  A  funeral 
oration,  now  lost,  on  Anne  of  Austria  is  of  this  period  in  his 
career. 

In  1669  he  was  appointed  bishop  of  Condom,  a  small  town 
of  southern  France.  But  his  nomination  as  tutor  to  the  Dauphin 
made  him  resign  his  bishopric  and  devote  himself,  with  character- 
istic zeal,  to  forming  the  mind  of  a  pupil  which,  however  dull 
and  unappreciative,  might  some  day  rule  the  world.  To  this 
endeavor  we  owe  several  of  Bossuet's  greatest  works,  such  as: 
the  Traite  de  la  connaissance  de  Dieu,  the  Politique  tiree  de 
I'Ecriture  sainte  and  the  famous  Discours  sur  I'histoire  univer- 
selle  (begun  in  1678).  While  these  works  failed  of  their  im- 
mediate purpose  —  the  Dauphin  having  no  brain  to  instruct  — 
they  are  the  basis  of  Bossuet's  philosophy  and  they  serve  as  an 
index  to  both  the  epoch  and  the  man.  Absolute  monarchy  could 
have  no  other  historian  than  a  theologian:  one  who  would  see 
in  the  established  order  a  foreordainment  of  God.  At  the  same 
time,  Bossuet  is  no  flatterer  —  he  lauded  the  monarchy,  but  he 
lauded  it  as  an  obligation  and  a  trust,  and  he  spared  no  pains 
to  make  clear  the  terrific  duties  that  weigh  down  a  king.  Bossuet's 
appeal  is  neither  overbearing  nor  servile;  it  is  psychologically 
true  and  to  the  point;  it  shows  his  good  sense  and  his  justesse 
d'esprit.    Finally,  it  reveals  his  courage. 

He  was  then  elected  to  the  Academy  and,  in  1681,  to  the 
bishopric  of  Meaux.  Meantime  he  had  preached  funeral  sermons 
on  the  deaths  of  Henrietta  of  France  and  Henrietta  of  England 
—  to  be  followed  later  by  orations  on  Marie-Therese,  the  Grand 
Conde  and  Mile  de  la  Valliere.  When  the  clergy  of  France  met 
in  1682  it  was  Bossuet  who  opened  the  assembly  with  an  ex- 
portation on  the  unity  of  the  cWch,  and  who  by  force  of  argu- 
TSj.ei^  won  for  the  Gallican  Church  the  liberty  to  manage  its  own 
jfft^i^s  and  to  pronounce  itself  on  the  question  of  infallibility. 
'i^iA  last  years  were  crowded  by  disputes  with  the  Protestants 
,-^)i^ifftsfoire  des  variations  des  eglises  protestantes  appearing 


332  BOILEAU    AND    BOSSUET 

in  1688  —  by  a  controversy  with  Fenelon  over  the  heresy  of 
Quietism,  by  a  famous  pronouncement  against  the  subjects 
treated  on  the  stage,  and  by  a  crushing  indictment  of  the  views 
of  Richard  Simon,  a  higher  critic  of  the  Bible.  He  died  in  1704 
after  a  hfe  of  continuous  toil  and  combat. 

The  major  qualities  of  Bossuet  are  his  probity  and  his  sense 
of  reality.  He  had  little  vanity  and  almost  no  personal  ambition. 
He  did  not  seek  literary  glory,  and  if  he  has  splendor  and  per- 
fection of  form  he  used  them  as  instruments  to  win  to  his  cause 
a  world  that  no  other  method  could  reach.  But  if  poets  are  bom, 
so  are  orators;  and  the  youthful  Bossuet  addressing  the  Hotel 
de  Rambouillet  close  to  midnight  elicited  from  Voiture  the 
remark:  "  I  have  never  heard  anyone  preach  so  early  or  so  late." 
He  had  a  mind  that  was  serene  and  self-possessed,  which  in  the 
course  of  time  he  stored  with  information  on  philosophy,  physi- 
ology, history,  archeology  and  even  drama;  but  again  his  mind 
was  intense  rather  than  far-seeing,  fixed  on  one  point  —  the  gran- 
deur and  glory  of  God  as  reflected  by  the  grandeur  and  glory 
of  Louis  XIV. 

Bossuet 's  works  fall  into  three  groups:  the  Sermons,  especially 
the  funeral  orations;  the  works  intended  for  the  instruction 
Bossuet's  of  the  Dauphin;  and  the  controversial  writings.  It 
Works  mug^  ^q^  ]^g  forgotten  that  preaching  was  in  low 

estate  when  Bossuet  began.  The  pulpit  style  of  the  Jesuits  was 
traditionally  florid  and  stilted.  Saint  Frangois  de  Sales  had 
socialized  the  "  sermon  "  and  given  it  charm.  But  his  imitators 
exaggerated  these  qualities;  their  effects  were  sugary  and  soft, 
and  preaching  lost  its  dignity.  This  trait  Bossuet  restored.  He 
did  not  write  out  his  sermons,  he  was  too  much  of  an  orator  to 
forego  the  advantages  of  improvision  —  thus  the  text  of  many 
of  his  sermons  on,ly  approximates  his  actual  words,  and  it  is 
known  that  his  editor,  Deforis,  took  liberties  with  that  text. 
Nevertheless,  Bossuet  preached  from  a  sketch  that  was  carefully 
and  logically  organized,  with  all  the  devices  of  Classical  rhetoric. 
In  the  Sermon  sur  la  mart,  delivered  at  the  Louvre  in  166^ 
the  exordium  states  that  man  '  j  , 

est  infimment  meprisable  en  tant  qu'il  passe,  et  infiniment  Jegti* 
mable  en  tant  qu'il  aboutit  h,  reterniti,  . .        ] 


BOSSUET'S  WORKS  333 

This  is  followed  by  the  premier  point,  stating  that  earthly  life 
is  brief,  and  by  the  second  point,  which  stresses  our  control 
over  Nature,  our  sense  of  duty,  our  idea  of  God  —  so  many  proofs 
of  immortality.  Death,  the  great  leveler,  is  the  central  figure  of 
Bossuet's  thought.  It  alone  gives  significance  to  life.  In 
praising  the  illustrious  dead  he  strives  to  instruct  the  living, 
pointing  out  to  them  obvious  truths,  giving  them  portraits  —  for 
their  emulation  or  avoidance,  such  as  that  of  Cromwell  in  the 
Oraison  de  Henriette  de  France  —  and  rising  at  times  to  great 
eloquence,  as  in  the  famous  passage  on  the  death  of  Henrietta 
of  England: 

0  nuit  desastreuse!  6  nuit  eflfroyable,  ou  retentit  tout  a  coup 
comme  un  eclat  de  tonnerre  cette  etoiuiante  nouvelle :  Madame  se 
meurt !    Madame  est  morte ! 

Contrast  the  simple  majesty  of  this  with  the  more  worldly 
panegyrics  of  the  epoch,  and  the  genius  of  Bossuet  is  at  once 
apparent. 

As  for  the  instructional  works,  the  Discours  sur  I'histoire 
universelle  remains  the  outstanding  one.  Its  importance  as 
a  serious  philosophy  of  history  may  be  questioned.  Yet  there  is 
no  doubt  that  it  served  as  such  for  Classicism.  Bossuet  aims 
at  nothing  less  than  a  "theology  of  human  progress,"  from 
Adam  to  Charlemagne.  The  Discours  is  divided  into  three  parts : 
(1)  On  Epochs,  which  gives  a  chronological  outline;  (2)  On 
Religions,  which  establishes  the  idea  of  Providence  ruling  the 
world  through  his  chosen  peoples;  and  (3)  On  Empires,  which 
confirms  the  succession  of  Rome.  Thus  historical  unity  is  found 
in  religion:  Judea,  Christianity  and  Rome.    Having  determined 

this  fact de  parti  pris  —  Bossuet  is  free  to  deal  with  secondary 

causes,  and  here  he  is  at  his  best.  He  would  make*his  royal 
pupil  see  the  true  character  of  kings  and  peoples;  why  they 
succeed,  why  they  fail.  Events  mean  little  to  him;  it  is  the 
man  behind  the  event  whom  he  would  make  the  Dauphin  under- 
stand. Lacking  modem  erudition,  Bossuet  is  yet  a  master  of 
his  material ;  he  seeks  to  be  impartial  and  is  led  —  as  far  as  his 
thesis  permits  —  by  psychological  and  rational  considerations. 
Above  all,  he  has  the  ability  to  survey  a  movement,  and  he 
points  the  way  to,  even  if  he  does  not  attain,  the  position  of 


334  BOILEAU   AND    BOSSUET 

Montesquieu.  On  the  other  hand,  the  effect  of  his  theory  is 
static.  He  reinforces  the  old  absolutes  of  une  loi,  un  roi, 
une  foi;  and  he  does  so  with  the  optimism  of  his  vigorous 
personality. 

Bossuet's  works  of  controversy  have  the  same  unified  purpose 
as  the  Discours.  The  Histoire  des  variations  des  eglises  protes- 
tantes,  in  fifteen  volumes,  is  a  clever  piece  of  argumentation. 
Moreover,  it  is  thoroughgoing.  On  the  side  of  the  Protestants 
he  finds  discord,  on  the  side  of  the  Catholics,  unity ;  thus  Bossuet 
would  confound  those  who  had  deserted  Rome.  Why  they 
deserted,  Bossuet  does  not  explain.  But  he  has  no  doubt  as  to 
their  eventual  repentance;  he  feels  sure  that  the  enlightened 
policy  of  Rome  will  reintegrate  the  Protestants  in  the  Universal 
Church.  For  the  moment  Bossuet  wished  to  strike  them  in  their 
most  vulnerable  spot;  and  so  he  sets  them  against  one  another, 
Lutherans,  Calvinists,  Anglicans  and  the  rest,  in  ruinous 
opposition. 

His  controversy  with  Fenelon  we  must  leave  for  a  later  chapter 
(Pt.  Ill,  Bk.  I,  Ch.  II).  Sufiice  it  to  remark  here  that  the  Rela- 
tion sur  le  quietisme  is  inspired  by  the  general  attitude  found 
in  Bossuet's  other  works.  Quietism,  encouraged  by  Mme  Guyon, 
was  a  form  of  mysticism  which  seemed  to  leave  religion  to  the 
impulse  of  personal  emotion,  and  any  such  type  of  individualism 
was  abhorrent  to  the  rationally  minded  bishop. 

As  for  Bossuet's  style,  it  places  him  in  the  front  rank  of 
seventeenth-century  prose  writers.  Its  great  quality  is  cadence. 
Bossuet's  His  periods  roll  forth  like  great  waves  of  emotion. 
®*yie  He  not  only  cites  the  Scripture,  he  incorporates 

it  into  himself,  so  that  its  imagery,  its  sententiousness,  its  gravity 
appear  to  spring  from  the  speaker's  own  mind.  But  in  his 
periodic  style  he  commands  many  variations.  "  Tout  lui  sert," 
says  Joubert,  "  le  langage  des  rois,  des  politiques  et  des  guerriers; 
celui  du  peuple  et  du  savant,  du  village  et  de  I'ecole,  du  sanctu- 
aire  et  du  barreau."  Picturesque  and  poetic  as  his  images  are, 
and  taken  for  the  most  part  from  Latin  writers  and  the  Church 
Fathers,  he  can  also  wield  the  plainer  style  coupe:  rapid,  logical 
and  always  to  the  point.    He  says  in  a  discours: 

On  me  blame,  on  me  meprise,  on  m'oublie:  quel  est  le  plus  rude 
^  la  nature,  ou  plutot  a  ramour-propre?   Je  ne  sais. 


BOSSUET'S    CONTEMPORARIES  335 

Could  language  be  more  direct  and  forcible?  It  was  this  mastery 
over  French,  coupled  with  Bossuet's  soaring  vision  of  mankind 
and  of  history,  which  more  than  any  other  quality  gave  him  the 
epithet  of  the  "  Eagle  of  Meaux." 

A  contemporary  of  Bossuet's  in  the  pulpit  was  Bourdaloue 
(1632-1704),  whose  Sermons,  commonplace  as  they  often  were. 
His  Con-  pleased  the  court.  In  the  words  of  his  biographer 
temporaries  Vinet:  "  II  preclia,  il  confessa,  il  consola."  Although 
a  Jesuit,  Bomrdaloue  had  the  moral  intensity  of  a  Jansenist; 
and  the  pictures  he  gives  of  corruption  in  high  places  elicited  the 
admiration  of  Boileau.  His  style  has  none  of  the  lyrical  splendor 
of  Bossuet;  it  is  clear  and  telling,  but  it  tends  toward  logical 
precision  and  abstraction.  Bourdaloue  is  the  Descartes  of 
oratory,  and  in  the  controversy  about  Tartuffe  he  ably  discerned 
the  difficulty  of  distinguishing  religious  observance  from 
hypocrisy. 

But  a  spirit  of  decadence  pervaded  the  close  of  Louis  XIV's 
rfiign.  Massillon  (1663-1742),  another  churchman-,  comments 
on  the  "  enervating  atmosphere  "  as  one  enters  Versailles.  A 
charitable  Christian,  Massillon  strove  against  it  valiantly  and 
then  succimibed.  His  Sermons  have  grace  and  elegance  of  form 
and  a  certain  philosophic  breadth  which  made  them  appeal,  later 
on,  to  Voltaire.  But  they  lack  the  force  of  a  strong  personality 
and  readily  go  off  into  hyperbole  and  the  worst  type  of 
Ciceronian  imitation. 

Lastly,  Flechier  (1632-1710),  a  writer  of  charming  Latin 
verse  and  a  frequenter  of  ruelles,  is  more  of  a  society  wit  than 
a  cleric.  He  preached  conventionally  on  the  sins  of  the  world  — ■ 
the  little  sins,  those  of  pride,  impaid  debts,  money-marriages, 
and  so  on.  At  the  same  time,  his  words  seem  to  have  been  spoken 
with  an  exquisite  ironic  smile,  and  his  funeral  Orations,  in  par- 
ticular, swayed  his  hearers  by  the  musical  rhythm  of  their 
rhetoric. 

Thus  the  Age  of  the  Grand  Monarque  closes  on  a  note  of 
plaintive  eloquence.  It  was  eloquent  as  to  the  glory  and  grandeur 
of  its  achievements  —  in  politics,  literature  and  religion.  It 
was  plaintive  —  and  ironic  —  at  the  thought  that  no  form  of 
human  culture,  however  well  planned,  can  last,  and  that  the 
forces   which   were   imdermining   the   body   politic    were   too 


336  BOILEAU    AND    BOSSUET 

powerful  to  be  stopped.  Moreover,  a  new  movement  in  ideas 
was  claiming  recognition,  and  this  brings  us  to  the  Quarrel  of 
the  Ancients  and  Modems,  with  which  Classicism  definitely  ends. 
As  a  final  word  on  this  great  period,  let  us  note  that  the 
humanism  of  the  Renaissance  finds  an  enduring  expression  in 
Bossuet's  formulation  of  the  "objective"  judgment: 

La  vraie  perfection  de  I'entendement  est  de  bien  juger.  Juger, 
c'est  prononcer  au-dedans  de  soi  sur  le  vrai  et  sur  le  faux;  et  bien 
juger,  c'est  y  prononcer  avec  raison  et  connaissance. 


PART  m 
MODERN  TIMES 


BOOK  I 
THE    TRANSITION   FROM   CLASSICISM 

CHAPTER  I 

THE    QUARREL    OF    ANCIENTS    AND    MODERNS: 

RESULTS 

The  drive  against  absolute  Classicism  dates  its  success  from 
the  "  Quarrel "  between  Boileau  and  Charles  Perrault.  This 
dispute,  as  to  whether  the  ancients  or  the  mod- 
mpo  ance  ej-j^gaj-g  ^jj^  beg(;  writers,  is,  in  its  larger  aspects, 
neither  academic  nor  futile.  The  quarrel  as  to  mere  pre- 
eminence may  have  been  vain,  but  its  importance  in  literary- 
history  is  due  less  to  the  ostensible  matter  of  debate  than  to 
the  new  criticism  which  it  awakened  and  to  certain  significant 
forces  which  it  released.  These  center,  it  will  appear,  around 
the  idea  of  Progress. 

It  has  been  shown  that  the  ancients  themselves  were  not  without 

glimmerings  of  this  idea.    It  is  implicit  in  the  Renaissance,  if 

not  an  "  organic  phenomenon  "  of  French  Classicism. 

Antecedents    p^^.  ^^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  Pl^iade,  especially  Du  Bellay, 

maintain,  if  not  that  the  ancients  may  be  equalled  in  many  ways? 
Pride  of  progress  is  visible  in  Rabelais  and  in  Etienne  Dolet; 
and  the  early  liberalism  of  Corneille  tends  in  the  same  direction. 
Yet  none  of  these  believe  that  the  moderns  are  superior  en  bloc 
and  none  wish  to  overthrow  the  authority  of  antiquity.  That 
is  rather  the  intention  of  Descartes,  who  is  the  direct  ancestor 
of  modernism.  Descartes'  impatience  with  scholasticism  ejctended 
to  ancient  literature  and  in  making  reason  the  guide  in  all  worldly 
matters,  he  threw  out  many  suggestions  for  later  philosophers. 
For  instance,  it  is  Descartes  who,  building  apparently  on  St. 
Augustine's  notion  that  humanity  may  be  viewed  as  developing 
like  a  single  man,  upholds  that  we  are  truly  the  ancients,  since 
we  represent  the  maturity  of  the  world.  This  thought  is  more 
or  less  repeated  by  Pascal,  Bacon  and  Fontenelle,  and  it  under- 

339 


340      QUARREL    OF    ANCIENTS    AND    MODERNS 

lies  certain  phases  of  the  Quarrel.  Descartes'  general  principle 
of  rationalism  (see  Pt.  II,  Bk.  Ill,  Ch.  V)  results,  through  the 
widening  skepticism  of  the  Modems  and  of  the  libertins,  in 
eighteenth-century  philosophy. 

But  in  seventeenth-century  literature,  ancient  authority  was 
not  so  easily  overcome.  A  return  to  scholasticism,  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Academy,  the  pedantry  of  the  Univer- 
Eeactions  ^j^^.^  ^^^  chiefly  the  triumphant  example  of  the  great 
Classicists  submerged  for  a  time  the  worldly  and  revolutionary 
currents.  There  were  irregular  independents;  there  was  always 
a  majority  in  favor  of  the  light  salon  taste;  the  "  honnete  homme  " 
usually  considered  ancient  culture  pedantic  and  inelegant.  But 
the  great  triumvirate,  Boileau,  Racine,  Moliere,  succeeded  for  a 
generation  in  subduing  the  precievx,  in  linking  hands  with  an- 
cient tradition,  in  combining  that  tradition  harmoniously  with 
a  wise  modernity,  reason  and  a  fine  taste,  and  especially  in 
securing  royal  and  influential  favor.  It  was  part  of  their 
nemesis  that  in  succeeding  as  Ancients,^  they  also  succeeded 
as  moderns^  and  left  their  own  productions  as  the  best  argu- 
ments for  the  clever  propaganda  of  Perrault. 

The  actual  story  of  the  Quarrel  still  has  its  human  interest. 
It  is  divided  into  two  epochs,  that  of  the  Boileau-Perrault  con- 
troversy (1687-1700),  and  that  in  which  Lamotte  maintains 
against  Madame  Dacier  the  small  worth  of  poetry  in  general 
and  of  Homer  in  particular  (1714-16).  The  former  epoch  is 
decidedly  the  more  important  and  alone  need  concern  us. 

The  first  resounding  note  was  struck,  about  1670,  by  Desmarets 
de  Saint-Sorlin,  in  his  defense  of  the  Christian  merveiUeux  in 
Saint-Sorlin  ^^^  ^P^'^-  Naturally,  as  poet  and  as  Christian,  he 
on  the  Epic  is  disposed,  to  quote  Brunetiere,  to  "mingle  his 
pleasures  and  beliefs,"  and  doubly  to  slur  the  ancients:  their 
mythology  on  the  one  hand,  and  their  literature  on  the  other, 
are  represented,  in  spite  of  Boileau,  as  inferior  to  the  modem 

'  These  words,  when  written  with  a  capital,  will  indicate  the  partisans  of  the 
ancients  and  moderns  respectively.  The  Ancients  included:  Boileau,  Racine,  La 
Fontaine,  the  learned  bishop  Huet,  La  Bruyfere,  Mteage,  Rapin  (the  model  for  the 
President  in  the  ParallUes)  —  and  Mme  Dacier.  More  cautious  and  moderate 
Ancients  were  F6nelon  and  Bouhours.  The  Modems  included:  Saint-Sorlin,  P. 
Perrault,  Ch.  Perrault,  Fontenelle,  Th.  Comeille,  Pradon,  Bussy-Rabutin  —  and 
Lamotte  and  the  Abb6  de  Pons.  Moderate  Modems  were  Segrais  and  Saint-Evre- 
mond,  "le  plus  olassique  des  modernes." 


THE  PERRAULT  BROTHERS        341 

possibilities.  Before  Chateaubriand,  Saint-Sorlin  pleads  for  the 
"  genius  of  Christianity  "  and  especially  for  the  religious  epic. 
He  views  poetry  as  consisting  in  the  truth  of  its  ideas  —  hence 
Christian  subjects  are  preferable  —  added  to  the  processes  of 
mere  mechanical  composition;  he  praises  the  moderns  indiscrim- 
inately, and  finally  he  appeals  to  Charles  Perrault  to  carry  on 
the  war. 

The  four  Perrault  brothers  demand  some  personal  attention. 
They  were  all  clever,  versatile,  advanced  and  rather  original. 
Claude,  the  doctor-architect,  who  erected  the  fagade 
Claude,  ^q  ^j^g  Louvre,  is  credited  by  Sainte-Beuve  with  a 

"  genius  for  comparative  anatomy  and  .  .  .  noble  artistic  concep- 
tions." But  he  was  satirized  by  Boileau  in  the  fourth  canto  of 
the  Art  poetique  and  was  later  stigmatized  as  a  "  very  great 
enemy  of  health  and  good  sense."  Pierre  Perrault  translated 
the  Secchia  rapita  of  Tassoni  (who  was  one  of  the  first  Italian 

.     Moderns),  attacked  Boileau  and  the  Ancients  in 
Pieire   and 
Charles  a  preface  thereto  (1678),  and  had  previously  been 

Perrault  convicted  of  ignorance  (in  re  Euripides)  by  Racine, 
in  the  smiling  and  stinging  preface  to  Iphigenie.  Charles,  the 
Baron  Haussmann  of  his  day,  was  in  general  control  of  the 
royal  architectural  projects.  He  is  better  known  to  fame  as  the 
popularizer  of  the  Mother  Goose  rimes  —  Contes  de  ma  mere 
I'oye  (1697) .  And  he  was  well  suited  by  his  restless  enterprising 
nature  to  stand  out  as  the  head  and  front  of  the  Quarrel.  He 
was  fertile,  ingenious,  forward-looking ;  he  respected  the  ancients 
little  and  knew  them  even  less;  but  he  could  argue  with  a  dan- 
gerous amiability  and,  as  regards  science  and  religion,  with 
a  sincere  faith.  As  a  self-taught  man  of  action,  he  had  a  wide 
if  superficial  curiosity,  considerable  energy  and  a  talent  for 
organization. 

He  began  hostilities,  on  January  27,  1687,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Academy  held  to  celebrate  the  convalescence  of  Louis  XIV. 
Perrault  read  aloud  his  poem  entitled  Le  Steele  de  Louis  le  Orand. 
This  poem  deftly  flatters  the  King,  his  "  century,"  and  certain 
Ch.  Perrault's  "^  ^*^  luminaries,  to  the  detriment  of  the  ancients. 
"Siecle."  These  are  men  like  ourselves,  the  author  declares, 
and  deserve  no  greater  reverence  — 

I  view  the  ancients  with  unbending  knee. 


342      QUARREL    OF   ANCIENTS    AND    MODERNS 

The  age  of  Louis  may  be  favorably  compared  with  the  age  of 
Augustus,  which  it  surpasses  in  scientific  knowledge  and  in  vari- 
ous inventions.  As  to  literature,  ancient  eloquence  may  yet 
be  equalled,  Aristotle  should  no  longer  dominate,  and  the  Iliad, 
tiresome  and  brutal  poem,  would  be  much  better  done  today. 
This  part  of  the  attack  disgusted  Huet,  who  was  wont  to  groan, 
"  Les  dieux  s'en  vont,"  and  it  particularly  offended  Boileau,  who, 
seated  by  the  learned  bishop,  could  scarcely  control  himself  and 
soon  left  the  seance,  declaring  that  such  a  reading  was  a  disgrace 
to  the  Academy. 

Perrault  gave  an  incomplete  and  biased  list  of  moderns, 
excluding  on  that  occasion  Boileau  and  Racine,  mentioning  Mal- 
j^  herbe,  Voiture,  Moliere,   on  a  par  with   a   dozen 

Argument  names  forgotten  today.  But  he  clearly  sets  forth 
two  main  ideas,  which  are  henceforth  part  of  the  world's  patri- 
mony. First,  there  is  a  stability  and  perpetuity  in  the  forces  of 
nature,  on  which  man  may  safely  build.  The  roses,  the  stars 
and  the  birds  are  as  fine  as  they  ever  were.  Therefore,  as  regards 
Nature, 

The  ceaseless  might  of  that  abiding  hand, 
Produces  Genius  for  each  age  and  land. 

The  companion  thought  is  that  with  this  support  in  nature  — 
and  with  the  further  support  of  a  great  king  —  the  materials  of 
knowledge  are  always  piling  up  and  are  now  honored  by 
"  many  inventions."  It  speaks  significantly  for  the  increasing 
attention  paid  to  science  that  Perrault  is  among  the  first  to 
particularize,  in  periphrastic  verse,  the  telescope,  the  microscope, 
and  the  study  of  physiology.  The  defect  of  his  reasoning,  and 
that  of  his  coterie,  is  that  he  considers  art  also  mainly  a  matter 
of  increasing  knowledge,  the  evolution  of  rules,  and  precepts. 
But  the  "  Ancients  "  themselves,  from  the  Italian  Renaissance 
through  Boileau,  had  done  much  to  encourage  that  attitude. 

Some  very  bad  verses  together  with  very  advanced  ideas  are 
contained  in  this  poem.  Racine  answered  it  by  a  bitter-sweet 
Counter-  compliment  which  sought  to  destroy  its  importance, 
attacks  La  Fontaine  wrote  a  temperate  Epistle  to  Huet,  in 

which  he  insists  upon  the  need  of  a  choice  among  moderns  as 
well  as  ancients,  and  stoutly  upholds  the  latter  as  the  only  safe 


FONTENELLE  343 

guides  for  worthy  imitation  and  lasting  excellence.  But  already 
La  Fontaine  hints  that  the  Modern  cause  is  the  more  popular. 
Boileau  launches  various  epigrams,  as  much  against  the  Academy 
as  against  Perrault.  To  think  that  this  disgraceful  thing  should 
occur  in  Paris  instead  of  among  the  Hurons  and  the  Topinam- 
boux! 

Supporters  now  rally  to  the  side  of  Perrault.  Chief  among 
these  is  the  earlier  Fontenelle,  the  wit  and  the  ladies'  man, 
FonteneUe's  ^^^^^  Digression  sur  les  anciens  et  les  modernes 
"Digrea-  (1688)  supplements  Perrault  in  several  directions. 
sion"  -poT  instance,   if  trees  formerly  grew  larger  than 

today,  then  Homer  and  others  cannot  be  equalled.  But  if  not, 
there  is  hope.  Our  fibers  and  vital  spirits  have  not  changed, 
and  the  laws  of  physics  protest  against  the  assertion  that  after 
producing  the  ancients.  Nature  broke  her  mould.  FonteneUe's 
interest  in  science  is  already  dawning.  He  continues  to  the 
effect  that  much  of  the  advantage  attributed  to  the  ancients 
hes  in  their  mere  priority;  to  which  it  might  be  answered  that 
several  of  the  arguments  of  the  Moderns  rest  on  their  mere 
posteriority.  Antiquity,  says  Fontenelle,  carried  eloquence  and 
poetry  to  a  "  point  of  perfection  "  (a  favorite  phrase  in  both 
camps),  because  the  slight  nxmiber  of  truths  demanded  by  these 
subjects  could  soon  be  amassed  and  the  necessary  vivacity  of 
imagination  needs  no  amassing.  But  the  sciences,  composed 
of  an  infinite  number  of  "  views,"  have  no  end,  and  the  latest 
scientists  are  always  the  best.  Fontenelle  also  perceives  that 
the  moderns  have  the  superiority  in  (Cartesian)  reasoning. 
Humanity  —  again  considered  as  one  man  —  had  its  unsur- 
passed youth  of  poetry  and  eloquence ;  it  has  now  its  virility  of 
science  and  reasoning;  but  it  will  have  no  decrepit  old  age;  it 
will  be  ever  capable  of  repeating  the  achievements  of  its  youth 
and  its  prime.  Fontenelle,  somewhat  inconsistently,  declares 
that  even  poetry  may  be  indefinitely  perfected.  Anticipating 
Lamotte  and  the  other  radicals,  FonteneUe's  appreciations  of 
poetry  as  a  sort  of  versified  gallantry  are  significant.  So  is  his 
gjg  development  of  Perrault's  suggestion  concerning  the 

Strength  and  perpetuity  of  natural  forces  and  his  emphasis  on  the 
Weakness  sciences.  But  he  does  not  thoroughly  distinguish 
these  from  the  arts,  ultimately  viewing  both  as  capable  of 


344      QUARREL    OF    ANCIENTS    AND    MODERNS 

accumulations.  He  thinks  the  ancients  should  be  surpassed  by 
virtue  of  the  great  modern  dramatists,  the  novel  and  the  im- 
proved technique  of  poetry.  He  concludes  that  "nothing  so 
hampers  the  progress  of  things,  nothing  so  limits  intelligence 
as  an  excessive  admiration  for  the  ancients." 

Fontenelle's  reception  into  the  Academy  (1691)  and  La  Bru- 
yere's  admission  (1693)  were  both  made  occasions  for  literary 
battles,  in  which  the  sturdy  moralist  tries  to  hold  the  traditional 
ground  against  the  dexterous  undermining  of  "  Cydias "  (see 
next  chapter). 

The  main  document  in  the  Quarrel  is  Perrault's  Paralleles 
des  anciens  et  des  modemes  (1688-97).  These  sprightly 
-fjjg  dialogues  —  they  are  appropriately  staged  at  Ver- 

"  Paralleles  "  sailles  —  present  a  Chevalier  and  an  Abbe  who  up- 
hold the  moderns  against  a  President,  to  whom  is  assigned  the 
bad  end  of  the  argument.  The  first  interlocutors  seem  in  the 
right  more  frequently  than  they  really  are,  because  the  President 
has  little  to  plead  save  respect  for  authority.  Perrault's  taste  and 
judgment  are  superficial,  with  little  appreciation  of  the  magnifi- 
cent or  the  delicate.  He  tries  to  make  a  universal  survey 
through  all  the  ages  and  arts,  but  practically  his  knowledge 
limits  him  to  modern  France.  His  arguments,  though  often 
tricky  and  partial,  are  varied  and  plausible,  and  they  proved 
effective  enough.  He  adopts  an  agreeable  degage  tone,  and  he 
allows  for  differences  of  opinion,  which  Boileau  does  not.  Among 
the  reasons  which  Perrault  advocates  for  the  superiority  of  the 
moderns  are:  the  fact  that  they  are  the  last-comers  and  can 
best  carry  forward  the  "  mind  of  the  race  " ;  an  improvement 
in  psychological  handling  —  of  love  affairs,  for  example  —  and 
in  the  method  of  reasoning;  the  perfecting  of  inventions,  es- 
pecially the  invention  of  printing;  the  fact  that  we  may  now 
get  all  the  meat  of  the  ancients  in  translation  (this  was  also 
Lamotte's  contention) ;  the  protection  of  the  King;  the  ad- 
vantages of  Christianity,  particularly  in  eloquence  and  epic. 
All  these  superiorities  are  applicable  as  much  to  the  arts  as  to 
the  sciences.  There  is  an  insistence  everywhere  on  a  measurable 
and  calculable  progress.  And  Perrault,  like  Fontenelle,  uses 
the  creative  productions  of  the  Ancients  to  vitiate  their  own 
cause ;  by  his  praise  he  forces  them  into  the  paradoxical  position 


THE  MODERN  CAUSE  345 

of  attacking  themselves  and  their  friends.  Much  of  this  brings 
to  mind  the  familiar  ajid  perennial  debate  between  humanists 
and  scientists,  in  the  matter  of  education.  Building  on  Descartes, 
Perrault,  in  fact,  attacks  pedantic  education,  under  which  head- 
ing he  would  include  — like  others  — a  good  deal  of  true  culture 
and  knowledge.  It  has  been  pointed  out  that  most  of  the 
Moderns  were  ignorant  alike  of  the  ancients  and  of  the  essential 
principles  of  poetry.  They  propose  translations  as  giving  the 
root  of  the  matter  and  they  have  little  art-sense;  they  confuse 
genius  with  the  mechanics  of  the  metier  and  they  do  not  savor 
the  historical  aroma  of  masterpieces;  they  reduce  art  to  the 
intelligible  element,  expressing  a  pure  Cartesian  reason,  em- 
bracing scientific  rather  than  sensible  symbols.  The  chief  con- 
tentions of  the  Moderns  are  thus  summed  up  by  M.  Gillot,  the 
latest  historian  of  the  Quarrel: 
Summaiy 

La  poesie  modeme  est  superieure  a  la  poesie  antique  parce 
qu'  inspiree  d'une  religion  plus  pure  et  plus  vraie.  Art  ou  poesie, 
les  productions  modernes  remportent  sur  les  modeles  antiques 
parce  que  plus  achevees  de  forme  et  plus  conformes  aux  exigences 
d'un  gout  delicat.  Science  ou  philosophie,  les  modernes  savent 
mieux  et  plus  que  les  anciens.  Arme  d'une  methode  nouvelle  et 
forme  par  la  discipline  cartesienne,  le  genie  modeme  laisse  bien 
loin  derriere  lui  la  science  rudimentaire  des  savants  anciens.  .  .  . 
Industrie  ou  arts  appliques,  U  n'est  aucune  des  inventions,  qui 
facilitent  et  embelUssent  la  vie,  dont  ne  se  soit  avise  un  siecle  de 
decouvertes  et  de  merveilles  ingenieuses. 

It  is  mainly  with  regard  to  the  supposed  advance  in  beauty 
and  taste  that  we  need  to  question  this  claim.  Perrault  him- 
self is  breaking  down  the  barriers  of  taste  in  his  lightness  of 
treatment,  in  his  constant  appeal  to  the  standpoint  of  society 
women  and  the  world;  he  is  willing  to  do  without  imaginative 
style  and  metre,  the  specific  marks  of  poetry;  he  has  a  poor 
sense  of  beauty,  which  he  considers  a  very  mobile  and  fashion- 
able thing,  since  all  that  concerns  style,  proportion,  elegance, 
is  relative;  he  insists  on  the  perpetual  relativity  of  taste,  whose 

„       ,,,        boundaries  he  widens  by  cross-references  to  archi- 

Perraiilt  8  . 

Doctrine  of    tecture,  statuary  and  pamtmg.     Nor  does  he  stop 

Taste  there.    He  is  constantly  dealing  with  and  drawing 

analogies  from  natural  history,  medicine,  music  and  the  Indus- 


346      QUARREL    OF    ANCIENTS    AND    MODERNS 

trial  arts.  Small  wonder,  then,  that  with  these  fresh  interests, 
aided  by  the  social  revolt  against  the  severe  regime  of  the 
Ancients,  Perrault's  novelty  and  urbanity  won  the  day. 

For  his  cause  triimiphed,  as  a  matter  of  general  opinion  and 
results.    Neither  the  surly  indirect  retorts  of  Boileau  and  his 

Reflexions  sur  Longin,  nor  his  intelligent  concessions 
Results  jjj  ^j^g  Lettre  a  M.  Perrault,  after  Arnauld  had 

patched  up  a  reconciliation  between  the  leaders,  could  gainsay  or 
withstand  the  strength  of  the  current.  The  wise  and  judicial 
compromises  of  Fenelon  and  of  Saint-Evremond  were  alike  un- 
availing. Emancipation  was  in  the  air,  the  respect  for  authority 
was  seriously  shaken,  and  the  Quarrel  spread  with  reverberations 
to  England  and  other  Northern  shores.  In  France,  the  force  of 
the  Renaissance  was  spent.  The  neo-classicism  of  the  following 
century,  reacting  and  striving  to  return  to  Boileau  and  a  modi- 
fied ancestor-worship,  proved  only  that  the  real  power  of  the 
modern  world  lay  in  developing  those  relations  and  widening 
those  spheres  of  knowledge  which  Perrault  and  Fontenelle  had 
first  indicated.  Classicism,  poetry  and  taste  deteriorated  as 
science,  philosophy  and  the  industrial  arts  advanced. 

In  fact,  two  main  tendencies  may  be  seen  as  helping  to  dif- 
ferentiate the  thought  and  literature  of  the  eighteenth  century 

from  those  of  the  seventeenth:  the  tendency  toward 
ea  vity  relativity  and  the  tendency  toward  expansionism. 
Relativity,  or  Relativism,  may  be  defined  as  a  philosophic  atti- 
tude which  views  creeds  and  standards  as  not  absolutely  true 
but  as  dependent  on  certain  conditions  of  time  and  place.  For 
instance,  the  nineteenth  century  has  made  a  great  deal  of  his- 
torical relativity  in  matters  of  climate  and  race,  political  insti- 
tutions and  religious  truth.  But  the  way  had  already  been 
pointed  out  by  Bayle  and  Voltaire,  by  Montesquieu  and  Diderot. 
The  modern  mind  —  beginning  in  the  eighteenth  century  —  is 
then  relative  in  that  it  is  frequently  skeptical  concerning  abso- 
lutes and  also  in  that  (see  Perrault  above)  it  seeks  to  relate  or 
associate  the  various  fields  of  knowledge  and  art. 
Likewise  the  modern  mind,  beginning  with  the  eighteenth 
a^g  century,  seems  more  expansive  as  regards  literary 
Expansionism  forms;  it  has  enlarged  their  number  and  broken  down 
the  barriers  between  them ;  it  has  made  more  and  more  domains 


ITS  IMPORTANCE  347 

of  knowledge  susceptible  of  literary  treatment.  So  the  term 
Expansionism  may  be  used  to  indicate  the  inclusion  in  literary 
history  of  subjects  hitherto  considered  outside  of  that  field. 
For  instance,  Fontenelle  brings  popular  astronomy  into  litera- 
ture and  Montesquieu  adds  the  study  of  laws.  In  each  case 
it  is  the  excellence  of  the  treatment  that  admits  and  promotes  the 
new  subject;  and  there  are,  as  we  shall  see,  many  such  cases 
in  the  eighteenth  century. 

Now  French  Classicism,  dealing  more  with  permanent  and 
universal  human  values,  had  striven  everywhere  after  unity  and 
yg  concentration.    Largely  owing  to  the  influence  of 

Classicism  the  ancients.  Expansionism  is  much  limited  in  the 
Classic  production  viewed  as  a  whole.  With  the  addition  of 
certain  polemical  and  moralistic  writings,  the  genres  are  much 
the  same  in  the  age  of  Boileau  as  in  the  age  of  Horace.  In  fact, 
to  adopt  De  Quincey's  distinction,  the  seventeenth  century 
represents  the  more  imaginative  literature  of  power,  while  the 
eighteenth  puts  the  emphasis  on  the  literature  of  knowledge  and 
lets  down  the  bars  to  admit  its  many  varieties.  The  former 
concentrates,  as  already  said,  on  art  and  the  inner  nature  of 
man;  the  latter  stresses  society  and  science,  which  ever  "  grows 
from  more  to  more." 

The  wide  divergence  between  Classical  and  modern  aims  is 
still  more  conspicuous  on  philosophic  grounds.  The  attitude  of 
the  seventeenth  century  towards  its  Absolutes,  the  great  tradi- 
tional beliefs  in  king,  church  and  literary  law  may  be  summed 
up  in  the  phrase,  "  une  loi,  un  roi,  une  foi  "  (See  Pt.  II,  Bk.  IV) . 
Belief  in  this  triad  is  orthodox  and  almost  universal.  The  dog- 
matism of  Boileau  was  thus  paralleled  by  the  dogmatism  of 
Bossuet  and  by  the  despotism  of  Louis  XIV.  In  every  field  the 
absolute  was  supreme  and  there  was  allowed  little  discussion  of 
fundamentals.  "  Les  grands  sujets  sont  defendus,"  complained 
La  Bruyere  in  1688,  and  it  is  from  La  Bruyere  that  issue  the 
first  mutterings  of  social  revolt  (see  next  chapter). 

The  significance  of  the  Quarrel  is  that  it  helped  make  way 
for  the  new  forces.  The  literary  skepticism  of  the  Moderns 
Significance  of  ^^b^^^^^s  ^^^  conception  of  possible  progress,  or  evo- 
the  Quarrel  lution,  which  in  one  form  or  another  has  dominated 
thought  ever  since.    And  the  idea  of  progress  may  itself  contain 


348      QUARREL    OF    ANCIENTS    AND    MODERNS 

the  corollaries  of  a  skeptical  relativity  —  hence  tolerance  —  a 
thickening  solidarity  of  knowledge,  a  growing  expansionism,  a 
tendency  to  welcome  new  notions,  new  forms,  new  relations. 
Progressivism  thus  amplified  is  a  characteristic  mark  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  to  which  the  nineteenth  is  so  much  indebted. 
Modern  thought  dates  from  the  twilight  of  Louis  XIV  (see 
p.  274),  and  it  starts  invading  literature  with  Perrault's  revolt 
against  the  ancients.  The  Quarrel  then  is  extremely  important 
on  both  philosophic  and  literary  grounds. 


CHAPTER  II 

WRITERS    OF    THE    TRANSITION: 
LA   BRUYERE,    SAINT-SIMON,    FENELON 

Politically,  the  most  conservative  of  these  three  men  is  Saint- 
Simon,  but  the  most  Classical  in  taste  is  La  Bruyere  (1645-1696) . 
Coming  at  the  end  of  the  great  century,  recognizing 
a  ruyere  ^j^^^^  ^j^^  ^^^  ^^^  reached  its  "point  of  perfection," 
this  writer  rounds  off  the  Classical  doctrine  and  completes  the 
courtly  pictiure.  Clinging  to  the  past,  he  disliked  the  present 
and  distrusted  the  future. 

Little  is  known  of  Jean  de  la  Bruyere's  life,  until,  in  his  fortieth 
year,  he  entered  the  household  of  the  great  Conde,  to  publish, 
shortly  afterwards,  his  one  masterpiece  —  Les 
Caracteres  (1688).  These  are  the  two  main  events 
in  an  existence  which  remains  for  the  most  part  silent  and  mys- 
terious. Without  knowing  why,  we  know  only  that  he  had 
accepted  various  offices  merely  to  give  them  up,  that  he  lived 
unmarried,  in  an  obscure  tutorial  position.  The  most  plausible 
explanation  seems  to  be  that  La  Bruyere  was  emphatically  the 
man  of  one  book,  which  became  his  fixed  idea.  To  serve  Les 
Caracteres,  he  renounced  a  good  deal  of  living,  while  subordinat- 
ing himself  to  the  study  of  society. 

His  later  years  were  packed  with  enough  events  and  publicity 
to  atone  for  his  early  obscurity.    There  were  many  outbreaks 
of  feeling  and  opinion  in  connection  with  the  thinly  disguised 
portraits  in  Les  Caracteres  and  with  the  consequent  rejection  of 
La  Bruyere  by  the  Academy.    He  was  finally  elected  (1693)  in 
the  face  of  stormy  opposition,  and  his  uncompromising  discours 
on  that  occasion  was  a  notable  expression  of  dogged  independence. 
That  is  the  chief  mark  of  his  character  throughout.    Independ- 
ence and  originality  are  the  qualities  that  he  constantly  recom- 
mends and  practices  in  his  writings,  and  it  must  have 
*'       been  a  bitter  pill  for  him  to  subdue  his  individuality 
in  the  service  of  the  grandees.    The  results  are  visible  in  a  some- 

349 


350  WRITERS    OF    THE    TRANSITION 

what  soured  disposition.  La  Bruyere,  like  Boileau,  is  a  crusty 
bourgeois  bachelor,  sardonic  and  downright.  He  was  also  sensi- 
tive and  not  at  ease  in  company;  he  preferred  quiet,  a  few  good 
friends  and  a  library.  Withdrawing  into  himself,  he  devoted  his 
studious  leisure,  as  a  contemporary  put  it,  to  the  task  of  "  dis- 
tilling "  his  immortal  book. 

The  author's  material  is  indicated  by  the  subtitle;  les  McBurs 
de  ce  siecle.'^  His  declared  intention  is  psychological,  general- 
izing, instructive.  He  portrays  society's  divisions 
The  Book  ^^^  occupations,  of  which  his  chapter-headings  give 
a  fairly  complete  survey.  As  regards  composition,  the  volume 
was  first  issued  as  a  collection  of  "  remarks  ";  it  presents  in  fact 
a  series  of  observations,  covering  a  number  of  years  and  sug- 
gesting an  expanded  and  polished  diary.  Neither  chapters  nor 
portraits  are  composed  all  of  one  piece;  we  have  rather  a  mosaic 
of  maxims,  a  gallery  of  paintings.  This  comparative  freedom  of 
composition  adds  to  the  effect  of  naturalness  and  life. 

In  another  direction  of  form,  the  author  shows  the  most  con- 
stant care.    Style  was  his  main  delight  and  preoccupation.  Here 
he  is  really  a  creative  artist.    His  diction  is  pictur- 

^  ^  esque  and  incisive.    He  has  his  own  strong  phrasings 

and  metaphors,  his  "  mots  aventuriers,"  as  he  termed  them,  to- 
gether with  a  considerable  play  of  fancy.  All  this  tends  towards 
a  vividness  of  expression,  conspicuous  in  his  portraits.  His 
sentences  are  often  long  and  analytical,  his  figiires  realistic  and 
precise,  but  he  remains  Classical  in  his  addiction  to  epigram 
and  balance.  On  the  whole  it  is  an  elaborate  chiselled  style, 
hard  and  bold  rather  than  smooth  or  flowing.  A  lapidary  is  at 
work,  an  assorter  and  refiner,  whose  main  desire  is  to  be  distinct 
and  individual. 

The  chief  literary  types  used  are  maxims  and  portraits, 
which  correspond,  it  has  been  well  said,  like  text  and  illustra- 
Maxims  and  ^ons.  The  maxims  suggest  at  once  La  Rochefou- 
PoTtraits  cauld  and  Pascal,  though  they  lack  the  concise  per- 
fection of  these  masters.  They  are  more  freely  expressed  and 
more  like  Montaigne  in  style,  in  the  personal  truth,  and  in  the 
view  of  human  mobility.  Many  fine  and  subtle  thoughts  are  given 

>  His  model  was  the  Greek  work  of  Theophrastus,  also  called  Characters,  which 
Iia  Bruy^  himself  translated. 


LA    BRUYERE  361 

adequate  wording,  but  the  great  achievement  of  La  Bruyere  is 
rather  in  the  portrait.  To  this  genre  he  gives  final  consummate 
form.  He  gives  it  indeed  many  forms,  since  all  varieties  of 
portraits  are  to  be  found:  moral  or  psychological,  physical,  full- 
length,  sketches,  pendants,  pastels.  The  characters  may  bear 
predeux  or  ancient  names,  but  their  physiognomies  are  living 
and  moving  likenesses,  usually  drawn  from  celebrities  of  the 
time.  Thus  Cydias,  the  wit,  represents  Fontenelle;  Emile,  the 
great  general,  is  Conde  or  Turenne;  Roscius  is  Baron,  the 
comedian;  Menalque  amusingly  depicts  a  certain  absent-minded 
Comte  de  Brancas.  Other  striking  portraits  are  those  of  Arrias, 
the  conceited  dogmatist;  Emire,  the  heartless  woman;  Giton  and 
Phedon,  respectively  the  rich  and  the  poor  man.  The  effect  of 
vividness  is  attained  not  only  through  the  lively  style,  but  also 
through  the  use  of  physical  and  characteristic  details.  The 
author  poses  his  subject  in  many  ways,  walks  all  around  him,  ! 
exhausts  him,  and  will  not  leave  the  main  trait  of  the  victim 
alone;  he  twists  and  wrings  it  to  the  last  drop;  or,  sometimes,  ' 
there  is  a  dramatic  reservation  of  the  real  point  imtil  the  very  , 
close.  In  certain  directions  La  Bruyere  appears  as  fuller  and 
more  subtle  than  Moliere,  but  he  is  less  universal;  his  portraits, 
for  all  their  variety,  bear  more  the  mark  of  his  own  age. 

His  thought  is  Classical  and  conservative,  in  that  he  insists 

on  the  old  qualities  of  reason  and  truth,  measvire  and  sobriety. 

He  holds  by  the  rules  and  stands  firmly  on  the  side 

*^  of  the  Ancients  in  the  Quarrel.     As  regards  the 

monarchy.  La  Bruyere  praises  Louis  for  his  real  qualities  —  the 
rest  are  "  forbidden  subjects."  But  he  slips  in  theories  concern- 
ing an  ideal  government  that  makes  for  the  happiness  of  the 
people.  In  religion,  he  favors  the  extinction  of  heresy ;  the  idea 
of  tolerance  has  scarcely  reached  the  Parisians.  He  has  no 
doubts  concerning  dogma  and  is  pronounced  in  his  condemnation 
and  ridicule  of  freethinkers. 

Yet  throughout  the  work,  one  is  conscious,  as  La  Bruyere  him- 
self was  conscious,  that  he  comes  during  the  twilight  of  the  Clas- 
Spcial  ^ical  gods.    A  certain  weariness  in  their  support,  a 

Criticism  feeling  of  surfeit  and  decadence,  is  noticeable.  That 
critical  spirit  which  he  would  not  direct  against  the  major  powers, 
he  turns  against  the  lesser  orders.  There  are  savage  cuts  at  nearly 


352  WRITERS    OF    THE    TRANSITION 

every  kind  of  wealth  and  aristocracy.  The  fortune-hunters,  the 
nouveaux  riches,  the  farmers-general,  patrons,  misers  and 
gamblers,  are  all  cursed  with  the  money  taint.  Especially  does 
La  Bruyere  excoriate  the  court.  It  is  ruled  by  self-interest,  it 
displays  only  vanity  and  waste,  it  leads  only  to  unhappiness. 
Some  of  the  best  portraits,  of  great  satiric  strength,  are  those 
depicting  the  courtiers.  The  grandees  themselves  find  little  favor 
in  La  Bruyere's  eyes.  They  have  left  their  opportunities  to  do 
good  unimproved.  They  are  ignorant  and  neglectful  and  are 
already  being  ousted  from  government  by  the  rise  of  more  intelli- 
gent classes.  We  do  not  need  to  wait  for  the  eighteenth  century 
to  find  out  what  was  the  matter  with  the  seventeenth,  and  there 
is  no  heavier  indictment  of  the  age  of  Louis  XIV  than  this  pre- 
pared by  his  humble  servant. 

With  the  people  La  Bruylre  is  more  preoccupied  than  any 
other  writer  of  his  time.  There  is  a  famous  and  dreadful  passage 
in  which  he  describes  the  peasants,  those  "  beasts 
A  Pessimist  i^q^jj^j  ^q  ^jjg  ground,"  who  are  yet  articulate  and 
human  and  who  deserve  a  share  in  the  bread  they  have  so  mourn- 
fully sown.  La  Bruyere,  hating  the  aristocrats,  declares,  "je 
veux  etre  peuple."  But  he  has  no  conviction  of  a  new  order  and 
little  sense  of  progress.  He  enforces  neither  the  rights  of  man 
nor  the  wrongs  of  woman  —  whom  he  considers  a  poor  creature. 
The  fact  is  that  La  Bruyere,  like  La  Rochefoucauld,  is  mainly 
pessimistic  and  destructive  in  spirit.  All  his  wit  and  art  cannot 
disguise  his  misanthropy.  He  is  not  a  cynic,  for  he  has  stand- 
ards. He  is  a  sensitive  critic,  disappointed  of  perfection,  an 
idealist  gone  morose.  He  shows  a  touch  of  heart  in  several 
passages,  but  almost  no  gaiety  nor  cheer. 

Thus  he  lacks  the  broadness  of  the  profounder  moralists,  whose 
level  he  also  misses  by  having  no  deep  and  original  system. 
Comparative  -^^  rarely  penetrates  to  the  obscure  reason  which  is 
Position  at  the  core  of  human  sentiments,  as  La  Roche- 
foucauld, rightly  or  wrongly,  seeks  to  penetrate.  La  Bruyere  is 
more  occupied  with  modes  of  thought  and  passion;  he  is  not 
universal  nor  philosophic.  Yet  in  his  thorough  description  of  his 
own  day  and  time,  he  is  without  a  peer  and  shows  a  relative  pro- 
fundity. He  is  not  greatly  constructive;  but  he  follows  faith- 
fully the  receding  tide  of  a  remarkable  era. 


SAINT-SIMON  353 

The  French  have  long  been  unequalled  in  the  writing  of 
Memoirs,  and  those  of  Saint-Simon  are  the  greatest  in  the  lan- 
guage. What  the  Cardinal  de  Retz  did  for  Louis 
Saint-Simon  xin,  Saint-Sunon  accomplished  for  the  age  of  Louis 
XIV  and  the  Regency,  with  still  more  remarkable  merits  of 
extent,  interest  and  literary  power.  He  gives  full  accounts  of 
the  inner  workings  of  the  most  brilliant  period  in  French  history. 
He  makes  the  picture  galleries  of  Versailles  and  the  Louvre  step 
down  from  their  frames  and  live  and  move  before  our  eyes. 

Louis  de  Saint-Simon  (1675-1755)  was  bom  of  a  noble  house. 
He  was  a  "  duke  and  peer  "  like  his  father.  Both  men  believed 
in  the  divine  right  of  nobles  as  well  as  in  their  responsibilities 
{noblesse  oblige),  and  both  showed  a  conservative  tendency  to 
prefer  the  "  good  old  days."  With  these  feudal  ideas  and  with 
a  fondness  for  reading  history,  Saint-Simon  left  home  a  rebel 
against  the  actual  order.  In  person  he  was  rather  small  and 
ill-made,  but  he  had  much  vital  force.  He  married  a  worthy 
lady  for  whom  he  had  due  affection  and  respect.  Entering  the 
army,  he  went  through  a  campaign  or  two  without  distinction, 
and  displeased  Louis  XIV  by  resigning  his  commission. 

The  greater  part  of  Saint-Simon's  active  life  was  passed  at 
Versailles,  where  he  was  an  assiduous  observer  and  critic.  He 
Court  Life  ^^^  ^'^  punctilious  about  small  matters,  too  little  of 
1702-1724  a  courtier  and  statesman  to  please  the  powers;  and 
the  Great  Monarch  once  told  the  free-spoken  nobleman  that 
he  must  learn  to  "  hold  his  tongue."  Twice  he  approached  a 
position  of  influence,  with  the  Dauphin  and  under  the  regency  of 
the  Due  d'Orleans,  of  whom  Saint-Simon  was  a  staimch  friend. 
But  though  instrumental  in  forming  the  Regent's  "  councils  "  (see 
next  chapter)  and  in  forcing  the  degradation  of  the  illegitimate 
sons  of  Louis  XIV,  he  avoided  positions  of  trust  and  wavered 
in  large  matters.  He  withdrew  to  his  estates  on  the  death  of 
the  Regent. 

His  role  at  court  was  in  accordance  with  his  character,  which 

was  that  of  a  very  fussy  person.    He  was  always  occupied  with 

questions  of  etiquette,  precedence  and  trappings; 

when  the  Great  Monarch  died,  Saint-Simon  was 

above  all  concerned  about  what  sort  of  a  "  bonnet "  a  certain 

President  should  wear.    He  considered  these  things  as  symbols 


364  WRITERS    OF    THE    TRANSITION 

of  the  waning  aristocratic  power  which  it  was  his  chief  desire 
to  restore.  He  had  a  fiery  disposition,  with  much  capacity  both 
for  hating  and  loving  —  their  "  nerve  and  principle  is  the  same," 
he  significantly  says.  His  friends  were  few  but  well  chosen,  and 
his  abundant  curiosity  kept  him  many  chaimels  of  information 
among  high  and  low.  Ministers,  valets  and  women  of  the  court 
unconsciously  supplied  the  materials  for  his  Memoirs. 

These  were  written  during  his  retirement,  a  period  of  thirty 
years  which  he  spent  partly  on  his  country  estate,  partly  in  his 
jjjg  Paris  library.    Without  occupation,  disheartened  by 

"  Memoires  "  family  afflictions,  Saint-Simon  once  chanced  to  read 
Dangeau's  Journal  de  la  Regence.  The  old  courtier  amused 
himself  by  jotting  down  "  additions  "  which  vivified  Dangeau's 
facts  and  personages.  Gradually  he  was  possessed  with  the  idea 
of  completing  his  own  Memoirs,  which  he  had  started  as  a  youth. 
From  this  beginning  and  from  a  mass  of  notes  accimaulated  dur- 
ing his  court  life,  the  actual  Memoires  had  their  birth.  For 
fifteen  years  Saint-Simon  spent  many  feverish  midnights  remem- 
bering and  recording  the  great  days  which  he  knew  so  well.  He 
had  time  to  recopy  the  whole  text  before  his  death  (1755),  and 
for  two  generations  the  dangerous  manuscript  lay  in  the  Foreign 
Ofiice.  A  fairly  complete  edition  was  published  only  in  the  days 
of  Romanticism. 

As  a  writer  of  history  proper,  of  which  he  had  rather  a  personal 
and  imaginative  conception,  Saint-Simon  is  far  from  perfect.  He 
ffjjg  makes  numerous  errors  of  date,  of  fact  and  of  judg- 

Historian  ment.  Furthermore,  his  prejudices  stood  tremend- 
ously in  the  way.  He  could  see  no  good  in  any  class  but  the 
hereditary  nobility,  and  he  particularly  disdained  the  crowd  of 
court  "  lackeys,"  i.  e.  the  parasites,  as  well  as  the  royal  favorites 
and  ministers.  This  makes  him  unjust  to  the  Cardinal  Dubois 
and  to  Mme  de  Maintenon.  Differing  from  Montesquieu,  he 
had  no  esteem  for  the  noblesse  de  robe  or  the  parliamentary  and 
judicial  families.  He  was  impatient  if  not  ignorant  of  financial 
matters,  as  appears  in  his  accounts  of  the  famous  banking  system 
introduced  by  John  Law.  He  was  no  soldier  and  so  he  cannot 
understand  the  professional  merits  of  such  marshals  as  Villeroy 
and  Villars,  whom  he  condemns  simply  as  courtiers  and  indi- 
viduals.   Even  the  higher  ranges  of  diplomacy  and  international 


SAINT-SIMON  35S 

politics  are  seen  mainly  from  the  angle  of  precedence  and 
ceremony.  Finally,  his  frank  opinion  of  Louis  XIV,  though 
well  warranted  in  some  respects,  is  unjust  as  a  whole  and 
diminishes  too  greatly  that  princely  figure.  Saint-Simon 
admits  that  he  is  "  lacking  in  charity."  Another  disappointed 
courtier,  like  La  Rochefoucaxild,  he  finds  fault  with  the  life 
which  found  no  great  place  for  him.  His  pessunistic  picture 
is  thus  the  reverse  and  the  complement  of  Voltaire's  Siecle 
de  Louis  XIV. 

On  that  very  account  the  Memoirs  have  their  historical  value. 

They  are  thoroughly  sincere.    Despite  some  errors  of  fact,  they 

are  crammed  with  a  wide  general  knowledge  and 

*  ^^^  with  keen  observation.  They  are  realistic  and 
personal  above  all.  They  excel  in  two  things:  in  vivid  portraiture 
and  in  striking  accounts  of  impressive  scenes.  Saint-Simon  is  a 
psychological  and  picturesque  historian,  and  the  Memoirs  are 
greater  than  many  histories  because  they  are  closer  both  to  life 
and  to  literature. 

Unlike  La  Bruyere,  he  rarely  deals  with  abstract  types.  He 
depicts  an  actual  pageant  crowded  with  innmnerable  distinct 
figures.  These  are  often  characterized  in  powerful 
and  disdainful  language.  "  Monseigneur,"  the  son 
of  the  king,  is  "  sunk  in  fat  and  apathy,"  the  Due  de  Maine  is 
"like  a  demon  in  malignity  and  perversity  of  soul,"  another 
man  is  called  a  "  court  rat,"  and  Voltaire  is  haughtily  dismissed 
as  a  scalawag  son  of  a  notary,  influential  "  in  a  certain  set." 
For  the  ladies,  Saint-Simon  wields  a  more  graceful  brush  and 
gives  usually  a  living  physical  portrait.  So  the  Duchess  of  Bur- 
gundy is  described  in  her  habitual  gestures  and  manners.  For 
her  and  for  her  husband,  the  lamented  Dauphin,  the  writer  shows 
much  admiration  and  tenderness.  But  toward  his  enemies  he  is 
implacable  and  excessive.  The  Due  de  Noailles,  who  had  shown 
himself  a  perfidious  friend,  is  the  "  serpent  who  tempted  Eve  and 
ruined  the  human  race."  Apparently  Saint-Simon  could  shrivel 
the  Duke  with  a  glance,  and  his  whole  account  of  their  relation- 
ship gives  a  deep  impression  of  thoroughly  savored  vengeance. 
In  all  these  portraits  the  effect  is  gained  by  accimiulation  of 
details,  by  vivid  depiction  and  a  biting  force  of  language. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  famous  scenes,  in  which  the  narrator 


356  WRITERS    OF    THE    TRANSITION 

shows  also  his  dramatic  ability.  Of  these,  the  most  celebrated 
is  the  long  description,  from  council-chamber  to  Bed 
"  Tableaux  "  ^^  justice,  of  how  the  Duke  of  Maine  and  the  Count 
of  Toulouse  were  degraded  from  their  ranks.  This  was  the  chief 
event  of  Saint-Simon's  life,  for  he  was  the  senior  among  the  peers 
from  whose  number  the  King's  natural  sons  were  expelled.  The 
historian  frankly  makes  himself  the  center  of  all  eyes,  depicts 
his  exuberant  physical  joy,  and  carefully  notes  the  successive 
steps  in  the  proceedings.  As  the  "  spy  of  his  century,"  he  made 
it  a  point  to  be  present  on  all  memorable  occasions ;  he  is  supreme 
in  reporting  them  and  in  reading  the  faces  of  the  participants. 
Death-beds,  royal  levees,  hunting  and  gaming,  fetes  and  meetings 
of  the  councils,  are  described  over  and  over  again,  with  an  effect 
of  absorbing  interest.  Throughout,  people  conduct  themselves 
most  naturally.  Doors  open  and  shu^B,  real  faces  flash  forth, 
grandees  blow  noses  and  box  ears,  there  is  much  particularity 
about  all  doings,  great  and  small,  anecdotes  and  incidents, 
ceremonies  and  usages,  —  a  sort  of  court  gazette  palpitating  with 
life,  and  displaying  the  imposing  figure  of  the  monarch  behind  all. 
Saint-Simon's  language  is  very  individual.  Incoherent  in 
syntax,  sometimes  obscure  and  faulty,  it  rises  in  high  moments 
to  a  torrent  of  vehement  eloquence.  Lacking  Clas- 
^®  sical  measure  and  repose,  it  is  a  style  peculiarly 

adapted  to  his  "  tableaux  vivants  "  and  to  passionate  invective. 
It  is  the  natural  reflection  of  the  man  himself,  careless  of  aca- 
demic perfection,  hurried,  lordly,  involved.  Saint-Simon  uses 
the  strongest  adjectives,  vivid  figures  and  expressions;  his  diction 
is  chosen  with  startling  accuracy  or  imaginative  appeal  and  he 
reproduces  dialogue  to  the  life.  His  violent  sensibility,  says 
Taine,  was  too  acute  for  sober  action,  but  constituted  the  very 
marrow  of  an  ardent  and  eager  literary  genius. 

In  his  thought  and  position,  Saint-Simon  was  a  lonely  Moses 
without  a  Promised  Land.  He  faces  backwards,  not  forwards. 
Both  his  high-seriousness  and  his  conservatism  are 
of  the  seventeenth  century ;  he  was  scarcely  aware  of 
the  eighteenth.  Though  he  discerned  many  of  the  faults  in 
Louis  XIV  and  his  age,  Saint-Simon  clings  to  the  royal  and 
aristocratic  prerogatives,  disdaining  the  philosophes,  a  devout 
churchman,  little  concerned  with  the  people.    And  bis  indi- 


FENELON  357 

vidualism  repelled  his  own  order,  which  he  served  better  in 
literature  than  in  politics.  He  holds  his  unique  place  through 
the  majestic  sweep  and  the  finished  detail  of  his  great  historical 
frescoes. 

"  Une  magnifique  creature  et  infiniment  seduisante  "  —  this  is 
Saint-Simon's  tribute  to  Francois  de  Salignac   de  la  Mothe- 
Fenelon    (1651-1715),  archbishop  of  Cambrai  and 
™®'"'  author  of  TeHmaque.    A  writer  distinctly  of  the 

second  order,  Fenelon  lives  chiefly  through  the  charm  of  his  per- 
sonality and  the  weight  of  his  influence.  The  whole  purpose  of 
his  life  and  work  was  to  give  sound  moral  instruction:  this  is  seen 
in  his  tutoring  of  the  Dauphin,  in  the  tone  and  content  of  his 
various  M'ritings,  and  in  his  power  as  spiritual  "  director  "  of 
many  congregations  and  people.  As  a  studious  and  well-nur- 
tured youth,  he  was  early  marked  for  the  church,  sent  through 
Saint-Sulpioe,  and  designated,  in  two  communities,  to  lead  Prot- 
estants back  to  the  fold;  a  delicate  task,  in  which  he  showed 
both  tolerance  and  tact.  His  complex  nature  was  able  to  combine 
worldly  knowledge  and  ambition  with  a  sincere  piety,  tending 
towards  mysticism.  Appointed  preceptor  to  the  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy, favored  by  Mme  de  Maintenon  and  a  choice  circle  at 
court,  he  was  at  the  height  of  his  career  when  made  archbishop 
in  1695.  But  already  certain  clouds  were  forming;  Fenelon 
had  become  the  friend  of  Mme  Guyon,  a  semi-hysterical  mystic ; 
according  to  Saint-Simon,  "  leur  sublime  s'amalgama."  The 
two  friends  were  partial  to  the  doctrine  called  Quietism, 
which  included  absorption  in  the  divine  spirit  through  prayer 
and  the  "  pure  love  "  of  God,  independently  of  future  reward. 
This  doctrine  was  condemned  as  unorthodox  and  a  long  con- 
troversy raged  between  Fenelon  and  Bossuet.  The  former  was 
finally  disapproved  by  the  Pope,  exiled  from  court  and  re- 
stricted for  the  rest  of  his  life  to  his  diocese  of  Cambrai,  which 
he  administered  admirably. 

Fenelon's  best  writings  are  associated  with  his  brief  court 
career  or  with  the  controversy  about  Quietism.  As  for  the 
Miscellaneous  IS'tter  we  need  notice  only  the  plaintive  and  seduc- 
Writings  tive  eloquence  which  Fenelon  opposes  to  Bossuet's 
dogmatism.  A  similar  winning  tone  characterizes  the  Lettres 
spirituelles,  containing  a  liberal  and  persuasive  theology.    For 


358  WRITERS    OF    THE    TRANSITION 

the  young  prince  Fenelon  wrote  some  Fables,  the  Dialogues  des 
jlf oris  —  anticipating  Fontenelle,  though  not  so  good  —  and 
particularly  the  Telemaque.  This  and  two  other  important 
works  may  be  considered  more  at  length. 

At  first  reading,  the  famous  Telemaque   (1699)   is  likely  to 
prove  a  disappointment.    It  seems  too  juvenile  and  shows  too 
/pjjg         plainly  its  purpose  of  moral  and  Christian  instruc- 
"  Telemaque  "  tion,  insinuated  through  antique  disguises.    But  as 
in  other  works  of  this  period,  the  Classicism  of  Telemaque  needs 
to  be  pondered  and  assimilated.    It  is  throughout  an  imitation, 
mainly  of  the  Odyssey,  partly  of  the  Aeneid  and  other  ancient 
masterpieces.    The  adventures  of  Telemachus  are  like  those  of 
Ulysses,  the  nymph  Calypso  corresponds  to  Circe,  there  are 
many  voyages,  even  to  the  lower  regions,  and  the  style,  in  de- 
scriptions, episodes  and  long  Homeric  similes,  is  a  medley  of 
classical  phrases  and  allusions.    To  one  nourished  on  antiquity, 
as  Fenelon  himself  was  nourished,  the  book  should  have  an 
agreeable  reminiscential  flavor.    Written  with  much  charm  and 
grace,  it  is  now  a  standard  volume  for  youth  and  for  foreigners 
learning  French;  but  its  initial  success  was  due  to  its  political 
criticism.    Everybody    saw    that   Louis    XIV    was    indirectly 
reprimanded,  and  Fenelon's  central  thought  was  to  form  the 
Dauphin  on  a  very  different  model.    He  was  taught  the  dangers 
of  "  les  conquetes,  le  faste  et  le  luxe  .  .  .  et  le  pouvoir  absolu," 
and  he  was  warned  against  flattering  ministers   and  women. 
Fenelon  preaches  gospel  morality  as  opposed  to  the  politics  then 
current.    He  is  capable  of  fine  psychological  portrayal   and, 
with  all  his  clericalism,  he  depicts  love  as  one  who  knows.    His 
imagination   is   not   grandiose,   but   lively   and    colorful.    His 
simplified  style  is  harmonious  and  flowing.    At  his  best,  he  has 
a  rapid  narrative  gift,  and  his  dialogue  is  superior  to  his  rather 
conventional  descriptions.    Of  its  kind,  as  a  neo-classical  imi- 
tative work,  Telemaque  contains  a  good  deal  of  placid  beauty. 
The  little  treatise,  De  I'Education  des  Filles  (1687)  has  been 
called  the  point  of  departure  for  modern  French  pedagogy. 
Fenelon  points  out  how  feminine  education  (in  the 
widest  sense)  has  not  been  commensurate  with  the 
importance  of  woman  in  family  and  social  life.    Her  dignity 
must  be  maintained,  her  faults,  such  as  vanity  and  ignorance, 


FENELON  859 

must  be  corrected  in  girlhood,  and  especially  must  she  be 
strengthened  by  reason  and  self-government,  rather  than  by 
imposed  authority.  Then  there  are  sensible  precepts,  suggesting 
Rousseau,  as  to  the  education  of  very  young  children,  whose 
brain  is  "  always  wavering,  as  a  lighted  candle  in  a  windy  place." 
Returning  to  young  girls,  Fenelon  seems  to  restrict  their  cultural 
education,  in  that  music,  art  and  poetry  are  considered  danger- 
ous. The  great  object  is  to  gain  the  heart  of  Mademoiselle 
for  Christian  virtue.  None  of  these  principles  seem  very  start- 
ling now,  but  they  represented  some  distinct  novelties  for 
that  time. 

Fenelon  as  literary  critic  is  seen  to  considerable  advantage 
in  his  Lettre  a  V Academic  (1714) .  Here  as  in  the  correspond- 
ence with  Lamotte  (a  radical  Modem) ,  the  Quarrel 
.  ^"  '  reappears.  The  polite  Fenelon  refuses  to  commit 
himself  and  shows  an  evident  desire  to  please  everybody,  but  on 
the  whole  he  is  a  liberal  Ancient.  His  taste,  his  heart  and  his 
education  place  him  on  the  side  of  antiquity,  but  he  is  not  blind  to 
certain  modern  excellences.  In  criticizing  genres,  he  deplores 
the  reforms  of  Malherbe,  as  limiting  the  French  vocabulary  and 
regulating  poetry  too  narrowly.  Ancient  eloquence  is  certainly 
superior  to  the  modern.  In  tragedy,  Racine's  merits  are  recog- 
nized, but  Corneille  is  considered  bombastic  and  there  is  too 
much  love-making  in  French  plays.  A  great  poet  will  always 
tend  toward  virtue  and  religion,  and  Moliere's  greatness  is  im- 
paired by  his  easy  morals.  Fenelon  is  sound  on  history  and  fore- 
sees such  modern  developments  as  the  history  of  institutions  and 
careful  revivifications  of  past  epochs.  Such  points  may  ex- 
emplify his  approach  to  many  questions  agitated  during  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  Fenelon  clearly  possesses  a  critical  and 
appreciative  mind.  His  preference  for  simplicity  above  every- 
thing appears  in  his  own  prose,  which  is  easy  and  natural,  like 
that  of  "Voltaire. 

Of  the  three  writers  dealt  with  in  this  chapter,  Fenelon,  the 
least  remarkable  for  individual  literary  talent,  is  the  most  liberal 
His  and  forward-reaching  in  his  ideas.  His  "  tolerance  " 

Liberalism  is  almost  a  legend  and  was  respected  by  the  earlier 
generation  of  philosophes.  In  politics,  all  three  men  were  dis- 
satisfied with  the  court  regime.    Fenelon  alone  dares  point  out 


360  WRITERS    OF    THE    TRANSITION 

how  a  monarch  should  govern  in  connection  with  the  people. 
His  essential  aristocracy  of  temper,  his  delicate  nature  and  his 
almost  feminine  charm  interfered  neither  with  his  courage  nor 
with  his  clear-sightedness. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY: 
HISTORY   AND    SOCIETY 

Some  knowledge  of  the  historical  and  social  features  of  the 

anden  regime  is  essential  to  an  understanding  of  its  literature. 

Louis  XIV  had  ended  in  unpopularity  and  gloom, 

e  egency  ^^^  ^  period  of  formality  was  followed  by  a  period 
of  license.  The  regency  of  Philip,  Duke  of  Orleans,  lasted  only 
eight  years  (1715-1723)  and  except  for  a  small  war  with  Spain 
contains  little  external  history.  But  it  is  a  significant  epoch  on 
account  of  the  experiments  in  administration,  the  restlessness 
of  thought  and  especially  the  degree  of  license  that  has  im- 
parted a  peculiar  flavor  to  the  word  Begence.  Philip  himself 
seems  a  replica  of  Charles  II  of  England:  immoral,  indolent, 
good-natured,  a  connoisseur  rather  than  a  statesman.  It  was 
the  Due  de  Noailles  who  wrestled  with  the  finances  and  repressed 
certain  expenditures.  The  financial  salvation  of  the  country 
was  entrusted  to  John  Law,  who  established  the  modern  system 
of  paper  credit,  founded  the  Banque  de  France  and  the 
Mississippi  Company.  But  France  was  deluged  with  paper 
and  a  crash  was  inevitable.  In  the  meantime  an  attempt  to 
govern  by  six  administrative  coimcils  had  yielded  to  a  ministry 
along  the  old  lines ;  the  Abbe  Dubois,  as  premier,  seemed  another 
Mazarin  m  craft  and  shrewdness.  Dubois'  main  title  to  respect 
is  that  he  negotiated  the  Triple  Alliance  of  England,  France  and 
Holland. 

The  ministry  of  the  Duke  of  Bourbon,  who  succeeded  Orleans 
as  Regent,  lasted  only  three  years.  It  is  distinguished  by  a 
Heign  of  bitter  persecution  of  the  Protestants  in  the  Cevennes 
LoBis  XV  and  by  the  marriage  of  the  yoimg  King  to  Maria 
Leczinska  of  Poland.  The  reign  of  Louis  XV  was  a  period  of 
general  and  cumulative  disaster.  At  home,  there  was  political 
stagnation  and  growing  discontent.    Abroad,  little  of  distinction 

361 


362  THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY 

marked  the  deeds  of  France  and  she  gradually  lost  her  place 
in  the  estimation  of  Europe.  Louis  XV  was  a  useless  and  un- 
worthy king;  the  temper  of  the  nation  sank  towards  his  level; 
the  influence  of  favorites,  mistresses  and  incompetents  became 
pronounced;  and  the  national  finances  went  from  bad  to  worse. 

This  general  decadence  was  not  so  conspicuous  until  after  the 
middle  of  the  century.  Cardinal  Fleury  took  charge  of  affairs 
in  1,726.  His  policy  was  cautious  and  dull.  He 
First  Half  enforced  the  bull  Urdgenitus,  imprisoned  and  re- 
moved' Jansenists,  did  something  for  commerce,  and  won  Lorraine 
for  France  by  a  treaty  of  1738.  In  the  war  of  the  Austrian 
Succession  (1741^8)  the  French  did  not  play  a  creditable  part 
save  in  the  matter  of  isolated  victories.  France  had  recognized 
the  right  of  Maria  Theresa  to  the  Austrian  throne  and  yet 
joined  Frederick  the  Great  in  attacking  her.  The  battle  of 
Fontenoy  was  won  from  the  English  by  the  genius  of  Marshal 
Saxe.  The  war,  carried  into  India  and  America,  assumed  world- 
wide proportions.  But  France,  left  in  the  lurch  by  Frederick, 
signed  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  without  gaining  any  sub- 
stantial advantages.  "  Bete  comme  la  paix  "  became  a  Parisian 
byword.  The  governors  of  the  country  had  proved  themselves 
a  weak  lot.  The  national  prestige  was  tarnished,  and  the  result 
was  a  torrent  of  popular  criticism.  Louis  was  no  longer  "  le 
Bien-Aime."  Immorality  and  even  oppression  the  French  could 
stand,  but  not  the  loss  of  glory. 

Frederick's  bad  faith  started  the  famous  Seven  Years  War, 
but  the  deeper  cause  was  that  opposition  of  English  and  French 
Second  Half  "iterests  which  now  extended  from  the  Mississippi 
(1750-74)  to  the  Ganges.  This  war  meant  for  France  the  loss 
of  America  and  India.  Montcalm  and  Dupleix  were  not  steadily 
supported  in  their  brilliant  efforts  abroad;  in  Europe  incapable 
generals  and  ministers,  "  tumbling  one  after  the  other  like  magic 
lantern  pictures  "  (Voltaire) ,  were  responsible  for  signal  defeats 
in  diplomacy  and  in  the  field.  The  Due  de  Choiseul  was 
appointed  too  late  to  save  the  situation.  Another  most  unsatis- 
factory peace  for  France  was  concluded,  and  Choiseul  could  turn 
his  attentions  homewards,  where  there  was  much  to  call  for 
healing  measures.  But  this  minister,  like  his  greater  successors 
under  Louis  XVI,  could  not  wrestle  with  the  enormous  national 


SOCIAL    ASPECTS  363 

debt  nor  with  the  whole  rotten  system  of  taxation.  The  Jesuits 
were  expelled  from  France,  the  Parisian  Parliament  was  curbed 
once  more,  and  the  well-meaning  sluggish  Dauphin  was  married 
to  Marie  Antoinette  of  Austria.  The  Beaumarchais  incident 
(see  Book  III,  Ch.  II)  discredited  the  law-courts.  In  the  mean- 
time, the  corrupt  far  niente  of  the  dying  monarchy  was  revealed 
once  again  by  the  French  inactivity  before  the  first  shameless 
partition  of  Poland.  Louis  XV  ended  his  reign  in  1774  amid  the 
ignominies  of  smallpox,  a  fleeing  court,  a  jesting  populace,  and 
an  extreme  unction  indefinitely  postponed  to  accommodate  an 
unworthy  favorite. 

Taine's  analysis  of  the  old  regime  shows  that  the  feudal 
domination  of  the  upper  orders  was  no  longer  warranted.  The 
Social  privileged  classes  included  the  king,  the  nobles  and 

Structure  the  higher  clergy;  they  still  retained  their  great 
privileges;  but  they  had  lost  all  ability  to  rule  and  all  desire  to 
serve  the  nation.  The  nobles,  laity  and  clergy,  mmibered  over 
two  hundred  thousand.  They  were  powerful  and  rich,  owning 
two-fifths  of  the  land  in  France  and  to  a  considerable  extent 
exempt  from  the  taxes  which  oppressed  the  people  so  heavily. 

The  nobles  were  supposed  to  represent  the  public  at  the 

capital  and  to  serve  as  magistrates  in  the  country.    But  they 

were    largely    absentee-landlords.    Those    who    re- 

^  "  y  mained  on  their  estates  were  generally  too  poor  and 
inadequate  to  help  the  peasantry,  who  frequently  surrendered 
four-fifths  of  their  income  to  their  various  overlords.  The 
tithes,  the  poll-tax,  the  salt-tax,  other  impositions  and  burdens, 
particularly  in  connection  with  the  lordly  diversion  of  hunting, 
crushed  the  hearts  of  the  people.  Some  of  the  resident  nobles 
were  mildly  inclined,  but  their  debts  placed  them  simply  in  the 
position  of  creditors  and  oppressors  of  their  tenantry.  The 
absentees  were  still  worse,  having  no  knowledge  of  the  people, 
and  enforcing  their  demands  through  heartless  overseers.  The 
funds  required  for  the  extravagance  of  court  life  made  them 
pitiless.  Not  only  did  they  abandon  their  home  responsibilities, 
but  they  served  no  useful  function  at  court.  A  thousand  of  the 
oldest  and  highest  aristocracy  set  the  pace  and  drew  everything 
towards  Paris  and  Versailles.    France  has  never  recovered  from 


364  THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY 

the  excessive  centralization  of  the  old  regime.  Much  of  the 
country-side  was  then  deserted,  exhausted  agriculturally,  stag- 
and  the  ^^°*  politically,  without   good  roads,   and   in  the 

Provinces  direst  poverty.  But  between  Paris  and  Versailles 
a  double  row  of  carriages  thronged  the  highway  all  day  long. 
The  provinces  were  actually  ruled  by  thirty  "  intendants " 
responsible  only  to  the  king;  the  taxes  were  fanned  out  to  the 
traitants  (farmers-general) ,  who  paid  a  limip  sum  for  the  privi- 
lege of  grinding  the  poor;  such  offices,  as  well  as  the  sinecures 
about  court,  were  bought  and  sold  with  no  thought  save  for  the 
loot  involved.  The  great  nobles,  like  the  lesser  courtiers  (con- 
temptuously called  laquais  by  Saint-Simon  and  Montesquieu), 
were  for.  the  most  part  selfish  and  rapacious.  Gambling  and 
extravagance  gave  rise  to  colossal  debts;  the  Duke  of  Bourbon 
owed  six  millions  at  the  time  of  his  death,  and  the  first  Regent 
paid  two  millions  for  the  celebrated  diamond  which  bears  his 
name.  The  higher  clergy  were  equally  extravagant,  as  the 
pomp  of  the  Rohans  demonstrates,  and  ecclesiastical  sinecures 
were  also  preempted  by  the  nobility.  The  whole  class  had 
little  feudal  leadership,  little  taste  for  farming  or  politics. 
They  were  interested  mainly  in  gambling,  gallantry  and  court 
life.  The  nobles  did  not  rule;  they  took.  They  were  no  longer 
instruments,  but  merely  ornaments. 

Many  of  these  abuses  began  under  Louis  XIV,  and  it  has  been 
seen  (Pt.  II,  Book  IV,  Ch.  I)  how  in  his  time  the  court  was  the 
King  and  center  of  pomp  and  magnificence.  But  it  was  also 
Court  then  the  center  of  real  power  in  every  field.    Now 

the  personal  centralization  of  the  Great  Monarch  is  no  longer 
possible.  "  The  nation  has  no  longer  a  head,  history  no  longer  a 
focus ;  together  with  a  master  of  the  higher  order,  great  servants 
also  fail  the  French  monarchy "  (Guizot) .  Yet  the  king's 
authority  in  important  matters  remains  absolute  and  despotic. 
The  "  intermediary  bodies "  (see  Montesquieu) ,  such  as  the 
judicial  Parliament  of  Paris  or  the  provincial  States-General, 
have  only  a  limited  and  occasional  interference  in  affairs.  The 
king  is  a  pasha  attended  by  lesser  pashas.  He  is  considered  the 
commander,  the  owner  of  France,  the  perpetual  representative 
of  the  people,  the  delegate  of  God.  The  nobles  flocked  to  Paris, 
hailing  the  youth  of  Louis  XV  with  affection  and  veneration,  as 


SOCIAL    ASPECTS  365 

aid  the  entire  body  of  the  people.  They  clung  pathetically  to  a 
trust  in  the  monarchy,  their  barrier  and  hope,  even  when  the 
person  of  the  king  had  palled,  as  it  did  towards  the  middle  of 
the  century.  Beginning  with  the  freedom  of  the  Regency,  the 
petits  soupers  of  the  Regent,  and  the  scandalous  vices  of  his 
daughters,  France  enters  on  an  era  of  gambling,  debauchery, 
extravagance,  wit  and  license.  Louis  XV  participated,  some- 
what coldly,  in  all  this,  but  for  one  Louis  as  for  another,  the 
life  of  parade  and  "  representation  "  is  of  the  first  importance. 
This  life  has  a  splendid  setting,  especially  at  Versailles,  where 
everything  is  arranged  for  the  pleasure  of  the  eyes.  The  park 
is  an  open-air  salon  and  everywhere  the  panorama  of  court  life 
unfolds  in  gorgeous  extravagance.  Louis  XV  plays  the  actor 
all  day  long;  his  dressing  is  a  drama  in  five  acts,  and  Frederick 
the  Great  said  that  he  would  have  appointed  a  dummy  monarch 
for  these  fxmctions.  Neither  king  nor  courtier  has  any  time 
for  business;  everybody  is  careless  or  stupid  about  politics  and 
expenditures.  The  grandees  also  "  represent "  and  entertain 
enormously,  in  the  capital  and  in  the  country.  Their  main  duty 
is  hospitality,  as  their  chateaux  still  witness.  "  Leur  grand 
talent  est  le  savoir-vivre,"  and  their  real  business  is  society. 

For  those  fortunately  placed,  the  social  life  of  the  epoch 
must  have  been  delightful.  "  Qui  n'a  pas  vecu  avant  1789,"  said 
Talleyrand,  "  ne  connait  pas  la  douceur  de  vivre." 
Never  was  life  conducted  with  more*  amenity,  never 
were  its  details  and  processes  managed  with  such  attention  to 
the  agreeable  and  the  artistic.  From  childhood  on,  the  convent- 
bred  women  were  educated  chiefly  to  be  attractive  and  beautiful, 
the  men  to  be  gallant  and  pleasing.  Private  life  was  nothing, 
public  pleasure  and  display  were  everything.  "  We  are,"  sighed 
Voltaire,  "  the  whipped  cream  of  Europe  " ;  and  the  whole  age 
was  marked  by  a  careless  levity.  Pastimes  and  pageants,  fetes 
galantes  and  theatricals,  prodigality  and  gaiety  rang  the  chimes 
of  a  universal  and  continuous  carnival.  From  a  faded  pastel, 
a  page  of  Marivaux,  a  picture  by  Watteau,  comes  a  delicious 
perfume,  as  of  lingering  violets.  Many  gossiping  records,  hun- 
dreds of  engravings,  and  particularly  the  stately  or  voluptuous 
paintings  of  the  period  show  us  lords  and  ladies  perpetually  em- 
barking for  the  Cytherean  Islands  or  enacting  the  set  comedies 


866  THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY 

of  their  lives.  That  is  why  private  theatricals  were  the  rage; 
the  aristocracy  performed  and  posed  in  life  itself,  and  at  least 
they  carried  the  pose  through  to  the  very  scaffold. 

In  all  this  the  role  of  woman  is  supreme.  In  politics,  the 
succession  of  royal  mistresses  forms  almost  a  dynasty,  just  as  in 
Power  of  literature  the  dynasty  of  salon-leaders  is  all-impor- 
Women  tant.    In  this  age  of  art  and  artifice,  woman  is  con- 

sidered the  chief  artistic  product,  the  embodiment  of  the  pleasure- 
ideal.  As  an  ingenue,  she  is  handed  over  to  her  husband  and  the 
world,  and  the  latter  quickly  supplants  the  former  in  her  interest. 
Every  day  a  dozen  pleasures  solicit  the  senses,  refine  the  taste, 
agitate  the  mind.  The  day  of  a  Marquise,  from  her  reception 
on  rising  to  her  masked  ball  in  the  evening,  reads  like  some 
impossible  "  romance  of  high  life."  Yet  her  power  is  real  enough 
and  often  her  capacity.  She  rules  the  fashions,  the  king,  the 
court,  writers  and  artists.  Devoid  of  moral  sense  as  these 
women  mostly  were,  the  more  intelligent  among  them  (Mme  de 
Tencin,  Mme  du  Pompadour)  had  a  real  knowledge  of  men  and 
affairs,  and  the  others  had  at  least  charming  tongues  and  faces. 
Some  show  a  fundamental  common  sense,  a  critical  sense  that 
goes  to  the  core  of  questions ;  and  always  they  possess  the  prime 
social  art,  the  art  of  conversation,  free,  gay,  delightful,  in- 
fluential, whose  charm  still  reverberates  in  their  letters  and 
memoirs. 

It  was  an  age  of  great  talk,  and  nowhere  does  this  appear  more 
conspicuously  than  in  the  salons  which  dominated  the  minds  and 
habits  of  many  writers.  "  All  this  literatiire,"  says 
Taine,  "  was  spoken  before  it  was  written."  The 
socialization  of  French  thought  and  art  was  never  more  evident. 
Even  in  non-literary  circles,  there  are  traditions  of  witty  culti- 
vated conversation,  imder  the  "  laws  "  of  good  taste  and  good 
company.  The  dynasty  of  literary  salons  began  with  the 
Marquise  de  Lambert  (c.  1710-33),  who  yielded  her  scepter  and 
subjects  to  Mme  de  Tencin  (c.  1730-49),  who  in  turn  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Mme  Geoffrin  (1749-77).  A  rival  dynasty  was 
that  of  the  Marquise  du  Deffand  (c.  1740-80),  part  of  whose 
power  was  usurped  by  Mile  de  Lespinasse  in  1763.  The  dates 
are  those  of  the  actual  social  sway  of  each  lady.  The  great 
feature  of  the  eighteenth-century  salon,  as  distinguished  from 


THE    SALONS  367 

that  of  the  previous  period,  is  that  it  actually  amalgamates, 
often  on  an  equal  footing,  the  writers  and  the  cultured  public. 
From  now  on,  the  salon  really  helps  writers,  financially  and 
socially,  launches  them,  gives  them  desirable  contacts,  initiates 
the  success  of  the  play  or  poem,  influences  the  distribution  of 
prizes  and  makes  academicians. 

This  tendency  started  with  Mme  de  Lambert.  Her  house  was 
called  the  "  antechamber  of  the  Academy,"  half  of  whose  mem- 

Mme  de  ^^'"^  ^^^  ^^®  ^*  °^^  *™®  credited  with  creating. 

Lambert  She  is  described  as  an  "  honnete  femme,  moraliste 
sans  pedantisme,"  highly  considered  in  every  way.  She  was  a 
woman  of  sense,  cultivated  without  affectation,  who  checked 
gallantry  and  promoted  some  fusion  between  good  society 
and  writers.  It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  she  had  two  dis- 
tinct days,  one  for  the  elite  and  one  for  the  rank  and  file  of 
literary  men. 

The  four  chief  figures  whom  one  was  likely  to  find  in  any  or 
all  of  the  salons  were  Fontenelle  and  Voltaire,  whose  long  lives 
Mme  de  covered  both  dynasties;  Montesquieu,  whose  corres- 
Tencin  pondence  shows  that  he  had  to  do  some  delicate 

balancing  between  the  rival  reception-days  of  the  great  ladies; 
and  the  President  Henault,  a  scholar  and  wit,  who  occupied  an 
intermediate  ground  between  society  and  the  young  Republic  of 
Letters.  Fontenelle  and  Montesquieu  were  welcome  at  the  house 
of  Mme  de  Tencin,  whose  chief  pet,  however,  was  Marivaux. 
This  indicates  that  she  was  more  interested  in  the  sparkle  of 
wit  than  in  social  guarantees,  and  in  fact  Mme  de  Tencin  holds 
a  much  freer  salon  than  that  of  Mme  de  Lambert.  She  had 
been  the  mistress  of  the  Regent  and  of  others;  then,  reforming, 
she  decided  to  found  a  bureau  d'esprit,  which  was  the  main 
resource  of  unreligious  elderly  women  at  the  time.  In  character, 
she  was  an  audacious  and  ambitious  woman,  adroit,  fond  of  in- 
trigue, strongly  intelligent  and  imaginative.  Intelligence  and  wit 
were  what  she  demanded  of  her  guests,  and  her  salon  was  the  first 
where  the  writer  counted  for  his  own  merits,  on  a  par  with  the 
aristocrats.  His  hostess  gave  him  full  liberty  and  encourage- 
ment. She  was  a  good  listener,  looked  out  for  the  comfort  and 
entertainment  of  her  "  menagerie,"  enjoyed  their  social  comedies 
and  sallies,  and  helped  them  fill  the  salon  with  intellectual  fire. 


368  THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY 

Fontenelle's  "poetized  astronomy,"  the  subtlety  of  Marivaux, 
Montesquieu's  thoughtful  arguments  were  applauded  and  fostered 
here.  Already  there  were  cosmopolitan  visitors,  like  Chester- 
field and  Grimm,  while  Mme  de  Tencin,  with  little  dignity  and 
much  eagerness,  gave  and  took  freely  from  all.  The  other 
salons  of  the  century  carry  on  the  tradition  of  these  brilliant 
gatherings. 

Quite  different  in  character  was  Mme  Geoffrin,  who  stands 
witness  to  the  growing  force  of  the  bourgeoisie.  Without  birth 
jjj^g  or  conspicuous  charm,  she  held  her  circle  together 

Geoffrin  through  her  steady  sense.  She  helped  to  bring  plain 
truth  and  sincerity,  of  sentiment  and  language,  back  into  repute. 
She  was  a  severe  woman,  something  of  a  prude,  putting  the 
damper  on  any  show  of  license  as  well  as  any  political  free- 
thinking.  Her  home  was  the  great  resort  of  the  philosophes; 
their  discussions  and  personalities  she  really  liked  and  en- 
couraged. The  positive  and  practical  tendencies  of  this  group 
chimed  in  well  with  her  own  personality,  intellectual,  forthright, 
somewhat  cynical.  Horace  Walpole  speaks  of  her  excellent 
powers  of  observation,  her  common  sense,  her  cleverness  in 
securing  desirable  guests  and  in  making  them  play  up.  She 
took  over  the  survivors  of  Mme  de  Tencin,  added  such  fiLgufes 
as  Marmontel  and  Galiani,  the  witty  Neapolitan,  and  she 
brought  forward  artists,  like  Greuze  and  Van  Loo,  who  were 
hardly  received  elsewhere.  But  it  was  the  philosophes  who  gave 
the  tone  at  the  house  of  Mme  Geoffrin. 

Her  rival,  Mme  du  Deffand,  was  extremely  aristocratic,  not 
fond  of  the  philosophers  (save  Voltaire),  preferring  the  stately 
Mme  du  Classic  tradition.  She  was  haughty,  despotic,  and 
Deffand  for  twenty-five  years  quite  blind.    She  sought  refuge 

from  the  darkness  of  her  mind  and  life  in  the  company  of  dis- 
tinguished writers  and  visitors  from  abroad.  Hers  was  essentially 
the  aristocratic  and  cosmopolitan  salon.  Her  suppers  brought 
together  the  cream  of  the  court  and  church,  as  well  as  writers 
and  intermediate  people  like  the  President  Henault  and  Lord 
Chesterfield.  If  writers  were  in  the  minority,  her  salon  was  at 
least  given  over  to  theatrical  and  literary  novelties.  One  day 
the  actress  Clairon  would  recite  Phedre,  another  day  the  latest 
philosophical  pamphlet  would  be  discussed.    It  is  strange  to  see 


THE    SALONS  369 

this  rather  arid  and  bitter  nature  turn  to  an  impulsive  ro- 
manticism in  her  old  age.  She  became  devoted  to  Horace 
Walpole  and  sustained  with  him  a  correspondence,  which, 
together  with  her  letters  to  Voltaire  and  others,  constitutes  one 
of  the  most  interesting  monuments  of  the  time.  She  had  a 
strong  vital  personality,  much  insight  into  character  and  a 
brilliant  wounding  wit;  these  qualities  appear  fully  in  her 
correspondence. 

In  1763,  the  Marquise  du  Deffand's  companion  and  helper, 
a  certain  Julie  de  Lespinasse,  found  that  she  could  no  longer 
jflUe  de  ^^^^  ^^^^  *^^  °^^  lady's  caprices  and  withdrew  to 

Lespinasse  set  up  housekeeping  for  herself.  This  she  did  in  a 
modest  way,  but  the  imf orgivable  thing  was  that  she  carried  with 
her  many  of  Mme  du  Deffand's  brightest  parlor  ornaments.  The 
elite  of  intellectual  Paris  climbed  the  humble  stairs  of  Mile  de 
Lespinasse,  for  she  had  probably  the  most  winning  personal 
charm  and  the  most  responsive  mind  of  any  of  these  ladies. 
An  intense  passionate  soul,  imaginative  and  romantic,  she  be- 
came the  great  friend  of  Dalembert  and  threw  herself  with  zeal 
into  everything  that  concerned  the  Encyclopedie,  for  which  she 
provided  an  "  intimate  boudoir  and  laboratory."  Courtiers  and 
soldiers  also  came  to  her,  distinguished  churchmen  and  foreigners. 
She  exhibited  no  trace  of  Mme  Geoffrin's  prudery  or  timidity; 
she  and  her  set  were  afraid  of  no  powers  in  earth  or  heaven. 
Diderot's  writings  give  the  tone,  absolutely  emancipated  in  every 
field.  Julie  de  Lespinasse  was  wonderfully  endowed,  she  had 
more  real  knowledge  than  the  other  women,  she  was  an  om- 
nivorous reader  and  a  genuine  inspirer  of  literature,  an  authentic 
genius  herself,  keen  at  reflection  and  rejoinder,  clever  in  assorting 
people.  She  lives  in  literature  as  the  writer  of  the  most  remark- 
able personal  letters  of  the  century,  letters  to  an  unworthy  lover, 
which  "  still  burn  the  paper  on  which  they  are  written,"  so  tense 
they  are,  so  passionate,  so  simply  and  powerfully  appealing,  in 
their  frank  exaltation  and  tenderness,  their  delicate  perception 
and  understanding.  It  is  evident  that  her  great  charm  consisted 
in  her  ability  to  appreciate  and  listen  to  others.  Small  wonder 
that  a  woman  like  this  received  the  homage  of  the  extraordinary 
men  who  surrounded  her. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  indicate  the  overweening  influence 


370  THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY 

of  the  salons  upon  literature.  Most  of  the  works  of  the  period 
are  written  under  this  influence  and  many  writers,  from  Fonte- 
nelle  and  Voltaire  through  the  minor  poets,  are  "  pro- 
Influence  on  tected  "  or  inspired  by  ladies  of  fashion.  The  re- 
Literature  guitg  ^epe  not  always  fortunate.  The  salon  taste 
required  writers  to  be  "  popular,"  witty  and  above  all  agreeable. 
That  is  why  natural  directness,  concrete  imagination  and  per- 
sonal feeling  are  long  excluded  from  literature,  and  with  their 
exclusion  belles  lettres  became  infected  with  a  "  colorless  ele- 
gance." But  Rousseau  and  Diderot  largely  escaped  the  con- 
tagion; and  for  another  kind  of  literature,  the  earlier  bureau 
d'esprit  or  the  later  salon  philosophiqv^  was  no  bad  foster- 
mother.  It  is  the  literature  of  exposition  and  discussion  that 
the  salon  refines  and  clarifies.  It  encouraged  the  play  of  intel- 
ligence and  wit,  the  polished  expression  of  ideas  in  clear  attrac- 
tive untechnical  speech.  The  habit  of  genteel  conversation  and 
gossip  permeates  not  only  the  numerous  Discours,  Lettres,  En- 
tretiens,  but  the  various  fields  of  knowledge.  "  Spirituelle,  liuni- 
neuse,  instructive,  mais  seche  et  impersonnelle,  telle  est  notre 
litterature  du  XVIIIe  sifecle,  et  c'est  ce  que  signifie  litterature 
des  salons."  The  salons  helped,  at  any  rate,  to  give  a  being  and 
a  hearing  to  the  New  Liberalism. 

Two  other  important  influences  of  the  period  were  the  vogue 
of  the  sciences  and  that  of  English  authors.  The  incentive  toward 
the  first  issued  in  part  from  England,  since  the  methods  of  Locke 
and  Newton  became  popular  during  the  first  half  of  the  century. 
Montesquieu  indulges  in  physical  experiments,  the 
Regent  has  a  chemical  laboratory,  Voltaire  espec- 
ially promotes  Locke's  sensationalism  and  Newton's  physics. 
In  this  he  was  encouraged  by  Mme  du  Chatelet,  who  herself  was 
more  addicted  to  mathematics.  The  latter  science  tends  to 
become  supreme,  as  Dalembert  warns  us,  about  1750.  Great 
ladies  take  up  the  various  sciences,  study  physics,  chemistry, 
natural  history,  even  anatomy,  follow  pet  courses  at  the  Sor- 
bonne  and  have  their  portraits  painted  in  laboratories.  The 
Academies  of  Science  become  important  not  only  at  Paris,  but 
in  the  provinces  and  even  at  Berlin,  where  Maupertuis,  the 
discoverer  of  biological  evolution,  is  perpetual  secretary.  The 
name  of  Buffon  and  the  main  interests  of  the  Encyclopedia  bear 


THE    INFLUENCE    OF    ENGLAND  371 

witness  to  the  inspiration  and  value  of  the  natural  sciences 
throughout  the  century. 

The  vogue  of  English  literature  and  philosophy  is  almost 
unlimited.  It  may  be  summarized  by  saying  that  nearly  every 
The  English  English  author  of  note,  from  Shakespeare  down,  at- 
Influence  tracted  attention  in  France  during  this  period,  and 
that  almost  every  French  author  is  indebted  to  some  EnglishmaiL 
In  fact,  just  as  France  had  previously  gone  to  Italy  and  Spain 
for  method  and  material,  she  now  goes  to  England.  The  men- 
tion of  certain  salient  facts  and  personages  will  make  this  clear. 

Voltaire  successfully  launches  the  English  vogue  in  the  four 
main  directions  of  philosophy,  science,  politics  and  belles  lettres. 
The    general    literary    impulsion    was    three-fold: 
Manifesta-     towards  an  interest  in  Shakespeare ;  towards  English 
tions  rationalism  and  Deism   (Locke,  Bolingbroke,  Col- 

lins, Toland,  and  others) ;  and  later  towards  a  sentimental  re- 
action. Thus  the  two  main  French  movements,  skeptical  phiP\ 
osophy  and  Rousseauistic  Romanticism,  were  in  considerable  part 
based  on  an  English  backgroimd.  Of  the  four  great  names  of  the 
century  —  Voltaire,  Montesquieu,  Rousseau  and  Diderot  —  the 
first  two  visited  England  with  significant  results,  and  all  four 
were  considerably  affected  by  English  influences:  Voltaire,  by 
Locke  and  the  Deists,  by  Pope,  Shakespeare  and  others ;  Montes- 
quieu, by  the  liberal  English  constitution,  whose  fame  he  spread 
throughout  Europe;  Rousseau,  especially  by  Richardson;  and 
Diderot,  by  Richardson,  Sterne  and  Shaftesbviry.  The  Grande 
Encyclopedie  was  modelled)  on  the  original  of  Chambers  (see  Bk. 
IV,  Ch.  I).  Translations  of  English  authors  are  numerous  and 
popular;  a  mere  list  of  them  covers  twenty  pages  in  Lanson's  Bib- 
liography. Every  author  of  consequence  is  translated,  some  of 
them  several  times,  by  such  men  as  Prevost  and  Letoumeiir. 
"  Bibliotheques  anglaises  "  or  "  Bibliotheques  britanniques  "  ap- 
pear as  anthologies  or  compendiums.  The  Queen  Anne  writers, 
as  was  natural,  are  the  most  favored  before  1750,  and  after  that 
date  the  contemporary  sentimental  school.  The  latter  would 
include,  as  dominant  names:  James  Thomson,  for  the  return  to 
outdoor  nature;  Young's  Night  Thoughts  for  melancholy  com- 
bined with  religiosity ;  Sterne,  who  brought  in  "  I'humour  "  to- 
gether with  a  rather  sickly  sentiment;  Richardson,  for  bourgeois 


372  THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY 

sentiment  and  morality;  and  the  misty,  melancholy  or  pseudo- 
epic  features  of  Macpherson's  Ossian.  All  these  authors  were 
eagerly  read,  and  even  today  a  whole  scholarly  literature  circles 
around  the  reputation  and  influences  of  such  English  writers  in 
France.  The  cosmopolitanism  of  the  age  inclines  towards  the  lit- 
erature of  the  "  North,"  thus  preparing  the  way  for  Mme  de 
Stael  and  for  many  currents  of  Romanticism  proper. 

The  eighteenth  century  exercises  a  wide  fascination,  because 
it  offers  enough  to  attract  the  most  varied  types  of  mind.  The 
aristocrat,  the  epicurean  and  the  artist  find  there 
a  certain  ideal  of  elegance,  wit  and  beauty.  The 
liberal  skeptic  and  the  democrat  observe  how  from  the  ruins 
of  the  old  order  emerge  most  of  the  principles  of  modern  pro- 
gressivism  and  humanitarianism.  These  opposing  tendencies  are 
reflected  in  the  literature  of  the  period.  The  traditional  genres, 
especially  poetry  and  drama,  still  partly  preserve  the  courtly 
ideal;  the  New  Philosophy  urges  other  ideals,  chiefly  of  the 
liberal  kind.  It  will  be  our  task,  in  the  next  two  Books,  to  trace 
these  conflicts  and  developments,  first  in  philosophy,  then  in 
belles  lettres. 


BOOK   II 
THE   NEW   PHILOSOPHY 

CHAPTER  I 

THE    POPULARIZERS: 
BAYLE    AND    FONTENELLE 

In  a  preceding  chaj)ter  we  discussed  those  writers  of  the 
transition  who  on  the  whole  belong  to  the  age  of  Louis  XIV. 
In  that  age  there  appeared  two  men  who  really  belong  to  the 
eighteenth  century.  By  their  views,  methods  and  knowledge, 
Bayle  and  Fontenelle  are  true  precursors  of  Voltaire  and  the 
Encyclopedists. 

Pierre  Bayle  (1647-1706)  was  primarily  a  Protestant,  in  the 
full  sense  of  the  word,  both  as  regards  religious  upbringing  and 
the  inquiring  tendency  of  his  mind.  Born  near  the 
*^^  Pyrenees,  of  a  persecuted  Huguenot  family,  he  was 

banished  from  France  and  taught  successively  at  Coppet  and 
Rotterdam.  In  Holland,  he  settled  among  the  refugees,  of  whom 
Jurieu  was  chief.  Bayle's  liberal  and  skeptical  spirit  caused  him 
to  protest  against  the  excesses  of  Protestantism  itself,  and,  driven 
out  of  his  professorship,  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  in 
theological  disputes  and  a  varied  literary  activity.  Yet  he  was 
a  mild  passionless  scholar,  caring  little  for  practical  affairs  or 
for  pleasxire.  As  one  biographer  says:  "All  the  life  of  Bayle 
was  absorbed  in  his  thought,  in  the  search  for  human  truth  and 
the  devotion  to  reason." 

Besides  his  great  Dictionary,  Bayle  published  anonymously 
several  pamphlets,  of  which  two  have  real  importance.  His 
Pensees  sur  la  comete  (1682)  were  ostensibly  written 
to  relieve  superstitious  minds  of  the  fear  that  comets 
presaged  disaster.  But  in  attacking  superstition,  Bayle  also 
launches  several  ideas  that  assail  the  current  orthodoxy:  it  is 
unlikely  that  Providence  interferes,  by  prodigies  or  miracles, 

373 


374.  THE    POPULARIZERS 

with  the  course  of  nature;  there  is  a  wide  difference  between 
the  principles  and  the  practice  of  believers;  the  atheist  may  be 
a  well-behaved  person;  and  tolerance  is  always  to  be  recom- 
mended. The  last  tenet  is  also  the  key-note  of  another  pamphlet, 
the  Commentaire  philosophique  sur  le  "  Compelle  Intrare " 
(1686),  a  protest  against  the  Papal  bull  "compelling"  every- 
body into  the  church. 

Bayle's  fame  and  influence,  however,  derive  mainly  from  the 
Dictionnaire  historiqw  et  criiique  (1697),  which  has  been  para- 
doxically styled  the  "  Bible  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
"  Diction-       tury."    This  work  was  ostensibly  compiled  to  correct 
naire"  \^q  mistakes  of  a  dictionary  already  issued  by  a 

certain  Moreri.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  ^n  encyclopedia,  almost 
the  first  of  its  kind,  containing  in  its  great  folios  all  the  learning, 
thought  and  critical  power  of  the  chief  savant  of  his  time.  The 
extended  footnotes,  where  Bayle  feels  at  his  ease  to  gossip  and 
digress,  are  the  most  interesting  part  of  the  work.  Its  salient 
features  are,  first,  the  use  of  modern  scientific  and  critical  meth- 
ods ;  a  very  great  erudition,  including  much  Latin  and  far-fetched 
knowledge;  the  insertion  of  allusions  and  anecdotes  of  doubtful 
taste;  and  a  peculiar  confusion  of  subjects  and  arguments,  used 
to  insinuate  skepticism  and  to  throw  the  reader,  particularly  the 
censor,  off  the  track.  Faguet  calls  the  work  less  a  dictionary  of 
knowledge  than  of  what  Bayle  knew.  The  extent  of  his  knowl- 
edge is  thus  stated  by  the  same  critic: 

Ce  qu'il  savait  c'etait  la  mythologie,  ITiistoire  et  la  geographie 
ancienne,  I'histoire  des  religions  ...  la  theologie  proprement  dite, 
la  philosophic,  rhistoire  europeenne  du  XVIme  et  du  XVIIme 
siecle. 

Add  to  this  list  such  subjects  as  jurisprudence,  philology,  and  far- 
ranging  biographies,  and  it  will  be  seen  that,  as  regards  Expan- 
sionism, the  author  outstrips  his  own  age  and  announces  the 
eighteenth  century. 

Bayle's  general  method  shows  a  "  veritable  esprit  scientifique." 

He  is  not  at  home  in  the  natural  sciences,  but  in  other  fields  he 

evinces  the  spirit  of  objective  research,  curiosity, 

impartiality  and   exactness.     His  two  main  ideas 

are  relativity  and  tolerance.    Since  in  every  direction  he  finds 


BAYLE  375 

only  "  des  Veritas  particulieres,"  it  behooves  us  to  tolerate  and 
not  to  persecute  the  views  of  our  neighbors.  So  Bayle,  in  an 
indirect  and  insinuating  way,  is  a  tranquil  skeptic  of  the  most 
thorough  sort.  In  the  thick  of  the  old  regime,  he  gave  intellec- 
tual credence  to  no  authority,  no  tradition  and  no  dogma.  The 
significance  of  his  philosophy,  far  more  destructive  than  system- 
atic, is  best  realized  by  following  the  workings  of  his  skep- 
ticism in  the  domains  of  metaphysics,  morality,  religion  and 
history. 

Except  where  he  uses  it  as  a  weapon  against  theology,  Bayle 
is  skeptical  about  metaphysics.  He  warns  us  of  the  dangers 
General  ^^  *^®  ^^^  philosophic  spirit  with  its  sterile  dialectics. 

Philosophy  and  he  thinks  metaphysical  speculation  vain,  because 
there  are  no  absolutes.  His  own  philosophy,  like  his  religion, 
underwent  vicissitudes.  He  leans  to  Descartes  and  to  la  raison 
as  the  criterion  of  truth,  but  he  recognizes  that  reason  is  often 
obscured  and  prejudiced.  All  philosophers  are  "  inventors  of 
conjectures,"  who  entertain  us  sometimes,  but  cannot  prove 
anything.  Truth,  that  "  belle  inconnue,"  is  forever  to  be  sought 
but  never  to  be  reached  by  speculation.  Such  a  negative  creed 
is  neither  high  nor  deep,  but  it  is  a  good  instrument  for  ana- 
lysing other  creeds.  Starting  with  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
ancient  philosophy,  the  skeptic  passes  in  review  many  modern 
theories,  especially  those  of  Descartes  and  of  Leibnitz.  Bayle 
records  various  controversies  concerning  the  notions  of  sub- 
stance, soul  and  movement.  His  own  tendency  is  to  hold  to 
the  world  of  sensible  fact  and  reject  metaphysical  explana- 
tions. 

Bayle  is  more  interested  in  problems  of  practical  morality, 
though  here  we  are  confronted  with  some  contradictions  in  his 
thought.  On  the  one  hand  he  suggests  a  relative 
"^  standpoint:  morals  and  manners  vary  with  latitude, 

and  Sparta  and  China  have  rightfully  their  own  conceptions 
of  behavior;  this  view  is  considerably  developed  by  the  eight- 
eenth century.  But  on  the  other  hand  there  is  a  universal  law, 
applicable  everywhere,  and  making  its  appeal  directly  to  the 
conscience  and  the  reason  of  man.  Reason,  however,  is  gen- 
erally conquered  by  the  passions,  which  rule  men  and  manners 
and  found  societies.   Hence  average  morals  are  likely  to  be  based 


376  THE    POPULARIZERS 

on  the  essential  passions.  But  the  true  guide  is  an  innate 
and  individual  moral  conscience,  together  with  the  light  of  rea- 
son; for  while  "  la  puissance  de  la  raison  s'est  perdue,  sa  lumiSre 
s'est  neanmoins  conservee";  and  Bayle  supports  the  Protes- 
tant doctrine  of  the  "  errant "  or  free  individual  conscience, 
which  is  the  voice  of  God  speaking  in  man.  The  majority  are, 
nevertheless,  always  making  mistakes,  for  only  a  few  sages  suffi- 
ciently control  their  passions  to  submit  to  reason  and  to  "  nat- 
ural "  morality.  The  latter  is  based  on  the  usages  of  civilization, 
and  Bayle  has  little  regard  either  for  primitivism  or  for  perfecti- 
bility. He  believes  only  in  a  limited  progress,  chiefly  in  the 
spheres  of  knowledge.    His  is  a  morality  of  experience. 

Bayle's   early   misadventures,  his   establishment   among  the 

refugees  and  his  cast  of  mind,  all  contributed  to  make  theology 

his  main  preoccupation.    But  here  again  he  investi- 

eo  ogy  gates  only  to  attack.  The  orthodox  outworks,  as 
built  up  by  church-fathers,  rabbis  or  commentators,  he  demolishes 
to  his  own  satisfaction.  As  regards  central  dogmas,  he  suggests 
certain  contradictions  in  Biblical  texts  and  a  certain  laxness  in 
Old  Testament  morals  ("  Les  plus  grands  saints  ont  besoin  qu'on 
leur  pardonne  quelque  chose  ") ,  and  again  he  holds  that  miracles 
are  contrary  to  natural  laws.  Otherwise  he  leaves  matters  of  faith 
and  revelation  almost  intact.  Into  that  domain  he  throws  in- 
soluble mysteries,  such  as  the  problem  of  free-will  and  the  exist- 
ence of  evil,  and  his  chief  contention  is  that  faith  and  reason 
should  be  absolutely  divorced  —  the  dogmatists  are  to  be  shorn 
of  rational  support.  The  best  argument  for  the  existence  of  God 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Credo  quia  abswrdum  attitude  —  "I  believe 
because  it  is  beyond  belief."  The  attributes  of  Divinity  are  very 
doubtful,  and  in  this  connection  Bayle  revives  the  startling  theory 
of  Manicheism.  According  to  reason  merely,  the  universe  is 
best  explained  as  ruled  by  the  rival  deities  of  good  and  evil  — 
God  and  Satan.  This  hypothesis  was  suggested  by  Bayle  with  his 
customary  doublings  and  reserves.  If  we  then  add  an  atomic 
theory,  according  to  which  each  particle  of  matter  is  bound  up 
with  and  animated  by  spirit  (modern  monism) ,  we  have  the  two 
most  positive  doctrines  of  Bayle. 

Historical  researches  constitute  the  greater  part  of  the  Dic- 
tionary.    Bayle  anticipates  modern  carefulness  about  sources 


BAYLE  377 

and  gives  the  spirit  of  contradiction  free  play.  Finding  errors 
everywhere,  he  really  respects  and  desires  the  truth.    Historical 

truth  for  him  consists  in  a  series  of  small  verified 
Hw  ory  facts,  dissociated  from  legend  and  the  partisan  pas- 

sions of  man.  He  shows  a  lack  of  hero-worship,  an  effort  to  ra- 
tionalize and  lower  the  great  figures  and  patriarchs  of  the  past. 
He  indulges  in  pleasantries,  uses  comparative  treatment  and 
suggests  the  "  higher  criticism."  All  this  Voltairianism  is  best 
illustrated  by  the  famous  article  on  David,  which  created  a 
furor,  was  suppressed,  reintroduced,  and  circulated  in  thousands 
of  pamphlets.  In  general  history,  the  method  is  the  same,  though 
employed  with  a  freer  hand.  By  depreciating  the  value,  as 
evidence.  Of  such  ancient  writers  as  Plutarch  and  Livy,  Bayle 
lines  up  with  the  Moderns  in  the  Quarrel.  By  contemptuously 
dismissing  the  legends  of  heroic  Greece  and  of  early  Rome,  he 
rejects  the  artistic  view  and  helps  inaugiu-ate  historical  posi- 
tivism. In  dealing  with  French  history,  he  is  a  genuine  road- 
breaker,  doubtful  of  accepted  authorities.  Trying  to  keep  his 
neutrality  in  all  quarrels,  he  disliked  but  made  fair  statements 
about  the  Turks,  the  Papacy,  and  even  the  Jesuits.  He  makes, 
then,  a  general  crusade  against  tradition,  whether  historical, 
theological  or  philosophical. 

The  tone  of  the  Dictionary  is  sprightly,  especially  in  the  foot- 
notes.   Like  the  later  philosophes,  Bayle  was  careful  to  serve 

his  heavy  diet  with  the  sauce  required.     Yet  his 
™"*'  style,  in  spite  of  verbal  felicity,  is  without  grace 

or  suppleness  —  "diffus,  lache,  incorrect,"  as  Voltaire  calls  it. 
Bayle  was  less  of  a  stylist  than  a  supreme  dialectician  and  a 
laborious  man  of  letters;  he  helps  to  found  literary  journalism 
by  his  Nouvelles  de  la  Rejnihlique  des  lettres  (1684r-87),  the  first 
important  clearing-house  for  new  publications  and  ideas.  Sainte- 
Beuve  calls  him  the  genius  of  criticism,  in  the  widest  sense, 
on  account  of  his  versatility,  curiosity,  equilibrium  and  independ- 
ence.   But  he  had  small  appreciation  of  literary  beauties. 

Bayle  is  the  chief  skeptic  between  Montaigne  and  Voltaire, 
with  each  of  whom  he  has  much  in  common.   Yet  he  is  not  wholly 

a  'phUosophe,  because  he  is  moderate  and  systemless. 
oncusion      -g-j^  ^j^^^l  legacy  was  his  method:  he  thought  it  pos- 
sible to  reach  sure  facts  in  all  positive  fields  of  knowledge,  in  his- 


378  THE    POPULARIZERS 

tory  and  ethics,  as  well  as  in  physics ;  the  negative  application  of 
this  is  seen  in  his  attack  on  revelation  and  philo- 
*°*  sophic  dogma.   Doubting  the  watchwords  of  the  com- 

ing century  —  humanity,  progress  and  nature  —  he  would  have 
found  the  propagandists  too  violent,  as  they  found 
Influence  j^j^^  ^^^  mM.  But  the  phUosophes,  often  without 
giving  Bayle  the  credit,  use  the  Dictionary  as  their  "  arsenal," 
whether  for  information  or  for  arguments.  Eleven  editions 
were  published  within  forty  years.  Voltaire,  Montesquieu, 
Diderot,  private  citizens  and  memoir  writers,  public  figures 
like  Frederick  the  Great,  all  bear  witness  to  the  extraordinary 
influence  of  Bayle.  It  was  largely  exercised  in  negative  direc- 
tions ;  he  cleared  the  ground  for  the  steam-roller  of  the  Encyclo- 
pedists. 

The  life  of  Bernard  de  Fontenelle  (1657-1757)  is  richer  and 
more  varied  than  that  of  Bayle.  It  lasted  exactly  a  century, 
less  one  month.  Fontenelle  could  speak  of  the  con- 
on  ene  e  temporaries  of  Richelieu  to  the  contemporaries  of 
Rousseau,  and  the  annals  of  literature  record  few  lives  of  fuller 
extent  and  interest.  Born  at  Rouen,  he  was  educated  mainly  by 
the  Jesuits,  and  he  always  kept  some  friends  among  that  body. 
Visiting  Paris,  Fontenelle  came  early  under  the  influence  of  his 
uncles,  Pierre  and  Thomas  Corneille.  The  great  Corneille  was 
then  in  l^is  gloomy  last  days;  the  more  alert  and  sociable  Thomas 
was  really  the  companion  of  Fontenelle.  He  introduced  his 
nephew  to  the  editors  of  the  Mercure  galant,  and  this  journal 
published  the  youth's  early  poetic  endeavors. 

The  scientific  studies  of  Fontenelle  were  of  more  con- 
sequence than  any  of  the  dramas  and  operas  by  which  he  hoped 
Chief  *o  ^^°  fame.    It  was  after  the  failure  of  one  of  these 

Writings  that  he  decided  to  retreat  to  his  province  and  make 
more  sure  of  his  ground  in  physics  and  geometry.  From  Nor- 
mandy he  brought  out  the  Dialogues  des  morts  (1683).  These 
dialogues,  deriving  from  Lucian  and  cast  in  the  same  mold  as 
Landor's  Imaginary  Conversations,  had  a  considerable  success. 
The  Parisians  enjoyed  hearing  historical  celebrities  talk  down  to 
their  level  in  the  matter  of  philosophy  and  up  to  their  level  in  the 
matter  of  wit.  Next  came  the  Entretiens  sur  la  pluraliU  des 
mondes  (1686),  which  were  the  first  fruits  of  Fontenelle's  popu- 


FONTENELLE  379 

larizing  genius.  He  could  now  talk  science  to  the  "  belles  mar- 
quises "  and  remain  interesting.  That  same  year  saw  the  publi- 
cation of  the  Histoire  des  oracles,  the  last  of  the  trio  of  master- 
pieces that  made  Fontenelle's  fame.  His  mind  was  now  set  on 
winning  a  place  in  the  Academy,  which  he  obtained,  after  four 
attempts,  more  on  his  reputation  as  a  wit  than  as  a  scientist.  His 
reception  there  was  an  event;  his  uncle  Thomas  delivered  the 
address  of  welcome,  and  Fontenelle,  in  his  reply,  praised  the 
other  Corneille  to  the  detriment  of  Racine  and  the  Ancients 
generally. 

Having,  as  he  thought,  attained  in  literature,  he  could  hence- 
forth turn  his  attention  wholly  to  science.  The  earlier  youthful 
Fontenelle  is  mainly  esprii;  the  latter  is  mainly  scien- 

e  cien  s  ^jg^  popularizing.  His  universal  curiosity  sought 
satisfaction  alike  in  laboratories  and  in  personal  relations  with 
men  of  science.  He  was  no  specialist,  but  he  knew  enough  of 
geometry,  astronomy  or  physics  to  associate  with  specialists  and 
learn  from  them.  He  had  a  born  aptitude  for  acquiring  and  dis- 
seminating knowledge;  and  the  members  of  the  Academy  of 
Sciences  recognized  this  when  in  1697  they  crowned  his  ambition 
by  making  him  perpetual  secretary  of  that  body.  This  office 
Fontenelle  filled  with  genuine  ability.  His  labors  here  hardly 
belong  to  the  province  of  literature,  but  tended  much  to  the  dif- 
fusion of  knowledge.  He  wrote  a  large  readable  History  of  the 
Academy,  which  appeared  with  aimual  regularity,  and  he  insti- 
tuted the  composition  of  Eloges  on  his  fellow-academicians,  which 
were  admirable  specimens  of  eloquent  propaganda. 

Another  way  in  which  Fontenelle  represented  pcience  was 
through  the  role  that  he  played  in  society.  During  nearly  sixty 
The  Social  years  he  was  the  king  of  such  gatherings  as  the  salons 
Lion  of  Mme  de  Lambert  and  of  Mme  Geoffrin.     He 

was  a  "  dehcious  "  talker,  an  excellent  listener,  a  promoter  of 
amiable  conversation,  in  which  he  displayed  the  prime  qualities 
of  subtlety  and  skill.  The  recollections  of  his  youth  came  to 
enhance  the  trimnphs  of  his  age.  At  ninety-five  he  was  almost 
venerated  —  a  monument  to  be  visited,  an  oracle  to  be  consulted. 
He  was  able  to  prolong  his  life,  because  he  cared  for  his  health  and 
eluded  material  responsibilities.  The  decline  of  vitality  in  him 
was  almost  imperceptible  and  he  died  in  the  odor  of  serenity. 


380  THE    POPULARIZERS 

Poetic  and  other  tributes  were  showered  upon  his  memory  to  a 
fantastic  extent. 
Yet  the   character   of  the   man   is   not   sympathetic.     La 
Bruyere's  "  portrait "  of  him,  imder  the  name  of 
Character        Cydias,  has  been  mentioned: 

Prose,  vers,  que  voulez-vous?  il  reussit  egalement  en  Tun  et 
en  I'autre.  ...  II  a  im  ami  qui  n'a  point  d'autre  fonction  que  de 
le  presenter  dans  les  maisons  comme  homme  rare  et  d'une  exquise 
conversation.  .  .  .  Cydias  evite  uniquement  d'etre  de  I'avis  de 
quelqu'un.  .  .  .  C'est  un  compose  du  pedant  et  du  precieux,  en  qui 
neamnoins  on  n'apergoit  rien  de  grand  que  I'opinion  qu'il  a  de 
lui-memoi 

Another  satirical  portrait  is  to  be  found  in  Voltaire's  Micro- 
megas  —  where  the  scientist  appears  as  the  Perpetual  Secretary 
of  the  Academy  of  Saturn.  Fontenelle's  best  friends,  particu- 
larly the  women,  admitted  that  he  had  very  little  heart  or 
soul.  His  social  mildness  and  amiability  adequately  veiled  his 
fundamental  egotism.  The  most  important  work  of  his  life 
was  not  the  History  of  Oracles  or  of  the  Academy  —  it  was 
the  happiness  of  M.  de  Fontenelle.  He  made  no  sacrifices 
either  for  his  friends  or  for  his  ideas.  He  was  gallant  with 
women,  but  as  Mme  de  Lambert  complained,  he  never  loved 
them.  An  intellectual  epicurean,  he  remained  always  moderate 
and  cool. 

His  three  chief  books  have  already  been  mentioned  and  will 
shortly  be  discussed.    Besides  these,  there   are   such  critical 

.„   .    essays  as  the  Reflexions  sur  la  voetique,  also  his 
Minor  Worka    •  iu        i  i         xi      /v  , ,     -rx 

views  on  the  eclogue  and  on  the  Quarrel.^    He  was 

too  much  of  a  bel  esprit  to  have  the  true  feeling  for  antiquity. 
His  notions  about  the  pastoral  are  that  Vergil  is  too  coarse  and 
that  country  life  must  be  vaguely  indicated  and  conventional- 
ized. The  Reflections  on  Poetry  are  decidedly  prosaic;  and 
Fontenelle's  whole  attitude  towards  literature  is  neo-classical. 

The  Dialogues  des  morts  were  composed  when  Fontenelle  was 
only  twenty-six.  They  are  partly  "philosophic,"  with  strains 
"Dialogues  of  preciousness  and  gallantry.  Sappho  and  Petrarch's 
des  morts"  Laura  argue  about  the  tender  passion  in  a  discur- 
sive manner  which  would  have  pleased  Mile  de  Scudery  more 

'  See  above,  Bk.  I,  Ch.  I. 


FONTENELLE  381 

than  Petrarch.  In  fact,  few  of  these  historical  personages 
really  speak  for  themselves  or  their  age;  they  are  modernized 
mouthpieces  and  they  are  much  too  witty.  Subtle  always  and 
occasionally  profound,  the  book  swarms  with  ideas  thrown  out 
with  youthful  abandon.  The  dialogue  is  often  quite  engaging, 
and  Fontenelle  cleverly  pairs  off  striking  contrasts:  Anacreon 
converses  with  Aristotle,  Scarron  with  Seneca,  Phryne  with 
Alexander.  They  all  argue  indefinitely  because  —  and  here  is 
the  philosophical  importance  of  the  book  —  the  method  em- 
ployed is  still  the  Cartesian  analysis  as  regards  intellectual 
matters. 

The  Histoire  des  oracles  went  through  five  editions  by  1707. 
After  Bayle,  this  book  is  the  first  indirect  attack  of  the  new 
"  Histoire  des  ^P""^^  °°  Catholic  orthodoxy.  Its  arrangement  and 
oracles"  composition  are  done  with  skill.  It  is  mainly  a 
(1686)  translation  and  digest  of  a  learned  Latin  work  by 

a  certain  Van  Dale.  Fontenelle  accepts  the  latter's  view  that 
the  common  opinions  about  pagan  oracles,  first  that  they  were 
inspired  by  demons  and  second  that  they  ceased  with  the  coming 
of  Christ,  are  false.  But  the  bulky  arguments  of  the  original  are 
condensed,  illustrated,  linked  together  and  written  up  with  clear- 
ness and  charm.  Nowhere  did  Fontenelle's  intelligence  find  a 
happier  field.  He  formally  recognizes  the  truth  of  Christianity 
and  even  the  probable  existence  of  demons,  but  such  statements 
of  conviction  could  barely  deceive  his  contemporaries.  He  be- 
gins very  soon  to  bring  forward  arguments  against  the  behavior 
of  the  early  Christians  and  the  authority  of  the  church  fathers. 
The  authority  of  the  ancients,  of  course,  is  exposed  to  frequent 
sarcasms.  What  does  hold  for  Fontenelle  is  the  scientific 
method,  and  that  is  a  question  of  facts  and  deductions.  The 
ancients  were  blind  enough  to  believe  in  the  oracles,  though 
fraud  was  written  on  the  face  of  them;  and  the  moderns  still 
believe  the  pseudo-historical  things  about  the  oracles  that  he, 
Fontenelle,  set  out  to  overthrow.  In  overthrowing  them  he 
suggests  what  he  would  like  to  overthrow  next;  and  the  hidden 
moral  of  the  book  is,  If  oracles  are  contrary  to  fact,  why  not 
miracles? 

The  Plwralite  des  mondes  is  still  more  scientific  in  content. 
Its  high  importance  is  that  it  practically  begins  the  popular- 


382  THE    POPULARIZERS 

ization  of  science,  which  has  gone  on  uninterrtiptedjy  ever 
since.  It  is  the  most  celebrated  and  well-timed  of  Fontenelle's 
"Pluralite  works,  and  it  shows  his  usual  ingenuity  in  recon- 
des  mondes "  ciling  learned  matters  with  the  requirements  of  a 
polite  audience,  particularly  women.  The  combination  is  made 
with  an  apparent  ease  and  joyousness  of  execution.  His  masterly 
hand  smoothes  out  for  the  "  Marquise  "  the  difficulties  of  the 
Copernican  universe,  passes  lightly  over  details,  and  dexterously 
spins  into  her  view  the  elaborate  solar  systems.  The  language 
is  always  easily  clear  and  shows  at  times  an  amplitude  rising 
to  the  heights  of  the  subject.  Its  vigor  of  vision  at  the  close 
makes  the  Marquise  implore  mercy:  "La  terre  est  si  effroyable- 
ment  petite."  But  Fontenelle's  constant  point  is  that  man  is 
smaller  still. 

Some  of  his  scientific  ideas  may  be  indicated.  He  believed,  as 
did  Bayle,  in  the  fixity  of  the  laws  of  nature,  their  necessary 
Fontenelle's  continuity.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to  promulgate, 
Ideas  before  the  Academy,  that  conception  of  the  soU- 

darity  of  the  sciences,  the  interdependence  of  knowledge,  which 
has  helped  the  cause  so  much.  He  believed  in  the  progress  of 
this  knowledge.  Yet  there  were  serious  gaps  in  Fontenelle's 
literary  equipment.  He  had  neither  much  imagination  nor  wide 
observation.  His  fondness  for  wit  and  "  ornaments  "  frequently 
operated  against  the  best  taste  and  against  enthusiasm.  His 
intellectual  keenness  was  sometimes  attained  at  the  expense  of 
sentiment  and  conviction.  Finally,  he  was  hampered  by  pru- 
dential considerations  in  the  search  for  and  the 
defense  of  truth.  But  he  adds  to  the  domain  of 
literature  the  popularization  of  scientific  facts,  and  he  insists 
upon  their  rapports.  His  influence  is  not  easy  to  estimate,  for 
it  is  largely  diffused;  Voltaire,  for  one,  profited  by  the  lessons 
of  Fontenelle.  In  his  line  he  ranks  among  the  pathfinders  of  the 
new  century. 


CHAPTER  II 
VOLTAIRE:   LITERATURE    AND   LIFE 

The  life  ofVoltaire  (1694-1778)  is  an  epitome  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  Versatility,  longevity,  great  activity  —  these  are  the 
salient  characteristics  of  his  career.  His  incessant 
^***  energy  displays  itself  no  less  in  literature  than  in 

living;  in  his  case  the  two  things  are  inseparable.  No  more  in- 
teresting and  representative  life  was  ever  lived  by  a  man  of 
letters.  To  narrate  only  the  chief  events  and  contacts,  five 
periods,  of  differing  length,  may  be  considered.  First,  his  fash- 
ionable and  tumultuous  youth. 

He  was  born  in  Paris  of  respectable  bourgeois  stock  on  both 

sides.    His  father,  Francois  Arouet,  was  an  intelligent  notary. 

Arouet  le  jeune,  known  to  the  world  as  Voltaire,  was 

""  put  to  school  with  the  Jesuits  and  then  entered  a 

law  office.  He  was  also  introduced  into  the  brilliant  "  Societe  du 
Temple,"  a  group  of  free-thinkers  founded  by  Saint-Evremond. 
The  young  Arouet  began  boldly  as  a  poet.  He  competed  for 
Academy  rewards,  satirized  that  body,  and  won  thi^  attention  of 
the  Cafe  Procope  and  the  liberal  wits.  But  soon  the  Regent 
quietly  imprisoned  him,  in  May,  1717.  It  is  with  this  date  that 
Voltaire's  public  career  really  conomences.  (Edipe  was  already 
on  the  boards,  and  after  many  intrigues  the  author  was  freed  from 
prison  in  order  to  get  this  tragedy  acted.  Its  success  was  com- 
plete and  widespread. 

Voltaire  took  naturally  to  "  la  bonne  compagnie,"  which  he  con- 
sidered the  source  of  literary  reputation.  Therefore  he  usually 
Worldly  conciliated  this  inner  circle,  and  it  is  to  his  credit 
Success  that,  by  a  mixture  of  cleverness  and  perseverance,  he 

improved  the  rank  of  the  litterateur  during  his  century.  For 
himself,  he  saw  clearly  that  social  independence  needed  to  be 
guaranteed  practically,  and  he  set  about  making  a  large  fortune 
by  adroit  speculation.    We  may  pass  over  the  details  of  his 


384        VOLTAIRE:    LITERATURE    AND    LIFE 

courtly  and  theatrical  intrigues.  Other  plays  had  not  duplicated 
the  success  of  (Edipe,  but  the  Henriade  was  soon  to  appear  and 
attain  a  vogue  astonishing  for  an  epic.  So  far,  Voltaire  stood 
almost  entirely  for  belles  lettres,  being  rated  at  the  time  of  his 
flight  to  England  as  an  excellent  dramatist  and  an  amusing  poet. 
That  flight  was  caused  by  a  break  in  the  social  edifice  which  he 
had  so  carefully  built  up.  He  ventured  to  gibe  at  a  stupid  noble, 
the  Chevalier  de  Rohan.  Voltaire  was  seized  and  beaten  by  the 
lackeys  of  this  lord,  who  then  refused  the  writer's  challenge  to  a 
duel  and  had  him  shut  up  in  the  Bastille.  Raging  at  this  second 
imprisonment  and  its  cause,  Voltaire  was  shortly  released.  But 
in  order  to  spare  the  Chevalier  de  Rohan,  the  authorities  decided 
to  exile  the  poet.  He  embarked  for  England,  with  mingled  feel- 
ings of  bitterness  and  eagerness,  ready  for  the  strongest  intel- 
lectual influence  of  his  life.  This  was  probably  in  May,  1726, 
when  Voltaire  was  in  his  thirty-second  year. 

The  sojourn  in  England  constitutes  the  second  important  phase 
in  his  life,  and  its  significance  is  out  of  proportion  to  its  brevity. 
The  dates  are  still  subject  to  dispute,  but  it  is  prob- 
"^  ,able  that  he  remained  in  the  country  rather  more 

than  two  years.  His  contacts  were  various  and  fruitful.  He  had 
already  known  Bolingbroke,  who  counted  for  so  much  in  his 
philosophy,  and  with  whom  he  now  spent  some  time.  Among 
other  writers  who  entertained  and  influenced  him  were  Pope  and 
Swift.  His  interest  in  Locke  and  Newton  shaped  his  practical 
philosophy,  the  leaders  among  the  Deists  made  him  a  partisan  of 
natural  religion,  association  with  men  of  affairs  gave  him  his 
exaggerated  conception  of  English  liberty  —  free  government, 
free  thought  and  free  writing  —  and  his  attendance  at  the  theaters 
resulted  in  his  introduction  of  Shakespeare  into  France.  He 
learned  the  English  language  and  literature  fairly  well. 

His  new  experiences  and  ideas  were  embodied  in  the  Lettres 
philosophiques  (1734),  which  inaugurated  the  English  vogue. 
He  also  published,  with  the  aid  of  clever  advertising,  the  widely 
popular  Henriade  (1728-30).  On  the  whole,  his  stay  in  England 
sobered  his  thought  and  directed  more  definitely  his  purpose  in 
the  domains  of  skeptical  philosophy,  cosmopolitan  criticism  and 
dramatic  enterprise. 

There  was  an  interlude  in  Paris  before  fresh  exile.    We  now 


HIS    SOJOURN    AT    CIREY  385 

find  Voltaire  producing  semi-Shakespearean  plays.  Zatre,  in  1732, 
swept  its  author's  name,  as  he  said,  into  the  "  smoke  of  vain- 
glory." He  had  not  waited  for  this  tribute  to  spur  him  on  to  the 
unceasing  labor  which  was  the  chief  merit  of  his  next  decade. 
The  Histoire  de  Charles  XII  appeared.  The  Temple  du  Oout, 
a  satire  in  the  vein  of  Pope's  Dundad,  raised  a  storm  among  the 
critics  of  the  capital.  r 

This  opposition  may  have  helped  to  banish  him,  but  the  efiS- 
cient  cause  was  the  publication  of  the  Lettres  philosophiques. 
.    „.  In  1734,  Voltaire,  anticipating  arrest,  had  fled  to 

take  up  his  residence  at  Cirey,  a  chateau  on  the  edge 
of  Lorraine.  The  hostess,  Mme  du  Chatelet,  was  among  the  first 
women  of  her  time  in  intellect.  The  connection  lasted  fourteen 
years,  until  her  death.  It  was  characterized  from  the  first  by 
comradeship  in  hard  mental  labor.  The  Marquise  stood  for 
mathematics  and  a  Leibnizian  universe;  she  also  shared 
Voltaire's  interests  in  Newton  and  history.  Together,  they  in- 
dulged in  the  fashionable  physics,  and  they  had  time  left  over 
for  practical  cares  and  for  entertaining.  Amateur  theatricals 
were  frequently  in  order,  also  brilliant  suppers  and  conversation, 
after  the  day's  work.  In  spite  of  his  ailing  body,  Voltaire  seems 
to  have  had  th'e  energy  for  everything.  He  called  himself 
"  I'eternel  malade,"  but  he  was  also  an  external  traveler  and 
busybody.  Flying  visits  to  Paris  and  to  provincial  courts  were 
slight  distractions  to  his  ceaseless  productive  activity.  History, 
physics  and  metaphysics  do  not  destroy  his  abiding  interest  in 
the  drama.  Several  more  plays,  together  with  the  scandalous 
Pucelle,  belong  to  the  early  part  of  this  period.  Cantos  of  this 
mock-epic  circulated  through  Europe  long  before  actual  pub- 
lication. 

In  1736  he  began  the  correspondence  with  Frederick  the 
Great,  who  took  at  first  the  attitude  of  a  humble  young  Tele- 
machus  towards  his  Mentor.  The  publication  of  the  flippant 
Mondain  sent  Voltaire  flying  from  the  police  into  Holland. 
From  his  cordial  reception  there  he  stole  the  leisure  to  print 
his  Elements  de  la  Philospphie  de  Newton  (1738) — and  soon 
he  was  back  at  Cirey,  entertaining  visitors  and  attacking  his 
enemies.  He  had  a  succession  of  literary  quarrels  that  lasted 
half  a  century.    The  journalist  Freron,  later  ridiculed  as  Frelon, 


386        VOLTAIRE:    LITERATURE    AND    LIFE 

the  hornet,  was  soon  to  ply  his  sting,  and  the  two  Rousseaus 
occupied  in  turn  the  post  of  enemy  extraordinary.  The  skir- 
mishing with  J.-B.  Rousseau  belongs  to  these  days,  as  also  the 
bout  with  the  despicable  Desfontaines.  The  latter's  Voltairo- 
manie  was  an  outbreak  of  scurrility  against  more  deadly  epi- 
gram. Shortly  afterward,  in  1739,  the  "  divine  Emilie  "  (Mme 
du  Chatelet)  dragged  her  friend  from  the  Siecle  de  Louis  XIV 
to  a  round  of  festivities  in  Brussels  and  then  in  Paris. 

The  correspondence  with  Frederick  had  gone  on,  with  extrav- 
agant compliment  and  mutual  adoration.  The  Monarch  had 
written  a  refutation  of  Machiavelli  and  then  refuted  himself 
and  disappointed  Voltaire  by  invading  Silesia.  But  before  this 
the  two  most  remarkable  men  of  their  age  had  arranged  a  meet- 
ing which  passed  delightfully.  Mahomet  was  produced  in  Paris 
(1741)  and  met  with  great  applause,  until  its  attacks  on 
fanaticism  were  twisted  by  enemies  into  the  semblance  of  "  in- 
famous blasphemy."  The  authorities  once  more  intervened, 
and  Voltaire  left  the  city  in  disgust.  But  he  soon  tried  again 
with  Merope,  which  gave  him  one  of  the  most  dazzling  pre- 
mieres on  record. 

It  is  about  this  time  that  Voltaire's  fourth  phase,  combin- 
ing his  Parisian  with  his  Prussian  celebrity,  may  be  considered 
as  inaugurated.  With  his  dramatic  success  and 
with  deft  religious  prostrations  and  protestations, 
he  made  a  second  bid  for  the  Academy  and  again  failed. 
He  fell  back  on  diplomatic  missions  to  Frederick,  sanctioned 
by  the  French  court,  but  at  that  game  the  King  proved  himself 
far  cleverer  than  Voltaire.  In  1745,  he  was  again  in  Paris 
with  a  playlet,  won  some  court  favor,  superintended  festivities 
and  was  appointed  Historiographer  Royal.  This  wedge  once 
driven  in,  it  was  not  so  hard  to  win  the  smiles  of  the  Pompadour 
and  even  the  benedictions  of  the  Pope,  who  actually  accepted 
the  dedication  to  Mahomet.  Finally,  Voltaire  was  elected  to 
the  Academy  (1746).  But  falling  into  disgrace  at  coxirt,  he  and 
the  Marquise  had  to  flee  overnight.  They  went  into  hiding, 
first  at  Sceaux,  and  were  later  welcomed  in  Lorraine  by 
Stanislaus,  King  of  Poland  and  protector  of  a  handsome  guards- 
man and  minor  poet  called  Saint-Lambert.  We  need  not  dwell 
on  Mme  du  Chatelet's  infatuation  for  this  lover,  her  abandon- 


VOLTAIRE:     LITERATURE    AND    LIFE        387 

ment  of  Voltaire,  his  rage  and  grief,  and  her  death,  which  was 
the  greatest  affliction  of  his  life.  He  found  himself  back  in 
Paris,  where  he  set  up  an  establishment  with  his  niece,  Mme 
Denis.  He  sought  distraction  in  a  theater  of  his  own,  playing 
tragedies  in  opposition  to  the  gloomy  Crebillon,  discovering  the 
great  actor  Le  Kain.  Voltaire's  tales  were  also  running  through 
delighted  Paris  at  this  period.  But  Frederick  the  Great  had 
renewed  his  invitation,  and  this  time  the  guest  was  ready.  He 
obtained  an  imgracious  leave  of  absence  from  Louis  XV  and 
arrived  at  Potsdam  in  July,  1750. 

The  first  months  in  Prussia  were  a  genuine  delight  to  the  two 
men  in  Europe  who  were  wholly  capable  of  appreciating  each 
other.    Not  only  was  Voltaire   lavishly  provided 
ni38ia  £^j..  j^g  ^^g  publicly  honored  and  feted  in  a  way 

certain  to  stimulate  his  vanity  and  pride.  Whole  theaters  rose 
at  his  entrance;  royal  apartments  were  given  him  to  work  in; 
royal  consorts  smilingly  excused  him  from  their  heavy  dinners; 
and  he  was  the  chief  light  of  the  royal  suppers  in  that  little 
octagonal  room  which  contained  night  after  night  the  con- 
centrated wit  of  Europe.  Officially  he  was  Court  Chamberlain 
and  the  arbiter  and  polisher  of  the  King's  literary  endeavors. 
These  varied  joys  the  exile  paraded  in  letters  to  his  niece,  but 
he  already  doubted  if  the  glory  could  last. 

The  rift  came  when  the  visitor  began  illegally  speculating 
through  the  medium  of  a  usurer,  whom  Voltaire  dragged  through 
a  rather  disgraceful  lawsuit.  Frederick  stood  coldly  aloof.  The 
quarrel  with  Maupertuis  followed.  This  eminent  if  socially 
stupid  mathematician  could  not  get  along  with  Voltaire.  He  was 
President  of  the  Berlin  Academy  and  could  bear  no  rival  near 
the  throne.  Voltaire  found  his  opportunity,  satirized  Mauper- 
tuis in  the  Diatribe  du  docteur  Akakia,  and  convulsed  the  court 
with  laughter.  Frederick,  however,  was  estranged,  and  it  be- 
came necessary  for  Voltaire  to  leave.  The  two  parted  with  the 
semblance  of  amity.  But  at  Frankfort  Voltaire  was  arrested  by 
the  royal  orders  and  detained  several  weeks.  Possibly  through 
Frederick's  influence  the  return  of  the  native  was  balked  by 
the  French  government  on  the  frontier;  also  a  pirated  edition 
of  the  Essai  sur  les  moeurs  rendered  official  opinion  in  France 
intractable. 


388        VOLTAIRE:    LITERATURE    AND    LIFE 

Where  was  Voltaire  to  turn?  He  was  now  sixty  years  old. 
Neither  king  nor  priest  in  any  of  the  Catholic  countries  would 
tolerate  him.  During  the  three  years  that  he  had 
Switzeran  gpgjj^  with  Frederick,  his  literary  accomplishment 
had  been  slight.  The  same  may  be  said  of  his  previous  cour- 
tier-life in  Paris.  He  now  wanted  leisure,  peace  and  health. 
He  sought  them  first  just  outside  of  Protestant  Geneva  on  the 
property  he  called  Les  Delices;  and  then  at  his  famous  estate 
of  Ferney,  which  was  really  in  Burgundy,  but  next  to  the  Swiss 
frontier.  Thither  Madame  Denis  came  as  his  housekeeper,  and 
he  rolled  up  his  sleeves  for  the  literary  fray. 

The  Siecle  de  Louis  XIV  came  out  in  1751.  The  pirated  ver- 
sion of  the  Essai  sur  les  mceurs  called  for  his  own  definitive 
edition,  which  he  delivered  in  1756.  The  same  year  saw  his  most 
earnest  philosophical  poem  —  that  on  the  disaster  of  Lisbon. 
Two  years  later  the  masterpiece  of  Candide  appeared.  In  the 
meantime,  Voltaire's  first  home  had  become  a  rendezvous  for  the 
gayer  life  of  Geneva,  and  he  had,  as  usual,  eslfeblished  a  private 
theater.  The  stricter  Calvinists  objected,  notably  J. -J.  Rous- 
seau, and  Voltaire,  after  several  skirmishes  with  the  Gene- 
vans, thought  himself  happier  out  of  Switzerland.  Just  across 
the  border,  at  Ferney,  he  was  henceforth  absolutely  his  own 
master. 

At  this  point  we  may  pause  to  consider  his  strictly  belle- 
tristic  activities,  including,  where  necessary,  some  few  produc- 
tions of  the  Ferney  period.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  evident  that 
such  a  life  will  leave  its  mark  on  composition,  whether  in  the 
direction  of  facility  and  haste,  or  of  actuality  and  vitality.  The 
divisions  to  be  dealt  with  here  are  poetry,  fiction  and  history. 
Voltaire's  theater,  as  well  as  his  pamphleteering  and  philoso- 
phie,  will  be  treated  separately  (see  Bk.  Ill,  Ch.  I  and  Bk.  IV, 
Ch.  II). 

His  poetic,  as  well  as  his  dramatic  performance,  follows  in  the 
main  his  theories  and  corresponds  to  his  nature.  In  the  more 
serious  forms  of  verse  —  the  epic  and  the  ode  —  a 
constant  sense  of  the  rules,  combined  with  a  natural 
lack  of  elevation,  makes  for  dulness  and  an  absence  of  warmth. 
In  the  lighter  genres  —  epistles,  tales  or  impromptus  —  Voltaire's 
gaiety,  grace  and  talent  appear  unrestrained.    Even  his  corres- 


HIS    VERSE  389 

pondence  is  interlarded  with  verses.  He  wrote  a  great  many  and 
of  almost  every  kind:  dramatic,  epic,  mock-epic,  narrative,  di- 
dactic; odes,  satires,  epistles,  critiques,  and  especially  vers  d' oc- 
casion. Some  idea  of  the  content  and  character  of  his  chief  works 
may  be  given. 

La  Henriade  or  La  Ligue,  as  it  was  first  called,  portrays  the 
period  of  the  religious  wars  and  glorifies  the  name  of  Henry  IV. 
Voltaire  evidently  hoped  in  this  poem  to  write  the  great  national 
epic  that  had  been  vainly  awaited  since  the  time  of  Ronsard. 
But  it  was  too  late  for  the  indigenous  kind  of  epic,  and  despite 
many  admirable  verses  and  descriptions.  La  Henriade  remains 
decidedly  artificial.  Voltaire's  odes,  for  the  most  part,  are  cold 
and  restrained;  they  evince  rhetorical  preoccupations  and  that 
fondness  for  capitalized  abstractions  so  characteristic  of  the 
century.  His  did^tic  poems  are  more  important  for  philosophy 
than  for  art.  This  is  seen  in  Le  Pour  et  le  Contre  {Epitre  a 
Uranie),  the  Discdurs  en  vers  sur  I'homme,  the  P^eme  sur  la  loi 
naturelle,  and  the  famous  Poeme  sur  le  desastre  de  Lisbonne.  Of 
these,  the  first  and  the  last  show  the  most  fire  and  finish;  the 
other  two,  longer,  stiffer  in  style,  and  perhaps  more  profound, 
consist  mainly  of  moralizings  in  the  vein  of  Pope.  The  latter's 
Dunciad  may  also  have  furnished  the  idea  for  Voltaire's  Temple 
du  Gout,  a  critique  and  satire  on  contemporary  letters,  written 
in  mingled  prose  and  verse.  Addison's  Campaign  probably  in- 
spired Voltaire's  retort  in  the  Poeme  de  Fontenoy,  where  his 
muse  for  once  is  clearly  patriotic.  Among  his  satires  may  be 
mentioned  Le  Mondain,  or  "  Apology  for  Luxury,"  a  subject  ger- 
mane to  the  spirit  of  the  times. 

But  it  is  rather  in  the  hundreds  of  light  verses,  loose  leaves 
from  his  portfolio,  that  Voltaire's  deft  hand  and  ready  wit  appear. 
The  stanzas  and  epistles,  arising  from  all  sorts  of  occasions,  are 
addressed  to  most  of  the  celebrities  of  the  time.  Frederick  is 
apostrophized  as  the  "  Solomon  of  the  North  "  and  Mme  du 
Chatelet  is  thus  adjured: 

Si  vous  voulez  que  j'aime  encore, 
Rendez-moi  I'age  des  amours. 

On  the  bewildered  head  of  Lefranc  de  Pompignan  is  heaped  a 
succession  of  stanzas,  beginning  respectively  with  Pour,  Qui, 


390        VOLTAIRE:   LITERATURE    AND   LIFE 

Qiioi,  etc.  —  a  rapid  fire  of  impudent  and  stinging  wit.  The 
manner  is  usually  the  genre  badin,  the  light  verse  of  rather  free 
stanzaic  form,  often  epigrammatic  and  always  of  a  graceful 
easy  flow.  The  stories  in  verse  are  scarcely  to  be  distinguished 
from  the  stories  in  prose,  save  that  in  the  former  the  Voltairian 
qualities  are  likely  to  appear  with  more  emphasis  on  decoration 
and  a  frequent  suggestion  of  La  Fontaine.  Among  the  most 
amusing  are  Ce  qui  plait  aux  dames  and  La  Begueule. 

The  philosophic  contes  in  prose  are  probably,  in  modem  eyes, 
the  best  known  and  best  liked  portion  of  Voltaire's  work.  Ten 
or  twelve  of  these  would  constitute  the  most  artistic 
Stones  volume  of  all  his  contributions  to  literature.    They 

are  novelized  pamphlets  —  but  they  are  also  delightful  apologues* 
The  rapidity  of  action,  the  brilliancy  and  potency  of  style,  the 
shrewd  doses  of  milder  philosophy,  and  the  constant  play  of  a 
laughing  intelligence  rank  these  tales  among  the  world's  little 
masterpieces.  Objection  has  been  made  to  the  intrusive  person- 
ality of  the  author  —  but  his  personality  is  worth  intruding.  An- 
other reproach  is  the  lack  of  character-drawing,  and  it  is  true 
that  the  people  are  silhouettes,  though  sharply  defined.  Judging 
from  several  standards  of  today,  particularly  that  of  dramatic 
concentration,  we  can  see  how  the  tales  might  have  been  bettered; 
but  the  Oriental  apologue  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  a  special 
genre,  with  rules  and  practices  of  its  own. 

The  usual  form,  briefly,  is  this:  personages  of  queer  and  some- 
times symbolic  names  (Candide,  Micromegas)  are  set  to  travel- 
ing in  strange  countries;  the  East  is  the  favorite  field,  though  we 
may  have  a  Huron  in  Paris  {L'Ingenu)  or  terrestrials  in  other 
worlds.  Either  their  experiences  are  designed  to  illustrate  some 
one  principle  dear  to  the  philosophes  (Candide),  or  there  is  a  suc- 
cession of  skirmishes  along  philosophic,  economic  or  sociological 
lines.  The  eighteenth-century  "  veil  "  is  thus  applied,  not  only  to 
the  (alien)  setting,  but  also  to  the  personages,  often  disguised 
acquaintances  of  Voltaire's,  and  to  the  ideas,  which  are  both 
stated  and  symbolized.  The  idea  of  relativity  is  constantly  pres- 
ent, because  of  the  comparisons  involved. 

For  instance,  in  the  first  of  the  series,  Le  Monde  comme  it 
va  —  Vision  de  Babouc,  Persepolis  represents  Paris,  and  the 
question  of  destroying  the  city  is  posited  through  a  series  of 


HIS    PROSE  391 

tableaux.  Zadig,  drawn  from  many  sources,  intimates  many 
morals.  Episodes  and  adventures  of  the  wandering  prince, 
cosmopolitan  conversations,  a  hermit,  and  detective  methods 
that  anticipate  Sherlock  Holmes  —  such  are  the  elements  that 
div^sify  a  rambling  narrative,  whose  chief  message  seems 
to  be  that  there  is  much  uncertainty  in  human  affairs.  Micro- 
megas  ("  The  Little-Great  One  ")  deals  with  interstellar  visita- 
tions and  satirizes  Fontenelle  as  the  secretary  of  the  Academy  of 
Saturn.  It  preaches  relativity  in  insisting  that  size  and  other 
apparent  advantages  are  matters  of  comparison  (cf.  Gulliver's 
Travels).  Candide  (1758),  the  most  famous  exemplar  of  the 
corde  philosophique,  is  also  the  most  artistically  told  and  unified. 
(.The  burning  earnestness  that  animated  the  Poeme  sur  le  desastre 
de  Lisbonne  is  still  present  in  Candide  as  a  deep,  partly  hidden 
.  ground-tone.  The  surface  of  the  story  reveals  the  familiar  Vol- 
taire —  the  controlled  mockery  of  an  optimism  blind  in  the  face 
of  senseless  and  endless  misfortunes,  the  dazzling  wit  evidenced 
in  sustained  caricature,  the  spontaneity  of  handling  and  the 
rapidity  of  movement.  The  chain  of  adventures  simply  shows 
the  travelers  as  constantly  falling  from  the  frying-pan  into  the 
fire.  The  characters  stand  on  their  feet  here  better  than  else- 
where, particularly  Pangloss  the  Leibnizian,  who  gives  the  ironic 
key  to  the  story  by  declaring  that  all  is  for  the  best  in  the  best 
of  possible  worlds. 

The  merits  of  Voltaire's  style  are  conspicuous  in  these  and 
other  contes.  He  mixes  the  conversational  with  the  dignified 
Oriental  manner,  but  he  stamps  all  with  his  own  image.  The 
main  features  of  this  style  are  its  swiftness,  its  smoothness  and 
graceful  wit.  The  sentences  fly  to  the  mark  like  poisoned 
arrows.  Voltaire  is  the  ablest  manipulator  of  that  style  coupe 
which  has  succeeded  to  the  long  sentences  and  elaborate 
rhetoric  of  the  previous  age. 

As  historian  also,  Voltaire  still  has  his  interest  and  value. 
He  added  much  to  historical  conception  and  he  relativized  much 
in  historical  treatment.  Before  him  history  had 
History  lyeejx  largely  a  matter  of  dry  compilations  or  of 

rhetorical  generalities.  Voltaire  and  Montesquieu  show  critical 
care  and  some  modern  sense  of  values.  To  these  qualities  they 
add  literary  talent  and  a  general  appeal,  turning  history  into 


392        VOLTAIRE:    LITERATURE    AND    LIFE 

a  notable  example  of  the  better  side  of  the  salon  influence. 
Voltaire's  special  achievement  was  to  rationalize  the  subject 
and  to  consider  as  its  chief  content  the  march  of  himian  civil- 
ization. 

With  his  usual  universality,  he  wrote  every  kind  of  history: 
the  annalistic,  the  biographical,  the  political  and  the  philosophi- 
cal. The  biographical  is  brilliantly  exhibited  in  the  Histoire 
de  Charles  XII  of  Sweden  (1731),  where  Voltaire's  mind 
undergoes  and  communicates  the  fascination  of  the  individual 
leader  —  a  capital  illustration  of  Carlyle's  "  great  man  "  theory. 
The  narrative  and  dramatic  interest  of  this  kind  continues  to  a 
considerable  extent  in  Voltaire's  masterpiece  —  the  Steele  de 
Louis  XIV  (1751),  where  the  writer  still  sees  the  "enlightened 
despot "  as  the  main  figure  of  his  age.  Louis  and  the  able 
men  around  him  are  viewed,  however,  less  as  conquerors 
than  as  civilizers.  It  is  above  all  "  I'esprit  humain,"  as  de- 
veloped in  a  great  period,  that  interests  Voltaire.  Hence  his 
treatment  of  the  epoch,  while  allowing  for  biographical  data 
and  even  court  gossip,  presents  first  a  large  tableau  of  the 
political  history  of  the  reign,  then  includes  chapters  on  com- 
merce, sciences,  arts,  letters  and  religion.  This  treatment  has 
been  criticized  as  too  analytical  and  too  piecemeal;  but  it  is 
still  largely  the  procedure  of  scientific  historians  today. 
Voltaire  was  particularly  qualified  to  undertake  such  a  survey, 
and  the  result  is  that  the  Siecle  de  Louis  XIV,  though  in  certain 
ways  too  panegyrical,  is  the  best  work  of  its  peculiar  kind  in 
the  century.  The  author  here  shows  tendencies  to  regard 
any  great  age  as  primarily  marked  by  its  successes  in  literature 
and  the  arts;  to  make  reason  rather  than  religion  the  light  of 
civilization;  to  view  periods  not  so  distinguished  as  benighted 
and  worthless;  and,  curiously  enough,  to  exalt  the  empire  of 
chance,  of  the  small  apparently  unrelated  fact,  in  human  affairs. 
Such  tendencies  appear  still  more  conspicuously  in  the  wider 
scope  of  the  Essai  sur  les  mceurs  et  I'esprit  des  nations  (first  ed., 
1745-46;  more  fully,  1756). 

This  work  is  a  universal  history  and  practically  the  first  his- 
tory of  civilization.  Purporting  to  begin  where  Bossuet  left  off, 
Voltaire  yet  has  much  to  say,  by  way  of  introduction,  concern- 
ing the  ancients  and  the  nations  of  the  Orient.    In  many  respects 


HIS    PROSE  393 

this  book  shows  its  modernity,  not  only  in  such  ideas  as  humani- 
tarianism  and  its  estimates  of  social  service,  but  also  in  the 
novelty  of  its  method.  For  instance,  the  chance-theory  seems 
here  a  part  of  Voltaire's  "pyrrhonism"  (compare  Le  Pyrrhonisme 
de  I'histoire,  1768),  or  of  the  skepticism  that  makes  him  doubt 
the  facile  explanations  of  priests  and  populace,  as  well  as  the 
unsupported  testimony  of  such  writers  as  Tacitus,  Bossuet  and 
of  course  Herodotus.  The  skeptic  is  opposed  to  the  inclusion  in 
serious  history  of  various  legends  and  stories,  particularly  such 
as  seem  to  debase  human  nature.  Voltaire  everywhere  recom- 
mends the  test  of  natural  probability  and  of  sound,  suflBcient  evi- 
dence, without  party  prejudice. 

In  the  Essai,  the  "  spirit  that  denied  "  sometimes  dimmed  the 
author's  philosophic  view  of  causes  and  led  him  into  various 
forms  of  injustice  toward  certain  influences.  Modern  progress 
for  him  starts  definitely  with  the  Renaissance.  He  can  appreci- 
ate the  role  neither  of  the  early  Christians,  nor  of  the  perennial 
Jews,  nor  of  the  Middle  Ages,  with  their  feudalism,  their 
"  horrors  and  miracles,"  their  greedy  Popes,  their  religious  wars 
and  schisms,  their  crusades,  ill-conducted  and  ill-starred.  He 
simply  removes  the  romance  from  the  Middle  Ages  and  considers 
them  as  almost  wholly  "  barbarous."  Voltaire  is  often  occu- 
pied with  wilfully  smashing  windows.  Otherwise,  the  treatise 
gives  a  fairly  spaced  view  of  the  past;  it  has  been  called  a 
monument  to  the  spirit  of  humanity,  which  Voltaire  deems 
"  greater  than  the  Pjrramids  " ;  and  its  influence  and  utility  are 
alike  indisputable.  It  subordinates,  of  course,  Bossuet's  Provi- 
dence as  a  manipulator  of  history,  it  shows  the  preponderant 
importance  of  les  mcewrs,  of  industrial  and  cultural  manifesta- 
tions, it  often  gives  a  panorama  rather  than  a  j)rofound  expla- 
nation of  the  course  of  empire,  and  it  offers  interesting  pictures 
of  the  world  outside  of  Europe.  Voltaire's  hatred  of  war  is 
pronounced;  usefulness  to  the  race  is  considered  the  final  test 
for  movements  and  for  men. 

Voltaire's  rationalizing  of  the  Middle  Ages,  of  the  miracles 
and  crusades,  is  akin  to  the  method  of  modern  research,  which, 
however,  rises  above  his  prejudices.  For  in  spite  of  all  his 
cautions  about  judging  each  age  relatively,  by  its  own  purpose 
rather  than  by  that  of  another  period,  he  frequently  falls  into 


394.        VOLTAIRE:    LITERATURE    AND   LIFE 

the  latter  blunder.  In  virtues  and  vices  he  remains  intensely 
dix-huitieme;  and  he  is  too  often  inaccurate  in  detail.  Yet  he 
gave  his  century  its  record  of  civilization;  he  thereby  stands  at 
the  threshold  of  modern  history,  and  his  two  main  works  are 
still  highly  considered,  though  correctejl,  by  the  historians  of 
today. 


CHAPTER  III 

MONTESQUIEU 

Into  the  restless  world  of  the  Regency  came  the  old  Roman 
profile  and  allegiance,  the  aristocratic  temper,  the  inquiring  om- 
nivorous mind  of  Charles-Louis  de  Secondat,  who 
His  Career     ^^^-^  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^  Montesquieu  (1689-1755).    Born 

near  Bordeaux,  of  a  family  belonging  to  the  noblesse  de  robe,  he 
underwent  the  influences  of  this  Gascon  heredity  and  habitat 
throughout  his  well-ordered  life.  He  was  educated,  with  em- 
phasis on  the  Latin  classics,  by  the  Jesuits;  he  was  trained  in 
legal  procedure,  though  his  interest  was  rather  in  the  "  spirit " 
of  legislation;  he  entered  Parisian  circles  equipped  with  those 
powers  of  observation  and  irony  which  produced  the  brilliant 
and  iconoclastic  Lettres  persanes  (1721).  His  preoccupation 
with  wit  and  social  satire  was  further  strengthened  by  his 
association  with  the  leaders  of  the  salons.  All  four  of  these 
were  at  various  periods  of  his  career  among  his  helpful  friends: 
the  Marquise  de  Lambert  pushed  him  for  the  Academy, 
Mme  de  Tencin  addressed  him  in  a  tone  of  intimate  raillery, 
the  others  placed  him  among  their  pet  lions.  Already  at 
Bordeaux,  Montesquieu  had  indulged  in  that  cultivation  of  the 
physical  sciences  which  is  at  once  a  sign  of  the  times  and  of  his 
own  positive  bent.  Now  in  Paris  he  attends  the  Club  de 
I'Entresol  (see  below,  p.  409) ,  an  organization  for  political  discus- 
sion. These  two  interests,  especially  the  political,  were  newly 
and  vitally  stirred  by  Montesquieu's  travels,  which  began  in 
1728,  after  his  election  to  the  Academy,  and  ended  three  years 
later  in  England. 

This  sojourn  in  England  represents  a  turning-point  in  his 
thought.  As  in  the  case  of  Voltaire,  what  had  been  held  in 
solution  was  now  precipitated,  and  the  result  in  each  case  is 
a  fresh  and  significant  conception  of  liberty.  Returning  to 
France,  Montesquieu  divides  his  time  between  Paris  and  his 

395 


396  MONTESQUIEU 

estate  of  La  Brede,  shows  his  practical  sense  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  latter,  disposes  of  his  "  charge  "  as  President  of  the 
Bordeaux  Parliament,  and  concentrates  more  and  more  on  his 
masterpieces.  The  Grandeur  et  decadence  des  Romains  (1734) 
was  probably  largely  conceived  before  his  trip  to  England. 
The  Esprit  des  lois  (1748)  was  the  result  of  two  laborious  dec- 
ades, varied  only  by  occasional  journeys  or  visits  and  the 
usual  cares  of  life. 

The  Latin  characteristics  of  Montesquieu  are  amply  evidenced 
by  contemporary  testimony  and  his  own  aptitudes.  But  he  is 
jjig  an  "  old  Roman "   crossed  with  a  Gascon  magis- 

Personality  trate.  The  first  appears  in  the  stoicism  which 
makes  him  reserved  in  emotion,  which  leads  him  to  justify 
suicide,  and  stamps  his  correspondence  as  less  expansive  than 
that  of  his  friends.  The  Gascon  appears  in  a  more  natural, 
though  frequently  checked,  disposition  toward  liveliness  and 
exaggeration  in  expression.  The  magistrate  appears  in  his 
domestic  masterfulness  and  sense  of  leadership;  the  aristocrat, 
in  his  emphasis  on  heredity  and  the  Parliaments.  In  fact,  he 
goes  back  to  the  Classic  ideal  of  I'honnete  homme,  ripened  by 
many  contacts  and  tastes,  holding  to  standards  of  moderation 
and  virtue,  not  without  his  point  of  pride.  More  in  the  spirit 
of  his  own  time  are  his  humanitarian  qualities  and  his  tendency 
to  view  things  from  a  sociological  and  philosophic  standpoint. 

His  mind  is  primarily  legal,  in  that  he  is  accustomed  to  the 
weighing,  sifting,  and  coordinating  of  evidence.  But  he  is  also  a 
philosophe  and  a  relativist  in  his  concern  with  the 
"*  new  interests,  his  distrust  of  the  old  absolutes  of 
metaphysics,  church  and  state.  More  than  this  —  he  is  the  fore- 
most generalizer  of  his  century.  No  such  grasp  of  principles,  no 
such  display  of  synthetic  ability  had  yet  been  known,  and  Montes- 
quieu is  only  surpassed  by  Bayle  for  wealth  and  catholicity  of 
knowledge.  Hibtory,  law,  ancient  lore,  contemporary  travels, 
physical  sciences  —  the  President  learned  and  linked  them  all 
into  his  system.  The  search  for  moral  and  physical  causes  impels 
all  his  work.  He  is  an  investigator  and  a  spectator  first;  and  then 
he  is  a  philosophe.  Like  the  leaders  of  the  Renaissance  he  is 
infinitely  curious  —  "  that  noble  curiosity  "  for  more  and  more 
knowledge  —  and  the  Esprit  des  lois  is  once  interrupted  by  a 


THE    LETTRES    PERSANES  397 

startling  yet  characteristic  invocation  to  the  Pierian  Muses.  He 
has  no  other  sentiment  for  art  than  that.  He  names  as  "  great 
poets  "  four  philosophic  thinkers  —  Plato,  Malebranche,  Shaftes- 
Imry  and  Montaigne;  his  taste  is  of  the  colorless  neo-classic 
variety;  and  positivistic  science  has  now  replaced  the  sweep  of 
the  imagination.  Yet  he  is  not  distracted  from  "  the  proper  study 
of  mankind."  His  impressive  dominance  in  half-a-dozen  fields 
of  thought  will  appear  from  a  survey  of  his  works. 

The  Lettres  persanes  came  out  anonymously,  and  as  a  con- 
temporary prophesied,  the  book  "  sold  like  bread."  Better  than 
« Lettres  ^^^  °^^^^  product  of  the  time,  this  satire  holds  the 
Persanes"  mirror  up  to  the  Regency,  faithfully  reflecting  its 
(1721)  mocking  spirit,  its  license  and  its  ferment.    Nothing 

so  daring,  so  amusing  and  brilliant,  had  yet  been  allowed  in  print, 
though  many  such  ideas  must  have  floated  among  the 
free-thinkers  and  the  coffee-houses.  To  such  an  extent  do 
the  Lettres  persanes  crystallize  this  frondeur  criticism  and  revolt 
that  Montesquieu  never  formally  acknowledged  the  work  and 
in  later  life  seemed  ashamed  of  it. 

The  sources,  in  form,  are  negligible;  much  of  the  matter  comes 
from  Chardm's  Voyage  en  Perse.  Montesquieu's  plan  is  that 
two  Persians,  Rica  and  Usbek,  visiting  Paris,  shall  write  home 
their  apparently  na'ive  and  unprejudiced  account  of  French 
customs.  The  frame-work  is  then  a  veil,  similar  to  that  used  by 
Swift  and  Voltaire,  behind  which  a  great  many  indirect  blows  can 
be  delivered.  Dealing  with  actualities,  the  book  is  partly  journal- 
istic; it  is  partly  fiction,  in  that  we  have  the  story  of  the  women 
whom  the  Persian  travelers  left  behind  them.  The  harem  at- 
mosphere thus  introduced  is  heavy  and  imwholesome.  The  illusion 
of  the  Oriental  viewpoint  is,  however,  skilfully  maintained 
through  most  of  the  book.  There  are  also  "  portraits,"  in  the  man- 
ner of  La  Bruyere,  of  such  public  figures  as  the  busy  inventor, 
the  reporter,  the  speculators  and  the  dandies.  There  are  certain 
other  Classical  and  conservative  features,  seen  in  the  balanced 
style,  the  frequent  appeal  to  "  reason  "  and  "  good  sense,"  the 
aristocratic  contempt  for  writers,  pedants  and  sycophants,  some- 
what indiscriminately  mingled. 

The  Lettres  persanes  has  its  serious  as  well  as  its  frivolous  side. 
Towards  the  end,  the  tone  changes  and  the  real  importance  of  the 


398  MONTESQUIEU 

pamphlet  appears:  it  announces  not  only  the  Esprit  des  lais 
but  the  esprit  of  the  century.  The  book  is  nearly  always  for- 
ward-looking and  often  revolutionary. 

As  regards  government,  Montesquieu  adopts  categorically  the 

standpoint  of  the  relativist.    "The  best  government  is  that  which 

attains  its  end  with  the  least  expenditiu:e  of  energy." 

eas  rpjjg  kinds  of  governments  and  their  principles  are 

sketched  very  much  as  we  shall  see  them  in  the  Esprit  des  lois. 
Only  here  it  is  significant  that  Montesquieu  can  imagine  all  these 
principles  as  obtaining  in  a  Republic,  which  on  the  whole  is  the 
sort  of  government  that  he  now  prefers.  He  satirizes,  not  with- 
out regret,  the  failure  of  the  monarchical  and  aristocratic  regime. 
He  sees  the  French  monarchy  as  degenerate  and  pleasure-seeking, 
criticizes  Louis  XIV,  and  admits  the  decline  of  the  aristocracy 
with  impatience  and  shame. 

As  regards  philosophy,  Montesquieu  states  the  ideas  of  the 
relativist  and  the  semi-materialist  in  connection  with  the  vary- 
ing testimony  of  the  senses  and  with  the  persistent  intrusion  of  the 
ego.  The  divine  order  of  the  universe  appears  less  as  a  matter  of 
sublime  mysteries  than  as  a  manifestation  of  a  few  immutable  — 
and  simple  —  physical  laws.  In  moral  precepts,  there  is  again  no 
absolute.  Materialism  also  shows  its  head  in  the  emphasis  on 
the  bodily  ''  machine  "  and  in  several  passages  concerning  the 
influences  of  climate  and  soil,  which  foreshadow  the  famous  doc- 
trines of  the  Esprit  des  lois. 

Believing  apparently  in  natural  religion,  Montesquieu,  in  the 
Lettres  persanes,  openly  assails  the  foundations  of  Catholicism, 
declaring  that  it  can  scarcely  last  five  hundred  years,  that  the 
Pope  is  an  idol  worshipped  only  from  habit,  that  he  and  the  king 
are  simply  "  two  magicians."  The  writer  gibes  at  nearly  all  the 
standard  doctrines,  berates  the  theologians,  those  super-subtle 
"  dervishes,"  laughs  at  the  Capucin  missionaries,  takes  a  fling  at 
the  temporal  power  of  the  church  and  anticipates  Voltaire's 
indictment  of  the  terrible  religious  wars.  We  have  a  defense  of 
free-will,  as  not  really  discordant  with  God's  power  —  it  is  better 
to  follow  his  precepts  than  to  analyze  his  cloudy  attributes.  We 
have  a  distinct  approach  to  the  method  of  comparative  religion 
in  the  passage  where  a  Mohammedan  believer  condones  the 
Christians.    Irony  still  appears  in  the  treatment  of  these  ques- 


THE    LETTRES    PERSANES  399 

tions,  but  there  is  no  flaw  in/tSfe-gincerity  with  which  the"authot 
here  and  elsewhere  stands  up  for  the  principles  of  tolerance.  In 
fact,  he  finds  nothing  more  offensive  to  the  gods  than  the  absence 
of  humanity  and  equity.  Justice  tempered  with  mercy  is  both 
divine  and  human.  So  a  diatribe  against  the  Inquisition  is 
paralleled  by  one  against  the  cruelty  of  the  Spaniards  in  the 
Indies,  and  Usbek,  the  author's  mouthpiece,  regrets  the  revocation 
of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  The  Protestants  are  defended  as  useful 
merchants  and  artisans,  and  it  is  also  on  grounds  of  utility  that 
Montesquieu  suggests  what  he  later  partially  retracts  —  the  estab- 
lishment of  several  religions  in  a  state. 

His  whole  approach  to  the  religious  question  is,  indeed,  not 
only  from  the  standpoint  of  the  rationalist,  but  also  from  that  of 
the  tolerant  humanitarian  and  statesman.  It  is  noticeable  that 
he  allows  the  Troglodytes  their  own  religion,  in  order  to  soften 
manners  and  to  aid  virtue.  This  idea  of  the  creed  as  service- 
able to  the  state  is  in  accordance  with  his  conception  of  social 
solidarity,  which  lies  at  the  base  of  the  Troglodyte  republic. 
Here  all  labor  for  the  common  interest.  It  is  emphasized  that 
the  general  aim  is  not  separable,  in  a  "  virtuous  "  state,  from 
the  individual  good,  and  such  solidarity  even  reaches  the  point 
of  communism  in  Montesquieu's  doctrine.  However,  in  answer- 
ing objections  as  to  the  pernicious  effect  of  the  "  arts  "  (indus- 
tries) and  inventions,  Usbek  associates  them  with  the  advance 
of  civilization,  and  maintains  that  they  are  desirable  chiefly  as 
creating  a  state  of  "  luxury,"  needed  for  the  general  welfare. 
This  is  one  of  Montesquieu's  most  idiosyncratic  theories. 

Such  are  the  main  ideas  of  this  remarkably  fertile  book.  Its 
form  has  doubtless  interfered  with  a  full  appreciation  of  it,  es- 
pecially in  our  own  times.  Its  fragmentary  character,  its  hop- 
skip-and-jump  manner,  its  apparently  haphazard  construction 
are  disconcerting;  but  it  was  always  Montesquieu's  ideal  to 
"  provoke  thought  rather  than  (mere)  reading,"  to  stimulate 
by  alternate  piquancy  and  depth.  His  lax  construction  matters 
less  in  letters  than  elsewhere.  When  the  Persian  veil  is  nearly 
dropped  towards  the  end,  we  are  certainly  reading  the  direct 
utterances  of  a  very  competent  thinker.  Contemporaries,  we 
are  told,  pardoned  the  book's  temerities  for  the  sake  of  its 
gaieties;  today  one  is  disposed  to  do  exactly  the  contrary. 


400  MONTESQUIEU 

In  1734  appeared  the  Considerations  sur  les  causes   de  la 

grandeur  des  Remains  et  de  leur  decadence  —  to  give  the  volume 

..^,       ^  its  full  and  exactly  appropriate  title.    Like  all  of 

"  Grandeur  et  ,,     ^         .      ,  i        1  •         j 

decadence  des  Montesquieu  s  works,  it  was  issued   anonymously, 

Eomains  "  jj^^  j^gre,  as  with  the  Esprit  des  lois,  the  authorship 
was  soon  apparent  and  was  not  denied.  The  book  is  a  classical 
masterpiece:  classical  not  only  because  it  is  saturated  with  the 
spirit  of  Latin  antiquity,  but  French  Classical  in  that  it  mirrors 
the  abiding  qualities  of  harmony,  proportion,  universal  truth 
and  dignified  style ;  it  is  a  masterpiece  because  of  these  qualities 
and  the  correspondingly  elevated  thought,  because  for  once 
Montesquieu  reaches  artistic  unity  and  balance  of  parts.  The 
history  unfolds,  indeed,  like  a  Classical  tragedy,  rising  through 
"  grandeur  "  to  fall  through  "  decadence,"  with  Pompey  as  the 
climax  of  the  plot.  The  dramatic  value  is  enhanced  by  the 
spectacular,  by  those  visions  of  men  and  races  which  Mon- 
tesquieu draws  with  so  large  a  sweep.  The  Roman  side  of  him 
is  now  thoroughly  at  home,  and  you  feel  the  spirit  that  has  long 
known  comradeship  with  Tacitus  and  Livy,  with  the  imposing 
austere  virtues  of  the  Republic,  as  well  as  with  the  graces  of  the 
later  orators.  In  these  respects  the  book  looks  backward;  but 
it  is  emphatically  of  its  own  century  by  its  method  of  "  con- 
sidering "  history. 

Montesquieu  is  primarily  philosophic.  He  seeks  historic 
truth  in  the  "  esprit  general,"  in  the  movement  of  profound  moral 
and  physical  causes.  "  The  general  march  drags  with  it  all 
particular  incidents."  Before  him  Bossuet  almost  alone  in 
France  had  represented  a  concept  of  philosophic  history.  The 
two  men  have  similar  interpretations  of  many  facts,  a  like  ad- 
miration for  antiquity,  a  like  instinct  for  historical  observation 
and  induction.  But  they  soar  as  rival  eagles.  The  idea  of 
Providence,  the  operation  of  the  First  Cause  dominates  the 
panorama  of  Bossuet,  as  God  the  protagonist  dominates  the 
Biblical  dramas  of  Racine.  Montesquieu  deals  only  with 
directly  human  and  natural  causes.  The  power  even  of  the 
Roman  religion  is  scanted  in  his  survey,  which  analyses  mainly 
politics,  war,  the  moral  status.  The  reasons  for  Roman  great- 
ness are  founded  on  the  wisdom  of  the  citizens  and  their  "  vir- 
tuous "  institutions.    The  decay  of  these  principles  spelled  the 


THE    ESPRIT    DES    LOIS  401 

decay  of  Rome,  which  also  suffered  from  the  unwieldy  extension 
of  the  Empire. 

The  treatment  is  suitably  elevated,  somewhat  aphoristic, 
reminiscential  of  Latin  masters,  adapting  strikingly  their 
figures  and  vocabulary,  eloquent,  yet  not  merely  rhetorical. 
This  famous  passage  will  show  us  Montesquieu  on  the  heights: 

C'est  ici  qu'il  faut  se  doniier  le  spectacle  des  choses  humaines. 
Qu'on  vole  dans  I'histoire  de  Rome,  tant  de  guerres  entreprises, 
tant  de  sang  repandu,  tant  de  peuples  detruits,  tant  de  grandes 
actions,  tant  de  triomphes,  tant  de  politique,  de  sagesse,  de 
prudence,  de  Constance,  de  courage;  ce  projet  d'envahir  tout,  si 
bien  forme,  si  bien  soutenu,  si  bien  fini,  a  quoi  aboutit-U,  qu'a 
assouvir  le  bonheur  de  cinq  ou  six  monstres?  Quoi!  ce  senat 
n'avait  fait  evanouir  tant  de  rois  que  pour  tomber  lui-meme  dans 
le  plus  bas  esclavage  de  quelques-ims  de  ses  plus  indignes  citoyens, 
et  s'exterminer  par  ses  propres  arrets!  On  n'eleve  done  sa  puissance, 
que  pour  la  voir  mieux  renversee!  Les  hommes  ne  travaillent  a 
augmenter  leur  pouvoir,  que  pour  le  voir  tomber  centre  eux- 
memes,  dans  de  plus  heureuses  mains! 

In  handling  his  sources,  Montesquieu  is  usually  careful, 
stating  nothing  without  authority;  he  sometimes  exaggerates 
dramatically,  but  he  never  simply  perverts ;  yet  he  is  not  wholly 
critical,  in  the  modern  sense;  he  is  too  respectful  of  the  ancients 
to  question  their  credibility.  Also,  he  naturally  knows  little  or 
nothing  of  epigraphy  and  archeology.  These  deficiencies,  while 
rendering  the  book  old-fashioned,  do  not  deprive  it  of  its  prin- 
cipal values.  Its  philosophic  method,  as  concerned  with  eternal 
verities,  and  its  consimimate  literary  form  remain.  The  method 
inspired  Gibbon  and  Buckle,  and  that  modern  study  of  the 
ancient  city  by  Fustel  de  Coulanges  (see  Bk.  VIII,  Ch.  III). 
Stylistic  merits  have  given  this  history  its  place  as  part  of  the 
regular  education  of  French  youth. 

The  Esprit  des  lois,  often  considered  the  greatest  work  of 
the  century,  is  a  book  of  many  facets.  Purporting  to  reveal 
"  L'Espiit  des  *''^^  relations  of  laws  to  natural  and  social  institu- 
lois"  (i748Hions,  it  really  touches  upon  nearly  every  depart- 
ment of  civilization,  nearly  every  land  and  time.  It  originated 
from  a  nexus  of  contemporary  discussion  and  therefore  is  not 
"  created  without  a  mother,"  as  its  author  proudly  declares.  But 
he  gives  here  the  fullest  expression  of  his  own  mind  and  doctrine, 


402  MONTESQUIEU 

though  much  of  the  latter  has  been  anticipated  in  the  Lettres 
persanes.  It  is  a  pity  that  the  Esprit  des  lais  is  the  least  well- 
written  among  Montesquieu's  works,  the  most  poorly  composed 
and  directed. 

The  main  intention  and  divisions  are  none  the  less  manifest. 
It  expresses  essentially  the  conception  of  a  relativist.  Laws  may 
represent  a  struggle  towards  the  type  of  "eternal  justice,"  but 
more  apparently  they  are  and  should  be  the  reflection  of  special 
conditions;  or,  as  Montesquieu's  subtitle  expresses  it,  the  "  spirit " 
of  laws  consists  in  "  the  rapport  which  they  ought  to  have  with 
the  constitution  of  each  government,  with  its  customs,  climate, 
religion,  commerce,  etc."  To  these  relations  he  shortly  adds 
other  physiographical  points,  the  kind  of  life  led  in  each  coimtry, 
the  degree  of  liberty  allowed,  and  the  interaction  of  laws  among 
themselves.  They  are  even  hazardously  defined  as  rapports  — 
"  the  necessary  connections  deriving  from  the  nature  of  things." 
This  idea  of  a  "  consensus,"  of  a  complex  which  hangs  together 
in  a  given  civilization,  constitutes  the  chief  merit  of  the  book  in 
modern  eyes.  Rejecting  the  theory  of  caprice  and  relegating  that 
of  Providence,  Montesquieu,  still  historical  in  approach,  perceives 
that  behind  the  code  of  each  country  stand  its  mceurs  and  behind 
them,  "  certain  moral  and  physical  causes."  That  is  his  first 
great  generalization.  His  second  is  that  the  laws  appropriate  to 
each  country  reflect  its  morale  particularly  as  crystallized  in  its 
form  of  government.  The  third,  especially  associated  with  his 
name,  concerns  the  theory  of  climate  and  other  physical  forces 
as  variously  dominating  races  and  their  legislations.  All  of  these 
are  relative  considerations. 

For  years,  as  he  tells  us,  Montesquieu  struggled  towards  these 
"  principles."  When  the  light  came,  his  material  fell  readily  — 
perhaps  too  readily  —  into  place;  first,  along  the  lines  of  the  divi- 
sion and  nature  of  governments.  These  he  divides  into  despotic, 
monarchical  and  republican,  animated  respectively  by  the  prin- 
dpes  of  fear,  honor  and  civic  virtue.  He  then  proceeds,  in 
the  first  ten  books,  to  analyze  his  definitions,  in  the  Cartesian 
manner,  by  recording  their  applications  in  the  fields  of  education, 
of  civil,  formal  and  penal  legislation,  sumptuary  laws  and  luxury. 
A  book  on  the  corruption  of  the  principles  is  followed  by  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  connection  of  laws  with  militarism. 


THE    ESPRIT    DES    LOIS  403 

Two  criticisms  may  at  once  be  made.  The  fields  in  which 
operates  the  spirit  of  laws  succeed  one  another,  as  is  evident 
from  the  last  two  sentences,  in  a  disjointed  and  scrappy  manner, 
without  satisfactory  exhaustion  and  coordination.  When  Mon- 
tesquieu thought  of  a  fresh  rapport,  he  added  a  new  book.  This 
was  the  method  of  the  works  on  jurisprudence  preceding  and 
partly  influencing  him.  The  other  objection  concerns  his  division 
of  governments.  The  traditional  and  logical  division  of  Aristotle, 
into  governments  ruled  by  one,  several  or  many,  is  displaced  by 
associating  the  aristocratic  with  the  democratic  kind  and  by 
enlarging  the  one-man  government  into  the  two  types  of  monarchy 
and  despotism.  The  latter  is  of  course  a  derogation  from  the 
former,  but  Montesquieu  here  proceeds  on  historical  and  spatial 
rather  than  on  logical  grounds.  Broadly,  by  despotic  government 
he  always  means  the  Orient,  by  democratic  he  means  ancient 
republics,  by  monarchical  he  means  modern  western  Europe. 
The  specific  modern  applications  are  usually  left  to  the  reader. 
As  regards  the  three  prindpes  —  fear,  honor  and  vertu,  —  they 
seem  in  part  acceptable,  though  with  limitations  which  Montes- 
quieu did  not  seek  to  impose.  In  fact,  his  insistence  throughout 
a  good  part  of  the  work  on  returning  inappositely  to  the  kinds  of 
government  and  their  principles,  results  in  some  distortion  and 
an  excess  of  simplification. 

With  the  eleventh  book  we  have  a  change  of  basis,  and  the 
influence  of  Montesquieu's  visit  to  England  is  readily  seen. 
He  is  now  preaching  the  English  conception  of  liberty,  as  em- 
bodied in  the  English  constitution,  with  particular  stress  on 
the  balance  and  division  of  powers.  This  part  of  the  work  is 
probably  the  most  famous  and  the  most  far-reaching  in  effect. 
Following  Locke  with  some  modifications,  Montesquieu  urges 
the  conservation  of  the  monarchy  by  balancing  and  separating 
the  powers  in  the  three  forms  with  which  we  are  acquainted  — 
legislative,  executive  and  judicial.  Two  lesser  books  intervene 
before  we  reach  his  next  great  contribution.  The  potency  of 
physical  causes  appears  at  its  height  in  the  treatment  accorded 
to  climate  and  the  nature  of  the  land,  as  they  affect  the  bodily 
machine,  character,  institutions,  and  hence  laws.  Certain 
generalizations  here  are  too  hasty,  but  the  main  division  by 
zones  of  climate  is  notable  as  influencing  Mme  de  Stael,  Buckle 


404  MONTESQUIEU 

and  much  of  modern  thought.  Yet  it  is  significant  that  just 
as  Montesquieu  sets  manners  and  customs  above  laws,  so  he 
sets  moral  above  physical  causes  and  conceives  it  to  be  the 
legislator's  duty  frequently  to  contravene  the  latter.  Polygamy 
and  slavery  may  have  their  raison  d'etre  in  despotism  and 
climate,  but  they  are  not  therefore  desirable. 

With  Book  XIX  on  the  "  general  spirit "  of  the  nations,  the 
truly  vital  part  of  the  Esprit  des  lois  closes.  The  rest  is  more 
and  more  rambling,  though  there  are  interesting  considerations 
as  to  evolution,  cautious  safeguards  as  to  religion,  and  learned 
disquisitions  on  Roman  and  feudal  laws.  But  the  chief  points 
have  been  made,  a  sociological  method  has  been  inaugurated, 
and  we  may  group  together  some  of  its  more  forward-looking 
elements. 

First,  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  study  the  psychology  of 
races.  Without  accepting  all  of  Montesquieu's  gleanings  from 
books  of  travel,  discounting  such  flights  as  those 
to  China  or  Paraguay,  allowing  for  his  ignorance 
of  natural  history  and  the  great  modern  democracies,  one  may 
yet  see  the  impulsion,  in  method  and  in  fact,  toward  a  main 
nineteenth-century  preoccupation.  Secondly,  ideals  of  tolerance 
and  humanitarianism  are  conspicuous.  Along  with  despotism, 
torture  and  slavery,  religious  persecution  and  imnatural  usages 
are  accounted  for,  but  ultimately  reproved.  A  faith  in  progress 
and  a  belief  in  some  ordering  of  the  universe  are  occasionally 
expressed.  Thirdly,  jm-isprudence  is  lifted  from  its  dry  and 
dusty  tomes  to  the  rank  of  a  human  force  of  the  first  order.  A 
control  of  legal  forms  and  influences,  making  for  amelioration, 
is  suggested.  If  Montesquieu's  growing  conservatism,  manifest 
also  in  his  attitude  towards  the  monarchy  and  religion,  makes 
him  in  the  large  more  static  than  evolutionary,  he  yet  recog- 
nizes development  in  each  legal  field  or  what  he  calls  revolution. 
Finally,  a  theory  of  government  is  combined  which  will  have 
far-reaching  results.  Holding  to  the  ideal  liberty  of  a  consti- 
tutional monarchy,  he  devises  for  that  a  system  which  has 
been  partially  conveyed  into  the  American  Constitution.  In 
France,  theorists  and  legislators  have  made  abundant  use  of  this 
system,  which  rests  essentially  on  the  checking,  balancing  and 
separating  of  the  three  main  powers.    Montesquieu  thus  ex- 


SUMMARY  405 

panded  French  literature  to  include  jurisprudence,  the  science 
of  government  and  something  of  political  economy.  Add  to 
these  the  treatment  of  philosophical  history  initiated  by  the 
Grandeur  et  decadence  des  Romains.  Voltaire,  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  he  and  Montesquieu  were  antipathetic,  declared  that 
the  latter  had  "  restored  to  humanity  its  lost  titles."  This  should 
mean  that  the  President  gave  to  a  skeptical  age  a  rational  and 
logical  account  of  itself,  as  well  as  of  other  periods  and  their 
laws. 

The  handling  of  these  matters  is,  however,  not  uniformly  suc- 
cessful. The  salon  taste  demanded  a  certain  lightness,  wit  and 
spice.  Hence  the  inappropriate  insertions,  the  false  starts  and 
the  literary  caviar  which  made  the  Esprit  des  lois  more  palatable 
for  its  contemporaries  than  for  us.  Moreover,  the  work  seems 
rather  a  collection  of  notes,  shot  through  with  fine  speculations, 
than  an  organic  whole.  Montesquieu's  style  generally  is  coupe, 
moving  by  short  jerks,  dispensing  with  connectives  and  transi- 
tions, lacking  Voltaire's  grace.  But  it  is  often  forceful  and 
brilliant,  and  in  the  Grandeur  et  decadence  des  Romains  it  can 
rise  to  heights  of  noble  declamation. 


CHAPTER  IV 
MISCELLANEOUS    WRITERS 

Under  this  heading  will  be  treated  certain  moralists,  theorists 
and  memoir-writers,  whose  work,  for  the  most  part,  falls  within 
the  first  half  of  the  century.  Few  of  them  are  professionally 
philosophes,,  though  the  majority  are  tinctured  with  the  new 
spirit.  They  are  secondary  figures  who  yet  have  their  impor- 
tance historically,  as  well  as  through  their  contacts  with  better- 
known  men.  Two  moralistes  who  have  won  an  assured  place 
in  the  records,  rather  as  a  matter  of  personal  character  than 
by  strictly  literary  excellence,  are  Luc  de  Vauvenargues  (1715- 
47)  and  the  Chancellor  d'Aguesseau  (1668-1751). 

The  career  of  Vauvenargues  was  almost  constantly  imfortu- 
nate.  As  a  lad  he  had  poor  health  and  received  no  regular 
_  ,        education.   He  entered  the  army,  and  after  a  brief 

Career  of  brilliant  campaign  in  Italy  he  was  relegated  to  the  dul- 
Vauvenargues  Qggg  ^f  provincial  garrisons.  He  was  sent  on  the 
ill-fated  expedition  to  Prague  (1742),  from  which  he  returned 
with  frozen  limbs  and  ruined  health.  The  old  Marquis  de  Mira- 
beau  (Carlyle's  "Friend  of  Man")  and  Voltaire  were  among 
his  protectors  and  admirers,  and  the  latter  tried,  unsuccessfully, 
to  launch  him  in  diplomacy.  It  was  through  Voltaire's  advice 
that  Vauvenargues  settled  in  Paris,  but  he  lived  there  as  a  re- 
tiring invalid  barely  two  years.  He  had  time  to  publish  a 
single  rather  imperfect  volume  before  his  death. 

Much  less  than  this  would  have  broken  a  man  of  average 
caliber;  but  it  is  Vauvenargues'  strong  mark  that  he  remains 
always  captain  of  his  soul.  Serious  and  religiously  minded, 
his  personal  force  and  charm  could  yet  attract  a  Voltaire  and  a 
Marmontel.  Successive  disillusions,  in  military  life,  in  diplo- 
matic hopes  and  in  literary  output  —  which  he  considered  as  a 
last  resort  —  only  served  to  temper  the  well-forged  steel  of  this 
character.     In  poverty  and  agony,  his  Spartan  endurance  im- 

406 


VAUVENARGUES  407 

pressed  a  lighter  age,  and  he  gained  from  his  trials  that  spirit  of 
elevation,  of  integrity  and  serenity,  which  shines  through  his 
writings.  These  are  few  in  number  and  mostly  unfinished. 
The  Introduction  a  la  connaissance  de  I'esprit  hu- 
ms Writings  ^^-^  ^74gj  jg  ^^^  ^jjg  ^^^^  ^^  ^  thoroughly  formed 

philosopher,  and  though  it  shows  individual  penetration  and 
fineness  of  feeling,  it  is  not  a  masterpiece.  Its  chief  interest  is 
that  it  reveals  the  humanity  of  Vauvenargues'  nature.  Coming 
midway  between  Pascal  and  Rousseau,  he  reacts  from  the  Jan- 
senism of  the  former  in  that  he  maintains  the  worth  of  man's 
endowment  in  mind,  sentiment  and  passions;  he  anticipates 
Rousseau  in  the  predominant  role  given  to  the  feelings  and  pas- 
sions, if  virtuously  directed.  "  On  ne  peut  etre  dupe  de  la  vertu  " 
—  and  the  virtue  that  Vauvenargues  most  esteemed  was  magna- 
nimity. His  personal  ideal  was  for  a  career  of  glory  attained 
through  action:  "  d'employer  toutes  les  activites  de  son  ame  dans 
une  carriere  sans  bornes."  This  desire  is  visible  in  all  his  work 
and  gives  a  personal  note  of  endeavor  and  of  disappointment 
nobly  borne  to  his  Reflexions  et  Maximes,  where  the  best  of 
Vauvenargues  appears.  These  contain  many  excellent  judgments 
both  on  deeds  and  books.  The  writer  is  more  concerned  with 
moral  self-perfection  than  with  general  perfectibilite  or  prog- 
ress. Thereby  he  belongs  to  the  previous  century,  whose  Classic 
qualities  he  exemplifies  both  in  spirit  and  in  form.  Believing 
in  the  harmony  of  man  and  nature,  his  eclectic  philosophy  tends 
towards  simplicity,  moderation  and  the  golden  mean.  His  best 
pages  (and  he  should  be  read  in  selections)  are  orderly,  harmo- 
nious, and  psychologically  penetrating.  But  too  often  his  max- 
ims are  either  obscure  or  obvious  and  his  thought  is  not  wholly 
reconciled  —  defects  due  perhaps  to  the  shortness  of  his  life. 
As  a  whole,  the  work  of  Vauvenargues  presemts  rather  a  fine 
promise  than  a  thorough  finish.  His  philosophical  system  may 
be  illustrated  by  his  central  much-quoted  maxim:  "  Les  grandes 
pensees  viennent  du  cceur."  To  this  a  recent  writer  (Morley) 
has  added  the  proviso:  "Yes,  but  they  must  go  around  by 
the  head." 

The  Chancellor  d'Aguesseau  was  also  a  man  of  excellent  vir- 
tue, though  without  Vauvenargues'  personal  power.  Unlike  the 
latter,  a'Aguesseau  was  extremely  well  educated,  long-lived  and 


408  MISCELLANEOUS    WRITERS 

favored  by  every  advantage  of  position  and  circumstance.  He 
came  of  a  good  legal  stock  and  was  much  dominated  by  the 
stronger  character  of  his  father.  His  originality  was  further 
overlaid  by  considerable  erudition;  the  Jansenists  were  his 
moral  masters.  He  had  essentially  the  judicial  mind,  excellent 
on  the  bench  or  in  directing  assemblies,  but  inapt  for  closer 
action.  As  procureur-general,  as  Chancellor  and  finally  as  min- 
ister under  the  Regent,  he  instituted  various  wise  laws  and 
showed  at  first  a  capacity  for  mediating  between 
D'Aguesseau  ^.j^^  throne  and  the  Parliament.  But  later  he  vacil- 
lated and  lost  his  power.  He  was  a  "  good  man  and  magistrate," 
but  not  supreme  as  a  writer.  His  Mercuriales^  or  addresses 
before  the  Parlement  (courts  of  justice),  exhibit  a  respect  for 
tradition,  a  mild  persuasiveness  and  a  dignified  moral  tone  and 
style.  The  style,  in  fact,  is  often  heavy  and  slow,  an  eloquence 
that  resembles  a  diluted  Bossuet  or  Bourdaloue  in  its  elaborate 
solemnity.  Like  Montesquieu,  d'Aguesseau  had  a  thorough  be- 
lief in  and  respect  for  Justice,  which  was  his  ruling  idea  both 
in  theory  and  administration.  His  Meditations  sur  les  vraies  et 
les  famses  idees  de  la  Justice  are  praised  by  good  critics.  He 
shows  circumspection  rather  than  vehemence  in  his  manner  of 
writing  as  in  his  career.  A  "  chretien  philosophe,"  he  was  con- 
servative and  Classical  both  in  taste  and  in  morality.  As 
Chancellor,  he  applied  the  power  of  censorship  rather  severely. 
Saint-Simon  comments  on  his  studious  intelligence,  his  piety  and 
amiability,  together  with  a  certain  "  paresse  " ;  all  of  these  qual- 
ities are  evidenced  in  the  writings  of  d'Aguesseau,  who  was  a 
worthy  but  not  highly  interesting  figure. 

As  regards  the  theory  of  literature,  the  final  charge  of  the 
Moderns  was  led  by  Lamotte,  whose  idea  was  to  rationalize 
The  Abbe  poetry  into  prose  (see  below,  Bk.  Ill,  Ch.  IV).  A 
Du  Bos  weightier  name  is  that  of  the  Abbe  Du  Bos,  the  friend 

of  Bayle,  whom  he  resembles  in  the  boldness  of  his  criticism 
and  the  diversity  of  his  interests.  Du  Bos  touches  upon  almost 
every  field;  history,  archeology,  political  economy,  theology, 
literature  and  art.  His  two  important  works  are;  Reflexions 
critiques  sur  la  poesie  et  la  peinture  (1719)  and  UHistoire  de 
I'Establissement  de  la  Monarchic  frangaise  dans  les  Gaules 
(1734).    As  a  historian,  he  is  careful  in  controlling  and  indi- 


THE    ABBE    DU    BOS  409 

eating  his  sources,  and  though  he  was  taken  to  task  by  Mon- 
tesquieu for  his  theories  concerning  the  origin  of  the  French  mon- 
archy, the  author  of  L'Esprit  des  lois  owes  much  to  his  pred- 
ecessor. As  an  aesthetic  critic,  Du  Bos  follows  the  Modems 
in  basing  genius  on  a  favorable  material  environment;  but 
he  is  opposed  to  the  rationalistic  and  mathematical  conception 
of  beauty  which  Lamotte  and  others  were  propagating;  he 
considers  that  the  aesthetic  sense  has  less  to  do  with  the  mind 
than  with  the  body  and  that  it  is  almost  a  sixth  sense  in  itself. 
It  is  an  "  inamediate  and  direct  perception  of  the  beautiful," 
which  is  viewed  as  a  physical  emotion.  Hence  the  relativity 
of  aesthetic  judgments,  dependent  (1)  on  the  individual  eyes, 
nerves,  etc.,  of  the  observer  and  (2)  on  variations  in 
climate  and  atmosphere.  The  emphasis  on  climate  has  long 
been  considered  Du  Bos'  chief  contribution,  because  of  its  in- 
fluence on  Montesquieu  and  others.  Almost  equally  valuable 
is  his  division  of  the  fields  of  art  and  their  functions,  which 
leads  up  to  Lessing.  And  finally,  one  should  stress  a  sort  of 
experimental  attitude  towards  artistic  appreciation.  Instead  of 
dogmatizing,  Du  Bos  watches  himself  and  other  people  "  react " 
in  a  picture-gallery  or  at  the  theater.  He  amasses  significant 
data  from  all  sources,  ancient  and  modern.  He  was  ahead  of 
his  time  in  his  sense  of  the  concrete,  and  the  immediate  influence 
of  his  Rejlexions  was  further  limited  on  account  of  its  badly 
mixed  composition  and  its  poor  style.  Today  he  seems  a  very 
advanced  and  realistic  thinker. 

Equally  advanced  was  the  Abbe  de  Saint-Pierre  (not  to  be 
confused  with  the  later  Bernardin),  who  had  the  honor  of  try- 
ing to  establish  a  League  to  Enforce  Peace  two  hundred  years 
ago.  His  was  the  chief  voice  uplifted  in  behalf  of  peace  between 
Fenelon  and  Kant.  His  own  age  considered  him  a  kindly  harm- 
less Utopian.  He  was,  however,  banished  from  the  Academy 
because  of  his  attacks  on  the  inonarchy  of  Louis  XIV.  Later 
he  became  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Club  de  I'Entresol  (1724), 
The  Club  de  which  has  been  mentioned  in  connection  with  Mon- 
I'Entresol  tesquieu.  This  was  an  informal  club  for  the  presen- 
tation of  papers  and  for  liberal  discussion.  As  a  sort  of  "  acad- 
emy of  political  and  moral  sciences,"  it  anticipated,  in  a  milder 
way,  the  Jacobin  clubs  of  the  Revolution.    It  met  in  the  house 


410  MISCELLANEOUS    WRITERS 

of  the  President  Renault,  in  the  apartment  {entresol)  of  the 
Abbe  Alary,  and  among  its  most  important  adherents  were 
d'Argenson,  who  describes  it  in  his  memoirs,  and  for  a  time 
Montesquieu  and  Bolingbroke  —  about  twenty  members  in  all. 
The  reunions  lasted  seven  years  and  then  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  pradent  Fleury,  who  caused  the  club  to  be  dissolved. 

The  writings  of  the  "  philanthropic  Abbe "  antedate  that 
period.  Among  his  chief  "projects"  were  the  Discours  sur  la 
Writings  of  polysynodie  (1718)  and  the  Projet  de  Paix  wniver- 
Saint-Pierre  selle  (1713).  There  was  also  a  much-needed  Projet 
de  rendre  les  diics  et  pairs  utiles.  Whatever  the  Utopianism  of 
these  theories,  the  first  and  the  last  were  actually  tried  out  under 
the  Regency  (see  above,  Bk.  I,  Ch.  Ill) .  The  "  polysynodie  " 
was  simply  the  government  by  coimcils,  in  which  Saint-Simon 
participated  from  a  similar  desire  to  make  the  dukes  "  useful." 
Saint-Pierre's  various  ideas  on  reform  mostly  sprang  from  his 
tolerance  and  his  humanity.  He  is  credited  with  creating  the 
word  bienfaisance,  and  his  whole  tendency  was  toward  practical 
morality  and  the  improvement  of  society.  As  regards  universal 
peace,  his  schemes  have  a  striking  similarity  with  the  plans  cur- 
rent at  present.  He  pleads  for  a  League  of  Nations 
which  shall  be  primarily  juridical,  extending  to  gov- 
ernments the  civil  status  and  morality  of  individuals.  It  should 
be  a  permanent  association  and  tribunal,  in  which  the  sovereigns 
figure  as  perpetual  allies,  making  proportionate  contributions 
to  the  expenses  of  maintenance,  submitting  themselves  to  the 
arbitrament  of  their  peers.  Where  this  fails,  the  force  of  the 
League  is  to  be  called  in  for  purposes  of  repression.  Armaments 
should  be  greatly  reduced,  and  Saint-Pierre  tried  to  make  the 
rulers  understand  the  calamities  of  war  as  opposed  to  the  pros- 
perities of  peace.  The  sovereigns  are  still  the  leaders  and 
spokesmen,  because  scarcely  any  writer  could  then  conceive  of 
popular  representation.  Esteemed  a  visionary  by  his  contempo- 
raries, Saint-Pierre  should  come  into  his  own  when  his  views  are 
realized. 

Passing  to  the  memoir-writers,  the  one  who  most  worthily 
The  Memoirs  succeeds  Saint-Simon,  in  individual  talent  and  gen- 
of  d'Argenson eral  interest,  is  another  member  of  the  Entresol 
group  — the    Marquis    Rene-Louis   Voyer    d'Argenson    (1694- 


D'ARGENSON  411 

1757).  He  is  to  be  distinguished  from  his  father  of  the  same 
name,  a  minister  of  police  under  the  Regency.  This  d'Argenson, 
nicknamed  "  la  bete  "  because  of  his  heavy  integrity  and  lack  of 
suppleness  around  court,  flourished  during  the  best  years  of 
Louis  XV  and  was  Foreign  Secretary  about  the  time  of  the 
battle  of  Fontenoy.  His  Memoires  begin  with  the  death  of  the 
Regent  and  come  down  to  Rousseau.  They  give  a  thorough 
picture  of  the  period,  its  political  and  social  intrigues,  its  chief 
figures,  its  manners  and  literature.  DArgenson  is  not  really 
"  bete  "  at  all.  He  had  a  bold  rich  intelligence,  if  occasionally 
heavy  in  manner  and  style,  and  he  does  not  lack  for  wit.  His 
mind  goes  deep  enough  to  penetrate  the  people  and  circumstances 
around  him  and  it  also  reaches  out  to  an  elevation  and  an 
idealism  beyond  his  time.  The  double  value  of  his  memoirs, 
then,  is  that  they  give  both  political  narratives  and  political 
views;  the  worth  of  his  own  mind  is  added  to  that  of  his  observa- 
tions on  his  age.  In  ideas,  he  represents  the  liberals  and  the 
philosophes,  but  he  had  the  power  and  position  of  a  great  noble. 
His  program  is  often  prophetic  of  future  reforms,  gathering 
around  the  idea  of  philanthropy  which  he  shared  with  Saint- 
Pierre.  Among  the  changes  that  he  urged,  the  substitution  of 
departments  for  provinces,  of  prefects  for  royal  intendants,  the 
tmiformity  of  weights  and  measures,  the  wider  establishment 
of  provincial  courts  of  justice,  have  all  been  realized.  His  main 
political  scheme  was  to  unite  the  monarchy  with  popular  liberty, 
especially  as  represented  by  the  municipalities.  He  really,  cared 
for  le  peuple;  he  portrays  excellently  the  change  in  popular 
sentnnent  about  1750,  and  he  suggests  how  the  growing  inade- 
quacy and  despotism  of  Louis  finally  turned  the  people  against 
him.  "L'opinion  republicaine,"  according  to  d'Argenson,  was 
bom  at  that  time.  He  comments  on  the  increase  of  luxury  and 
license,  the  advance  of  materialistic  philosophy,  the  significant 
hatred  of  priests.  And  he  foresees  and  foretells  the  Revolution. 
D'Argenson,  like  Saint-Pierre,  was  a  man  of  vision.  His  style 
is  too  often  cumbersome  and  incorrect,  but  it  is  personal,  full  of 
provincial  and  proverbial  expressions,  and  it  is  acute  in  thought 
if  not  in  form.  It  shows  a  blunt  honesty  like  the  man  himself, 
without  the  characteristics  that  enliven  the  pages  of  de  Retz  or 
of  Saint-Simon. 


412  MISCELLANEOUS    WRITERS 

As  a  whole,  the  collected  memoirs  of  the  century  are  impos- 
ing in  their  mass,  their  interest  and  their  variety.  They  occupy 
Memoirs  in  altogether  several  hundred  volmnes  and  no  pre- 
General  ceding  age  was  so  prolific.    The  greater  part  of  our 

knowledge  concerning  history,  society  and  literature  derives 
from  this  source,  to  which  one  should  add  the  familiar  letters 
of  the  period.  The  memoirs  themselves  are  divisible  into  three 
interlocking  groups:  (1)  the  formal,  or  impersonal  correspond- 
ences, such  as  the  Correspondance  litteraire  (1753-90)  of 
Grimm,  Diderot  and  others,  which  usually  circulated  in  manu- 
script long  before  publication;  (2)  the  diary  or  journal  form, 
illustrated  by  that  of  the  lawyer  Marais  (1715-37) ;  and  (3) 
memioirs  proper,  sometimes  based  on  the  preceding  form.  Few 
of  these  productions  show  real  literary  excellence,  but  their  value 
as  furnishing  an  intimate  picture  of  the  times  is  unrivaled.  The 
more  one  studies  the  eighteenth  century,  the  more  one  is  im- 
pressed by  the  saliency  of  a  few  score  of  names,  which  recur, 
like  the  reappearing  characters  of  Balzac,  in  every  variety 
of  writing;  in  the  memoirs,  these  historic  figures  are  displayed 
in  undress.  Another  characteristic  is  the  amount  of  gossip  about 
court  and  capital,  which  is  in  evidence  everywhere,  but  particu- 
larly in  the  correspondances.  This  is  due  to  the  dearth  of 
newspapers,  which  made  readers  clamor  for  news  from  other 
sources.  Certain  illustrations  may  be  given  of  the  three  types 
of  memoirs. 

The  literary  gazette  flourished  from  the  time  of  Bayle  to  that  of 
Grimm  and  Diderot.  A  lesser  but  perhaps  a  more  representative 
g   ,  name  is  that  of  Bachaimiont,  whose  Memoires  secrets 

Marais  and  '  de  la  Repuhlique  des  lettres  cover  the  period  1762-71. 
Marmontel  They  were  rewritten  from  the  "  register  "  or  recorded 
conversation  (which  circulated  as  Nouvelles  a  la  main)  of  Mme 
Doublet's  salon,  and  they  are  most  interesting  concerning  the  in- 
fluence and  apotheosis  of  Voltaire,  the  beginnings  of  Rousseau 
and  the  importance  of  the  Encyclopedia.  Their  tone  is  very  free: 
anecdotes,  witticisms  and  irreverent  chansons,  on  the  most  seri- 
ous occasions,  make  us  realize  the  brutality  which  \mderlay  the 
veneer  of  the  century.  In  his  criticism,  literary  and  general, 
Bachaumont  allies  good  sense  with  a  taste  for  progress;  he  gives 
a  swift  actual  view  of  a  literature  and  a  society  in  tlie  making. 


DUCLOS    AND   MARMONTEL  413 

He  uses  the  chronicle  form,  but  for  our  purpose  that  class  is 
best  represented  hy  the  Journal  of  Marais,the  "  avocatdes  dames." 
This  is  the  best  reflection  of  enlightened  public  opinion  under  the 
Regency.  A  disciple  of  Bayle,  an  admirer  of  Voltaire,  Marais 
had  a  wide  knowledge,  frequented  the  best  company,  and  was 
strongly  Classical  in  taste.  He  shows  the  limited  beginnings  of 
liberalism,  and,  in  a  style  marked  by  simplicity  and  irony,  he 
indulges  in  the  usual  court  gossip,  which  he  informs  with  the 
color  and  movement  of  life.  The  third  class  (memoirs  proper) 
may  be  illustrated  by  two  names:  Duclos  and  Marmontel.  The 
former,  who  became  royal  historiographer,  plans  to  set  forth 
the  "  history  of  men  and  manners  "  in  the  first  part  of  the  century. 
He  is  especially  at  home  in  discussing  the  Regency,  the  early 
literary  cafes  and  the  later  salons.  Duclos  was  a  penetrating 
observer  and  a  rude  writer,  caustic,  piquant,  "  droit  et  adroit." 
Marmontel,  as  we  shall  see  later  (Bk.  IV,  Ch.  I) ,  was  a  milder 
person,  who  thought  more  of  his  own  writings  than  posterity  has 
been  able  to  do;  but  in  his  time  he  was  a  very  considerable 
literary  figure  and  his  Memoires  d'un  pere  pour  servir  a  I'instruc- 
tion  de  ses  enjants  are  important  as  depicting  the  life  of  a  typical 
man  of  letters,  his  early  struggles,  his  necessary  prostrations, 
especially  before  the  shrine  of  Mme  Geoffrin,  and  the  final  savor 
of  success.  He  gives  an  agreeable  and  apparently  a  faithful 
picture  of  the  middle  years  of  the  century,  and  a  certain  com- 
placency in  narrating  his  love-adventures  —  even  to  his  children 
—  is  perhaps  as  typical  as  anything  else. 

Finally,  no  account  of  miscellaneous  writings  would  be  complete 
without  mentioning  the  beginnings  of  journalism  (see  p.  289).  If 
the  work  of  the  nouvellistes  or  news-mongers  ante- 
dates the  modern  newspaper,  the  modern  review  was 
initiated  by  Bayle  and  was  continued,  as  a  summary  and  criti- 
cism of  fresh  publications,  by  various  periodicals.  The  Pour  et 
centre  of  the  Abbe  Prevost,  the  Journal  Stranger  and  the  Gazette 
litteraire  de  I'Europe  were  cosmopolitan  reviews.  More  of  a 
magazine  was  the  (old)  Mercure  de  France.  Two  of  the  most 
important  journals  were  the  Journal  des  Savants  and  the  Journal 
de  Trevowc.  But  the  former  was  scientific  in  its  interests  and 
the  latter  strongly  clerical  in  its  tendencies.  Probably  the  most 
representative  if  not  the  best  of  all  the  literary  reviews  was 


414  MISCELLANEOUS    WRITERS 

L'Annee  litteraire,  which  flourished  from  1754  to  1790,  largely 
under  the  direction  of  Voltaire's  enemy  Freron.  It  presents  a 
unity  of  subject-matter,  doctrine  and  tone,  and  has  been  called 
the  most  interesting  and  equitable  journal  of  its  time.  But 
Freron  is  scarcely  more  than  a  fifth-rate  critic  and  his  impar- 
tiality is  injured  by  his  insistence  on  praising  whatever  Voltaire 
dislikes  and  vice  versa.  However,  he  follows  the  march  of  ideas 
to  a  certain  extent,  admitting  the  English  influence,  showing 
the  pre-romanticism  of  the  public,  though  ill-disposed  toward 
the  philosophes  and  preferring  still  the  absolutism  of  Classical 
taste  and  rules.  The  many  volumes  of  this  review  are  interesting 
chiefly  as  reflecting  contemporary  tastes,  opinions  and  quarrels. 


BOOK  III 
THE  OLD  AND  THE  NEW  GENRES 

CHAPTER  I 
TRAGEDY:    VOLTAIRE,    CREBILLON,    DUCIS 

The  most  important  art  form  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
greatest  in  contemporary  opinion,  was  still  tragedy.  But  in 
Voltaire  as  original  excellence  tragedy  was  on  the  decline  a^id 
Critic  was  becoming  more  a  matter  of  critical  discussion. 

In  dramatic  practice  as  in  theory,  Voltaire  was  the  leader,  and  it 
will  be  well  to  state  here  his  general  position  as  a  critic.  First 
it  is  to  be  remarked  that  Voltaire  was  certainly  a  devotee  of 
good  literature.  Among  his  few  passions,  this  was  the  most  last- 
ing; among  his  few  ideals,  this  was  the  most  conservative.  His 
taste,  his  belief  in  Boileau,  his  worship  of  Racine,  all  served 
to  keep  him  in  the  beaten  track  as  regards  poetic  and  dramatic 
principles.  Yet  his  restless  curiosity,  his  devotion  to  the  stage, 
and  particularly  his  interest  in  English  literature,  made  him 
the  advocate  of  certain  novelties  pronounced  for  their  time. 

The  Lettres  philosophiques  remains  the  document  which  most 
significantly  combines  these  opposing  tendencies.  Voltaire's 
admiration  for  the  English  principle  of  liberty  extends  in  part  to 
English  literature.  But  he  prefers  the  dramatists  of  the  Res- 
toration and  the  classicists  of  the  Age  of  Queen  Anne  —  the  two 
currents  which  were  conspicuously  French.  His  attitude  toward 
Shakespeare  is  characteristic.  This  author,  "  barbarous  "  and 
"  Gothic  "  as  he  is,  typifies  the  irregular  poetry  of  the  English, 
by  flashes  of  genius  no  less  than  by  deserts  of  darkness.  His 
"  monstrous  farces  called  tragedies "  have  yet  their  forceful 
effect.  But  Voltaire's  opinion  of  Shakespeare  became  more 
bitter  in  his  later  years.    Then  he  complained  regretfully  to  the 

415 


416     TRAGEDY:    VOLTAIRE,    CREBILLON,    DUCIS 

Academy  that  this  "  clown  "  whom  he  had  introduced  to  the 

French  stage  was  likely  to  degrade  and  denationalize  tragedy. 

As    regards    poetry,    Voltaire    defends    that    cause    against 

Lamotte,   Fontenelle   and  Montesquieu;   and  reacting  against 

their  Philistinism,  he  actually  swings  the  penduliun 

"^  ^  back  towards  a  respect  for  the  Classical  tradition 

of  form.  The  Age  of  Louis  XIV  was  already  endowed  for  him 
with  that  immutable  and  crystallized  excellence  which  it  pos- 
sesses in  the  eyes  of  every  "  Classical "  critic  down  to  our  own 
times.  Therefore  Voltaire  can  see  little  or  nothing  before  that 
period;  the  Middle  Ages  are  indeed  the  Dark  Ages,  and  the 
word  "  Gothic,"  until  Chateaubriand,  was  held  a  term  of  re- 
proach. The  Voltairian  defense  of  poetry,  then,  is  virtually  a 
defense  of  Racine.  Poetry  is  compact  music.  It  requires  rime 
and  rules,  and  in  the  constraint  of  these  the  true  artist  reveals 
his  force.  Necessary  elements  of  poetry  are  harmony,  propor- 
tion and  especially  simplicity,  which  in  the  great  genres  should 
dispense  with  ornaments  and  wit.  This  self-denial  Voltaire 
practices  usually  in  his  dramatic  work. 

Tragedy  is  the  chief  subject  of  his  criticism,  as  it  was  the 

most  serious  field  of  his  imaginative  efforts.    To  consider  first 

his  Classical  precepts,  he  urges  Racinian  technique 

^^^^  ^  as  regards  the  principal  dramatic  rules,  the  use  of 
language  and  versification,  the  supremacy  of  the  heart-interest. 
Love,  fully  depicted  and  not  incidental  to  the  subject,  is  the 
tragic  passion  -par  excellence.  Yet  love  should  still  be  pre- 
sented as  a  weakness;  and  other  natural  affections  —  witness 
Andromaque  and  Merope  —  can  also  cause  strong  emotions.  A 
distinction  is  made  between  the  rules  and  the  bienseances,  the 
mere  dramatic  proprieties.  The  latter  may  vary,  but  the  former 
are  according  to  "  good  sense  "  and  are  fundamental.  Voltaire 
is  neo-classical  in  the  narrow  logic  with  which  he  upholds  and 
intensifies  the  unities,  as  also  in  his  theory  of  the  "  difficulte 
vaincue  "  —  a  sort  of  acrobatic  idea  that  the  harder  the  rime, 
the  better  the  poet  —  and  in  his  recommendation  of  a  mannered 
artistry  of  language.  This  last  he  considers  the  principal 
method  of  outdoing,  while  elaborating,  Racine  and  Corneille. 
It  is  "  style  "  that  leads  to  posterity,  and  verse,  necessary  for 
tragedy,  constitutes  its  chief  artistic  beauty. 


VOLTAIRE'S    DRAMAS  417 

As  an  innovator,  Voltaire  derives  his  ideas  mainly  from  his 
observation  of  the  English  stage  and  from  his  personal  liking 
for  action.  So  he  discusses  and  experiments  with  the  use  of 
crowds,  with  drawing  blood  on  the  stage,  with  ghosts,  and 
generally  with  more  apparatus  and  "  business."  The  scene 
should  be  vast  and  even  picturesque  —  though  only  in  order 
better  to  display  the  beauty  of  sentiments  and  passions.  A 
certain  amount  of  terror  may  be  admitted,  the  range  of  subjects 
should  be  extended  —  which  he  amply  did  —  tragedy  should  still 
inspire  the  love  of  virtue  and  public  good,  to  which  he  char- 
acteristically adds,  "  and  the  horror  of  fanaticism." 

This  body  of  literary  theory  scarcely  shows  Voltaire  as  an 
original  or  systematic  critic.  His  doctrine  is  puristic  and 
piecemeal,  concerned  more  with  details  than  with  the  total 
structure  of  creative  ideas.  And  it  is  frequently  vitiated  by 
temporary  conditions,  by  journalism  or  by  jealousy  of  great 
names.  These  handicaps  appear  in  the  Commentaire  sur 
Comeille,  which  "  comments  "  almost  to  the  exclusion  of  any 
broad  criticism  of  that  author.  Yet  Voltaire's  judgments,  often 
penetrating  in  detail  and  correct  in  taste,  operated  through 
his  admirers  to  make  him  what  he  desired  to  be:  the  chief 
literary  authority  of  the  century.  His  criticism  remains  histor- 
ically important  as  typical  of  that  century,  as  forcing  the  re- 
action towards  traditional  poetry,  as  establishing  a  curiosity 
about  English  literature,  and  particularly  as  prefacing  the  new 
elements  in  his  own  tragedies. 

When  it  comes  to  the  actual  writing  of  plays,  Voltaire  is 
divided  between  his  Classical  allegiance  and  his  desire  to  pre- 
sent stirring  novelties.  Through  Shakespeare  he 
ramaa  g^pg  forward  towards  Romanticism,  but  he  is  ever 
looking  over  his  shoulder  at  Racine.  He  is  essentially  a 
dramatist  of  neo-classicism,  more  interesting  historically  than 
absolutely.  Barring  Zaire  and  one  or  two  others,  his  plays  have 
little  intrinsic  appeal  today.  But  they  remain  the  chief 
tragedies  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  theater  was  certainly 
Voltaire's  main  ambition,  as  well  as  his  great  pride  and  passion. 
He  was  always  ready  for  amateur  theatricals,  he  discovered  and 
promoted  professional  talent  and  he  wrote  inordinately.  He 
is  credited  with  fifty-three  plays,  over  half  of  which  are  trage- 


418     TRAGEDY:    VOLTAIRE,    CREBILLON,    DUCIS 

dies,  offering  much  variety  of  subjects  and  scenery.  He  uses 
nearly  twenty  different  coimtries  and  periods  —  Greece  and  her 
dependencies,  Biblical  lands,  Rome  of  course,  Africa  and 
America,  several  phases  of  the  Orient  and  of  France.  In  this 
respect  and  in  the  details  of  his  subjects  rather  than  in  their 
general  themes,  he  broadened  the  limits  of  tragedy,  which  he 
also  romanticized  in  the  directions  of  intrigue  and  action.  These 
features  will  appear  from  a  consideration  of  his  chief  plays. 

(Edipe  (1718)  made  Voltaire's  reputation.  The  subject  is 
that  of  the  Greek  tragedians  —  the  son  who  has  unwittingly 
slain  his  father  and  wedded  his  mother.  The  play 
*^*  is  neo-classical  in  two  respects:  the  taste  for  horrors, 
for  parricide  and  fratricide  particularly,  was  just  being  fostered 
anew  by  Crebillon;  and  the  heart-interest,  overdone  by  the 
sentimental  Campistron,  demanded  the  introduction,  in  (Edipe, 
of  some  love-affair.  So  Voltaire  provided  the  middle-aged 
Jocaste  with  a  middle-aged  lover  and  spoiled  what  is  otherwise 
a  well-written  and  moving  drama.  A  few  other,  inferior  trage- 
dies preceded  the  visit  to  England.  Returning,  Voltaire  soon 
shows  the  effects  of  this  new  interest,  possibly  in  his  Brutus 
(1730),  and  certainly  in  his  imitations  of  Shakespeare  (La  Mart 
de  Cesar  and  Zaire,  1732).  It  is  a  question  of  transposing  Eng- 
lish heroics  according  to  French  taste.  The  first  two  plays  are 
political  tragedies,  in  which  an  effort  is  made  to  deal  greatly 
with  the  interests  of  state.  But  Voltaire  never  quite  succeeded 
in  this  effort  and  his  two  dramas,  as  usual,  are  important 
mainly  for  their  minor  novelties:  shifts  of  scene,  senators  in 
their  robes  of  state,  Caesar's  blood-besprinkle'd  corpse,  many- 
voiced  conspiracies  and  crowds. 

The  one  unquestionable  masterpiece,  the  happiest  combina- 
tion of  old  and  new  tendencies,  is  ZaJire.  It  is  the  only  play  by 
,,  2ajje  >i  Voltaire  still  acted,  and  it  shows  an  unusual  depth 
and  tenderness.  For  once  the  author  has  really 
steeped  himself  in  his  story  and  characters.  The  latter  are 
living  and  sympathetic  figures;  the  former,  romantic  intrigue 
though  it  be,  still  stirs  and  seizes  with  permanent  appeal.  In 
fact,  the  imiversal  qualities  of  Classic  tragedy  here  make  their 
final  sincere  appearance,  while  the  depiction  of  the  chivalry  and 
Christianity  of  the  crusaders  is  a  distinct  innovation.    The  sub- 


VOLTAIRE'S    DRAMAS  419 

ject  of  the  play  is  sacred  and  profane  love.  Zaire  must  choose 
between  the  claims  of  patriotic  religion,  as  personified  in  her 
father,  and  her  love  for  the  sultan  Orosmane,  in  whose  palace 
she  has  long  been  held  captive.  Becoming  jealous  of  Zaire's 
fondness  for  her  brother  (a  typical  meprise) ,  Orosmane  imitates 
Othello  by  slaying  his  lady-love  and  himself.  But  our  interest 
is  less  in  mistakes  and  recognition-scenes  than  in  the  humanity 
of  the  emotions  and  the  characters.  Zaire  is  a  charming  heroine, 
and  her  father,  the  aged  Lusignan,  though  episodic  in  his 
appearance,  makes  an  extraordinary  effect  of  virility  and 
idealism. 

Alzire    (1736)    carries  the   scene  to   Peru   and  depicts   the 
struggle  between  the  cruel  Spaniards  and  the  unfortimate  chil- 
dren of  the  Incas.    The  author  exhibits  his  usual  bril- 

II  Alwire  " 

liancy  in  the  treatment  of  this  attractive  novelty, 
but  the  action  is  more  clever  than  probable.    Also  the  Peruvians 
talk  too  much  like  the  philosophes.    In  his  maneuvres  concern- 
and  ing  Mahomet   ou   le  Fanatisme    (1742),   Voltaire 

"Mahomet"  flattered  the  Pope  into  accepting  the  dedication  of 
a  work  which  contains  several  veiled  attacks  on  Christianity. 
Le  Fanatisme  is  the  truer  title,  for  the  personage  of  Mahomet 
is  traduced  historically,  whereas  his  fanaticism  and  that  of  his 
proselytes  is  much  to  the  fore.  This  is  Voltaire's  first  big  mani- 
festo against  intolerance.  He  seeks  to  demonstrate  that  the 
vice  is  horrible  and  that  it  takes  a  kind  of  Tartuffe  to  be  a 
religious  leader. 

Mon  triomphe  en  tout  temps  est  fonde  sur  I'erreur. 

Among  Mahomet's  own  errors  may  be  counted  his  improbable 
self -revelation  to  an  enemy;  it  is  also  unlikely  that  all  the  vir- 
tuous people  should,  without  knowing  it,  be  members  of  one 
family,  for  their  ultimate  disaster.  Mahomet  is  not  a  perfect 
play,  but  it  is  interesting  because  of  its  philosophe  leanings. 

Merope  (produced  1743)  closes  the  series  of  Voltaire's  rela- 
tively first-class  tragedies.  He  now  returns  to  the  classics, 
,,  ,  ^^  mingling  the  Greek  influence  with  that  of  the 
erope  Italian  Maffei,  to  whom  he  owes  his  best  strokes. 
A  mother,  trying  to  avenge  her  son,  almost  slays  him  by  mis- 
take; and  then,  to  rescue  him,  she  almost  marries  his  would-be 


420     TRAGEDY:    VOLTAIRE,    CREBILLON,    DUCIS 

assassin.  Voltaire  portrays  maternal  love  with  fair  success, 
but  not  with  the  power  and  penetration  shown  in  Andromaque. 
In  comparison,  Merope  seems  cold  and  not  sufl&ciently  stirring, 
whereas,  since  maternal  love  is  the  only  passion  depicted,  it 
should  be  all  the  more  vehement.  But  simplicity  and  con- 
centration are  for  once  attained,  the  language  is  more  carefully 
chosen,  and  the  construction  more  satisfactory  than  usual.  Oi 
all  Voltaire's  tragedies  this  play  suggests  best  the  feeling  of  an- 
cient doom.  Semiramis  is  significant  chiefly  as  reviving  the  ghost 
of  Hamlet.  Of  later  tragedies,  we  need  mention  only  the  poig- 
nant sacrifice  of  L'Orphelin  de  la  Chine  (patriotism  versus 
parental  love) ;  and  the  resuscitation  of  chivalry  again  in  Tan- 
crede,  Voltaire's  last  success.  All  his  principal  tragedies  belong 
to  the  period  before  the  visit  to  Frederick.  After  his  establish- 
ment at  Ferney,  Voltaire  shows  less  regard  for  straight  drama 
and  more  for  philosophic  propaganda.  This  element  widely 
affects  and  usually  damages  his  theater;  for  the  tragedie 
philosophique  generalizes  its  thought,  even  to  the  degree  of  be- 
coming cold  and  lifeless. 

Voltaire's  dramatic  deficiencies  are  due  partly  to  the  spirit 
of  the  age  —  neo-classicism  and  "  philosophic  livery  "  —  partly 
to  the  nature  of  the  man  and  the  way  he  wrote. 
The  majority  of  the  tragedies  are  hastily  and 
feverishly  composed.  External  events  hindered  concentra- 
tion and  meditation.  The  failure  to  attain  unified  force  and 
excellence  is  revealed  in  plot,  characterization  and  style.  The 
first  is  often  a  matter  of  ingenious  invention,  rather  than  true 
creation.  Voltaire  is  fond  of  painful  family  situations.  He  deals 
with  such  themes  as  parricides  and  dreadful  loves,  equally  dread- 
ful hates,  unhappy  wives  and  unfortunate  daughters.  Voltaire 
reminds  us  of  Crebillon  in  the  incessant  use  made  of  recog- 
nition—  unlikely  incognitos,  followed  by  family  reunions,  "la 
voix  du  sang"  suddenly  calling  out;  and  of  "meprise,"  the 
suspension  of  events  through  somebody's  improbable  blindness. 
These  devices  are  not  according  to  Racine,  yet  otherwise  the  form 
adheres  closely  to  the  old  Classical  lines,  and  the  plots  are 
much  hampered  by  the  conventional  rules.  Voltaire's  per- 
sonal limitations  are  seen  especially  in  his  depiction  of  characters, 
who  are  seldom  strongly  conceived  and  individualized.    They  are 


CREBILLON  421 

remembered,  if  at  all,  rather  as  generalizations  than  as  people. 
A  few  of  the  women  escape  this  censure,  but  the  majority  of  the 
characters  lack  depth  and  psychological  truth,  as  their  actions 
lack  inevitability.  They  are  not  objective  enough;  they  are  all 
more  or  less  Voltaire,  talking  as  he  talks,  thinking  as  he  thinks. 
They  have  distinction,  but  they  lack  life.  The  same  tendency 
exists  in  his  style.  He  aimed  at  the  style  noble  under  all 
circiunstances.  The  care  for  expression  was,  in  theory,  the  main 
thing  with  Voltaire.  He  is  apt  to  build  a  play  around  its  purple 
passages,  and  he  lacks  sustained  force.  Also,  in  copying  his 
predecessors,  Voltaire  tries  to  weave  the  embroidery  that  he 
recommends,  and  the  product  is  patchwork.  A  hemistich  of 
Racine  is  completed  by  a  banality,  a  metaphor  from  Corneille 
jars  with  a  neo-classic  abstraction.  At  best,  Voltaire  sought  to 
fuse  these  elements  into  a  monotonous  elegance,  a  pale  poetry  that 
is  seldom  natural,  falling  into  rhetoric  and  vagueness. 

His  more  positive  merits  are  that  generally  he  keeps  up  the 
dignity,  as  he  strove  to  keep  up  the  artistry  of  tragedy;  that  his 
language  can  sometimes  charm  our  tastes  by  its 
reminiscent  and  suggestive  brilliance;  that  he  has 
written  certain  fine  scenes  of  tenderness  and  passion ;  that  he  can 
impart  a  vivacious  color  to  exotic  subjects;  above  all,  that  he 
is  rich  in  dramatic  constructions,  surprises,  sudden  coups  de 
theatre  and  reversals,  imbroglios,  trenchant  solutions  of  the 
Gordian  knot.  He  provided  more  for  the  eye,  more  movement 
and  "  spectacle,"  than  any  one  before  him.  He  lacked  not  so 
much  tragic  skill  as  the  tragic  soul,  the  quality  of  high  serious- 
ness. 

Much  of  the  romantic  side  of  Voltaire  is  akin  to  the  work  of 
his  predecessor,  Prosper  Jolyot  de  Crebillon,  whose  lurid  and 
unsubstantial  melodramas  were  in  great  favor  during 
the  first  part  of  the  century.  He  represents,  however, 
but  a  special  point  in  the  development  of  which  Voltaire  has 
exhibited  the  final  leisurely  curve.  The  work  of  Crebillon  includes 
eleven  titles,  the  most  significant  being  Atree  et  Thyeste  (1707) 
and  Rhadamiste  et  Zenobie  (1711).  He  keeps  thoroughly  to  the 
conventional  form  of  tragedy,  but  within  that  form  his  talent 
displays  itself  in  several  directions.  Mistaken  identity,  recogni- 
tions, and  tangled  family  relations  constitute  nearly  the  whole  of 


422     TRAGEDY:    VOLTAIRE,    CREBILLON,    DUCIS 

Crebillon's  dramatic  system.  He  was  credited,  above  all  things, 
with  stimulating  terror,  as  in  his  strongest,  most  "  atrocious  " 
play,  Atree  et  Thyeste.  This  tragedy  treats  the  old  subject  of 
the  inimical  brothers.  Thyeste  has  carried  off  the  wife  of  Atree, 
and  Atree  henceforth  lives  only  for  vengeance,  endeavoring  to 
use  for  that  purpose  the  (unknown)  son  of  Thyeste.  When 
Crebillon  adds  the  element  of  Thyeste's  daughter,  who  is  un- 
wittingly in  love  with  the  son,  he  furnishes  all  the  data  for  a 
typical  drama  of  his  school.  An  extra  horror  was  the  cup  of 
filial  blood  which  was  too  much  for  neo-classical  taste.  But  the 
play  is  written  with  power  and  concentration.  Rhadamiste  et 
Zenobie  is  even  more  illustrative.  The  subject  has  close  analogies 
with  Racine's  Mithridate.  The  heroine  (disguised,  of  course) 
is  loved  by  a  whole  family,  who  have  been  chiefly  occupied  with 
murdering  her  own.  There  are  swelling  speeches  and  occasional 
inspiration,  but  the  drama  is  merely  melodrama,  with  practically 
no  truth  or  life.  Crebillon  has  little  depth;  he  appeals  mainly 
to  our  ciu"iosity  or  our  shocked  sensibilities. 

The  effort  to  combine  new  thrills  with  old  traditions  was  con- 
tinued by  Jean-Frangois  Duels,  who  worshiped  Shakespeare  by 
the  side  of  Voltaire.    An  excellent  family  man  and  a 
"""*  man  of  feeling,  Ducis  thought  of  himself  as  a  "  wild 

bird  "  and  a  rugged  oak.  His  true  character  and  the  compulsions 
of  his  period  appear  strikingly  in  his  adaptations  of  Shakespeare 
—  the  first,  after  Voltaire,  that  were  offered  on  the  French  stage, 
which  they  held  successfully  for  two  generations.  Proceeding 
from  partial  translations  of  Shakespeare,  Ducis  binds  and  com- 
presses him  into  the  Classical  strait-jacket.  The  results  are 
ludicrous  for  English  readers,  but  they  give  a  most  informing 
idea  of  eighteenth-century  requirements.  In  general,  since  the 
unity  of  time  is  for  the  most  part  preserved,  the  action  is  much 
foreshortened,  the  list  of  characters  is  reduced  by  half,  neo- 
classic  verbiage  replaces  Shakespeare's  lines,  and  his  great  per- 
sonages become  shadowy  and  abstract.  As  novelties,  Ducis 
freely  shifts  the  scene,  shows  early  gropings  after  setting  and 
stage-directions,  and  reflects  two  tendencies  peculiar  to  the  prog- 
ress of  the  century:  long  "  philosophic  "  moralizings  and  a  mild- 
mannered  sensibUite  which  prefers  happy  endings.  Of  his  half- 
dozen  versions,  we  may  mention  Hamlet  (1769),  Le  Roi  Lear 


DRAMA    UNDER    THE    REVOLUTION         423 

(1783),  and  Othello  (1792).  In  this  Othello  there  is  talk  about 
liberty  and  equality,  a  tendency  conspicuous  in  the  plays  —  also 
contemporary  with  the  Revolution  —  of  M.-J.  Chenier,  the 
brother  of  the  poet.  Ducis  and  Chenier  represent  the  last  stage 
of  declamatory  tragedy.  But  the  Revolution,  which  changed  so 
much,  hardly  affected  dramatic  form.  The  old  Classic  tragedy 
was  still  played  before  the  red-capped  Terrorists  and  even  before 
the  grenadiers  of  the  Empire.  That  is  why  the  vogue  of  the  three 
men  treated  in  this  chapter  lasted  well  into  the  nineteenth 
century  and  was  superseded  only  by  the  full  advent  of 
Romanticism. 


CHAPTER  II 
COMEDY   AND    DRAME 

The  importance  of  the  theater  in  eighteenth-century  life  can 
scarcely  be  exaggerated.^  Amateur  theatricals  were  the  rage 
among  the  upper  bourgeois  and  aristocratic  classes. 
Significance  The  "  Theatre  de  la  Foire  "  was  the  folk-theater  for 
of  Comedy  popular  entertainments.  The  two  regular  establish- 
ments, the  Theatre-Frangais  and  the  Theatre-Italien  (as  re- 
vived by  the  Regent)  rivaled  each  other  in  exhibiting  the  works 
of  the  chief  playwrights.  Comedy  is  a  living  form,  echoing  the 
manners,  ideas  and  conflicts  of  the  time.  It  is  usually  satiric, 
whether  in  the  lighter  vein  of  Regnard  and  Piron  or  in  the 
deeper,  more  universal  satire  of  Lesage  and  Beaumarchais. 
The  last  two  writers  are  the  greatest  of  their  age  in  this  field. 
The  plays  of  other  men,  bounded  by  the  conventionalities  of  the 
form  and  of  the  epoch,  yet  depict  that  epoch  with  more  super- 
ficial variety  than  can  be  found  in  any  other  genre.  The 
socio-historical  value  of  comedy  is  then  to  be  added  to  its 
fluctuating  literary  merit. 

On  the  threshold  of  the  century  are  found  several  transition 
writers  who  continue  Moliere  as  regards  the  comedy  of  manners, 
of  characters,  or  simply  of  plot.  Regnard  (1656- 
Regnard  j^^g^  stands  for  gay  intrigue,  partly  derivable  from 

the  old  gaulois  comedy  in  its  free  farcical  wit.  Regnard  carries 
the  comedie-farce  to  a  high  degree  of  classical  finish.  He  is 
essentially  a  fun-maker,  and  his  two  main  qualities  are  verve 
and  gaiety.  His  Folies  amoureuses  and  his  Joueur  show  that  he 
took  neither  love  nor  gambling  very  seriously.  His  master- 
piece is  Le  Ligataire  universel  (1708),  which  resembles  Le 
Malade  imaginaire.  A  hypochondriac  seems  to  be  dead  and  his 
would-be  heirs  combine  to  seize  his  property,  when  he  astonishes 
them  by  coming  out  of  his  lethargy.    As  in  so  many  plays  of 

•  See  above,  Bk.  I,  Ch.  III. 
424 


DANCOURT   AND   LESAGE  425 

the  period,  the  impudent  rapacity  of  master  and  valet  seemed 
natural  enough  to  author  and  audience.  Regnard  is  merely 
amusing,  not  original,  and  not  a  master  either  of  the  comedie  de 
mceurs  or  the  comedie  de  caracteres. 

These  two  chief  kinds  of  Molieresque  comedy  were  con- 
tinued by  others.  There  had  been  some  suggestions  of  them  in 
the  work  of  Dancourt  (1661-1725).  His  titles  — 
Danco  j^^^  Agioteurs,  Les  Bourgeoises  de  qualite,  as  well 

as  those  which  deal  with  mills  and  fairs  and  harvests  — 
show  his  concern  with  the  middle  and  lower  classes,  which  he 
describes  in  good  realistic  prose.  His  sketches  have  little  variety 
or  invention  in  plot,  but  they  exhibit  well  the  decadence  of 
manners  toward  the  end  of  Louis  XIV's  reign;  actual  figures 
and  events  of  the  time  lend  some  interest  to  Dancourt's  second- 
rate  art.  His  best  play  is  the  Chevalier  a  la  mode  (1687) ;  it 
deals  with  the  scrapes  of  an  unprincipled  gallant  who  mingles 
audaciously  two  kinds  of  "  affairs  "  —  financial  and  amorous. 

The  greatest  writer  of  this  transition  period  is  Lesage,^ 
whose  Turcaret  really  equals  Moliere's  creations.  It  was  pre- 
ceded (1707)  by  Crispin  rival  de  son  maitre,  which 
^^^^^  combines  a  good  plot  with  a  new  presentation  of  the 

perennial  valet  of  comedy.  Crispin,  instead  of  supporting  his 
master,  rivals  him  in  courtship,  less  for  the  sake  of  the  girl 
than  for  her  dowry  and  his  consequent  prestige.  Lesage  also 
wrote  a  great  deal  for  the  Theatre  de  la  Foire,  an  unliterary 
exercise  which  at  least  taught  him  easy  manipulation  of  intrigue. 

Turcaret   (1709)   is  not,  however,  primarily  a  plot-comedy, 

but  a  serious  satire  on  manners  and  an  original  treatment  of 

a  new  and  lasting  type.    This  is  the  traitant,  the 
"  Tuicaret "  ^     j  i-  > 

unscrupulous  financier  of  the  period,  who  lives  by 

extortion  and  tries  to  shine  as  a  spender  and  a  lover.    Like 

Tartuffe,  this  hypocrite  is  in  the  end  humiliated  by  various 

revelations.    His  character  and  environment  are  built  up  by  a 

series  of  firm  sure  touches,  from  the  excellent  exposition  through 

the  rounded  denouement.    Turcaret  appears  as  self-important, 

grasping,  short-sighted  and  foolish  in  his  love-making,  shrewd 

and  cruel  in  business  and  family  matters.    Lesage  was  offered 

a  large  bribe  to  suppress  this  portrait  of  a  very  actual  type, 

'  For  biographies  of  Lesage  and  Marivaux,  see  following  chapter. 


426  COMEDY   AND    DRAME 

the  kind  of  financier,  who,  like  the  Jew  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
seems  to  have  been  used  and  scorned  in  abnost  equal  pro- 
portions. 

The  picture  of  society  which  Lesage  presents  is  not  flattering. 
There  is  a  mixture  of  classes  and  ambitions,  a  feverish  desire 
Social  ^°^  luxury  and  money,  and  a  callous  lack  of  any 

Depiction  ideahsm,  particularly  in  affairs  of  the  heart.  There 
is  not  a  single  attractive  character  in  the  play,  because  the  women 
who  fool  Turcaret  are  little  better  than  himself,  and  the  servants, 
as  usual,  cynically  pull  the  strings.  But  this  masterpiece  pro- 
duces no  such  impression  of  conventionality  as  we  find  in 
Regnard  and  even  in  Marivaux.  It  is  a  genuine  expression  of  life 
in  the  domain  of  high  comedy,  sustained  by  a  bold  realism  of 
colorful  language,  an  authentic  crisp  wit  and  a  definite  air  of 
modernity.  The  last  quality  is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that 
Turcaret  is  the  first  of  the  famous  money-plays  which  later 
figure  so  notably  in  dramatic  history.  Balzac,  Augier  and 
Dumas  fils  are  the  true  successors  of  Lesage  in  this  respect. 

Nericault  Destouches  (1680-1754),  the  last  of  the  transi- 
tional group,  brought  from  England  a  certain  gift  for  portray- 
ing eccentric  characters.  He  stands,  indeed,  for  an 
es  cue  es  attempt  to  resuscitate  the  comedy  of  character  in 
a  serious  style;  but  he  also  possesses  traits  which  foreshadow 
the  sentimental  comedie  larmoyante  and  the  moralistic  drame? 
His  characters  thus  tend  to  become  lay-figures,  and  his  plots, 
though  not  badly  conducted,  contain  a  good  deal  of  false 
romanticism,  depending  on  recognition,  virtue  in  danger,  virtue 
rewarded,  and  so  on.  The  play  which  marks  the  advent  of  the 
drame  is  Le  Philosopke  marie  (1727) ;  but  the  best  comedy  of 
Destouches  is  rather  Le  Glorieitx  (1732),  where  the  haughty 
nobleman  is  brought  low  through  a  series  of  blows  to  his  pride. 
"  Mon  fils  est  glorieux,"  says  the  forgiving  father,  "  mais  il  a 
le  coeur  bon."  Intermarriages  between  classes  are  again  fea- 
tured here,  with  much  moralizing  thereupon. 

As  the  century  wears  on,  the  forms  of  comedy  become  more 
Kinds  of  diverse  and  numerous.  To  the  staple  kinds  —  the 
Comedy  comedy  of  character,  of  manners  and  of  intrigue  — 

are  added  not  only  the  hybrid  comedie  larmoyante,  but  such 

*  See  end  of  the  chapter. 


VARIOUS   COMEDIES  427 

forms  as  the  satirical  comedy  of  personalities  (Voltaire's 
L'Ecossaise) ,  the  philosophe  comedy  of  propaganda  (Marivaux' 
L'lle  des  Esclaves) ,  finally  the  political  comedy  of  social  revolt 
(Beaumarchais'  Manage  de  Figaro).  On  the  fringe  of  the  reg- 
ular drama  are  to  be  found  marionette  plays,  coarse  burlesques 
and  especially  light  opera,  which  in  the  works  of  Favart  grew  as 
to  importance  and  influence.  As  to  content,  esprit  held  the  first 
place  in  drama,  then  came  philosophic  and  social  discussion,  with 
the  note  of  pathos  as  a  poor  third.  Several  single  comedies,  of 
individual  merit  and  of  illustrative  value,  may  now  be  mentioned. 

The  satirical  and  personal  kind  is  well  illustrated  by  Palissot's 
Les  Philosophes  (1760),  a  group  which  is  directly  attacked  and 
Various  Plays  ^^^°  misrepresented  in  the  play.  Sedaine's  Philo- 
and  Playlets  sophe  sans  le  savoir  (1765),  which  some  consider  a 
drame,  seeks  to  combine  the  two  ideals  of  "  philosophy  "  and 
good  sense  in  a  pleasant  and  moderate  fashion.  The  sage  here  is 
M.  Vanderk,  a  modest  and  mercantile  nobleman  who  can  make 
his  points  —  for  instance,  that  personal  worth  is  superior  to  rank 
—  without  sermonizing.  The  thought  is  embodied  in  the  action, 
the  scenes  are  climactic,  and  the  characters  are  true  to  them- 
selves and  to  their  respective  conditions  in  life.  The  play  is 
indeed  a  new  and  true  creation,  a  model  of  artistic  simplicity  and 
measure,  though  on  a  small  scale.  Piron's  sophomoric  La 
Metromanie  (1738)  appeals  to  young  writers  rather  than  to  the 
general  public.  It  is  a  question  of  a  poet's  mania  for  verse  and 
of  the  misfortunes  which  befall  his  sjonpathetic  personality. 
But  the  play  has  a  fine  natural  style  and  the  wit  which  was 
always  Piron's  gift.  Cresset's  Le  Mechant  (1745)  is  equally 
well  written  and  with  a  more  vigorous  touch;  it  is  a  genuinely 
Classical  comedie  de  caracteres  in  art  and  traditioUi  The 
"  mechant,"  a  type  who  cannot  bear  to  see  other  people  happy, 
is  duly  punished  in  the  end.  Moliere  is  Cresset's  master,  but  his 
playlet,  like  Le  Glorieux  and  Le  Joueur,  is  a  delicate  rather  than 
a  deep  portrait. 

The  comedy  of  eighteenth-century  society,  together  with  the 
century's  conception  of  art,  is  represented  in  a  new  way  by  Mari- 
vaux, who  definitely  leaves  the  tradition  of  Moliere 
Manvaux  ^^^  -^  ^ga^j-er  Racine  in  his  treatment  of  love.  The  fig- 
ures of  Marivaux  are  well  matched  with  the  landscapes  of  Wat- 


428  COMEDY   AND    DRAME 

teau.  Delicate  ladies  and  submissive  gallants  promenade  through 
a  "  Carte  de  Tendre,"  occupying  themselves  with  a  subtle  form  of 
love-making  often  expressed  in  predeux  language.  The  servants 
echo  the  demeanor  and  the  style  of  their  masters.  There  is  some- 
thing thin  and  unsubstantial  about  these  "  spiderweb  "  comedies, 
as  Voltaire  called  them,  in  which  ghosts  of  the  old  regime 
seem  to  be  treading  an  eternal  minuet.  Marivaux  gives  the 
illusion  of  movement  without  much  moving.  His  plots  are  slight, 
consisting  of  a  sort  of  hurdle  race,  an  accmnulation  of  ob- 
stacles to  the  comse  of  true  love.  The  chief  plays  all 
repeat  the  same  theme  — "  Teternelle  surprise  de  I'amour " 
—  and  it  is  their  weakness  that  the  difficulties  would  dis- 
appear at  any  moment,  if  the  right  word  were  spoken  by 
the  right  person.  This  comedy  of  cross-piu-poses  is  exemplified 
by  Le  Jeu  de  I'amour  et  du  hasard  (1730),  where  servants  are 
disguised  as  masters  and  vice  versa ;  but  each  person  falls  in  love 
according  to  his  or  her  proper  rank,  and  the  deferred  revelation  of 
the  true  status  of  each  constitutes  the  only  suspense  in  the  plot. 
Le  Legs  (1736)  shows  a  more  plausible  strife  between  the  pocket- 
book  and  the  heart;  but  its  action  is  maintained  simply  because 
the  timid  marquis  can  scarcely  believe  that  the  countess  loves 
him.  A  similar  situation  api>ears  in  Les  fausses  Confidences 
(1737).  These  three  are  the  best-known  plays  of  Marivaux 
and  are  still  kept  in  the  repertory.  They  incorporate  the  tradi- 
tion of  the  new  Theatre-Italien,  where  most  of  Marivaux  was 
gracefully  represented.  They  are  all,  in  form,  conventional  prose 
comedies,  with  Classical  balance  of  characters  and  interests. 
But  they  have  certain  conspicuous  merits  of  their  own. 

"  Quand  I'amour  parle,"  says  one  character,  "  il  est  le  maitre; 
et  il  parlera."  He  speaks  at  length,  with  a  good  deal  of  refined 
"  marivaudage,"  containing  both  singularity  and  sen- 
sibility, which  the  author  partly  distilled  from  his 
associations  with  Fontenelle,  Lamotte  and  the  salon  of  Mme  de 
Tencin.  It  is  nearly  always  a  nascent  timid  love  that  Mari- 
vaux portrays.  Its  language  is  respectful  and  gallant, 
and  without   passion,   and   with    considerable   delicacy. 

Distinction  The  women,  like  Racine's  heroines,  are  well  ana- 
lyzed and  differentiated.  These  Sylvias  and  Aramintes,  as  well 
as  the  lesser   coquettes,  are  possessed  of  undeniable   charm, 


BEAUMARCHAIS  429 

and  charm  in  the  long  run  is  the  master  quality  of 
Marivaux.  He  thereby  rises  superior  to  his  failings  and  seems  to 
reflect  the  fragile  graces  of  his  century  with  a  peculiar  manner 
and  distinction.  And  he  is  a  capable  artist  within  his  formal 
range.  He  really  founds  the  modern  drawing-room  comedy,  as  it 
is  later  carried  on  in  the  work  of  Musset  and  of  Pailleron. 

Pierre  Caron  de  Beauinarchais  (1732-1799)  was  not  only  the 
most  talented  dramatist  of  his  age,  but  he  led  a  life  closely 
Life  of  associated  with  his  brilliant  comedies.     Like  his 

Beaumarchais  own  Figaro,  Beaimiarchais  was  a  veritable  jack-of- 
all-trades.  Of  humble  birth,  he  appears  in  turn  as  a  watch- 
maker, a  harpist,  a  successful  candidate  for  court  favor,  the  hus- 
band of  wealthy  widows,  and  always  a  master  of  intrigue.  He 
was^sent  on  a  private  mission  to  Spain.  He  aided  the  French 
Government  by  adventurous  plotting  in  Holland  and  Austria. 
He  furnished  arms  to  the  American  colonists  and  found  difficulty 
in  getting  pajnment.  He  established  a  society  of  dramatic  authors 
and  published  the  first  complete  edition  of  Voltaire.  He  was 
famous  for  his  law-suits,  which  he  turned,  in  his  eagerly  devoured 
Memoires,  to  the  confusion  of  the  new  courts  of  justice.  Always 
in  hot  water  as  regards  the  authorities  and  his  own  finances,  he 
was  about  to  find  a  secure  position  when  the  Revolution  over- 
threw everything.  Unscrupulous,  ambitious,  energetic,  gay  and 
kind-hearted,  Beaumarchais  is  one  of  the  most  fascinating  and 
representative  of  eighteenth-century  celebrities. 

Literature  with  him,  as  with  his  counterpart  Sheridan,  is 
quite  incidental  to  the  adventure  of  life.  But  he  had  a  natural 
gift  for  the  drama  of  action,  and  his  two  great  plays 
are  alive  with  the  personality  of  their  author.  These  are  the 
Barbier  de  Seville  (1775)  and  the  Mariage  de  Figaro  (1784). 
The  Barbier,  which  originated  from  the  comic-opera  plots  of 
its  own  time,  finds  today  its  natural  complement  in  the  music 
"  Le  Barbier  °^  Rossini.  Its  plot  and  most  of  its  characters  are 
de  Seville"  conventional  in  outline  but  are  vivified  by  the  dex- 
terity, wit  and  style  of  Beaumarchais.  It  is  simply  a  question 
of  conspiracies  and  disguises,  of  a  jealous  guardian,  a  pretty 
ward,  a  romantic  lover  and  a  helpful  barber.  The  characters, 
however,  are  cleverly  matched,  and  the  scenes  —  for  instance, 
the  famous  lesson  scene  —  are  conducted  with  dash  and  daring. 


430  COMEDY   AND    DRAME 

Beaumarchais'  style  is  original,  diversified  and  witty  in  the 
extreme.  Above  all,  he  created  a  new  and  immortal  character 
in  Figaro,  who  has  been  called  the  "  legataire  universel  of  all 
the  valets  of  comedy  "  —  Mascarille,  Crispin  and  the  rest.  He 
is  also,  in  his  unabashed  gaiety  and  his  quick  resourcefulness, 
the  incarnation  of  Beaumarchais  himself.  A  self-reliant  indi- 
vidual, he  is  already  heard  murmuring  against  various  social 
abuses. 

This  last  feature  is  much  more  pronounced  in  the  Manage  de 
Figaro,  which  though  written  (1778)  shortly  after  the  Barbier, 
"Le  Manage  was  long  withheld  from  the  stage.  It  is  here  that 
de  Figaro  "  Beaumarchais  turns  comedy  into  "  universal  satire," 
into  diatribes  and  insinuations  against  the  lawyers,  the  courtiers 
and  the  privileged  classes  generally,  who,  says  Figaro,  are  often 
inferior  to  their  servants.  The  characters  in  the  former  play 
reappear,  after  the  passage  of  time,  and  the  reason  for  the  bar- 
ber's bitter  spirit  is  that  the  Count,  already  weary  of  his  wife, 
now  wishes  to  seduce  Figaro's  fiancee.  The  main  plot  concerns 
the  outwitting  of  the  libertine  by  Figaro  and  the  women;  they  use 
"  double-crossing,"  double  disguises  and  hiding-places,  since 
Beaumarchais  could  not  be  content  with  simplicity.  This  play 
is  highly  elaborated  and  constructed  on  a  very  large  scale  as 
regards  the  number  both  of  personages  and  of  incidents.  For 
example,  there  is  the  figure  of  Cherubin,  another  new  type  on 
the  stage,  a  precocious  youth  who  is  in  love  with  every  woman 
and  embroils  everything.  There  is  the  plaintive  Marceline,  a 
lady  really  belonging  to  the  comidie  larmoyante.  There  is  the 
act  which  takes  off  the  courts  of  justice,  as  in  Rabelais.  There 
is  the  final  garden  scene,  containing  various  incognitos  and 
coups  de  theatre,  a  bewildering  accumulation  of  incidents  and 
people.  All  this  is  far  from  the  reduced  size  of  the  regular 
Classical  comedy.  In  action,  the  play  lives  up  to  its  subtitle 
of  "  la  folle  joumee."  In  characterization,  the  rather  cynical  de- 
velopment of  the  persons  whom  we  already  know  is  well  marked, 
and  the  new  figures  are  equally  living.  The  language  is  swift 
and  brilliant,  even  more  elliptical,  \  taking  more  for  granted 
than  in  the  Barbier.  The  Mariage  "  sounds  the  tocsin  of  the 
Revolution,"  and  when  one  reads  Figaro's  great  monologue  in 
the  last  act,  the  wonder  is  that  the  play  could  have  been  repre- 


LA    CHAUSSEE  431 

aented  at  all.  For  the  old  order  here  seems  dissolving  in  im- 
morality, and  the  new  order  has  insolently  announced  itself  in 
this  comedy,  which  is  on  the  whole  the  most  remarkable  dra- 
matic production  of  the  centmy.  It  stands  at  the  confluence  of 
all  genres,  great  and  small,  and  is  a  resume  of  the  period,  on 
both  the  dramatic  and  the  political  sides. 

The  two  remaining  dramatic  forms,  of  little  artistic  worth, 
but  of  considerable  historical  importance,  are  the  comedie 
larmoyante  and  its  successor  the  drame  bourgeois.  The  former 
is  thus  defined  by  M.  Lanson: 

La  comedie  larmoyante  est  un  genre  intermediaire  entre  la 
comedie  et  la  tragedie,  qui  introduit  les  personnages  de  condition 
privee,  vertueux  ou  tout  pres  de  I'etre,  dans  une  action  serieuse, 
grave,  parfois  pathetique,  et  qui  nous  excite  a  la  vertu  en  nous 
attendrissant  sur  ses  infortunes  et  en  nous  faisant  applaudir  a  son 
triomphe.    La  Chaussee  en  fut  I'inventeur. 

Two  plays  of  La  Chaussee  may  be  taken  as  typical  of  this 

kind.    In  La  fausse  Antipathie    (1733),  two  married  people 

who  barely  knew  and  heartily  disliked  each  other 

a      aussee   ^^  g^.^^^  ^^^^g^  again  after  a  long  separation.    They 

do  not  recognize  each  other  until  the  "  voice  of  nature  "  speaks. 
They  are  finally  reunited  after  various  obstacles  and  much 
weeping.  The  romantic  sentimentality  of  this  play  pleased 
the  women,  and  the  same  quality  won  a  much  greater  success 
for  the  Prejuge  a  la  mode  of  1735.  The  aristocratic  "  prejudice  " 
is  that  a  husband  must  not  admit  any  fondness  for  his  wife. 
La  Chaussee's  husband  is  not  really  indifferent;  he  simply  does 
not  wish  to  seem  ridiculous  about  his  wife  until  jealousy 
conquers  his  pose.  The  wife  is  "  vertueuse  et  sensible "  and 
naturally  loves  her  htisband.  The  interest  of  the  play  is  that 
it  reflects  a  social  condition  which  it  helped  ameliorate.  La 
Chaussee  "  ttu'ned  the  woman  of  the  world  into  a  mere  woman," 
capable  of  serious  love.  Among  his  other  plays,  of  less  conse- 
quence, are  Melanide  and  L'Ecole  des  meres.  His  chief  imitator, 
curiously  enough,  was  Voltaire,  who  though  he 
"^  officially  scorned  the  genre,  admitted  the  mixture  of 
tragic  and  comic,  and  tried  to  affect  the  public  in  L'Enfant 
jyrodigue  and  Nanine  —  the  latter  a  sort  of  Pamela.  These 
works  are  scarcely  successful,  and  what  is  more  extraordinary  is 


432  COMEDY    AND    DRAME 

that  Voltaire,  in  pure  comedy,  is  not  successful  at  all.  Too 
much  propaganda  and  egotism  impede  his  portrayal  of  char- 
acter, and  his  natural  wit  seems  to  benefit  him  little  as  a 
dramatist. 

Other  characteristics  of  the  comedie  larmoyante  may  be  men- 
tioned. Even  with  private  domestic  life  is  mingled  a  shoddy 
romanticism  of  mistakes,  disguises,  recognitions  and  misfortunes. 
There  are  practically  no  villains,  since  everybody  must  be  vir- 
tuous—  hence  the  need  for  the  above  devices.  The  action  is 
slowly  and  awkwardly  conducted.  The  characters  are  seldom  set 
on  their  feet,  since  moral  maxims  replace  analyses  of  real  people. 
The  depiction  of  manners  is  slight  and  secondary.  The  real 
importance  of  these  plays  is  in  their  subjects;  they  show  the 
vogue  of  discussions  about  morality  and  virtue;  the  pleasures 
of  sensibility ;  the  power,  in  love  and  life,  attributed  to  sentimental 
goodness ;  much  talk  about  "  nature  "  and  the  famous  "  voix  du 
sang  "  which  causes  recognition  between  long-lost  relatives.  In 
the  drama  as  a  form  of  art,  La  Chaussee  has  scarcely  a  place; 
but  he  partly  expresses  contemporary  ideas  and  he  paves  the  way 
for  Diderot's  bolder  theories. 

Diderot  stands  for  realism  on  the  stage,  as  in  most  of  his  other 
work.*  His  various  Entretiens  on  the  drama  (1757  f.)  make  an 
Theories  of  i^iportant  addition  to  criticism.  His  chief  prin- 
Diderot  ciples  are:    (1)  that  Classical  tragedy  is  dead  and 

should  be  replaced  by  an  intermediate  form,  serious  in  tone ;  (2) 
that  subjects  should  be  drawn  from  everyday  bourgeois  life;  (3) 
that  this  life  is  best  represented  as  a  matter  of  social  status  or 
"  condition  " ;  (4)  that  prose  is  better  than  poetry  for  domestic 
drama;  (5)  that  pantomime,  tableaux  and  other  aids  to  action 
should  be  freely  used.  The  last  three  points  represent  some 
advance  on  La  Chaussee.  The  result  will  be  the  drame  bourgeois 
in  its  various  gradations  and  with  its  various  nomenclature 
(comedie  serieuse,  etc.).  The  importance  of  this  theory  is  that 
it  came  fully  into  its  own  through  the  work  of  nineteenth-century 
Realists. 

But  the  drame  bourgeois  itself,  whether  handled  by  Diderot 
or  Beaumarchais,  whether  due  to  the  English  influence  (transla- 
tions of  Edward  Moore  and  of  Lillo)  or  changing  under  the  in- 

'  See  Bk.  IV,  Ch.  III. 


THE    SOCIAL    DRAMA  433 

fluence  of  Revolutionary  propaganda,  is  of  little  artistic  signifi- 
cance. As  a  social  and  historical  fact,  however,  since  sevferal 
The  Drame  hundred  of  these  drames  were  produced,  the'  form 
Bourgeois  has  its  importance:  it  shows  the  growth  of  bourgeois 
class-consciousness  and  it  becomes  a  vehicle  for  philosophes  and 
reformers.  Fresh  feelings  and  ideas  are  there,  but  they  are 
poorly  expressed.  Sensibility,  morality,  and  pseudo-romantic 
intrigue  still  dominate  and  thwart  artistic  composition.  Per- 
sistent twaddle,  feeble  action,  deficient  observation  and  charac- 
terization deprive  the  drame  bourgeois  of  the  necessary  dramatic 
elements. 


CHAPTER  III 
FICTION:   LESAGE,    MARIVAUX,    PREVOST^ 

It  has  been  said  ^  that  the  whole  history  of  fiction  shows  the 
evolution  from  the  impossible,  through  the  improbable  and  the 
Pro  ress  in  probable,  to  the '  lSevitaT)le.  If  this  be  true,  the 
this  Period  transition  in  France  from  the  improbable  to  the 
probable  is  nearly  connected  with  the  transition  from  the  seyen-^ 
teenth  to  th^  eighteenth  century.  The  former  age  barely  laid 
the  foundation  for  the  modern  "  psychological "  novel  and  the 
novel  of  manners;  the  latter  saw  a  very  considerable  develop- 
ment in  these  and  other  kinds.  The  seventeenth  century  had 
rather  frowned  upon  fiction  as  a  light  feminine  genre  not  prac- 
ticed by  the  ancients;  in  the  eighteenth,  we  first  find  professional 
novelists  of  repute,  and  most  of  the  important  writers  produced 
fiction  of  one  sort  or  another. 

The  first  great  writer  of  the  realistic  roman  de  mceurs  was 
Alain-Rene  Lesage  (1668-1747),  the  author  of  Gil  Bias.    Lesage 
bridges  the  two  epochs,  passing  his  formative  years 
Lesage  ^^^  producing  his  early  masterpieces  under  Louis 

XIV.  His  Breton  birth  and  rearing  have  been  held  responsible 
for  the  vein  of  sturdy  independence  which  marks  his  character. 
He  stands  on  his  own  as  a  man  of  letters,  seeking  no  patronage 
from  the  aristocracy,  whom  he  freely  criticizes.  Educated  in  a 
Jesuit  college  at  Vannes,  he  acquired  there  a  wide  knowledge  of 
the  ancients,  whose  cause  he  espoused  in  the  Quarrel.  Like  so 
many  others  he  came  to  Paris  to  study  law,  a  profession  which 
he  soon  abandoned  for  literature.  It  is  worth  noting  that  he 
married  a  girl  of  Spanish  descent.  He  led  a  modest  bourgeois 
life,  not  mingling  in  society  nor  seeking  admission  to  the  Acad- 
emy ;  but  he  came  in  contact  with  actors,  authors  and  apparently 

>  On  seventeenth-oentury  fiction,  see  Part  II,  Bk.  Ill,  Ch.  I  and  Bk.  IV,  Chi; 
on  other  eighteenth-century  novels,  see  Part  III,  Bk.  II,  Ch.  II  (Voltaire),  Bk.IV, 
Ch.  Ill  and  Bk.  V,  Ch.  I  (Diderot,  Rousseau);  for  the  plays  o{  Lesage  and 
Marivaux,  see  preceding  chapter. 

'  By  Professor  Brander  Matthews. 

434 


LESAGE'S    NOVELS  435 

financiers,  and  his  most  pungent  satire  is  directed  against  these 
classes.  He  cut  something  of  a  figure  in  the  cajes,  where  free 
discussion  was  allowed.  In  his  old  age  he  retired  to  Boulogne, 
where  he  died. 

The  best  works  of  Lesage  are  surrounded  by  a  mass  of  hack- 
writing.  He  translated  Spanish  novels  before  writing  his  own, 
and  even  after  Gil  Bias  he  wrote  three  inferior  romances,  largely 
imitated  from  the  Spanish.  Thus  it  is  no  wonder  that  Spanish 
originals  have  been  found  for  Le  Diable  Boiteux  (1707)  and  for 
a  part  of  Gil  Bias.  The  former  story  uses  the  framework  of 
Guevara's  El  Diablo  cojuelo:  in  each  book  the  devil  obliges  the 
hero  by  unroofing  houses  and  by  displaying  the  lives  of  the  in- 
mates. But  the  roofs  removed  by  Lesage  are  Mansard  roofs,  his  , 
«  Le  Diable  revelations  are  essentially  Parisian,  and  this  consti- ' 
Boiteux"  tutes  the  main  interest  of  the  story.  People  were 
aheady  getting  a  taste  for  actuality  through  the  drama,  through 
Dufresny  (who  anticipates  the  Lettres  persanes)  and  particu- 
larly through  the  increasing  editions  of  La  Bruyere's  Caracteres. 
So  the  contemporary  portraits  and  events,  the  scarcely  veiled 
scandals  and  anecdotes  of  Le  Diable  Boiteux,  as  well  as  its  crisp 
style  and  wit,  immediately  ranked  Lesage  as  a  successful  author. 

The  same  characteristics,  as  well  as  a  similar  looseness  of 

composition,  appear  in  Gil  Bias,  which  is  a  far  greater  book. 

It  is  in  fact  a  world-book,  through  the  weight  of 
Gil  Bias "  ;  D  o 

its  influence  and  the  variety  of  its  readers,  and 

it  has  found  even  more  favor  abroad  than  in  France.  To  illus- 
trate, the  history  of  the  English  novel,  from  Fielding  to  Dickens, 
could  hardly  be  written  without  some  reference  to  Gil  Bias. 
Its  own  origins  are  clear:  it  is  in  the  tradition  of  the  Spanish 
picaresque  romance  or  rogue-novel;  it  is  also  a  road-novel,  in 
that  it  often  narrates  perambulations  and  adventures  in  the 
open;  and  it  underlies  the  modern  novel  of  manners,  using 
a  Spanish  veil  to  describe  and  satirize  French  people  and  con- 
ditions. The  work  was  issued  in  three  sections  at  widely 
separated  dates  (Parts  I  and  II,  in  1715;  III,  in  1724;  IV,  in 
1735),  and  thus  covers  the  social  history  of  a  whole  epoch  — 
the  decay  of  Louis  XIV,  the  Regency,  and  the  ministry  of 
Fleury.  The  first  two  parts  deal  more  with  private  life,  the 
last  two  with  political  matters  and  the  world  at  large. 


4.36    FICTION:    LESAGE,    MARIVAUX,   PREVOST 

The  "  question  de  Gil  Bias "  concerns  the  extent  of  its  in- 
debtedness to  Spanish  sources.  Briefly,  one-fi.fth  of  the  book, 
Sources  and  especially  in  its  first  part,  is  freely  imitated  from 
Composition  the  Vida  del  Escudero  Marcos  de  Obregon,  by 
Vicente  Espinel.  There  are  also  borrowings  from  other 
picaresque  novels  and  still  other  sources.  These  partial 
plagiarisms  do  not  seriously  impair  the  original  force  and 
attractiveness  of  Lesage's  treatment.  A  more  serious  blot  is 
his  lax  method  of  composition.  Using  the  autobiographical 
form,  then  almost  universal,  he  narrates  the  life  and  adven- 
tures of  his  hero,  and  since  this  is  a  road-novel  he  permits  a 
"  good  deal  of  wandering  about "  in  the  plot.  The  author  is 
little  concerned  with  dramatic  sequence:  events  are  but  loosely 
strung  together  by  characters  who  happen  to  stroll  in  again,  and 
too  much  use  is  made  of  chance  and  coincidence.  There  are  two 
conclusions,  very  similar  in  circiunstances  and  effect,  at  the 
ends  of  Parts  III  and  IV  respectively.  Moreover,  Lesage  insists 
on  introducing  unrelated  episodes  and  inset  stories  to  an  extent 
which  reminds  one  of  the  Arabian  Nights,  recently  (1708  f.) 
translated  into  French.  Let  us  relate,  suggests  the  captain  in 
the  robbers'  cave,  "  par  quel  enchainement  d'aventures  nous 
avons  embrasse  notre  profession."  Thus  the  reader  is  off  on 
the  trail  of  Sinbad  and  easily  loses  the  thread  of  the  main 
story. 

But  it  may  be  urged  that  the  story  is  not  the  thing  with 
Lesage.  He  announces  his  intention  to  give  a  succession  of 
Portraits  anaP°'^^^^*®>  ^  picture  of  true  manners,  and  to 
Characters  moralize  therefrom.  These  three  things  he  faith- 
fully carries  out.  The  picture  is  vast  and  varied.  French  so- 
ciety, bearing  Spanish  names,  appears  in  all  degrees.  Many  pro- 
fessions and  "  humours  "  are  displayed  in  the  portraits  of  great 
ladies  and  ministers  of  state,  of  rogues  and  adventuresses,  of 
doctors,  financiers,  comedians  and  authors.  Against  the  last 
four  types  the  satire  of  Lesage  is  particularly  directed.  The  ^J 
"  keys  "  indicate  that  Voltaire  and  Crebillon  fils,  Mme  de  Lam- 
bert and  the  actor  Baron  appear  in  suitable  disguises.  As  a 
rule  the  author  portrays  low  and  middle-class  life  rather  than 
the  aristocracy;  and  rather  than  ideal  or  elevated  characters 
he  sets  forth  the  "  average  sensual  man."    Such  is  the  char- 


LESAGE'S    REALISM  437 

acter  of  the  unheroic  hero  himself.  For  Gil  Bias  is  essentially 
an  adaptable  person,  a  chameleon  who  changes  with  his  setting. 
Like  the  hero  of  Manon  Lescaut,  he  begins  his  exploits  at  the 
age  of  seventeen,  when  moral  instability  is  most  excusable.  He 
falls  in  with  and  reflects  many  milieux  —  from  that  of  robbers 
and  lackeys,  bohemians  and  comedians,  up  to  church  and 
court  circles.  He  adopts  the  vices  and  devices  peculiar  to  each 
set,  but  it  has  been  observed  that  he  is  gradually  formed  by  the 
world  and  ends  as  a  cautious  steward  of  property.  Among  the 
other  salient  personages  are  such  rascals  as  Don  Rafael;  the 
vain  Archbishop  of  Granada;  Laure,  the  pretty  and  piquante 
adventuress;  and  the  immortal  Doctor  Sangrado,  who  bleeds 
and  purges  people  to  death. 

If  the  adventures  are  imusual  —  and  adventures  mostly  are  — 

the  chief  characters  are  probable  and  life-like,  and  the  same  is 

true  of  their  environment.    Lesage's  realism  anti- 

eaiism  cipates  the  modern  kind  in  that  he  makes  much  of 

external  things.  "  II  voit  et  il  fait  voir."  Local  color  appears 
picturesquely  in  the  use  of  Spanish  words  and  customs,  and 
Lesage's  descriptions  generally  are  picturesque.  Furthermore, 
he  seeks  the  characteristic  detail  of  each  person,  gives  his 
appropriate  physiognomy,  gestures  and  costume.  Gil  Bias  com- 
placently dons  and  describes  his  fine  clothes.  Money  is  fre- 
quently handled  and  in  specific  sums.  People  are  seen  walking, 
dressing,  traveling  and  eating;  they  eat  almost  as  much  and  as 
circumstantially  as  in  Dickens;  the  motto  of  Lesage,  says  one 
critic,  might  be:  "  Je  mange,  done  je  suis."  There  is  little 
description  of  nature,  but  interiors,  such  as  the  robbers'  cave 
or  employers'  houses,  are  given  with  moderate  detail.  Cata- 
logues of  concrete  things  are  sometimes  used,  as  well  as  other 
realistic  devices. 

Lesage's  style  is  realistic  in  its  simplicity  and  naturalness. 
He  expresses  himself  easily,  sometimes  negligently,  in  every- 
,day  language.  Though  he  was  an  "Ancient"  and  strews  his 
book  with  classical  allusions,  as  well  as  with  abstract  moral 
maxims,  he  is  more  like  Voltaire  in  his  short  sentences,  his 
light  ironic  touch  and  his  general  vivacity,  especially  in  dia- 
logue. Wit  he  has  at  command,  not  in  excess,  and  he  condemns 
the  precieux.    His  survey  of  human  weaknesses  is  abundantly 


438    FICTION:   LESAGE,    MARIVAUX,   PREVOST 

satirical,  but  seldom  bitter  and  always  clean.  Like  Moli^re, 
he  has  only  the  average  and  practical  morality  of  experience. 
He  lacks  sentiment,  elevation,  enthusiasm,  which  qualities 
hardly  belong  to  the  realistic  manner.  Lesage  is  one  of  the 
most  French  of  French  authors,  and  Gil  Bias,  thoroughly  es- 
tablished as  a  world  classic,  remains  a  most  attractive  and  read- 
able book. 

Pierre  de  Marivaux  (1688-1763),  as  may  be  judged  from  his 
graceful  plays,  shone  as  one  of  the  chief  lights  of  the  salons. 
His  scintillating  wit  and  preciosity  were  welcomed 
Marivaux  ^^  -^^^  ^^  Lambert  and  Mme  de  Tencin.  His 
character  was  amiable,  and  in  spite  of  serious  financial  reverses, 
he  had  a  reputation  for  charity.  He  was  successful  first  through 
his  comedies,  particularly  at  the  Theatre-Italien,  less  so  at  the 
Frangais,  where  cabals  were  formed  against  him.  He  also  had 
difi&culties  with  Voltaire  and  the  philosophic  party.  He  be- 
longed to  the  school  of  the  Moderns,  while  Fontenelle  was  among 
his  best  friends. 

His  two  important  novels  are  the  Vie  de  Marianne  (1731-41) 

and  Le  Paysan  parvenu  (1735-36).    They  are  both  unfinished, 

autobiographical  in  form,  and,  like  Gil  Bias,  they 

IS    ic  ion    pgj^^g  ^jjg  j.jgg  jjj  fortune  of  the  main  character. 

Marivaux  also  represents  the  novel  of  manners,  but  he  sticks 
more  closely  than  Lesage  to  average  folk  and  to  every-day 
happenings  rather  than  adventures.  He  uses  episodes  freely 
and  cares  little  for  the  action,  which  he  impedes  by  abundant 
analyses,  moralizings  and  subtleties.  Thus  to  the  roman  de 
mceurs  he  adds  features  of  the  modern  "  psychological "  novel. 
His  picture  of  life  is  intensive  rather  than  extensive.  He  lacks 
the  broad  grasp  of  Lesage. 

Marianne,  at  fifty,  chatters  freely  to  a  friend  about  her 
early  life  —  how  she  was  left  an  orphan  in  Paris,  pursued  by 
an  old  hypocrite  and  loved  by  a  young  lord,  whom  she  manages 
finally  to  marry.  This  thin  substance  is  filled  out  by  inter- 
esting feminine  revelations.  Marianne  frankly  confesses  and 
,.„  .  ..  stages  her  wiles,  coquetries  and  vanities.  Retro- 
spectively,  she  appears  as  an  "  honest "  girl,  though 
candidly  reckoning  on  her  beauty  and  vivacity  to  improve  her 
fortunee.    She  displays  her  charms,  hand  and  foot,  and  her  lover, 


MARIVAUX'S    NOVELS  439 

hand  and  foot,  is  bound  to  her  chariot.  She  is  a  creature  of  ad- 
dress and  finesse,  but  her  conversational  style  is  allowed  to  in- 
clude certain  subtleties  of  which  Marivaux  was  more  capable  than 
Marianne.  The  author's  main  purpose  is  to  study  characters  and 
passions,  which  heanalyses  bothin  theirmotives  and  consequences. 

The  counterpart  to  this  work  is  Le  Paysan  parvenu.  Here 
the  arriviste  is  a  handsome  footman,  who  rises  through  the  good 
"Le  Paysan  graces  of  ladies.  Marriage  is  only  one  stage  in  his 
parvenu"  ^career,  which  is  attended  by  some  very  shady  trans- 
actions; these  are  supposed  to  be  offset  by  courage  and  generosity, 
as  well  as  by  an  occasional  scrupulousness.  But  this  Jacob,  as 
a  person,  is  less  acceptable  than  Marianne ;  and  the  novel,  in  spite 
of  showing  more  action  and  alertness,  is  an  inferior  composition. 
Marivaux,  like  Richardson,  was  at  his  best  when  sympathetically 
penetrating  feminine  psychology.  There  he  could  distinguish 
and  differentiate ;  accordingly,  the  two  bourgeoises  who  fall  in.  < 
love  with  Jacob  are  among  his  cleverest  successes.  It  has  been 
said  that  Marianne  herself  personifies  an  epoch,  typifying  the 
reign  of  woman  in  society. 

Marivaux's  fiction  has  a  good  deal,  though  rather  less  than 
his  drama,  of  the  highly  mannered  style,  to  which  the  term 
Marivaux's  "  marivaudage  "  has  been  applied.  This  term  may 
Qualities  now  be  defined  as  a  subtle  preciosity  of  language 
and  thought,  the  latter  usually  necessitating  the  former.  But 
even  where  he  has  the  choice,  Marivaux  prefers  the  deliberately 
elaborate  to  any  simple  expression.  Wit  and  conceits  and  a 
"  systematic  refinement "  of  vocabulary  make  him  the  embodi- 
ment of  the  new  precievx  spirit  for  which  the  salons  were  respon- 
sible. Also  he  insists  on  drawing  the  last  drop  out  of  his  analyses 
and  putting  down  what  everybody  might  have  thought  and 
said  —  a  habit  which  makes  him  the  Henry  James  of  his  day. 
The  jyrec^ux  effect  is  particularly  visible  in  the  IjOve-making 
of  his  plays,  which  was  in  accordance  with  the  tradition.  With 
an  over-abundance  of  subtlety  and  wit,  he  must  be  granted  a 
scintillating  quality,  an  amiable  irony  and  a  gentle  gaiety  which 
help  to  relieve  the  strain.  But  "  marivaudage  "  is  best  read  in 
small  doses.  Merely  as  language,  his  style,  if  recherche  and 
highly  distilled,  is  elegant,  pure  and  apparently  facile.  His 
prose  is  everywhere  most  characteristic  of  eighteenth-century 


440     FICTION:    LESAGE,    MARIVAUX,    PREVOST 

refinement.  As  a  moralist,  he  shows  a  "  sensibility  "  which  Le- 
sage  has  not,  and  a  deeper  understanding  of  what  then  passed 
as  "  virtue,"  as  well  as  of  the  kind  of  gallantry  that  flourished  in 
the  hot-house  atmosphere  to  which  he  was  accustomed.  But 
he  has  by  no  means  the  creative  power  of  Lesage  or  of  Prevost 
at  his  best. 

Like  Lesage,  the  Abbe  Prevost  (1697-1763)  was  a  hardworking 
man  of  letters,  honorably  making  his  way  by  the  varied  products 
of  his  pen.     His  youth  was  stormy  and  irregular, 
revos  Destined  early  for  the  church,  he  escaped  into  the 

army  for  a  time,  probably  experienced  a  deep  love-affair,  then 
for  seven  years  sought  rest  and  sanctuary  in  the  order  of  the 
Benedictines.  Wearying  of  their  strictness,  he  again  escaped, 
this  time  to  England ;  there  he  found  his  true  vocation  as  a  novel- 
ist and  started  his  journal  Le  Pour  et  Contre  (see  Bk.  II,  Ch.  IV). 
After  more  adventures  in  Holland,  he  finally  (1734)  settled  in 
Paris,  where  he  regularized  his  position  with  the  church  and  be- 
came an  unattached  abbe.  Modest,  laborious,  endowed  with  a 
lively  sensibility,  he  won  his  place  in  Parisian  society,  being 
respected  by  Voltaire  and  received  by  Mme  de  Tencin. 

Before  coming  to  his  fiction,  a  word  should  be  said  about 
Prevost 's  miscellaneous  writings.  He  helped  the  English 
Miscellaneous  vogue  not  only  by  his  journal,  but  by  his  excellent 
Works  translations   of  Richardson's   novels.     These  were 

much  admired  by  the  French  and  started  the  new  currents  of 
sentiment  which  culminate  in  Rousseau.  Prevost  goes  farther 
afield  in  the  compilation  called  the  Histoire  generale  des  voy- 
ages. Here  eighteenth- century  exoticism  is  well  displayed  as 
a  liking  for  remote  scenes  and  primitive  social  conditions.  Some- 
thing of  the  same  trend,  combined  with  a  distinct  taste  for  ad- 
ventm-e,  appears  in  Prevost's  long  romances. 

The  romances  have  lived  chiefly  by  their  names:  Les  Memoires 
d'un  homme  de  qualite,  Le  Doyen  de  Killerine,  Cleveland.  They 
jjjg  seem  now,  in  spite  of  some  enthusiasts,  hopelessly 

Secondary  old-fashioned,  long-winded  and  "highly  improb- 
omances  able."  It  is  the  kind  of  improbability  that  especially 
hurts  a  novel,  because  it  takes  away  from  the  effect  of  life  and 
adds  the  effect  of  ridicule.  The  plots  are  full  of  wild  events: 
murders,  shipwrecks,  dark  deeds,  sudden  plunges  and  changes 


PREVOST'S  MASTERPIECE  441 

of  fortune.  The  composition  is  inferior  and  the  psychology 
quite  cloudy;  but  the  romances  have  their  importance  as  re- 
flecting one  taste  of  the  times  and  as  forming  the  matrix  in  which 
is  embedded  the  gem,  Manon  Lescaut.  Many  characteristics  of 
the  latter  appear  in  Prevost's  other  works:  the  "  dark  coloring" 
of  perpetual  tragedy,  the  great  place  given  to  passion  and  feeling, 
the  autobiographical  method,  the  exotic  wanderings  and  par- 
ticularly that  romantic  sense  of  fatality,  of  the  mystery  in  life 
which  the  philosophes  wholly  lacked.  "  Les  philosophes  savaient 
tout  sauf  le  je  ne  sais  quoi  " — and  Prevost  knew  that. 

Manon  Lescaut  is,  in  several  respects,  the  masterpiece  of  the 
eighteenth  century  in  fiction  and  is  the  first  great  modern  novel 
"Manon  °^  passion.  It  is  among  the  most  artistically  com- 
Lescaut"  posed,  the  most  harmonized  and  unified  of  French 
novels,  comparable  in  this  respect  to  Flaubert's  Madame 
Bovary.  It  first  appeared  (1731)  as  a  sort  of  appendix  to  the 
Memoires  d'un  homme  de  qualite,  but  the  usual  elements  of 
Prevost's  fiction  are  here  compounded  according  to  a  very  dif- 
ferent recipe.  In  the  ^rst  place,  Manon  is  quite  short,  written 
concisely  and  without  episodes.  In  the  second  place,  the  action 
is  not  mere  melodrama,  but  is  dominated  by  the  thoroughly 
conceived,  the  living  and  appealing  characters  of  hero  and 
heroine.  Finally,  the  constant  note  of  pathos  is  inherent  in  the 
story,  and  the  treatment  of  the  heart-interest  is  superb  and 
inevitable.  These  varied  excellences  are  probably  due  to  the 
fact  that  Prevost  himself  had  lived  through  a  similar  experience. 

The  story,  though  widely  known,  may  be  briefly  set  forth. 
The  Chevalier  des  Grieux,  a  youth  of  seventeen,  falls  in  love 
"  at  first  sight  "  with  the  adorable  Manon.  The  lovers  escape  to 
Paris  and  for  a  few  weeks  live  together  in  ideal  bliss.  But 
Manon,  though  she  is  fond  of  the  Chevalier,  is  still  fonder  of 
luxury.  To  keep  their  establishment  going,  she  yields  to  the 
advances  of  an  old  nobleman,  who  causes  Des  Grieux  to  be  re- 
covered and  taken  home  by  his  father.  The  agony  of  the  young 
lover  presently  yields  to  a  resigned  despair,  whereupon  he  in- 
differently accepts  a  theological  career.  In  the  course  of  time,  he 
appears  at  a  public  ceremony  at  Saint-Sulpice.  Manon  is  among 
the  audience  and  seeks  an  interview.  "  Perfide  Manon !  Per- 
fide!  "  cries  the  young  man,  who  is  only  too  soon  persuaded  that 


442      FICTION:    LESAGE,    MARIVAUX,    PREVOST 

her  perfidy  is  skin-deep  and  that  she  really  cared  for  him  all  the 
time.  Again  they  elude  their  elders  and  find  a  cottage  in  the 
suburbs  of  Paris.  Expenses  accumulate,  and  under  the  tuition 
of  Lescaut,  Manon's  rascally  brother,  Des  Grieux  becomes  a 
card-sharper.  In  contrast  to  this  character  is  Tiberge,  the 
faithful  friend  to  whom  Des  Grieux  often  has  recourse.  Through 
theft  and  fire,  misfortunes  overtake  the  lovers  —  and  Manon 
is  again  ready  to  deceive  the  Chevalier  with  the  old  nobleman, 
her  first  "  protector."  But  it  seems  better  after  all  that  the 
lovers  and  Lescaut  should  deceive  and  rob  the  old  roue.  He 
pursues  them  and  has  them  shut  up  in  different  prisons,  from 
which,  employing  the  usual  romantic  devices,  they  presently 
escape.  For  a  brief  time  they  are  again  together  and  happy. 
Manon  even  discourages  the  suit  of  an  Italian  prince,  but  when 
the  son  of  her  first  protector  makes  advances,  she  once  more 
bids  Des  Grieux  farewell.  This  would  be  the  third  betrayal, 
but  now  the  Chevalier  takes  the  upper  hand  and  in  a  tre- 
mendous scene  reproaches  and  persuades  Manon  to  leave  the 
yoimg  nobleman.  They  attempt  to  deceive  this  youth,  dally  too 
long,  and  are  once  more  arrested.  Des  Grieux  is  finally  re- 
leased, but  Manon  is  sent  as  a  convict  to  America.  There  her 
lover  accompanies  her,  both  of  them  in  great  distress  and 
poverty,  and  there  at  last  he  wins  her  whole  heart  for  himself. 
But  complications  arise,  the  lovers  must  flee  from  New  Orleans, 
and  the  story  closes  with  their  flight  into  the  wilds,  Manon's 
death,  and  her  burial  by  her  devoted  and  distracted  Chevalier. 
It  is  apparent  from  the  above  that  Prevost  has  purposely 
contrasted  Des  Grieux,  who  is  ever  faithful,  with  Manon,  who 
becomes  so  only  at  the  end  of  the  story.  This  "  rehabilitation  " 
is  due  less  to  the  inflaming  power  of  love  than  to  the  Chevalier's 
long  devotion  and  to  the  shared  sorrows  in  which  even  Manon  has 
lost  her  taste  for  joys.  Thus  the  plot  vmfolds  a  tragic  accumu- 
lation of  events,  through  which  rides,  even  more  tragically,  the 
dominant  master  passion.  The  chief  characters,  with  all  their 
weaknesses  —  they  are  so  very  young  —  are  exceedingly  sym- 
pathetic. Manon  says  little  and  is  scarcely  described.  But  her 
living  figure  is  placed  among  the  Helens  and  the  Guineveres  of 
immortal  legend.  Absorbing  as  the  book  is  in  its  endless  pathos 
and  strong  in  its  delineation  of  love,  the  tone  is  Classically  re- 


DEVELOPMENT   OF   THE   NOVEL  443 

strained,  and  uncontrollable  passion  is  still  viewed  as  a  frailty 
rather  than  a  virtue. 

Thus  the  novel  as  a  gehre  grew  decidedly  in  favor  and  power 
during  the  eighteenth  century.  It  assumed  various  forms,  con- 
forming to  changing  circles  and  periods,  rather 
Summary  ^j^^^^  entering  on  a  straightforward  development. 
Realistic  with  Lesage,  realistic  and  analytical  with  Marivaux, 
it  becomes  almost  romantic  in  the  sweet  intensity  of  Prevost's 
masterpiece.  Elsewhere,  we  shall  see  the  latter  strain  continued 
and  individualized  in  Rousseau's  Nouvelle  Heldise.  In  the 
meantime,  such  phUosophes  as  Voltaire  had  been  using  the  short 
story  for  their  own  purposes.  Finally,  the  scattered  and  form- 
less fiction  of  Diderot  expresses  mainly  the  exuberant  naturalism 
of  his  temperament.  Propaganda,  passion  and  reality,  the 
eighteenth  century  had  known  them  all,  aiid  the  nineteenth  will 
prolong  and  partially  straighten  out  the  twisted  skeinj 


CHAPTER  IV 

POETRY 

For  the  most  part  the  eighteenth  century  does  not  shine  m 
poetry,  whether  lyric  or  narrative.     Voltaire  can  be  credited 

with  art  and  talent,  and  Chenier  with  a  genuine 
Two  Features  ^^^^i.  ^ut  apart  from  these  we  find  throughout  the 
century  only  third-rate  writers.  The  chief  interest  in  studying 
them  is  to  observe  how  their  artificial  and  graceful  verse  {vers 
de  societe)  reflects  the  manners  of  the  time ;  and  how  the  English 
influence  and  the  growth  of  the  elegie  led  in  the  second  half  of 
the  century  toward  some  depiction  of  nature  and  emotion.  But 
even  in  these  attempts,  mere  elegance  is  the  rule,  lack  of  color 
and  inspiration  leaves  us  cold,  and  not  until  Chenier  do  we  find 
any  great  poetry. 

It  is  in  light  verse  that  the  age  is  at  its  poetic  best,  and 
Voltaire  is  the  main  representative  of  this  kind.     We  have 

seen  that,  reacting  against  Lamotte  and  Fon- 
*°*°  ®  tenelle,  Voltaire  at  least  endeavored  to  put  the 
writing  of  verse  on  an  honorable  and  artistic  plane. 
Lamotte's  views  about  poetry  were  peculiar  and  bold; 
he  simply  tried  to  rationalize  it  into  prose.  His  Dis- 
cours  and  prefaces  show  an  ingenious  and  critical  mind,  which 
happens  to  be  wrong  in  most  of  its  decisions.  Rationalism  and  a 
factual  standpoint  characterize  his  combative  attitude  during  the 
last  phase  of  the  Quarrel  (1714:-16).  A  modern  of  the  Moderns, 
Lamotte  rejects  authority,  despises  Homer,  and  declares  that 
reason  alone  is  the  judge  of  "  truth."  So  the  "  true  "  language  of 
poetry  is  prose:  rime  and  rhythm  are  imessential,  the  thought- 
content  is  the  real  issue,  though  some  vivacity  in  images  and 
style  is  not  out  of  place.  Consistent  with  his  paradoxes,  Lamotte 
held  that  all  verse  of  his  contemporaries  —  and  of  Racine  as 
well  —  would  lose  nothing  by  being  turned  into  prose.    He  was 

•  For  Voltaire,  see  above,  Bk.  II,  Ch.  11. 
444 


MINOR   POETRY  445 

right  as  to  the  majority  of  his  contemporaries,  but  wrong  as  to 
Racine.  And  his  attempts  to  bear  out  his  theories  resulted  in 
a  translation  of  the  Iliad,  which  is  certainly  prosaic  enough. 

Lamotte  did  not  win  his  main  contention,  but  his  and  Fonte- 
nelle's  objections  to  the  "  coarseness  "  of  Homer  and  Theocritus 
are  significant  of  the  trend  of  the  times.  None  of 
ig  erae  ^j^^  minor  poets  to  be  mentioned  had  any  vital  con- 
tact with  nature  or  with  antiquity.  "  Genius  was  rare  and 
affectation  common."  It  was  a  highly  mannered  age,  and  artifi- 
cial gallantry  and  veneer  stamp  its  verse  as  well  as  its  fashions. 
The  grand  gout  and  the  controlled  emotion  of  the  seventeenth 
century  are  lacking,  while  a  dwindling  neo-classicism  is  even 
more  conspicuous  here  than  in  tragedy.  Mythological  allusions 
appear  with  a  wholly  conventional  effect,  the  language  is  colorless 
and  much  reduced  in  range,  enthusiasm  and  passion  are  dis- 
countenanced. On  the  other  hand,  there  is  an  abundance  of 
esprit,  of  irony  and  piquancy  coming  suddenly  to  the  fore — ^trick- 
ling, for  example,  through  the  verse  which  Voltaire  and  Bertin 
mingled  with  their  correspondence  and  condensed  in  the  epigrams 
of  Piron  — 

Ci-^t  Piron,  qui  ne  fut  rien, 

Pas  meme  Academicien. 

The  epigram  was,  in  fact,  the  one  form  to  which  the  century 
could  do  justice,  and  its  hard  glitter,  its  diamond-like  brilliance, 
are  well  represented  by  Piron,  Voltaire  and  Lebrun.  Much 
clever  satire  is  found  in  verse  as  well  as  in  prose.  But  satire  alone 
will  not  support  lyrical  flights,  of  which  there  were  very  few.  There 
was  too  little  inner  life  and  too  much  social  form.  Conventional 
epistles  and  odes,  faded  graces  and  facile  rimes  for  albums  are 
found  in  this  boudoir  poetry,  which  amiably  pretends  to  wander 
among  imaginary  islands  and  temples,  and  presents  ancient  fig- 
ures making  modem  love. 

The  elegy,  for  instance,  is  not  a  poem  of  grief  but  of  gallant 
love,  inspired  mainly  by  Ovid  and  Tibullus.  The  note  of  epi- 
curean libertinism  appears  very  early,  with  Chaulieu,  who  be- 
longed to  the  Societe  du  Temple  and  encouraged  the  young  Vol- 
taire. The  Ejntres  and  the  Baisers  of  Dorat  continue  this  sen- 
sualism with  a  sort  of  frivolous  effervescence.    These  masters  of 


446  POETRY 

gallantry  —  La  Fare,  Dorat,  Gentil  Bernard  —  show  nO  idealism 
or  faithfulness  in  their  love-affairs.  They  frankly  declare  for 
inconstancy,  on  either  side,  as  lending  an  added  piquancy  to 
amorous  adventures.  They  mingle  wit  with  their  sensuality,  as 
the  later  elegists  try  to  mingle  sentiment.  Leonard  and  Colar- 
deau  give  rimed  versions  of  the  Temple  de  Guide,  that  youthful 
extravagance  of  Montesquieu.  Gresset,  who  had  a  graceful  talent, 
writes  a  mock-epic  on  a  parrot  (Vert-Vert).  The 
Examples  vindictive  Lebrun  shows  some  power  and  boldness 
in  his  would-be  Pindaric  odes.  There  are  also  the  pretty  fables 
of  Florian,  almost  the  last  fabulist,  and  the  odes  and  hymns  of 
Lefranc  de  Pompignan,  that  solemn  bore,  whom  Voltaire  im- 
mercifully  derided.  A  swarm  of  poetasters  compose  mythologi- 
cal tableaux  or  amorous  trifles  and  describe  their  excursions  to 
the  country. 

This  last  kind  of  subject  has  its  interest,  because  it  presently 
becomes  associated  with  the  so-called  "  genre  descriptif,"  which 
Thomson  jmd  ^.imed  at  depicting  country  life.  The  English  influ- 
Nature  ence  largely  caused  this  change  of  base.''    Thomson's 

Seasons  were  first  translated  in  1759  and  were  later  freely  adap- 
ted by  Saint-Lambert,  who  induced  a  considerable  vogue  in  the 
depiction  of  natture.  Other  Saisons  followed,  a  series  of  Mois 
by  Roucher,  a  poem  on  Les  Jardins  by  Delille,  who  also  wrote 
certain  "  Georgics  "  which  put  him  in  the  front  rank  of  wits. 
None  of  these  men  had  any  real  nature-sense,  such  as  was  to 
be  found  in  England.  Saint-Lambert  writes  amateurishly  of  the 
country,  as  regards  either  its  beauties  or  its  labors,  and  keeps 
his  eye  on  Paris  most  of  the  time.  Roucher  shows  more  personal 
feeling,  and  Delille,  relatively  speaking,  had  the  best  descriptive 
power  and  charm.  But  as  a  rule  these  writers  are  superficial 
and  quite  neo-classical  in  their  verbiage,  since  it  was  still 
indecent  to  call  a  spade  a  spade,  and  since  rhetoric  was  still 
more  esteemed  than  truth.  The  importance  of  the  movement 
is  that  it  did  to  some  extent  combine  with  Rousseauism  to  for- 
ward the  later  Romantic  interest  in  external  nature. 

Another  popular  English  writer  was  Yoimg,  whose  Night 
Thoughts  (translated  1769)  promoted  a  certain  taste  for  the 
pleasures  of  melancholy;  while  Macpherson's  Ossian  (tr.  1776  f.) 

'  See  above,  Bk.  I,  Ch.  III. 


WRITERS   OF   ELEGY  447 

began  to  awaken  a  sympathy  for  ancient  laments  and  misty  land- 
scapes. It  is  rather  startling  to  find  the  old  regime,  in  its  last 
young  and  days,  addicted  to  meditations  on  solitude,  death  and 
Melancholy  tombs.  This  tendency  should  not  be  over-empha- 
sized, but  several  poets  undoubtedly  express  a  rather  poignant 
and  meditative  melancholy.  In  this  they  pave  the  way 
for  Lamartine,  while  in  their  imfortunate  lives  and  early  deaths 
they  offer  parallels  with  Chatterton.  Nicolas  Gilbert,  who  died 
prematurely,  is  the  best  case  of  the  poet-martyr.  He  had  a 
somber  enthusiasm,  a  kind  of  genius,  a  strong  proud  troubled 
soul.  He  was  a  rebel,  inveighing  against  the  tastes  and  abuses 
of  the  age.  His  talent  was  not  wholly  formed,  showing  awk- 
wardness in  the  midst  of  real  power.  The  verses  written  just 
before  his  death  — 

Au  banquet  de  la  vie,  infortune  convive  — 

have  been  called  the  finest  lyric  of  the  century  before  Chenier. 
Malfilatre,  who  also  died  young  and  unformed,  had  lyric  feeling 
and  aimed  for  true  poetic  beauties.  He  shows  grace  in  the  ele- 
giac manner  and  some  descriptive  force  in  his  Narcisse  dans 
Vile  de  Venus.  Finally,  the  unfortunate  De  Borinard  and  Leo- 
nard sound  at  times  the  melancholy  note  in  idyll  and  elegy. 

The  elegy,  indeed,  which  ran  through  most  of  the  century, 
found  its  culmination  and  made  its  greatest  impression  in  the 
work  of  Pamy.    It  seems  significant  that  the  three 
*™^  men  who  figured  best  in  poetry  on  the  eve  of  the 

Revolution  were  all  of  exotic  birth  — Pamy  and  Bertin  being 
natives  of  the  Ile-de-Boiurbon  and  Chenier  of  Constantinople. 
Evariste  Pamy  (1753-1814)  brought  from  his  Creole  birth  and 
breeding  a  considerable  capacity  for  feeling  and  expressing  pas- 
sion. He  was  of  lively  but  sensuous  character,  leading  with  his 
friend  Bertin  a  gay  military  and  social  life,  studded  with  various 
intrigues.  The  artistic  results  of  these  appear  in  the  Poesies 
erotiques  of  1778,  of  which  the  best  are  "  elegies  "  in  form.  In 
spite  of  his  exotic  birth,  Pamy  had  little  feeling  for  nature  and 
a  frankly  material  view  of  love.  But  though  a  voluptuary  he 
showed  at  any  rate  a  certain  freshness  and  eloquence  in  his  ama- 
tory verses.  He  is  neo-classical,  without  Chdnier's  great  sense 
of  pagan  beauty ;  but  he  has  facility  and  an  apparent  sincerity, 


448  POETRY 

and  when  abandoned  by  his  mistress  he  writes  with  an  almost 
passionate  despair.  Parny  is  the  most  harmonious  of  poets  be- 
tween Racine  and  Lamartine.  He  suggested  certain  moods  and 
measures  to  the  latter  poet,  but  the  Creole's  Eleonore  is  far  from 
foreshadowing  the  Elvire  of  Lamartine,  so  greatly  does  Roman- 
tic and  idealistic  love  differ  from  the  eighteenth-century  vari- 
ety. Eleonore  is  desired  simply  for  herself  or  rather  for  the 
satisfaction  she  can  give  her  lover;  she  has  no  spiritual  aura, 
she  is  associated  neither  with  religion  nor  with  nature.  Parny's 
best  verses  are  these,  Sur  la  Mart  d'une  Jerme  FiUe.\ 

Son  age  echappait  a  I'enfance. 

Riante  comme  rinnocence, 

Elle  avait  les  traits  de  rAmour. 

Quelques  mois,  quelques  jours  encore, 

Dans  ce  coeur  pur  et  sans  detour 

Le  sentiment  allait  eclore. 

Mais  le  ciel  avait  au  trepas 

Condamne  ses  jeunes  appas. 

Au  ciel  elle  a  rendu  sa  vie, 

Et  doucement  s'est  endormie, 

Sans  murinurer  centre  ses  lois. 

Ainsi  le  sourire  s'efface; 

Ainsi  meurt  sans  laisser  de  trace, 

Le  chant  d'lm  oiseau  dans  les  bois. 

The  short  life  of  Bertin  was  spent  mostly  in  the  company 
of  Parny,  whom  he  also  followed  in  imitating  ancient  elegists. 
His  Amours  are  more  elaborate,  less  natural,  and  more  artis- 
tically arranged  than  Parny's  experiences.  Sainte-Beuve  says 
with  truth  that  Parny  was  original  and  Bertin  a 
^"^  °  talented  imitator.    But  the  latter  surpasses  his  friend 

in  depicting  both  sweethearts  and  scenery  more  clearly,  giving 
some  fascinating  descriptions  of  the  Ile-de-Bourbon,  which 
Parny  had  neglected.  His  art  is  rich  and  resourceful  for  his 
time,  but  now  seems  rather  too  deliberate.  Bertin  has  been  called 
less  of  a  lover  than  Parny  and  less  of  a  poet  than  Ch^nier. 

Andre  Chenier  (1762-94),  the  only  great  poet  of  his  century, 
was  born  of  a  Greek  mother  at  Constantinople.  His  brother, 
Marie-Joseph,'  was  well-known  as  a  dramatist   (see  Bk.  HI, 

'  Author  of  the  Chant  du  Depart;  the  other  great  hymn  of  the  Revolution,  La 
Marseillaise  (1792),  is  usually  attributed  to  Rouget  de  I'lsle. 


CHENIER  449 

Ch.  I)  and  went  further  in  his  Revolutionary  sympathies  than 
did  Andre.  The  latter  knew  Greek  from  his  cradle,  and  his  fruit- 
^jjg  ful  studies  made  of  him  a  genuine  representative  of 

Chenier  the  antique.  As  a  boy  he  lived  in  Lan'guedoc  and  then 

tried  garrison  life,  for  which  he  had  no  taste.  About  1783  we_ 
find  him  in  Paris,  where  he  knew  the  sculptor  David  and  others 
interested  in  the  revival  of  antiquity.  Chenier  lived  in  London 
for  a  time,  was  unhappy  there,  undertook  various  travels  and 
finally  settled  in  Paris  in  1790.  His  talent  was  now  fully  ma- 
tured, but  his  career  was  soon  to  be  cut  short.  Enthusiastic 
at  the  "  dawn  "  of  the  Revolution,  he  later  revolted  against  the 
excesses  of  the  Jacobins,  attacked  Robespierre  and  was  con- 
demned to  the  guillotine.  Before  losing  his  head,  he  is  said  to 
have  remarked:  "  Pourtant  j 'avals  quelque  chose  la."  The 
"something"  was  a  fresh  inspiration  for  poetry. 

Chenier  belongs  to  the  stream  of  truly  classical  French  poets, 
which  extends  from  Ronsard  through  Racine,  down  to  Leconte 
jjjg  de  Lisle.    He  is  not,  however,  a  neo-classicist,  but 

Classicism  goes  directly  to  the  Greek.  His  early  work 
is  thoroughly  saturated  with  the  spirit  of  antiquity,  as  regards 
both  thought  and  form;  he  forges  for  himself  a  Grecian  soul 
and  apprehends  nature  and  humanity  from  the  ancient  stand- 
point. As  he  matures,  modern  thoughts  and  feelings  take  hold 
of  him  and  it  is  chiefly  the  form  that  remains  classical.  This 
ideal  is  crystallized  in  Chenier's  formula: 

Sur  des  pensers  nouveaux  faisons  des  vers  antiques. 

But  always  the  grave  and  sober  beauty  of  his  verses  stamps 
them  like  an  ancient  medallion,  and  in  his  interpretation  of  the 
Grecian  spirit  he  is  of  the  brotherhood  of  Keats. 

Only  a  few  of  Chenier's  verses  were  published  during  his 
lifetime,  the  first  collected  edition  not  appearing  until  1819. 
Poetry:  A^'so  much   of   his  work  remains   in   fragmentary 

Four  Kinds  form.  What  we  have  may  be  divided  into  four  sec- 
tions: the  purely  antique;  the  modern  antique,  including  ele- 
gies; the  political;  and  the  philosophical.  The  first  class,  simple 
eclogues  and  idylls,  would  be  represented  by  such  poems  as 
La  Jeune  Tarentine  and  Le  Malade.  The  elegies,  especially 
those  to  "Fanny,"  have  a  more  modem  passion  and  charm. 


450  POETRY 

The  political  poems,  consisting  of  strong  invective  and  satire, 
are  found  in  certain  lambes  and  in  the  well-known  verses  on  the 
Jeu  de  Paume,  which  give  the  early  program  of  the  Revolution. 
The  philosophic  poetry  was  to  represent  the  "  pensers  nouveaux," 
particularly  modern  history,  science  and  discoveries.  But  death 
intervened,  and  we  have  only  L'Invention  and  the  incomplete 
Hermes.  The  latter,  which  is  reminiscent  of  Lucretius,  has  been 
called  the  most  promising  effort  toward  a  great  philosophical 
poem  in  French.  But  most  readers  will  prefer  the  finished  pro- 
ductions, the  idylls  which  exhibit  best  Chenier's  harmonious 
beauty  and  his  subdued  feeling.  These  qualities  may  be  illus- 
trated from  La  Jeune  Tarentine: 

Elle  a  vecu,  Myrto,  la  jeune  Tarentine! 
TJn  vaisseau  la  portait  aux  bords  de  Camarine: 
La,  I'hymen,  les  chansons,  les  flutes,  lentement 
Devaient  la  reconduire  au  seuil  de  son  amant. 
Une  clef  vigilante  a,  pour  cette  journee, 
Dans  le  cedre  enferme  sa  robe  d'hymenee, 
Et  I'or  dont  au  festin  ses  bras  seraient  pares, 
Et  pour  ses  blonds  Cheveux  les  parfums  prepares. 
Mais,  seule  sur  la  proue,  invoquant  les  etoiles, 
Le  vent  impetueux  qui  soufSait  dans  ses  voiles 
L'enveloppe:  etonnee  et  loin  des  matelots, 
Elle  crie,  elle  tombe,  eUe  est  au  sein  des  flots.     . 


BOOK   IV 
THE  WAR  OF  LIBERATION 

CHAPTER  I 

THE    ENCYCLOPEDISTS    AND   THE    LATER 
PHILOSOPHES 

If  the  first  half  of  the  century  collected  much  material  for  the 
battle  of  free  thought,  the  second  half  actually  fought  the  battle. 
"  La  G  d  T^^^^^^o^^  "  philosophy "  becomes  more  decidedly 
Encyclopedic  "polemic  after  1750.  This  is  apparent  both  in  the 
(1752-1772)  changed  tactics  of  Voltaire  (see  next  chapter)  and  in 
the  massed  formation  of  the  Encyclopedia.  The  latter  has  been 
called  the  true  "  center  for  the  history  of  ideas  "  during  this 
period.  Its  two  chief  tendencies  were  toward  science  and  lib- 
eralism; it  was  an  arsenal  of  positive  knowledge  and  a  rallying- 
point  for  skeptical  criticism  and  reform.  Appearing  at  the 
crucial  moment,  when  all  the  old  loyalties  were  decidedly  shaken, 
it  was  from  the  beginning  viewed  suspiciously  by  those  in  power. 
To  forward  its  insinuative  propaganda,  it  assembled  various 
writers  of  note,  and  it  ranks  as  the  first  great  modern  Encyclo- 
pedia. 

Denis  Diderot  (see  Ch.  Ill,  below)  was  its  chief  editor.  About 
1748  a  bookseller  had  proposed  to  Diderot  that  Chambers'  Eng- 
lish Cyclopedia  be  made  the  basis  of  a  much  larger 
^  "^  French  work.  The  permission  and  cooperation  of 
d'Aguesseau  were  secured.  With  the  support  of  Mme  de  Pompa- 
dour and  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  orthodox,  seven  volumes 
had  appeared  by  1757.  Then  there  were  various  storms,  led  by 
the  Parliament,  abetted  by  Jansenists  and  Jesuits,  and  partly 
clustering  around  Dalembert's  iconoclastic  article  on  "  Geneve." 
Publication  was  suspended,  Voltaire  weakened  in  his  adherence, 
and  Dalembert  withdrew  altogether.     But  Diderot,  with  the 

451 


452     ENCYCLOPEDISTS  AND  LATER  PHILOSOPHES 

connivance  of  the  government,  carried  on  the  task  alone  and 
finished  in  1765  the  main  body  of  the  Encyclopedia,  which  con- 
sisted of  seventeen  volumes.  Later  eleven  volumes  of  illustra- 
tions were  published,  and  still  later  a  Supplement. 

The  title-page  of  the  Encyclopedie  declares  that  it  was  imder- 
taken  by  "une  societe  de  gens  de  lettres."  The  contributors 
Chief  represented  every  variety  of  occupation  and  taste. 

Contributors  Diderot  and  Dalembert  were,  as  Voltaire  said,  the 
Atlas  and  the  Hercules  who  carried  the  weight  of  this  world.  Di- 
derot's efforts  were  immense  and  untiring.  Not  only  was  he 
main  editor,  but  he  wrote  about  five  (octavo)  volumes  as  a 
contributor.  These  articles  are  on  the  most  diverse  subjects 
and  are  not  numbered  among  the  best  of  his  writings.  Dalem- 
bert, the  natural  son  of  Mme  de  Tencin  and  the  great  friend 
of  Mile  de  Lespinasse,  was  a  geometer  by  profession,  rather  more 
of  a  precisian  and  less  genial  than  Diderot.  But  the  two  agreed 
in  their  main  tenets:  skepticism  as  to  theology,  curiosity  con- 
cerning knowledge,  and  propagation  of  the  scientific  faith.  Da- 
lembert was  more  cautious  than  Diderot  and  served  as  a  useful 
mediimi  of  communication  with  Voltaire  and  the  Academicians. 
His  main  contributions  were  along  mathematical  lines,  and  he 
also  wrote  the  celebrated  Discours  preliminaire^  to  which  we 
shall  return.  The  Chevalier  de  Jaucourt,  the  "  jackal  of  the 
Encyclopedia,"  was  an  indefatigable  editor  as  regards  hack- 
work and  also  wrote  many  articles.  Voltaire  added  the  luster 
of  his  name,  wrote  several  literary  articles  —  for  example,  "  Es- 
prit "  —  but  became  less  enthusiastic  after  the  crisis  of  1757. 
The  chief  critic  was  Marmontel,  bel  esprit  and  society  man,  who 
had  a  great  reputation  in  his  time,  partly  from  his  adroitness  in 
pleasing  all  parties.  His  contributions,  which  are  informative 
and  appreciative  of  novelties,  have  been  mostly  collected  in  his 
Elements  de  litterature  (1787).  Rousseau  was  used  for  music; 
Montesquieu  was  much  quoted  on  political  matters,  and  his  unre- 
markable Essai  sur  le  gout  appeared  here;  Turgot  was  repre- 
sented by  five  excellent  articles  and  also  tried  to  put  into  prac- 
tical effect  some  features  of  the  Encyclopedists'  social  program. 
Incidental  use  was  made  of  Buffon,  Duclos  and  many  minor 
specialists,  such  as  the  grammarian  Du  Marsais,  the  scientist 
Formey,  and  such  abb^s  as  Morellet  and  Mallet  for  theological 


MERITS    OF    THE    ENCYCLOPEDIA  453 

matters.  The  majority  of  the  contributors,  however,  were  of 
mediocre  caliber. 

Certain  facts  about  the  Encyclopedia  are  well  stated  by  Mor- 
ley.  Both  Diderot  and  Dalembert  proceeded  from  Bacon's 
General  classification  of  knowledge,  thus  giving  a  positive 

Features  coherence  to  the  eighteenth-century  Enlightenment, 
which  was  largely  based  on  Locke's  philosophy  of  sensation. 
Also  the  writers  constituted  a  fraternal  group,  and  the  work  made 
a  popular  impression  of  "  universality,  of  collective  and  organic 
doctrine."  The  attack  against  the  church  is  conducted  cautiously ; 
the  writers  still  use  the  theological  "  veil "  (in  the  manner  of 
Bayle  and  Voltaire)  and  speak  as  believers.  The  fact  is  that  the 
Encyclopedia  stood  less  against  religion  than  for  science,  espe- 
cially in  its  applications  to  human  life.  That  is  why  even  the 
court  could  become  interested  in  the  article  on  "  Powder,"  and 
according  to  the  anecdote,  Louis  XV  "  could  not  understand  why 
they  spoke  so  ill  of  this  book."  The  wide  popularity  and  influ- 
ence of  the  Encyclopedia  are  imquestioned.  Objective  interests 
tended  more  and  more  to  possess  the  mind  of  man,  as  mystery 
and  theology  were  relegated  to  the  background.  Morley  con- 
cludes that  "  energetic  faith  in  possibilities  of  social  progress  has 
been  first  reached  through  the  philosophy  of  sensation  and  ex- 
perience," of  which,  after  Voltaire,  the  Encyclopedists  were  the 
widest  distributors. 

These  featm-es  can  be  best  exhibited  by  considering  in  detail 
the  Discours  preUminaire  and  then  by  discussing  the  principles 
The  "  Discoura^^  ^^®  Encyclopedie  as  operative  in  half-a-dozen  fields 
Preliminaire  ''of  htiman  effort.  There  are  two  parts  to  Dalembert's 
(1751)  Discours:  a  logical  distribution  followed  by  an  actual 

history  of  knowledge.  His  first  step  is  to  examine  the  "  genea- 
logy "  and  then  the  filiation  of  the  sciences  and  arts.  Adopting 
Locke's  sensationalism,  he  gives  a  rather  fanciful  picture  of  the 
order  in  which  (primitive)  mankind  arrived  at  its  perceptions. 
We  hear  much  of  the  physical  and  mathematical  sciences,  to 
which  the  later,  more  humanistic  sciences  are  made  relative  or 
subordinate.  In  fact,  Dalembert  urges  the  principle  of  relativity, 
especially  as  regards  the  interdependence  of  knowledge  (rapports) , 
and  he  believes  that  all  knowledge,  including  that  of  the  fine  arts, 
is  utilitarian  at  bottom.    "  Tout  s'y  rapporte  a  nos  besoins." 


454.     ENCYCLOPEDISTS  AND  LATER  PHILOSOPHES 

With  apologies  to  Bacon,  he  then  draws  up  his  genealogical  tree 
on  an  a  prion  basis.  There  is  a  three-fold  division  of  knowledge 
according  to  our  faculties:  memory  produces  history;  reason, 
philosophy;  and  imagination,  the  fine  arts.  The  subdivisions  are 
according  to  the  degree  of  spirit  and  matter  in  the  various  fields; 
so,  for  instance,  history  may  be  subdivided  into  spiritual  (sacred 
and  church),  human  (civil  and  literary),  and  natilral  history. 
The  three  main  divisions  may  also  be  applied  to  people,  who  will 
then  be  "  erudits,  philosophes  and  beaux  esprits."  Foreseeing 
the  objections  to  this  systematizing,  Dalembert  hastens  to  add 
that  it  will  not  wholly  work  out  in  practice ;  and  the  stress  in  the 
Encyclopedia  itself  is  less  on  systems  than  on  facts  and  things. 

Passing  to  the  historical  sketch  of  the  growth  of  knowledge, 
Dalembert  also  admits  that  this  will  not  follow  the  logical 
Historical  *  priori  scheme  outlined  for  primitive  man.  He 
Divisions  gives  a  "  gradation  "  showing  the  progress  of  the 
himian  mind,  as  revealed  in  its  geniuses,  from  the  Renaissance 
down.  His  main  thesis  is  thus  asserted :  "  On  a  commence 
par  I'erudition,  continue  par  les  belles  lettres  et  fini  par  la  philoso- 
phie."  Applied  chiefly  to  modern  France,  from  the  sixteenth 
through  the  eighteenth  centuries,  this  view  has  met  with  general 
acceptance  (by  Voltaire,  Brunetiere,  and  others) .  Dalembert  is 
typically  philosophe  in  his  contempt  for  the  "  barbarous  "  Middle 
Ages  and  in  his  belief  that  the  erudite  Renaissance  imitation  of 
the  ancients  was  so  much  loss  for  the  "  advancement  of  reason." 
He  briefly  expresses  appreciation  of  the  great  writers  and  artists 
imder  Louis  XIV  and  then  passes  to  what  really  interests  him, 
the  birth  of  modern  experimental  philosophy.  Here  Bacon,  by 
his  method  of  inquiry,  was  the  immortal  founder  —  though  Bacon 
was  scarcely  known  in  France  imtil  the  Encyclopedists  allowed 
him  credit.  Locke  and  Newton  gave  tangible  form  to  philos- 
ophy, which  has  since  invaded  literature,  not  wholly,  as  Dalem- 
bert sees,  to  the  benefit  of  the  latter.  He  concludes  that  this 
process  towards  a  liberalizing  philosophy  has  been  a  necessary 
evolution.  He  agrees  with  Locke  as  to  the  limited  extent  of  our 
knowledge,  and  he  holds  that  mathematics  offers  a  higher  degree 
of  certitude  than  any  other  field. 

The  Discours  remains  an  imposing  vestibule  to  the  Encyclo- 
pedia, and  it  represents  extremely  well  the  philosophic  attitude 


ITS    FAUI.TS  455 

of  the  century.  Dalembert's  geometrical  nature  impels  him  to- 
wards a  cautious  balance  in  thought,  as  well  as  a  poor  and  dry 
appreciation  of  literature  proper.  His  "  arbre  encyclopedique," 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  it  proceeded  from  Bacon  and  was  finally 

adopted  by  Comte,  is  open  to  objection.    To  classify 
Cnticism  .  ^  J-       X  jx  J       1  ,• 

of  the  sciences  accordmg  to  our  often  confused  sensation^ 

Discourse  |s  jggg  satisfactory  than  to  classify  them  according  to 
their  own  fields  and  materials.  The  latter  is  real,  the  former  is 
somewhat  arbitrary  and  anthropomorphic;  it  was  still  the  tendency 
of  the  century  —  witness  Buffon  —  to  relate  everything  to  man. 
Again,  in  his  devotion  to  utilitarian  knowledge,  Dalembert  does 
not  see  man  as  poetizing  and  hence,  contrary  to  Bacon,  represents 
imagination,  -rather  improbably,  as  the  last-born  of  the  faculties. 
He  steadily  advocates  the  treatment  of  the  thing-in-itself, 
the  fact;  and  often  he  is  able  to  combine  this  with  a  natural  and 
perhaps  laudable  tendency  towards  viewing  the  universe  as  one 
great  fact;  "la  nature  entiere  unifiee  par  la  raison  humaine  " 
is  the  supreme  object  of  all  savants  and  thinkers. 

Diderot's  Prospectus  stresses  scientific  specialism.  Progress, 
the  chain  of  knowledge.  He  declares  that  the  articles  in  the  En- 
Paults  of  t3ie^Jclopedia  will  be  linked  by  definitions,  by  manner 
Encydopedia  of  treatment  and  cross-references.  He  emphasizes 
the  industrial  and  mechanical  arts ;  he  has  visited  the  workshops 
and  acquired  much  technical  information  as  well  as  the  planches 
or  illustrations,  which  were  certainly  a  notable  feature  of  the 
Encyclopedia.  It  will  serve,  he  hopes,  as  a  true  library,  for  con- 
sultation rather  than  reading.  All  this  gives  a  fair  idea,  though 
a  somewhat  flattering  one,  of  the  work  itself.  The  Encyclopedia 
is  by  no  means  exempt  from  faults.  The  "  tree  "  of  knowledge, 
which  is  supposed  to  help,  often  hinders  the  reader  by  the  arti- 
ficiality of  the  scheme  and  its  confusions.  It  serves  best  when 
not  too  closely  followed.  Also  the  writing  is  at  times  poor  and 
hasty,  veritable  hack-work;  it  is  often  "faked"  bodily,  copied 
from  various  sources  of  information.  Finally,  a  declamatory 
tone,  a  fondness  for  abstractions  and  a  theoretical  primitivism 
sometimes  hurt  the  sense  of  the  real  world  which  was,  on  the 
whole,  the  chief  merit  df  the  Encyclopedists.  Diderot's  own 
material  is  illustrative  of  these  diverse  tendencies ;  it  is  confused 
in  its  standpoints,  rambling  and  without  proportion.    He  copies 


466     ENCYCLOPEDISTS  AND  LATER  PHILOSOPHES 

and  plagiarizes  shamelessly.  The  work  as  a  whole  is  badly  com- 
posed, sometimes  incoherent  and  chaotic.  There  are  many  grave 
errors  and  contradictions.  Simply  as  scientific  matter,  not  much 
of  the  Encyclopedia  survives  today;  but  that  very  fact  speaks 
in  favor  of  the  scientific  spirit,  of  the  actual  advancement  of 
learning  for  which  these  writers  strove.  They  would  have  been 
quite  content  that  their  edifice  should  cnmable  into  ruins  on 
which  the  masons  of  the  future  could  rebuild. 

The  chief  currents  of  the  Encyclopedia  flowed  in  these  five 
directions:  Science,  social  questions,  politics,  religion,  literature. 
Science,  whether  pure  or  applied,  was  the  main  pre- 
occupation  of  the  contributors.  They  wished  to  simi- 
marize  and  popularize  useful  knowledge.  The  natural  sciences 
are  more  to  the  fore  than  the  himianistic,  which  were  considered 
derivative.  Metaphysics  and  psychology  —  the  latter  term  was 
not  yet  invented  —  are  poorly  treated.  But  practical  subjects, 
physics  and  physiology,  agriculture,  industry  and  political  econ- 
omy, are  dwelt  upon  at  length.  Physiology,  for  instance,  is  viewed 
as  most  important;  the  doctrine  of  relativity  is  applied  to  the 
modifications  of  man  through  climate  and  travel.  The  physics 
of  Newton  are  used  as  a  basis  for  the  whole  work,  and  the  English 
school  generally,  coupled  with  the  skeptical  method  of  Bayle 
and  Voltaire,  is  responsible  for  the  essentially  scientific  spirit 
of  the  Encyclopedists;  this  is  manifest  in  the  search  for 
natural  and  secondary  causes,  the  use  of  reason  and  experi- 
ment, the  subjection  of  nature  to  human  ends,  the  insistence 
on  the  solidarity  of  knowledge  and  on  social  progress  through 
Enlightenment. 

As  regards  social  investigation  and  reform,  the  ideal  of  the 
Encyclopedia  is  practical  beneficence.  Hence  the  conception  of 
Social  "  S'rt  "  as  largely  industry,  the  respect  demanded  for 

Reform  artisans,  also  Diderot's  visits  to  the  ateliers  and  his 

zeal  for  the  planches.  Hence  the  attention  paid  to  the  land; 
the  full  and  clear  treatment  of  agriculture ;  the  exposm-e  ,of  old 
abuses  and  privileges,  such  as  the  corvees,  the  salt-tax,  the 
hunting  reservations;  and  Turgot's  articles  on  "Fondations" 
and  "  Foires."  The  Encyclopedists  demand  both  material  and 
moral  reforms;  but  they  are  timid  in  their  insinuations  against 
social  and  political  institutions,  and  they  have  a  vague  and 


SPECIAL    TOPICS  457 

"  radimentary  social  science."  But  Quesnay,  at  least,  here  lays 
the  foundation  of  the  political  economy  which  was  later  de- 
veloped by  him  and  other  "  Physiocrats."  In  criminal  legisla- 
tion, the  principles  of  Montesquieu  are  followed  and  urged.  The 
aim  is  not  so  much  pimishment  of  the  criminal  as  prevention 
of  like  crimes  and  the  attainment  of  the  "  greatest  good " 
socially.  This  latter  principle  really  obtained  in  France  before 
it  took  root  in  England  and  is  associated  with  the  general 
humaneness  of  the  Encyclopedists,  seen  in  their  opposition  to 
torture  and  war. 

The  Encyclopedia  devotes  some  space  to  political  science,  and 

again  Montesquieu  is  the  chief  source  for  what  concerns  the 

mechanism  of  government.    But  in  politics  proper 

°'  "  these  writers,  like  Voltaire,  are  far  from  revolu- 
tionary. The  social  reforms  mentioned  above  are  simply 
"  recommended  "  to  the  powers.  The  Encyclopedists  cleave  to 
the  monarchy,  to  the  philosophe  idea  of  a  beneficent  and  "  en- 
lightened" king.  They  demand  certain  liberties  for  commerce 
and  industry,  also  civil  liberty,  that  is,  equality  before  the  law. 
It  is  mainly  in  their  attitude  towards  the  nobility  that  they 
anticipate  the  Revolution.  They  insist  that  privileges  should 
be  abated  and  that  the  noblesse  should  either  serve  worthily 
or  yield  their  position. 

The  hand  of  the  censor,  civil  or  religious,  still  weighed  heavily 

at  the  time  of  the  Encyclopedie.    Its  writers  were  officially 

orthodox  and  hence  apparently  insincere.    One  of 

*"  °^  their  main  purposes  was  to  "  sabrer  la  theologie," 
which  could  be  attacked  only  with  elaborate  precautions.  Their 
method,  then,  is  indirect  and  much  like  that  of  Bayle.  They 
apparently  defend  Catholic  orthodoxy  by  granting  the  truth  of 
all  dogmas,  of  revelation,  of  sacred  history  and  of  miracles. 
These  things  belong  to  the  domain  of  faith  (compare  Pascal, 
Bossuet,  Voltaire)  and  not  to  that  of  reason.  Hence  the  un- 
reasonableness of  dogma  is  already  insinuated.  Also  the  Ency- 
clopedists indulge  in  violent  praise  of  extreme  dogmas,  such  as 
that  of  eternal  damnation,  thus  "  refuting  by  excess  of  admira- 
tion." These  specious  defenses  of  religion  are  little  better  than 
falsehoods,  especially  when  displayed  in  Jesuitical  articles,  full 
of  faith  and  imction.    In  the  manner  of  Voltaire  and  Montes- 


468    ENCYCLOPEDISTS  AND  LATER  PHILOSOPHES 

quieu,  the  Encyclopedists  use  foreign  creeds  to  suggest  compara- 
tive criticism;  in  the  manner  of  Bayle,  they  thrust  skeptical 
arguments  into  out-of-the-way  places  and  renvois;  they  quote 
the  feeblest  of  orthodox  proofs,  and  list,  through  "  impartiality," 
the  various  objections  to  Catholicism.  These  fall  under  two 
main  heads,  as  regards  the  real  purpose  of  these  skeptics:  an 
opposition  to  miracles  and  various  dogmas  as  contrary  to  im- 
mutable nature;  an  opposition  to  intolerance  and  persecution, 
as  contrary  to  the  principles  of  himianity.  The  best  and  the 
sincerest  writing  of  the  Encyclopedists  is  found  in  thel  latter  con- 
nection. 

Their  literary  criticism,  though  not  first-class,  is  very  sympto- 
matic. Here  the  chief  names  are  Diderot  (though  his  literary 
articles  are  neither  numerous  nor  excellent),  de 
Jaucourt,  Voltaire,  Mallet,  Sulzer,  a  learned  Ger- 
man, and  especially  Marmontel.  The  minds  of  these  men  are 
more  open  to  novelties  than  might  be  expected.  As  regards  the 
ancients,  they  are  opposed  to  close  or  superstitious  imitation. 
As  regards  aesthetics,  they  partly  follow  the  beau  ideal  of  the 
previous  century,  though  with  expansion  through  the  use  of  more 
modern  rapports  and  material  (Diderot  and  Marmontel).  In 
discussing  genius  and  taste,  they  favor  some  emancipation  from 
the  rules  and  they  demand  a  larger  role  for  imagination  and 
sensibility;  they  promote  an  interest  in  foreign  languages  and 
literatures;  on  the  whole,  however,  they  chiefly  urge  the  claims 
of  a  useful  and  moralizing  art.  In  criticizing  contemporary 
poetry,  they  protest  against  its  lack  of  sensibility  and  its  insig- 
nificant subject-matter.  But  they  accept  the  confusion  between 
poetry  and  painting,  as  well  as  the  centiuy's  views  concerning 
pastoral  and  didactic  verse.  In  the  drama,  the  Encyclopedists, 
led  by  Marmontel,  are  clearly  modern,  supporting  the  reforms 
of  Voltaire  and  of  Diderot.  The  drame  bourgeois  is  accepted 
in  its  main  features  —  the  use  of  prose,  of  contemporary  average 
characters,  the  rejection  of  neo-classical  artificialities.  Gener- 
ally, more  movement  is  recommended,  together  with  the  reform 
of  stage-setting  and  of  declamation.  The  Encyclopedists  are 
partly  progressive,  because  they  recognize  the  decline  in  belles 
lettres  as  due  to  the  decay  of  the  old  genres  and  the  rise  of 
philosophy.    They  accept  the  literature  of  knowledge  but  wish 


BUFFON  459 

at  the  same  time  to  stimulate  the  artistic  side  of  literature  by  the 
introduction  of  more  spirit  and  of  fresh  forms. 

The  "  conquests  "  of  the  Encyclopedia,  according  to  its  latest 
historian  (Ducros) ,  may  be  summed  up  along  the  three  lines  of 
Three  Main  "  nature,  reason,  humanity."  These  principles 
Principles  obtain  in  the  conflict  with  the  church,  in  the  con- 
structive endeavor  to  forward  the  arts  and  industries,  in  the 
approach  to  science  and  in  the  general  effort  to  benefit  humanity 
and  knowledge.  A  reasoned  humanitarianism  is  perhaps  the 
greatest  contribution  of  the  Encyclopedists. 

The  connection  of  Georges-Louis  Leclerc,  Comte  de  Buffon 
(1707-S8),  with  the  Encyclopedia  was  incidental  and  rather 
hostile;  but  his  own  monumental  work  is  in  itself 
"  **''  a  scientific  encyclopedia,  with  literary  aspects,  and 

it  may  well  be  considered  at  this  point.  Buffon  spent  much  of 
his  life  on  his  country  estate  in  Burgundy;  he  also  traveled 
abroad  and  formed  relations  with  English  and  other  scientists; 
from  1739  to  his  death  he  was  the  director  of  the  Jardin  des 
Plantes  (Jardin  du  Roi) ,  which  he  made  the  most  valuable  col- 
lection in  Europe.  In  all  of  its  phases,  his  life  was  given  over 
to  scientific  observation  and  investigation,  although  his  interest 
in  natural  history  did  not  develop  until  his  maturity.  His 
career  was  laborious  and  highly  honored,  his  character  elevated, 
his  mind  a  happy  blend  of  the  experimenter's  zeal  and  the 
generalizer's  ability. 

His  Histoire  naturelle  (1749-88)  appeared  as  an  oflScial  pub- 
lication based  upon  the  royal  collection,  owing  something  to 
collaborators  and  much  to  correspondents.  It  con- 
'*  *"  sisted  of  thirty-one  volumes,  dealing  with  the  earth, 
man,  animals  and  minerals.  The  vegetable  kingdom  was  not 
treated,  nor  were  certain  of  the  smaller  animals.  Seven  supple- 
mentary volxunes  (from  1774)  contained  the  famous  Epoques  de 
la  nature.  The  Histoire  naturelle  established  the  fortune  and 
prestige  of  its  chief  author  and  had  a  wide  popularity,  five  edi- 
tions being  published  in  Buffon's  lifetime.  The  excellence  of 
the  treatment  causes  the  work  to  rank  as  another  great  monu- 
ment of  literary  Expansionism.  Buffon  added  to  the  field  of 
letters  a  complete  natural  history  of  birds  and  quadrupeds,  as 
well  as  a  fascinating  cosmogony  in  his  Theorie  de  la  terre  and  Les 


460     ENCYCLOPEDISTS  AND  LATER  PHILOSOPHES 

Epoques.  He  thus  provided  lasting  foundations  for  zoology 
and  materials  for  comparative  anatomy;  and  he  drafted  that 
union  of  paleontology  and  cosmogony  which  made  the  fame  of 
Cuvier.  Parts  of  Buffon's  scientific  edifice  have  fallen,  but  his 
successors  (Cuvier,  Lamarck,  Geoffroy  de  Sainte-Hilaire)  have 
built  from  the  debris.  The  literary  features  of  this  vast  under- 
taking consist  first  in  the  author's  general  ideas  and  then  in 
his  style. 

His  view  of  the  animal  kingdom  is  hampered  by  anthro- 
pomorphism ("  Buffon  ramene  tout  a  I'homme  ")  and  also  by  a 
certain  indifference  to  classifications,  as  regards  genus;  he  es- 
tablishes the  species  by  the  test  of  self-reproduction  and  he 
upholds,  on  the  whole,  the  immutability  of  species,  though  not 
of  "  varieties."  Thus  he  both  fostered  and  opposed  the  doctrine 
of  biological  evolution.  The  major  part  of  the  Histoire  con- 
sists of  monographs,  dealing  separately  with  each  animal  or 
substance,  to  which  are  added  descriptions  of  experiments  and 
more  general  discours.  The  monographs  are  mainly  historical 
and  descriptive;  begiiming  with  domestic  animals,  Buffon  indi- 
vidualizes the  species  by  the  principle  of  generation  and  colors 
the  picture  by  emphasizing  human  resemblances  and  moral 
traits  (such  as  "  nobility  ") ;  this  kind  of  thing  is  less  valuable 
than  the  more  distinctive  characteristics  or  habits  which  Buffon 
established  for  each  bird  or  beast.  Most  valuable  are  the 
generalizing  passages,  and  these  appear  at  their  height  in  the 
Theorie  de  la  terre  and  the  later  Epoques  de  la  nature.  Buffon 
is  not  concerned  with  the  origin  of  matter  or  of  life.  But  con- 
tinuing the  work  of  various  predecessors,  especially  Leibnitz, 
he  was  the  first  to  give  a  history  of  the  successive  stages  of  the 
globe.  Underlying  this  are  two  main  theories,  scientifically 
based:  that  the  earth  was  originally  covered  with  water;  and 
that  its  interior  was  composed  of  fire  or  molten  material.  The 
"  Seven  Epochs  "  are  then  marked  by  incandescence,  cooling  off, 
the  deluge,  drying  off,  the  great  animals,  the  separation  of  con- 
tinents, the  appearance  of  man.  The  reconstruction  of  these 
epochs,  the  impressive  vistas  disclosed,  the  entrance  of  the  great 
mammals  and  of  man  on  the  pre-historic  scene,  have  remained 
a  part  of  our  cosmic  vision. 

It  is  in  the  broad  sweep  of  such  passages,  rather  than  in  the 


THE    IDEOLOGUES  461 

decorative  tributes  to  the  lion  and  the  horse,  that  Buffon's 
style  (le  style  noble)  attains  its  full  power.  He  had  on  this 
subject  convictions  which  are  found  in  his  Academic  Discours  sur 
le  style  (1753).  The  best  expression,  he  held,  proceeds  from 
cumulative  action,  from  the  forward  march  of  facts 
His  Sty  e  ^^^  ideas ;  therefore  an  orderly  plan  of  one's  knowl- 
edge (cf.  Horace)  is  an  understructure  essential  for  good  writing. 
One  should  aim  at  warmth  rather  than  wit,  and  "  truth  "  in 
style  is  to  be  found  when  it  conforms  with  the  subject  and  with 
the  writer.  Hence  the  celebrated  dictum:  "  Le  style  c'est 
I'homme  meme  "  —  that  is,  it  takes  on  the  coloring  of  his  mind. 
Finally,  Buffon  knew  that  "  les  ouvrages  bien  ecrits  seront  les 
seuls  qui  passeront  a  la  posterite."  His  own  writings  have  sur- 
vived no  less  for  his  originative  thought  than  for  their  excellent 
presentation,  which  is  vivid  in  description,  pointed  and  clear 
in  diction,  and  majestic  in  panoramic  effect. 

A  few  of  the  later  thinkers,  who  belong  rather  to  the  history 
of  philosophy  than  to  that  of  literature,  may  be  mentioned. 
T]jg  Condillac  is  best  known  for  his  Traite  des  sensa- 

Ideologues  tions  (1754),  which  is  fathered  by  Locke  but  gives 
no  independent  place  to  reflection.  For  Condillac  derives 
immediately  from  the  sensations  all  our  experience  and 
thought.  He  typifies  the  growth  of  consciousness  by  the  alle- 
gory of  a  statue  endued  successively  with  the  various  senses  and 
thus  awakening  into  life.  The '^  followers  of  Condillac  at  the 
turn  of  the  century  —  Destutt  de  Tracy,  Volney,  Garat,  La- 
place —  were  known  as  "  les  Ideologues."  An  earlier  writer, 
C.  Helvetius  (De  I'esprit^  1758),  also  derives  all  powers  of  the 
mind  from  the  senses.  The  extreme  phase  of  this  movement, 
ending  in  a  materialistic  atheism,  is  found  in  the  Systeme  de  la 
nature  (1770)  and  other  works  by  the  Baron  d'Holbach,  who 
was  a  considerable  figure,  both  intellectually  and  socially,  in 
his  tune.  This  "  gray  and  ghost-like  book,"  in  which  the  Deity 
is  viewed  as  an  oppressor,  was  repulsive  even  to  Voltaire.  It 
was  more  in  line  with  the  ideas  of  DSderot,  an  intimate  of  d'Hol- 
bach's  circle,  and  it  exemplifies  bne  logical  extreme  of  the 
philosophe  movement.  A  more  optimistic  extreme,  the  highest 
loop  attained  by  the  theory  of  I'rogress,  is  represented  in  the 
theme  of  the  "  indefinite  perfectibility  "  of  man.    This  is  best 


462     ENCYCLOPEDISTS  AND  LATER  PHILOSOPHES 

expressed  by  the  Marquis  de  Condorcet,  in  his  Esqtdsse  d'un 
Tableau  historiqv^  des  Progres  de  I'esprit  humain  (1794).  It 
took  both  courage  and  conviction  for  a  victim  of  the  Terror, 
on  the  verge  of  suicide,  to  declare  an  immutable  faith  in  the 
possibilities  of  human  progress. 


CHAPTER  II 

VOLTAIRE    AT   FERNEY: 
POLEMICS    AND    PHILOSOPHY 

We  left  Voltaire  established  at  Ferney  near  Geneva.  It  was  on 
this  estate  that  he  passed  the  fifth  and  most  important  phase  of 
his  career.  His  activities  became  more  and  more 
Patriarch  of  varied,  his  fame  was  resomiding  and  his  influence 
Ferney  enormous.    Ferney    was    practically    a    seigniorial 

domain,  and  Voltaire  willingly  plays  the  seigneur.  He  promotes 
agriculture  and  manufactures,  he  exempts  his  subjects  from 
oppressive  taxes,  he  stands  firmly  for  social  justice,  and  he  even 
erects  a  church.  The  domain  of  Ferney  still  shows  many 
traces  of  Voltaire's  occupancy,  and  it  must  have  delighted 
him  to  maintain  and  exhibit  the  beautiful  chateau  and  grounds. 
He  entertained  on  a  vast  scale,  for  he  had  now  a  princely  fortune. 
Ferney  was  a  great  resort  for  literary  pilgrims,  such  as  Abbots- 
ford  became  later.  Private  theatricals,  aided  brilliantly  by  Le 
Kain  and  Mile  Clairon,  are  again  a  main  resource,  despite  the 
objections  of  Rousseau  and  other  Genevans.  But  the  real  im- 
portance of  this  period  is  that  Voltaire's  skeptical  philosophy 
becomes  militant,  and  all  his  entertaining,  his  correspondence 
and  literary  activity  are  directed  to  one  end:  to  fight  the  intoler- 
ance and  superstitions  of  the  Church,  to  ecraser  I'infdme.  This 
watchword,  repeated  throughout  his  correspondence,  became  the 
war-cry  of  the  Encyclopedic  and  philosophic  army  which  King 
Voltaire  directed  from  his  stronghold  on  the  border. 

The  leader  was  still  in  condition  to  order  his  hosts.  Aging, 
sickly  and  emaciated,  he  complains  a  great  deal  of  his  ailments. 
Generous  ^"t  they  hardly  hamper  the  power  of  his  mind. 
Activities  while  his  productiveness  is  unabated.  It  is  as  an  old 
man,  a"  patriarch  "of  seventy  or  eighty,  that  Voltaire  becomes  the 
intellectual  leader  of  Europe.  His  acerbity  of  temper  increases; 
he  quarrels  with  Rousseau  and  with  Haller  the  naturalist;  he 


464  VOLTAIRE    AT    FERNEY 

cannot  let  Montesquieu  and  Crebillon  rest  in  their  graves;  he  is 
rabid  against  the  crowd  of  pamphleteers,  Freron  and  Lefranc 
de  Pompignan,  and  he  descends  to  a  sort  of  pamphleteering 
almost  on  their  level.  On  the  other  hand,  he  reaches  far  and  wide 
as  the  protector  of  the  imjustly  persecuted.  He  clears  the  name 
and  memory  of  the  unfortunate  Galas  family,  wrongly  accused  of 
murder,  and  in  this  connection  he  writes  the  celebrated  Traite 
sur  la  tolerance  (1763).  He  awakens  civilization  to  the  cruelty 
shown  towards  young  La  Barre,  who  was  executed  for  free-think- 
ing. In  the  Sirven  affair  and  in  that  of  Lally-Tolendal,  to  whom 
the  dying  Voltaire  wrote  almost  his  last  letter,  he  is  still  protest- 
ing against  unjust  sentences.  The  majority  of  these  protests  are 
aimed  at  the  persecutions  of  the  Church,  and  the  majority 
are  successful.  More  and  more  Voltaire  wins  public  opinion  to 
his  side ;  he  manages  now  to  keep  on  good  terms  with  sovereigns 
and  ministers,  and  he  acquires  the  friendship  and  following  of 
such  men  as  Diderot,  Dalembert,  Morellet,  Marmontel  and  La 
Harpe.  Certain  of  these  and  many  others  of  the  philosophic  army 
are  frequent  visitors  at  Ferney. 

For  nearly  a  generation  Voltaire  agitated  Europe,  while  stead- 
ily keeping  away  from  Paris.  But  there  too  his  name  had  come 
to  be  honored.  A  few  years  before  his  death  a  statue 
**  ^*  was  erected  to  him,  while,  later,  his  bust  was  crowned 
by  Mile  Clairon.  In  1778,  the  patriarch  took  his  last  journey 
to  the  city,  which  now  rose  up  to  welcome  him.  He  was  feted 
like  a  king  at  the  Academy,  at  the  theater,  in  public  and  private 
gatherings.  He  literally  died  of  his  glory,  exhausted  by  his 
honors.  That  was  his  first  "apotheosis";  his  second  occurred 
when  his  ashes  were  deposited  in  the  Pantheon  by  the  Revo- 
lutionists in  1791. 

In  reckoning  with  Voltaire's  long  labors  as  a  phUosophe,  in 
foreshortening  his  many  repetitions  and  contradictions,  it  will 
often  be  necessary  to  distinguish  between  the  works  that  preceded 
and  those  that  followed  his  establishment  on  the  Swiss  border. 
One  must  bear  in  mind  the  concentrated  and  aggressive  spirit 
that  animated  his  last  phase.  The  form,  too,  of  his  Ferney  writ- 
ings indicates  their  militant  character.  He  keeps  up  a  small  fire 
of  pamphlets,  of  personal  attacks,  special  pleadings  and  flying 
leaflets  of  all  sorts.    These  are  usually  anonymous,  they  are 


THE    PHILOSOPHE  465 

unintermittent,  they  were  distributed  by  thousands,  they  are 
vehement  and  frequently  scurrilous  in  style.  Their  polemic 
doctrine  is  enforced  by  the  enormous  mass  of  his  correspondence, 
running  to  more  than  twelve  thousand  letters,  addressed  to  hun- 
dreds of  notables  and  others,  and  constituting  a  vivid  private 
history  of  the  times. 

The  chief  works  which  may  be  consulted  for  an  understanding 
of  his  general  ideas  are,  before  1755:  the  Lettres  philosophiques, 
Chief  already  characterized;  the  Traite  de  Metaphysique, 

Documents  which  is  the  most  thorough-going  presentation  of 
his  earlier  creed ;  such  poems  as  the  Epitre  a  Uranie  and  the  Dis- 
cours  en  vers  sur  I'homme,  which  imitates  Pope's  Deism ;  and  the 
Introduction  to  the  Essai  sur  les  moeurs.  The  transition  period, 
more  serious  or  pessimistic,  may  be  placed  about  1755  and  is  rep- 
resented by  the  Poeme  sur  le  desastre  de  Lisbonne,  by  the  Poeme 
sur  la  loi  naturelle,  and  most  brilliantly  by  Candide.  Belonging 
to  the  Ferney  period,  the  important  Traite  sur  la  tolerance  must 
be  emphasized  and  especially  the  Dictionnaire  philosophique 
portatif.  This  work,  published  in  numerous  editions  after  1764, 
became  the  handbook  of  revolutionary  skepticism,  attracting  all 
classes  by  the  wit  and  variety  of  its  encyclopedic  articles.  Fur- 
ther confessions  of  faith  are~tiie  Sermon  des  cinquante  and  Le 
philosophe  ignorant.  Voltaire's  versions  of  theological  and 
Biblical  matters  may  be  illustrated  by  Un  Chretien  contre  six 
juifs,  the  Examen  important  de  Milord  Bolingbroke  and  the 
Bible  enfin  exrpliquee. 

The  two  fountain-heads  for  Voltaire's  "  philosophy  "  are  the 
Dictionary  of  Bayle  and  the  work  of  the  English  scientists  and 
Sources  of  Deists.  Both  Bayle  and  Locke  stimulated  Voltaire 
MiVoso-  ^°  *^^  expression  of  his  great  principle  of  tolerance. 

phie  The  critical  method  of  Bayle,  as  we  have  examined 

it,  is  transferred  freely  to  the  pages  of  the  Dictionnaire  philoso- 
phique. Voltaire,  though  bolder  in  polemics,  borrows  from  this 
predecessor  the  skeptical  use  of  the  interrogation-point  in  Biblical 
and  historical  matters,  the  rationalization  and  derogatory  treat- 
ment of  ancient  patriarchs  and  heroes,  the  art  of  malicious  in- 
sinuation, the  ironic  prostration  before  faith.  From  English  free- 
thinkers and  Deists,  such  as  Bolingbroke,  Pope  and  Shaftesbury, 
Voltaire  derives  most  of  his  "natural  religion."    From  New- 


466  VOLTAIRE    AT    FERNEY 

ton  and  Locke  he  gets  his  taste  for  the  physical  sciences,  thus 
strengthening  his  own  tendency  towards  the  experunental  method, 
towards  dealing  only  with  demonstrable  fact  and  clear  explana- 
tions. Locke,  the  best  and  "  wisest "  of  philosophers  in  Vol- 
taire's view,  imposed  upon  the  Frenchman  his  conception  of  the 
limitations  of  knowledge.  Voltaire's  general  Anglomania,  quite 
influential  in  the  France  of  the  earlier  eighteenth  century,  be- 
came modified  in  the  course  of  time,  and  his  zeal  for  physical 
experiments  dwindled  together  with  his  zeal  for  Shakespeare. 
But  the  profound  influence  of  English  thought  remained  with 
him  to  the  end. 

Le  vrai  philosophe,  according  to  Voltaire,  stands  for  reason, 
progress,  industry  and  charity;  la  philosophie,  in  its  widest 
sense,  included  for  him  physics  and  metaphysics,  religion  and 
ethics,  politics  and  social  reform.  We  shall  consider  his  doc- 
trine according  to  these  divisions. 

His  physical  experiments  had  no  great  value  then  and  can  have 

none  today.    They  are  simply  important  as  indicative  of  the 

trend  of  his  mind  and  of  his  times  —  a  trend  well  ex- 

''"'^  emplified  by  such  useful  pieces  of  popularization  as 

his  Elements  de  la  philosophie  de  Newton  (1738). 

His  views  on  metaphysics,  taking  form  at  the  same  epoch, 

continue  Voltaire's  practical  and  positive  bent.    It  has  been 

argued  that  his  persistent  dealing  with  metaphysical 

e  p  ysics  jjjqyirjes  shows  that  he  understood  their  importance; 
but  this  is  contradicted  in  many  passages,  both  by  his  directly 
expressed  scorn  of  metaphysics  and  by  the  slight  aptitude  which 
he  exhibited  for  such  problems.  No  better  example  can  be 
foimd  than  the  Remarques  sur  Pascal  (1734) ;  here  we  are 
offered  the  most  salient  contrast  between  Pascal,  the  tormented 
thinker  who  quivers  over  the  metaphysical  "  abyss,"  showing  us 
his  soul  by  lightning  flashes,  and  the  clear  everyday  sense  — 
which  is  often  lack  of  deeper  sense  —  displayed  by  Voltaire. 
This  is  particularly  true  of  his  earlier  or  optimistic  period. 

Indeed,  Voltaire's  great  contention  is  that  metaphysical 
thought  leads  nowhere.  He  occasionally  admits,  though  he 
never  feels,  that  it  may  have  a  certain  value  as  a  mental  gym- 
nastic and  even  as  a  means  to  spiritual  elevation.  But  he 
scorns  the  great  philosophers,  those  "  romancers  of  the  soul," 


fflS    INCREDULITY  467 

from  Plato  to  Descartes,  and  he  insists  that  we  can  never 
know  the  truth  about  the  chief  metaphysical  problems.  Why- 
is  this?  Because  all  our  knowledge  comes  from  sensation,  which 
can  inform  us  only  about  the  practical  world  of  conduct.  Vol- 
taire's sensational  philosophy,  with  regard  to  which  he  is  very 
firm,  is  based  on  Locke;  and  he  even  goes  farther  than  Locke 
in  refusing  to  put  reflection  on  a  par  with  sensation  and  in 
allowing  us  no  ultimate  knowledge  concerning  the  processes  of 
the  mind  itself.  He  thoroughly  rejects  the  Cartesian  doctrine 
of  "  innate  ideas,"  as  regards  any  immediate  appre- 

ep  asm  tension  of  the  Deity,  the  soul,  duty,  truth.  Le 
Philosophe  ignorant  (1766)  is  ignorant  about  the  powers  of  the 
body  and  the  nature  of  matter,  about  free-will,  about  the  at- 
tributes of  divinity,  about  the  real  essence  and  destiny  of  man. 

We  can  best  understand  Voltaire's  views  on  these  subjects  by 
bearing  in  mind  that  his  basic  standpoint  is  practical  and  social. 
Only  those  things  are  valuable  and  credible  which  tend  towards 
the  good  of  society  at  large.  He  objects  to  any  "  system  "  of 
philosophy  as  unpractical  and  probably  false;  and  opposite  the 
great  interrogations  he  generally  writes  the  verdict  "not 
proven." 

Voltaire  defends  the  existence  of  the  Deity,  and  therefore  he 
is  ranked  as  a  Deist.  His  arguments  are  both  Cartesian  and 
cosmological.  Some  God  there  must  be,  because  my  existence 
presupposes  the  existence  of  some  intelligence  beyond  mine 
(Descartes) ;  and  also  because  the  universe  demands  an  archi- 
tect, as  a  clock  demonstrates  a  clock-maker.  These  mechanical 
figures  are  frequent  on  Voltaire's  lips.  He  also  holds  by  the 
doctrine  of  final  causes,  if  taken  in  a  common-sense  way.  The 
only  necessary  attributes  of  Deity  are  omnipotence  (within 
reason  and  nature)  and  absolute  justice.  This  is  a  distant  or 
"  absentee "  God,  claiming  our  adoration  but  not  concerned 
with  individual  human  affairs.  There  is  a  general,  but  no 
private  Providence,  and  therefore  prayers  for  intercession  are 
useless.  The  laws  of  nature  are  fixed.  Morality  proceeds  less 
from  the  Deity  than  from  social  necessities.  If  a  "  dieu 
remunerateur  et  vengeur  "  is  often  mentioned  in  Voltaire's  later 
writings,  it  is  because  he  appreciates  the  social  force  rather  than 
the  ultimate  truth  of  such  sanctions.    "II  faut  une  religion 


468  VOLTAIRE    AT    FERNEY 

pour  le  peuple."    He  feels  the  vastness  of  Godhead  only  under 
the  stars,  and  his  Theism  at  its  loftiest  is  a  cosmic  Pantheism. 

This  is  a  much  attenuated  Jehovah,  and  Voltaire's  religion  — 
for  he  had  one  —  is  an  attenuated  religion.  He  called  it  "la 
religion  naturelle,"  after  Pope  and  other  Englishmen.  He  main- 
tains that  though  "  all  religions  are  false,  la  religion  is  true." 
But  Voltaire  had  little  religious  sense,  as  that  term  is  usually 
understood.  His  Theism  is  stripped  bare  of  the  elements  com- 
monly constitutive  of  religions:  specific  creed,  ceremonial, 
mysticism,  the  supernatinral,  revelation,  and  reckoning  with  a 
future  life.  The  soul  may  be  immortal,  but  Voltaire  scarcely 
holds  this  belief,  admitting  it  mainly  for  retributive  ends;  further- 
more, he  is  disposed  to  associate  a  possible  immortality  with  the 
duration  of  matter,  and  thus  he  also  allows  animals  their 
share  of  "la  matiere  pensante."  The  problem  of  the  existence 
of  evil  is,  for  him,  an  abyss.  In  his  later  writings  he  inclines 
towards  determinism  rather  than  free-will  and  towards  a  pes- 
simism, which,  however,  admits  of  betterment.  It  is  also  true 
that  in  such  writings  as  Le  Philosophe  ignorant  he  shows  a 
deeper  feeling  with  relation  to  the  mystery  of  life  and  the 
helpless  plight  of  humanity.  This  feeling  involves  something 
of  a  religious  attitude. 

Apart  from  the  existence  of  God,  Voltaire  acknowledges  his 
waverings  and  uncertainties.  Often  he  is  driving  less  at  the 
absolute  truth  than  towards  some  practical  end,  to  attain  which 
he  will  temporarily  admit  first  one  tenet  and  then  another. 
No  philosophic  belief  can  be  thoroughly  grounded  in  that  man- 
ner. Voltaire's  real  religion,  as  a  whole,  is  virtually  the  modem 
Positivism,  the  service  of  humanity,  and  as  such  it  will  presently 
be  considered.  But  first  we  must  indicate  the  negative  and 
scornful  side  of  Voltairianism  —  his  attitude  towards  the  Bible 
and  the  Catholic  Church. 

Bayle's  Dictionary  is  the  fulcrum,  but  Voltaire's  pen  is  the 
lever  that  shook  most  mightily  the  rock  of  St.  Peter's.  The 
Attacks  on  Patriarch  of  Ferney  uses  any  means,  and  often 
the  Church  ignoble  means,  against  the  church.  He  exhibits 
the  naivetes  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  discrepancies  of  the  New; 
he  attacks  the  Christian  emperors,  ridicules  the  martyrologies, 
and  treats  church  history  as  a  contradictory  and  extravagant 
record. 


ATTITUDE    TOWARD    RELIGION  469 

One-fourth  of  the  articles  in  the  Dictionnaire  Philosophique 
are  directed  against  Catholicism,  and  everywhere  it  is  Catholic 
dogma  that  Voltaire  particularly  reprehends.  Christianity  for 
his  time  meant  primarily  theology  and  the  priesthood.  As 
Morley  says,  neither  Voltaire  nor  his  adversaries  argued  holi- 
ness or  any  appeal  to  the  heart  of  man,  nor  did  either  side  deal 
with  the  loftiest  and  most  general  ideas  of  the  Christian  religion. 
For  both,  it  was  a  question  of  ritual,  details,  tithes,  sects.  Papal 
bulls  and  the  like.  Voltaire's  point  was  that  on  the  formal 
side  the  church  had  fallen  away  from  Apostolic  Christianity. 
The  dogmas  were  added  by  Church  Fathers  and  Popes  to  the 
primitive  and  purer  belief.  Many  of  these  dogmas,  he  holds, 
are  contrary  to  reason ;  they  are  absurd  as  well  as  obscure ;  they 
are  often  immoral,  in  setting  up  wrong  examples  —  for  instance, 
the  Biblical  Patriarchs.  Catholicism  is  inhuman  in  its  asceti- 
cism, as  in  its  persecutions  and  superstitions.  Of  specific  dogmas, 
original  sin  is  unjust  to  God  and  to  humanity;  the  doctrines  of 
divine  grace,  of  penance  and  pardon  through  the  church,  do 
away  with  personal  responsibility;  transubstantiation  and  the 
Trinity  are  inconceivable  or  revolting.  Any  divine  revelation  of 
truth  is  improbable.    Voltaire  is  then  opposed  to  all  dogmas. 

The  second  great  point  of  his  campaign  is  that  it  was  directed 
against  the  supernatural.  The  miracles  that  were  frauds  in  his 
own  day  —  visions  provoked  by  flagellations  and  convulsions, 
and  staged  by  "  sorcerer-priests  " —  were,  he  believed,  equally 
frauds  in  New  Testament  times.  These  manifestations  Voltaire 
considers  beneath  divine  and  human  dignity.  Contradicting 
what  he  has  said  elsewhere  in  praise  of  the  person  and  message 
of  Jesus,  Voltaire  now  attacks  and  rationalizes  Christ  whenever  it 
is  a  question  of  miracles,  viewing  him  often  either  as  an  im- 
postor or  an  tmenlightened  peasant.  Voltaire  is  always  declaim- 
ing against  what  he  thought  impossible  and  absurd  Biblical 
legends,  and  it  is  true  that  he  declaims  in  a  coarse,  savage, 
and  startling  manner.  His  excuse  was  that  men  would  not 
cease  to  be  persecutors  until  they  ceased  to  be  credulous. 

The  third  plank,  then,  in  Voltaire's  platform,  was  his  hatred 
of  intolerance,  issuing  directly  from  his  relative  point  of  view. 
As  early  as  Zaire,  he  contended  that  our  beliefs  usually  spring 
from  our  environment,  thsCt  there  are  many  "  tolerable  "  religions. 


470  VOLTAIRE    AT    FERNEY 

partial  reflections  of  the  truth.  Almost  indifferently  he  would 
take  up  the  cause  of  Mahometan,  Huguenot,  or  Quaker  — 
but  rarely  of  Catholic.  He  argues  the  universality  of  common 
beliefs  in  the  best  religions  and  he  would  discard  the  more  un- 
common tenets  of  each  creed.  So  his  constant  aim  is  to  thin 
out  the  believable  portion  of  Scripture.  His  religion,  lacking 
reverence  and  stripped  of  mysticism,  comes  down  to  earth  and 
consists  largely  in  practical  morality. 

His  ethics  are  based  simply  on  the  needs  of  society;  goodness 
means  the  exercise  of  justice  and  of  a  wide  charity.  It  is  not  a 
question  of  an  inner  individual  perfection.  Vol- 
^^"^  taire  has  often  been  called  an  epicurean  in  morals, 

and  the  pleasiire-seeking  side  of  that  creed  is  especially  marked 
in  his  earlier  life.  He  always  thought  that  the  search  for 
happiness  is  "  our  being's  end  and  aim,"  and  as  a  youth  he 
naturally  confused  happiness  and  pleasure.  But  his  later 
morality  is  more  nearly  that  of  an  altruist  and,  a  social  meliorist. 

It  is  not  primarily  a  Christian  morality,  it  can  dispense  with 
grace  and  prayer,  and  even  with  divine  sanctions.  It  is  rather, 
thinks  Voltaire,  the  morality  which  lies  at  the  base  of  all  re- 
ligions, of  Confucianism,  as  of  Mahometanism.  "  Les  prin- 
cipes  de  morale  communs  au  genre  humain  "  make  the  kernel  of 
natural  religion;  but  theology,  he  holds,  is  characterized  by  dis- 
imion  and  quarrels.  Religions  may  be  immoral,  whereas  ethical 
principles  are  clear  and  serve  to  unify  humanity.  In  spite  of 
local  and  national  divergences  which  Voltaire  maliciously  notes 
when  it  suits  his  relativism,  he  claims  to  believe  in  one  imiversal 
ethic:  its  major  premise  is  that  all  men  consider  as  good  those 
things  which  are  useful  to  society.  (But  all  men  do  not  esteem 
this  the  summum  bonum).  Therefore,  concludes  Voltaire,  the 
only  necessary  attribute  of  God  is  justice,  which  is  also  the  first 
of  human  virtues;  it  comes  nearer  being  an  inherent  idea  than 
any  other.  Its  corollary  is  charity,  not  as  pauperizing  alms- 
giving, but  almost  in  the  New  Testament  sense.  This  virtue  is 
equivalent  to  the  term  bienveillance,  of  which  Voltaire  makes  so 
much.  He  makes  very  little  of  the  other  theological  and  car- 
dinal virtues,  of  faith  and  hope,  of  force,  prudence  and  temper- 
ance. These  are  mostly  individual  matters,  and  true  morality, 
for  him,  applies  only  to  social  man.   The  great  rule  is  the  Golden 


PROGRESSIVE    IDEAS  471 

Rule,  whether  expressed  by  Christ  or  by  Confucius.  A  spirit  of 
moderation  in  pleasure,  a  spirit  of  service  in  labor  —  this  seems 
the  gist  of  Voltaire's  creed. 

The  positive  side  of  Voltairianism,  which  has  been  too  much 
neglected,  concerns  the  social  reforms  which  this  creed  de- 
Progress  and  iJiianded.  It  would  be  too  long  to  list  here  all  the 
Reform  changes    required    and    often    enforced    by    the 

phUosophe.  He  contends  for  lihfirty,  though  a  limited  and  non- 
seditious  liberty, ^f  various  kinds:  frea-spee.ch  and  free-writing, 
the  abolitiOB-©f-.slas£ry,  civiL  liberty  jpf  the  person  [habeas 
corpus),  civiL-^marriage  overbearins_the  chiurch  form,  some 
separatian^-ofJ^hunih-^aind "  State^ jgith_domin^fiOf  the^^ 
So  many  of  these  reforms  have  been  successfully  carried  out 
that  we  hardly  realize  the  part  of  Voltaire  and  of  the  eighteenth 
century  in  inaugurating  them.  The  same  is  true  of  more  specific 
recommendations,  such  as  proportional  taxation  and  punish- 
ment, abolition  of  the  octroi,  of  certain  feudal  rights  and  of  the 
farming  out  of  taxes;  doing  away  with  the  venality  of  offices, 
with  Star  Chambers  and  tortxires;  the  fostering  of  the  rights 
of  property,  of  agriculture  and  commerce.  Civil  and  criminal 
legislation,  he  held,  was  conducted  on  an  antique  and  cruel 
model,  which  should  be  thoroughly  reshaped  and  unified.  In 
social  legislation  Voltaire  is  Progressive;  but  in  politics  proper 
he  is  rather  conservative,  favoring  the  ancien  regime  through 
natural  sympathy  as  well  as  opportunism. 

His  political  ideal  is^Att^nlightenfidjftQiaarphy,  which  is  perhaps 

nearer  to  despotism  than  to  liberalism.    His  ideal  monarch  is 

7^  rni.  .'pm.Q^njth.p.  such  as  he  hoped  for  in  Louis  XV 

**    '^  and  Frederick  the  Great,  a  ruler  so  intelligent,  able 

and  altruistic  that  he  might  be  allowed  almost  absolute  power. 
He  would  hate  war  and  conquest  as  did  Voltaire ;  he  would  bend 
all  his  efforts  towards  improving  living  conditions  at  home  and 
promoting  culture.  This  monarch  of  a  dream  is  a  modified  Louis 
XIV  pllis  philosophic  enlightenment.  He  should  rule  as  a  "  be- 
nevolent despot,"  deciding  all  matters  referring  to  the  establish- 
ment of  religions,  directing  education  —  which  should  not  be  ex- 
tended to  the  lowest  class  —  controlling  priests  and  all  other 
servants. 

Voltaire  is  not  enthusiastic  concerning  the  Rights  of  Man  or 


472  VOLTAIRE    AT    FERNEY 

republicanism.    He  is  also  less  of  a  patriot  than  a  cosmopolitan. 
On  He  has  no  communizing  tendencies  as  regards  prop- 

Civilization  erty,  which  is  viewed  as  a  sacred  right,  and  he  is 
no  advocate  of  equality.  His  theory  of  luxury  (Le  Mondain) 
resembles  that  of  Montesquieu:  inequality  means  circulation  of 
wealth  and  consequently  the  better  condition  of  the  poor.  Wealth 
makes  civilization,  and  civilization  is,  after  all,  the  great  object  of 
his  zeal  and  care.  Voltaire  derides  Rousseau  for  his  primitivism 
and  wants  us  to  conserve,  improve  and  embellish  what  we  have. 
Truly  "  natural  law  "  is  followed  by  those  who  civilize  humanity, 
carry  on  the  arts,  create  efficient  legislation  and  make  life  wiser 
and  easier.  Rousseauism,  he  believes,  bars  progress  and  enlight- 
enment, because  it  is  anti-human.  Voltaire  is  strongly  himiani- 
tarian,  not  socialistic,  an  intellectual  Progressive,  not  a  revolu- 
tionary. He  apprehends  truth  relatively  and  sometimes  evasively. 
His  theories  of  reform  are  pragmatic,  practical,  terre-a-terre.  His 
religion  and  morality  refuse  to  leave  the  earth,  they  concentrate 
hope  by  denying  its  prolongation.  In  his  rather  desiccated  soul, 
in  his  adroitness,  wit,  finish  and  everyday  wisdom,  he  typifies 
the  age  which  he  adorns  and  which  he  strove  on  the  whole  to 
ameliorate.  His  influence  counted  upon  the  Revolution,  while 
the  Revolution  was  still  Royalist,  and  has  continued,  in  dispersed 
and  varied  forms,  throughout  the  nineteenth  century. 


CHAPTER  III 
DIDEROT 

Denis  Dideeot,  known  to  his  contemporaries  as  "  the  phi- 
losopher," was  the  leader  and  the  most  original  thinker  of  the  En- 
cyclopedic group.  He  circulated  more  modern  ideas  than  any 
other  man  of  his  generation.  A  naturalist  in  his  philosophic  and 
literary  creed,  he  was  able  to  combine  the  boldest  speculation  with 
a  close  sense  of  fact  and  with  a  warm  human  sympathy. 

He  admitted  the  mobility  of  his  temperament  and  styled  him- 
self "  the  weathercock  of  Langres,"  at  which  town  he  had  been 
bom  (1713).  He  was  educated  partly  by  the 
His  Life  Jesuits,  who  seem  to  have  taught  him  a  mixture  of 
shrewdness  and  Latinity.  Quite  early  he  showed  his  taste  for 
science  and  philosophy.  Thrown  on  his  own  resources,  he  led 
for  ten  years  the  typical  life  of  the  Parisian  hack-writer  and 
bohemian.  An  imprudent  marriage  was  followed  by  some  lax- 
ness  in  subsequent  affairs  of  the  heart.  Diderot  was  imprisoned 
as  a  result  of  th*  Lettre  sur  les  aveugles  (1749),  and  then  settled 
down  for  nearly  twenty  years  to  his  great  labor  of  directing  the 
Encyclopedia.  * 

After  a  visit  to  Catherine  of  Russia,  who  pensioned  him  hand- 
somely, he  returned  to  Paris  with  broken  health,  but  still  worked 
industriously  imtil  the  end  (1784).  His  chief  friends  and  col- 
laborators were  Dalembert,  Grimm  and  d'Holbach;  also  Rous- 
seau, until  the  unfortunate  break  in  their  relations.  Diderot 
was  never  a  haunter  of  the  salons,  though  welcomed  by  Mme 
Geoffrin  and  Mile  de  Lespinasse. 

By  disposition  he  was  expansive,  exuberant  and  endowed  with 
The  two  much  "  sensibility."  He  was  a  good  friend  and  father, 
Diderots  an  ardent  lover,  as  his  correspondence  with  Mile 
Volland  reveals,  and  a  great  helper  of  needy  writers  and  others. 

>  Bee  above,  Bk.  IV,  Ch.I;  and  Bk.  Ill,  Ch.  II,  for  his  connection  with  the  drama. 

473 


474  DIDEROT 

He  was  prone  to  enthusiasm,  and  a  friendly  literary  discussion  or 
a  new  idea  would  excite  him  tremendously;  his  naturally  fine 
features  would  then  take  on  a  noble  and  exalted  air,  and  listeners 
to  his  incomparable  talk  would  feel  that  they  were  indeed  in  the 
presence  of  a  genius.  In  conduct  he  was  often  the  "  average  sen- 
sual man,"  democratic,  sanguine,  with  a  large  dispersive  care- 
lessness, "  like  Nature  herself,"  aboimding  in  effervescent  vitality. 
As  a  lover  and  observer  of  humanity,  he  is  constantly  appealing 
from  artificial  to  realistic  standards.  His  more  familiar  writings 
strangely  mingle  these  personal  characteristics  with  those  of  the 
scientist  and  the  philosopher.  His  formula  was  "  faire  le  bien, 
connaitre  le  vrai."  He  divided  scientific  workers  into  "  those  who 
have  instruments  and  those  who  have  ideas."  Diderot  had  both 
and  employed  the  combination  very  originally.  His  mind  was 
like  a  powerful  lens,  reflecting  both  light  and  heat.  But  the  true 
light  is  often  obscured  by  sophistry  and  declamation,  his  "  virtue  " 
is  scarcely  to  be  distinguished  from  vice,  low  and  elevated  senti- 
ments jostle  each  other,  and  there  is  a  Rabelaisian  mixture  of 
flesh  and  spirit  in  his  temperament.  We  find,  indeed,  a  frequent 
opposition  between  his  temperament  and  his  principles :  the  man 
versus  the  philosopher.  Furthermore,  he  left  two  main  classes 
of  writings,  the  oflScial  and  the  intimate.  The  Encyclopedia 
represents  the  former ;  of  the  latter,  the  majority  were  published 
at  long  intervals  after  his  death,  and  they  usually  express  the 
bolder  and  more  speculative  side  of  his  genius. 

It  is  as  a  philosophe  that  Diderot  must  stand  or  fall,  His 
most  vital  writing  and  thinking  develop  from  his  practical 
Idea  of  "  philosophy,"  mobile  and  confused  as  this  may  seem 

Nature  to  be.    But  there  exists  a  nebular  center  to  his 

thought,  denoted  by  the  frequency  with  which  the  word 
"Nature"  is  on  his  lips.  With  Diderot,  philosophy  could 
properly  be  termed  a  "  system  of  nature."  The  word  is  often 
used  by  him  in  the  widest  cosmic  sense  —  "the  scheme  of 
things  entire "  —  with  a  considerable  amount  of  primitivism 
a  la  Rousseau.  Diderot's  knowledge  of  natural  sciences  led  him 
finally  to  the  full  acceptance  of  a  materialistic  universe,  and  his 
evolution  towards  this  standpoint  may  be  observed  in  his  chief 
works. 

His  formal  philosophizing  begins  with  the  Essai  sur  le  merite 


THE    PENSEES    PHILOSOPHIQUES  4.76 

et  la  vertu  (1745),  freely  translated  from  the  English  philosopher 
Shaftesbury.  Diderot  writes  here  as  an  orthodox  Deist,  be- 
lieving in  God,  revelation,  immortality  and  morality,  although 
a  "  reasonable  "  foundation  for  ethics  already  begins  to  allure 
him.  From  Shaftesbury,  Diderot  drew  certain  of  his  more  last- 
ing principles,  such  as  the  prominence  of  common  sense  and  the 
conception  of  aesthetic  morals;  the  two  men  were  also  alike  in 
their  enthusiasm  and  optimism. 

In  the  Pensees  philosophiques  of  the  following  year,  the. 
author  begins  his  career  of  free  thought;  these  Pensees  are  in- 
j.jj.g^  tended  as  an  answer  to  those  of  Pascal,  whom  the 

"Pensees"  philosophes  recognized  as  their  greatest  adversary. 
We  have  here  a  defense  of  the  passions  on  a  "  natural "  basis 
and  a  diatribe  against  priestly  asceticism  (cf.  La  Religieuse) ; 
also  objections  to  miracles  and  to  final  causes.  Through  the 
light  of  physical  experimentation  Diderot  still  sees  God  as  im- 
printed in  nature ;  the  next  step  is  to  see  nature  as  her  own  God, 
hence  the  famous  formula:  "  Elargissez  Dieu."  Abandoning 
the  temple,  the  divine  spirit  now  roves  through  a  pantheistic 
universe.  The  principle  of  relativity  again  appears  as  deriving 
from  the  multiplicity  of  religions ;  ask  the  adherent  of  any  creed 
what  would  be  his  second  choice,  and  he  will  answer:  "  Natural 
religion."  Thus  dogma  and  revelation  are  questioned  and 
Deism  already  inclines  towards  atheism  in  Diderot's  widening 
thought. 

The  Lettre  sur  les  aveugles  a  I'usage  de  ceiix  qui  voient  (1749) 
is  a  turning-point  in  the  writer's  philosophy  as  well  as  in  his 
Sensation-  career.  The  two  main  doctrines  of  this  letter  are 
alism  relativity  and  sensationalism.    Knowledge  is  made 

entirely  relative  to  our  senses;  a  blind  man  disputes  the  exist- 
ence of  God,  because  the  evidence  is  unseen  by  him.  The 
limitation  of  philosophic  proof  to  any  one  sense,  however,  is 
extravagant,  and  the  Lettre  is  too  individualistic  because  it 
tends  to  deny  credible  testimony  based  on  the  senses  of  others. 
Its  interest  lies  rather  in  (1)  the  idea  of  obtaining  psychological 
data  from  abnormal  cases;  (2)  the  fact  that  the  Deity  is  now 
considered  an  unnecessary  hypothesis;  (3)  the  corollary  that 
the  world  can  be  self-explanatory,  granted  eternal  movement; 
(4)  definite  transformism  or  evolution,  in  that  the  world  is 


476  DIDEROT 

supposed  to  evolve,  from  a  primal  welter  of  formless  creatures, 
by  means  of  variability  and  adaptation,  towards  the  survival  of 
the  fittest.  Diderot  manifests  again  his  zeal  for  investigation, 
radically  criticizes  Deism  and  advances  far  towards  a  completely 
naturalistic  conception  of  the  universe. 

This  idea  appears  more  distinctly  in  the  Pensees  swr  I'inter- 
pretation  de  la  nature  (1754),  which  is  Diderot's  chief  scientific 
S  CO  d  testament.    Somewhat  obscure  and  fragmentary  in 

"Pensees"  form,  the  thought  owes  much  to  Bacon,  whose 
influence  was  then  dominating  the  Encyclopedists.  The  "  in- 
terpretation of  nature "  is  in  a  sense  Diderot's  life-work, 
and  here  he  emphasizes  the  ideas  of  the  continuity  of  knowledge, 
the  distrust  of  metaphysics  and  the  predominance  of  the  nat- 
tural  sciences,  in  the  two  directions  of  careful  laboratory  ac- 
cumulations and  the  generalizations  and  intuitions  of  the 
scientific  genius.  The  world  of  fact  is  throughout  opposed  to 
metaphysics,  even  mathematics  being  now  viewed  as  too  ab- 
stract. But  Diderot  passes  on  through  evolution  to  the  phi- 
losophy of  the  flux,  in  declaring  that  known  species  and  the 
present  natural  sciences  are  also  transitory,  and  that  both  man- 
kind and  knowledge  are  forever  in  the  making.  In  these  pas- 
sages and  in  his  concluding  prayer,  his  style  rises  to  a  height 
of  poetic  power. 

The  same  observation  applies  to  the  Entretien  with  Dalem- 
bert,  followed  by  the  remarkable  Reve  de  Dalembert,  which 
p.  J  were  too  daring  to  be  published  in  the  author's  life- 

of  1769,  time.  "  II  n'est  pas  possible,"  as  Diderot  himself 
printed  1830  g^id  of  these  brilliant  dialogues,  "  d'etre  plus  pro- 
fond  et  plus  fou."  For  instance,  the  author  maintains  to  his 
friend  that  a  statue  may  change  into  a  man  by  natural  grada- 
tions ;  he  hints  at  a  Lucretian  —  and  Nietzschean  —  Eternal 
Return  of  phenomena;  he  deliberately  prefers  an  animalistic 
conception  of  life.  Then  Dalembert  goes  home  and  has  a  strange 
dream.  His  mutterings  are  recorded  as  partly  spoken,  partly 
reported  by  Mile  de  Lespinasse  to  the  Doctor  Bordeu.  These 
interlocutors  consider  such  points  as  the  unification  of  cell-life, 
figured  as  a  swarm  of  bees;  a  new  fermentation  of  being,  which 
may  result  in  the  superman;  the  relative  nature  of  our  passions 
and  capacities,  as  due  to  the  rapports  between  the  nerve  centers 


ETHICAL    THEORY  477 

and  their  extremities;  in  short  a  definite,  if  partly  erroneous, 
system  of  psycho-physics.  A  bold  deterministic  amoralism 
concludes  this  extraordinary  document,  which  is  not  merely,  as 
one  critic  warns  us,  "  the  wild  dream  of  a  poet  drunk  on  the 
wine  of  the  new  sciences,"  but  shows  Diderot's  usual  method 
of  combining  what  seems  giddy  speculation  —  so  often  pro- 
phetic—  with  a  basis  of  close  observation. 

It  will  now  appear  that  Diderot,  who  began  as  a  cautious  Deist, 
ended  as  a  frank  materialist,  of  atheistic  and  even  amoral  tend- 
encies. As  regards  his  ethical  system,  indeed,  he  can 
ity  hardly  be  said  to  have  had  one.  Although  constantly 
interested  in  problems  of  conduct,  he  had  a  distinct  taste  for 
lawless  primitivism  (Supplement  au  voyage  de  Bougainville), 
which  left  him  with  little  belief  in  absolute  vice  or  virtue; 
and  he  shared  the  besetting  sin  of  the  eighteenth-century 
relativists,  whose  concept  of  the  relative  inclined  them  more 
towards  anarchy  than  towards  making  the  comparatively  civil- 
ized at  least  a  cornerstone  in  progress.  But  Diderot's  practice 
was  better  than  his  doctrine;  his  own  nature  disposed  him  to 
make  a  great  virtue  of  charity  (la  bienfaisance) ,  and  he  thereby 
posits  a  "  natural  "  penchant  towards  one's  neighbor.  For  him 
morality  is  essentially  social  and  individual  ethics  scarcely 
exist.  Revolting  from  the  Church,  he  believes  in  the  natural 
goodness  of  humanity,  and  he  shows  a  certain  enthusiasm  for 
"  virtue  "  and  fine  fictions.  But  since  he  declares  that  civiliza- 
tions have  on  the  whole  repressed  the  natural  kindly  man,  it 
is  difficult  to  see  how  he  would  build  humanitarian  progress  on 
any  eighteenth-century  basis.  Personal  happiness  seems  to  him 
our  main  duty,  while  his  various  views  of  social  morality  are 
surely  discordant.  His  main  tendency  is  more  and  more  to 
consider  the  moral  world  as  a  mere  prolongation  of  the  physical. 
That  is  why  it  seems  paradoxical  to  hear  Diderot  as  a  preacher 
of  morality.  But  if  his  ethical  surrender  to  nature  is  anar- 
chistic, he  is  saved  from  intellectual  Bolshevism  by  some  belief 
in  progress  and  a  scientific  adherence  to  the  Leibnizian  law  of 
continuity.  In  ethics,  then,  Diderot  is  critical  and  destructive, 
whereas  the  constructive  side  of  him  appears  rather  in  the  scien- 
tific field,  both  as  regards  popularizing  knowledge  and  in  fertile 
original  generalizations. 


478  DIDEROT 

His  philosophy  of  nature  is,  in  fact,  a  sort  of  "  superior  physics." 
Here  he  is  a  phenomenist  dealing  with  actual  forms  and  facts, 
trying  to  extend  the  domain  of  the  knowable.    In 
cience  j^^^  uttermost  speculations,  he  remains  concrete,  un- 

metaphysical,  scarcely  leaving  the  earth.  Final  causes  do  not 
interest  him;  he  declares  that  he  is  concerned  rather  with  the 
comment  than  the  pourquoi.  He  believes  in  the  essential  imity 
of  forces  and  sees  life  largely  as  action  and  reaction,  often  auto- 
matic and  molecular.  But  he  does  not  scorn  tentative  hypotheses, 
nor  discount  the  scientific  imagination.  This  double  tendency 
towards  facts  and  speculation  reflects  his  own  two-fold  tempera- 
ment. There  is  the  Diderot  who  is  a  healthy  jovial  materialist, 
and  the  Diderot  who  leaves  the  temple  to  promenade  through  the 
cosmos. 

It  has  been  well  said  that  for  this  philosopher  the  famous 
"  etat  de  nature  "  was  really  an  "  etat  d'ame."  His  evolutionary 
Conclusion  as  ideas  were  implicit  in  the  Lucretian  school  and  had 
to  Philosophy  {,ggjj  openly  sustained  by  Maupertuis;  other  ad- 
vanced philosophes,  such  as  La  Mettrie  and  d'Holbach,  anticipated 
him  in  complete  materialism.  But  none  of  them  had  Diderot's 
genius  and  crystallizing  power,  none  of  them  finds  such  expressive 
delight  in  the  "  vertigo  of  thought,"  none  of  them  experiences 
such  happiness  and  enthusiasm,  such  poetic  and  creative  fire  from 
communion  with  the  goddess  Nature.  She  lends  herself  to  per- 
petually fresh  creations;  matter  invested  with  motion  not  only 
begot  the  universe,  but  can  forever  change  it;  so  all  things  are 
relative,  unstable,  and  the  place  of  man  in  this  welter  is  most 
precarious.  Diderot  has  definitely  reacted  from  the  Classical 
habit  of  referring  everything  to  human  standards  (anthropomor- 
phism) . 

As  a  critic,  Diderot  ranks  high,  first  because  he  everywhere 
recommends  realism,  and  also  because  of  his  capacity  for  en- 
thusiastic appreciation.  He  brings  life  into  crit- 
icism. If  he  lacks  balance  and  judgment,  he  has  wide 
views  and  acute  senses;  he  frequently  shows  penetration  and  a 
marked  preference  for  democratic  realities.  This  broad  underly- 
ing naturalism  is  consistent  with  what  we  know  of  the  man,  the 
philosopher  and  the  dramatic  theorist.  He  distinguishes  genius 
from  art  in  that  the  former  is  linked  with  creative  enthusiasm, 


HIS    CRITICISM  479 

the  latter  with  taste.  Poetry  "  demands  something  enormous, 
barbaric  and  savage."  Diderot  prefers  a  rude  simplicity  to  his 
own  artificial  epoch,  and  it  is  still  the  "  return  to  nature  "  that  he 
advocates.  But  the  word  keeps  its  wide  inclusiveness,  as  in- 
stanced in  the  declamatory  Eloge  de  Richardson,  whose  characters 
and  deeds  are  praised  as  "  in  nature  "  —  that  is,  in  the  domain  of 
fact  and  probability;  Richardson's  detailed  realism  is  as  various 
and  convincing  as  that  of  the  natural  world;  and  his  morality 
is  of  the  highest.  Here  and  in  the  Salons  Diderot  seems  to  recur 
to  the  idea  of  aesthetic  morality ;  but  his  own  morality  and  taste 
are  seldom  above  suspicion. 

His  Salons  (1759  f.)  have  been  variously  judged.  Severe 
censors  object  to  their  literary  flavor,  their  insistence  on  the 
As  Critic  "  anecdote,"  their  subordination  of  technical  art- 
of  Art  criticism,  and  the  introduction  of  rather  spicy  pas- 

sages. It  is  true  that  Diderot  and  his  age  emphasize  the  idea 
behind  the  product.  He  wants  a  painting  to  say  something, 
in  the  way  of  story  or  history ;  at  the  least,  he  wants  a  "  speak- 
ing "  likeness  and  insists  on  expression  as  opposed  to  coldness  or 
monotony.  He  practically  invented  the  causerie  as  an  informal 
discussion  of  art,  and  this  style  has  had  a  considerable  influence. 
The  form  is  capable  of  much  variety.  Diderot  will  fuse  a  rather 
vivid  description  of  a  picture  with  the  impression,  often  enthusi- 
astic, which  it  produces  on  him,  and  with  any  digression  that  he 
chooses  to  make.  But  he  introduces  as  much  technical  discus- 
sion as,  presumably,  his  audience  would  stand;  especially  in  the 
three  directions  of  color,  line,  composition,  for  all  of  which  he  had 
a  keen  eye.  His  sympathies  are  with  those  painters  who  observe 
and  depict  naturally ;  Chardin  and  Vernet  rather  than  Boucher. 
His  idol  is  Greuze,  who  combines  naturalness  of  detail  with  scenes 
of  domesticity,  anecdotes  and  moralizings.  In  all  this  Diderot 
runs  true  to  type.  He  boldly  recommends  the  painter  to  leave 
the  studio  and  go  outdoors  where  he  can  get  away  from  the  "  man- 
nered "  poses  and  the  academic  taint.  He  admits  that  he  views 
painting  partly  as  an  amateurish  connoisseur,  partly  as  a  pleasure- 
seeker  of  sensuous  and  siunptuous  values.  But  theoretically  he 
contends  that  art  must  have  its  morals  and  that  the  corruption 
of  the  one  (Boucher)  brings  on  the  corruption  of  the  other.  He 
defines  taste  as  an  "  acquired  faculty  for  seizing  the  true  or 


480  DIDEROT 

good,"  circumstantially  depicted.  The  Salons  are  written  for 
the  most  part  admirably  and  eloquently,  if  somewhat  hastily. 

The  more  significant  of  Diderot's  miscellaneous  writings  can 
be  best  handled  if  we  view  them  likewise  as  prolonged  caitseries, 
Not  a  ""'"  rather  than  under  the  more  usual  heading  of  fiction. 
Novelist  It  is  difiicult  to  see  how  Jacques  le  fataliste,  for 
instance,  can  be  considered  a  novel.  Here  and  elsewhere  Dide- 
rot shows  little  interest  in  fictional  form  and  he  rarely  creates  a 
character;  his  tales  are  all  fact  or  closely  founded  on  fact.  He 
is  a  raconteur,  relating  the  "  small  memoirs  of  his  century." 
The  form  in  which  he  excels,  then,  is  dialogue,  tending  towards 
monologue;  he  is  primarily  a  conversationalist  and  an  impro- 
viser.  This  appears  in  the  charming  Entretien  d'un  pere  avec 
ses  enfants,  in  various  other  dialogues,  and  conspicuously  in  his 
one  indubitable  masterpiece,  Le  Neveu  de  Rameau  (c.  1762). 

Goethe  was  the  first  to  discover  and  make  famous  this  amaz- 
ing dialogue,  which  presents  as  interlocutors  Diderot  hnnself 
"Le  Neveu  ^^^  ^  philosophe)  and  the  cynical  bohemian  rela- 
de  Rameau,"  tive  of  Rameau  —  who  is  really  another  side  of  Did- 
publ.  1823  grot  rpjjg  debate  thus  shows  a  doubly  personal  vigor 
and  penetration.  The  philosopher  appears  as  reasonable,  cautious, 
charitable,  accepting  the  established  order,  fond  of  pleasures, 
but  preferring  those  of  the  heart,  interested  in  his  friends,  his 
work,  his  family.  The  bohemian  is  an  individualist,  display- 
ing his  "natural"  vices  and  frank  perversities,  relishing  the 
struggle  for  life,  utterly  materialistic,  even  animal  in  his  de- 
sires and  ideas.  The  two  speakers  are  opposed  as  regards  the 
value  of  morality,  philosophy,  genius  and  education;  and  each 
gives  the  best  possible  presentation  of  his  case.  Rameau's 
language  is  astonishingly  vivid,  an  effect  aided  by  his  use  of 
pantomime,  the  detailed  account  of  his  gestures,  together  with 
a  style  of  breathless  enumerations.  All  this  is  in  the  best 
realistic  manner  of  Diderot  and  is  done  with  brilliant  precision 
and  great  speed.  The  dialogue  has  "  cet  air  vif ,  ardent  et  fou  " 
which  Diderot  claims  for  his  own  physiognomy. 

Equally  mad,  though  less  interesting,  is  Jacques  le  fataliste 

His  Fiction     ^^^^^'  ^"^''  ^^^^^'  ^^^'^^  is  a  frank  and  free  imita- 
tion of  Sterne  in  its  wilful  neglect  of  plot,  its  sly 
sensuality,  and  the  impertinent  intrusions  of  the  author.    It  is  a 


DIDEROT  481 

"  Sentimental  Journey  "  which  never  gets  anywhere,  and  its 
humor  is  often  labored.  Diderot  himself  declares  that  he  is 
not  writing  a  novel  and  that  he  is  simply  telling  the  truth 
about  various  episodes.  The  nominal  subject  concerns  the  loves 
of  Jacques  as  he  relates  them  to  his  rather  dull  master  on  the 
king's  highway  and  in  hostelries.  We  have  then  a  kind  of 
road-novel,  with  echoes  of  Gil  Bias  and  the  like;  but  nothing 
much  ever  happens.  Apart  from  the  variegated  pattern,  the 
interest  lies,  as  usual,  in  Diderot's  talk,  with  its  occasional  wit 
and  sprightliness,  and  in  the  several  short  stories  interspersed. 
Of  these  the  Histoire  de  Madame  de  la  Pommeraye  et  du  Mar- 
quis des  Arcis  has  achieved  deserved  fame.  It  is  a  passionate 
tale  concerning  the  vengeance  of  a  deserted  mistress  who  throws 
her  quondam  lover  into  the  arms  of  a  courtesan ;  the  latter  then 
attains  virtue  through  marriage.  This  romani|.ic  rehabilitation, 
as  well  as  the  unnaturalness  of  the  revenge,  is  cleverly  criti- 
cized by  Jacques  and  his  hostess;  but  no  one  can  criticize  the 
absorbing  thrill  of  the  story,  especially  if  read  in  an  abbreviated 
text. 

La  Religieuse  (1760,  publ.  1796)  is  the  best  composed,  in  fact, 
the  only  novel  proper  that  Diderot  wrote.  Even  this  story  falls 
The  English  ^'^^^  towards  the  end  and  is  unfinished.  It  is  a 
Influence  powerful  and  painful  autobiography  of  a  rebellious 
nun  in  several  convents,  a  conte  philosophique  through  moral 
intention;  and  Diderot  demonstrates  his  theme  as  to  the  horrors 
of  conventual  life.  There  are  certain  gaps  in  the  motivation 
and  the  characters  are  rudely  sketched,  with  the  exception  of  the 
heroine,  who  is  a  more  innocent  Diderot.  Yet  the  work  is  a  seri- 
ous social  and  pathological  stuHy.  The  style  is  as  usual  vigorous, 
sometimes  too  choppy,  detailed  in  its  representation  of  scenes 
and  people.  The  influence  of  Richardson  probably  appears  in 
this  sort  of  realism,  as  well  as  in  the  idea  of  a  suffering  heroine. 
Diderot's  "fiction"  frequently  shows  a  sentimental  morality 
and  bourgeois  preoccupations  quite  in  the  vein  of  Richardson. 
In  fact,  most  of  the  Frenchman's  important  works,  whether 
philosophic  or  imaginative,  reflect  some  form  of  the  English  in- 
fluence, so  pervasive  at  this  time. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  indicate  that  in  the  main  phases  of 
his  activity  Diderot  ranks  among  the  naturalists,, and  like  those 


482  DIDEROT 

of  the  nineteenth  century,  he  links  literary  realism  with  the  scien- 
tific approach.    He  has  the  eye,  the  hand,  the  spirit  of  the  born 
Realism         Realist.    Whether  he  is  preaching  natiiral  philoso- 
and  style       phy  and  religion  or  demanding  concreteness  and 
actuality  in  drama  and  painting  or  depicting  the  real  demo- 
cratic world  in  his  own  vivid  sketches,  he  is  the  chief  repre- 
sentative  of  this   spirit   between   Rabelais   and   Balzac.    His 
style  and  processes  are  also  much  like  theirs;  a  manner  com- 
pact  of   color   and   thought   and   freshness;    a   circumstantial 
method  of  narration,  including  enumerations  and  catalogue  sen- 
tences; the  emphasis  on  gestures,  pantomine,  physiognomies; 
the  observation,  the  crude  force,  the  sense  of  variable  life,  the 
animalism,  the  materialistic  imagination  and  memory.    Closer 
to  Diderot's  own  age  are  his  taste  for  "  tableaux,"  the  rhetorical 
effusions,  and  the  peculiar  habit  of  mixing  licentiousness  and 
sentiment.    But  he  is  above  all  individual,  thereby  repugnant  to 
the  traditionalists,  and  his  strongest  individual  quality  is  un- 
doubtedly verve,  the  mixture  of  liveliness,  vividness  and  rapidity 
in  a  suite  of  cascading  sentences.    Scherer  says  that  Diderot 
pours  himself  out  in  a  facile,  turbid  stream,  sometimes  muddy 
and  all-carrying  as  a  river  at  flood-tide,  sometimes  playfully  riot- 
ing over  clear  rocks  at  the  bottom.   At  his  best  he  welds  perfectly 
form  and  matter,  in  a  burst  of  creative  energy;  but  his  best  is 
contained  in  picked  pages  and  in  no  single  volume  of  his  works; 
he  is  too  unequal,  too  hurried.    His  sentiment  is  often  rhetorical 
or  vulgar,  he  has  force  rather  than  taste,  but  through  sheer 
power  and  geniality,  in  spite  of  anarchy  and  confusions,  he 
manages  to  lift  and  impose  his  materialistic  burden. 


BOOK  V 
PRE-ROMANTICISM 

CHAPTER  I 

ROUSSEAU.     BERNARDIN     DE     SAINT-PIERRE 

Jean -Jacques  Rousseau  (1712-78) ,  the  most  remarkable  and 
unfortunate  genius  of  the  century,  was  by  birth  and  preference 
a  "  citizen  of  Geneva."    His  Swiss  origin  helps  to 
*  *  explain  his  independence,  as  well  as  his  more  per- 

sistent views  on  politics  and  religion  and  his  moralizing  vein. 
Thus  he  reaches  and  touches  France  as  an  alien  force,  and  his 
impact  is  all  the  greater.  We  see  him  first  at  the  age  of  seven, 
devouring  sentimental  fiction  with  his  unstable  father.  His 
feelings  and  his  imagination  were  awakened  far  too  early  — 
likewise  his  senses.  Good-hearted,  but  quite  uncontrolled  as  a 
boy,  he  soon  becomes  a  rascally  apprentice  and  at  sixteen  leaves 
Geneva  in  consequence  of  an  escapade.  He  is  taken  under  the 
wing  of  Mme  de  Warens,  a  charming,  free  and  easy  lady,  who 
sends  him  to  Turin,  where  he  is  converted  (temporarily)  to 
Catholicism.  He  becomes  a  lackey  and  falls  in  love  with  the 
daughter  of  the  house.  Again  he  follows  the  open  road,  passing 
through  various  journeys  and  adventures.  From  Paris,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-one,  he  takes  his  last  long  tramp  and  is  installed 
at  Chambery  as  the  companion  of  Mme  de  Warens,  under  de- 
grading conditions.  His  partial  self-education  dates  from  this 
period,  as  does  the  beginning  of  his  misanthropy.  His  establish- 
ment at  Paris  (1741  f.)  soon  involved  him  in  a  lasting  liaison 
with  Therese  Levasseur.  She  was  a  kind-hearted  but  illiterate 
servant-girl  who  brought  down  her  relatives  upon  Rousseau's 
head  and  decidedly  hampered  his  career.  She  gave  him  five 
children,  whom  he  turned  over  to  the  foundling  hospital.  Pres- 
ently Jean-Jacques  began  to  please  writers  and  ladies,  and  in 
1760,  his  first  Discours  won  the  prize  of  the  Dijon  Academy. 

483 


484  ROUSSEAU 

Professing  a  moral  transformation,  he  then  started  to  pose  as  a 
"  bear,"  refusing  to  dress  the  part  of  a  fashionable  success.  Yet 
he  was  honored  in  Paris  and  acclaimed  in  Geneva,  where  he  was 
restored  to  his  rights  as  citizen  and  Protestant.  In  1756  he 
was  established  at  his  "  Hermitage "  in  the  forest  of  Mont- 
morency, near  Paris.  There  during  the  next  six  years  he  wrote 
his  principal  books  —  La  Nouvelle  Heloise,  Emile,  Le  Contrat 
social  —  and  became  the  victim  of  his  infatuation  for  Mme 
d'Houdetot.  Rousseau's  suspicions  of  his  friends,  especially  of 
Grimm,  Diderot  and  Mme  d'Epinay,  center  aroimd  this  epoch. 
Serious  altercations  followed.  Rousseau  left  his  retreat  and 
found  other  protectors,  while  his  literary  reputation  was  grow- 
ing. Exiled  from  France  on  account  of  Emile,  he  lived  for  a 
time  at  Metiers  in  Switzerland,  where  he  experienced  fresh  dis- 
sensions and  "  persecutions."  He  finally  renounced  Geneva  and 
Calvinism.  In  1766-67  we  find  him  in  England,  where  he  quar- 
relled with  Hume  and  again  fled  onward.  From  place  to  place 
he  carried  his  uneasy  soul,  more  sinned  against  than  sinning. 
At  last  he  settled  in  Paris  (1770),  and  his  old  age,  if  still  eccen- 
tric, was  calnier  and  kinder.  He  died  in  1778;  his  ashes  were 
carried  to  the  Pantheon  in  1791. 

On  the  face  of  it,  this  is  not  a  normal  life,  and  Rousseau 

was  evidently  an  unbalanced  person.    He  has  been  accused  of 

megalomania   and   of   the   mania    of   persecution; 

'**  *'  nevertheless,  he  was  entitled  to  think  himself  a 
great  man,  and  it  now  seems  clear  that  there  were  actual  plots 
against  his  happiness  and  reputation.  He  had  too  rare  a  nature 
to  be  readily  understood.  Where  others  reasoned,  he  felt  and 
suffered.  He  was  romantic,  sensitive,  self-centered,  intoxicated 
alternately  by  passion  and  by  "  virtue."  He  was  unstable  in 
love  and  friendship,  often  anti-social  in  his  independence,  at 
war  with  himself  and  with  his  Parisian  environment.  These 
personal  traits,  as  well  as  the  new  literary  currents  which  he 
released,  will  appear  best  from  a  consideration  of  his  Confes- 
sions. 

This  book  ranks  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  autobiographies, 
"Les  Con-  comparable  to  the  writings  of  St.  Augustine  and 
publ.  1781-88  Montaigne.  Lemaitre  calls  the  work  the  most  "  can- 
did, singular  and  passionate "  confessions  ever  written.    The 


LES    CONFESSIONS  485 

story  covers  Rousseau's  life  down  to  the  flight  to  England,  and  it 
was  composed  during  the  troubled  years  that  followed.  Its 
purpose  was  to  defend  his  character  against  the  libels  of  the 
Grimm  faction,  to  prove  his  sincerity  and  to  show  the  world 
that  no  better  man  than  Jean-Jacques  could  be  found.  Yet  he 
frankly  admits  many  grievous  faults  and  stains;  he  also  pleads 
guilty  to  lapses  of  memory  and  certain  embellishments  in  the 
presentation.  The  first  six  books  are  heightened  in  color  and 
retrospect,  just  as  the  last  six  are  deliberately  darkened.  But  in 
the  main  the  work  does  bear  the  stamp  of  sincerity,  faithfully 
rendering  Rousseau's  emotions  and  memories.  The  vagabond 
charm  of  the  earlier  portions,  the  "  portraits  "  and  anecdotes  and 
pictures  of  domestic  life,  the  natural  vivid  style  of  these 
morceaux,  alternating  with  the  impassioned  eloquence  of  the 
sentimental  passages  —  all  of  these  qualities  give  the  Confes- 
sions their  double  value  as  a  personal  document  and  as  one  of 
the  first  monuments  of  Romanticism.  These  values  may  be 
traced  under  three  headings:  individualism,  the  love  of  nature, 
and  the  passionate  expression  of  sentiment. 

Rousseau's  own  characteristics,  detailed  with  self-complacency, 
often  amount  to  an  individualistic  doctrine.  He  appears  as 
ardent,  weak,  vibrating  between  good  and  evil,  be- 
n  m  u  "™tween  exaltation  and  despair.  He  constantly  speaks 
of  his  sottises,  jolies,  delires,  engouements.  For  a  time  he  would 
be  captivated  by  friend  or  by  mistress  and  then  abandon  them 
through  indolence  or,  as  his  enemies  claimed,  ingratitude.  Ner- 
vousness and  poor  health  were  responsible  for  various  weaknesses; 
and  at  times  his  "  case  "  seems  pathological.  He  holds  that  virtue 
became  his  main  passion  about  1750;  the  facts  show  rather  that 
passion  became  his  main  virtue  a  few  years  later.  His  individ- 
ualism develops  into  a  peculiar  type  of  megalomania.  Jean-Jac- 
ques declares  that  there  was  never  anything  like  his  Confessions 
or  anybody  like  him.  He  was  a  prodigy  as  a, child.  Later  he  felt 
that  "en  me  montrant  j'allais  occuper  de  moi  I'univers."  He 
claims  that  he  is  unique,  if  not  superior,  whether  as  regards  his 
passions,  his  indolence,  or  the  various  circumstances  of  his  life. 
His  temperament  is  made  to  explain  and  excuse  his  many  errors. 
Other  forms  in  which  the  personal  note  appears  are:  a  proud  in- 
dependence, a  kind  of  wilful  impressionism,  imaginative  exalta- 


486  ROUSSEAU 

tion,  vagabondage,  and  a  taste  for  simple  pleasures  curiously 
mingled  with  romantic  sensations.     These  feelings  were  much 
stimulated  by  his  long  tramps,  during  which  he  learned  to  love 
and  celebrate  the  charms  of  Nature. 
Rousseau  thus  indicates  the  kind  of  nature  that  he  prefers: 

Jamais  pays  de  plaine.  ...  II  me  faut  des  torrents,  des  ro- 
chers,  des  sapins,  des  bois  noirs,  des  montagnes,  des  chemins  rabo- 
teux  a  monter  et  a  descendre,  des  precipices  a  mes  pieds  qui  me 
fassent  bien  peur. 

Such  a  landscape,  when  encountered  in  youth  and  health,  brings 
life  to  a  pinnacle.    And  through  the  "  pathetic  fallacy  "  one's 
mood  then  colors  natiu-e ;  it  also  associates  particular 
''**"'^®  scenes  with  the  image  of  the  loved  one.     In  the 

most  powerful  revery  that  Rousseau  ever  experienced,  he  was 
chiefly  occupied  with  transposing  scenic  elements  into  a  future 
life  with  Mme  de  Warens.  Any  occurrence  in  nature  is  likely 
to  arouse  ethereal  joys  or  floods  of  meditation.  He  thinks  out 
his  books  while  walking,  and  it  is  in  the  forest  that  he  attains  to 
the  vision  of  primitive  times.  Nature  is  then  depicted  in  the 
Confessions,  though  not  so  frequently  as  in  the  Nouvelle  Heloise, 
yet  with  the  same  sincerity  and  broad  sweep,  and  even  more 
poignantly  and  personally. 

The  third  modern  note  which  Rousseau  sounds  is  that  of 
sentiment.  He  declares  that  sensibility  was  the  main  gift  of  his 
parents,  that  it  has  brought  him  both  bliss  and 
Sensi  iity  despair.  Even  as  a  child  all  the  sentiments  were 
known  to  him;  he  wanted  to  be  loved  by  everybody.  In  old  age 
he  still  wept  over  the  songs  of  his  childhood.  His  intelligence  is 
slow  as  compared  with  his  emotions,  and  he  sets  the  value  of 
right  feeling  far  above  the  value  of  ideas.  "  La  froide  raison  n'a 
jamais  rien  fait  d'illustre."  Jean- Jacques  himself  has  essentially 
I'dme  aimante;  and  such  expressions,  together  with  "  expansions 
and  ecstasies,"  tears  and  embraces  and  beating  pulses,  constantly 
recur.  He  finds  the  Parisians  shallow  in  sentiment;  he  af- 
firms that  love  and  friendship  are  the  guiding  stars  of  his  own 
life.  His  love  affairs  are  in  fact  the  most  extraordinary  thing 
about  Rousseau.  They  are  of  all  varieties  and  moods,  idyllic  or 
^ensual.    Generally  imagination  plays  the  greater  part,  Plato- 


LA    NOXJVELLE    HELOISE  487 

nism  and  idealism  are  much  dwelt  upon,  but  lasting  serviceable 
affection  is  not  conspicuous.  In  his  affair  with  Mme  d'Houdetot 
he  insists  that  the  delights  of  I'amitie  amoureuse  drew  him 
more  than  the  senses,  that  women  both  consoled  and  educated 
him.  With  Rousseau  love  was  rarely  complete.  The  following 
passage,  concerning  the  "  idyll "  with  Mme  de  Warens,  proba- 
bly represents  him  at  his  best: 

S'il  y  a  dans  la  vie  un  sentiment  delicieux,  c'est  celui  que  nous 
eprouvames  d'etre  rendus  I'un  a  I'autre.  Notre  attachement  mutuel 
n'en  augmenta  pas,  cela  n'etait  pas  possible;  mais  il  prit  je  ne 
sais  quoi  de  plus  intime,  de  plus  tquchant  dans  sa  grande  sim- 
pUcite.  .  .  .  Nous  nous  accoutumames  a  ne  plus  penser  a  rien 
d'etranger  a  nous,  a  borner  absolument  notre  bonheur  et  tous 
nos  desirs  a  cette  possession  mutuelle,  et  peut-etre  unique  parmi 
les  humains,  qui  n'etait  point,  comme  je  I'ai  dit,  celle  de  I'amour, 
mais  une  possession  plus  essentielle,  qui,  sans  tenir  aux  sens,  au 
sexe,  a  1'S.ge,  a  la  figure,  tenait  a  tout  ce  par  quoi  I'on  est  soi,  eft 
qu'on  ne  peut  perdre  qu'en  cessant  d'etre. 

The  Romantic  characteristics  just  enumerated  made  their  first 
striking  appearance  in  French  literature  in  the  long  sentimental 
"La  Nouvelle'^°^^^  called  Julie  ou  la  Nouvelle  Heloise  (1761). 
Heloise  "  In  this  novel,  the  "  new  Heloise  "  loves  and  yields  to 
her  tutor  as  her  namesake  loved  Abelard;  but  Julie  is  finally 
rescued  by  domestic  guidance  and  marriage.  After  being  duti- 
ful for  six  years  she  is  again  shaken  by  the  reappearance 
of  her  lover,  Saint-Preux,  and  the  impossible  triangle  is  resolved 
by  her  death.  The  sources  of  the  book  are  two-fold:  Richard- 
son's Clarissa  Harlowe  and  the  personal  adventures  of  Rousseau. 
Richardson  probably  furnished  the  epistolary  form,  the  concep- 
•tion  of  the  unfortunate,  heroine  who  is  carried  through  ruin  to 
death,  and  the  tendency  towards  much  analysis  of  sentiment. 
But  Rousseau's  experiences  are  what  gave  the  book  life  in  his 
own  eyes  and  in  those  of  his  contemporaries.  The  scenes  of  his 
wanderings,  especially  around  Lake  Geneva,  are  portrayed  with 
mingled  precision  and  magnificence.  Julie  and  Claire  (her  lively 
confidante)  were  originally  sketched  from  two  young  ladies  of 
Rousseau's  acquaintance,  while  the  early  love  passages  were  in 
memory  of  Mme  de  Warens.  But  the  book  was  intended  to  be 
more  edifying  than  passionate,  when  Mme  d'Houdetot  suddenly 


4,88  ROUSSEAU 

became  Rousseau's  main  inspiration.  There  is  thus  a  discrep- 
ancy between  the  various  parts  of  the  novel:  passion  and  indi- 
vidualism as  opposed  to  moralizing  and  didacticism;  a  discrep- 
ancy which  again  thoroughly  reflects  Rousseau.  These  personal 
origins  explain  the  main  currents  of  the  Nouvelle  Helaise,  which 
we  may  consider  from  the  three  aspects  already  chosen  for  the 
Confessions. 

Saint-Preux  clearly  resembles  the  author  in  that  he  is  rash, 
passionate,  weak,  easily  exalted,  loving  above  his  station.  Like 
Rousseau,  he  talks  much  about  virtue  and  fine  sen- 
Individuahsm  ^j^gjj^g  and  leaves  us  imcertain  as  to  his  capacity 
for  living  up  to  what  he  feels.  In  fact,  the  novelist  talks  through 
all  his  personages  and  shows  little  objectivity.  The  characters 
insist  that  they  are  "  unique  "  in  their  situations  and  sentiments. 
Self-development  is  pleaded  for  in  himdreds  of  passages.  It  ap- 
pears that  the  individual  (Julie  )  is  sacrificed  to  ideals  of  family 
and  duty,  but  the  sacrifice  is  rather  made  to  artificial  social  dis- 
tinctions which  impede  the  course  of  true  love.  Thus  the  single 
person  is  conquered  in  his  or  her  strife  with  artificial  society  — 
the  favorite  thesis  of  Rousseau.  Society  is  more  to  blame  than 
either  Julie  or  her  lover.  So  the  novel  in  its  chief  tendencies 
remains  individualistic. 

The  "  voice  of  nature,"  in  several  senses,  is  constantly  heard. 
First  we  have  the  picturesque  landscape,  for  which  La  Nouvelle 
Heloise,  aided  by  English  poetry,  restored  the  vogue 
^  ^^^  in  France.    There  was  born  a  fresh  appreciation  for 

the  long  and  loving  delineation  of  nature,  often  associated  with 
man's  sufferings  and  joys.  The  most  invigorating  passages  are 
those  which  depict  the  scenes  preferred  by  Rousseau.  It  is  nearly 
always  the  lower  Alps  that  he  describes,  the  varying  perspective- 
of  the  Valais  mountains,  the  contrast  between  the  cultivated  fields 
and  the  rougher  hillsides,  the  shifting  of  color,  the  serenity  of  the 
heights.  Nature  is  combined  with  the  individual  in  two  principal 
ways.  It  is  of  course  associated  with  the  loved  one.  The  grove 
which  witnessed  the  first  kiss  of  the  lovers  is  forever  made  a 
shrine.  Saint-Preux  thinks  of  Julie  as  definitely  placed  on  this 
sward  or  on  that  rock,  and  Julie  sees  him  as  suggested  by  all 
the  objects  which  he  has  left.  Again,  the  pathetic  fallacy  is 
frequent,  and  this  is  the  second  way  of  fusing  nature  with  the 
individual : 


HIS    FEELING   FOR    NATURE  489 

Je  trouve  partout  dans  les  objets  la  meme  horreur  qui  regne  au 
dedans  de  moi.  On  n'apergoit  plus  de  verdure,  I'herbe  est  jaune 
et  fletrie,  les  arbres  sont  depouilles,  le  sechard^  et  la  froide  bise 
entassent  la  neige  et  les  glaces;  et  toute  la  nature  est  morte  a.  mes 
yeux,  comme  I'esperance  au  fond  de  mon  coeur. 

Rousseau  also  demands  the  simple  life,  simple  pleasures,  and 
prefers  the  country  to  Paris,  "  ce  vaste  desert  du  monde."  He 
Natural  praises  the  natural  emotions,  such  as  family  afEec- 

Emotions  tions,  friendship  and  love  —  "la  solitude  a  deux." 
In  love,  nature  seeks  full  possession,  both  of  heart  and  body. 
Nature  also  rules  the  choice  of  lovers  and  should  rule  their 
marriages,  in  an  ideal  society.  Nature,  rather  than  civilization, 
makes  the  moral  differences  between  the  sexes,  the  aggressive 
man,  the  protective  woman.  Ethically,  "  la  bonte  naturelle  " 
is  Rousseau's  ideal. 

Streams  of  sentimental  tears  abound  throughout  the  volume. 

Today  we  find  the  showers  of  Julie  and  the  torrents  of  Saint- 

Preux  rather  too  larmoyants.    But  the  old  regime 

"  "*^°  needed  just  this  irrigation.  It  is  difiScult  to  free 
oneself  from  a  suspicion  of  overdone  feeling  and  rhetorical  style ; 
but  such  expression  is  largely  a  matter  of  varying  taste,  and  what 
seems  false  now  was  true  in  its  time.  Some  instances  of  Rous- 
seauistic  sentiment  may  be  given.  Julie  attracts  her  lover  pri- 
marily by  her  sensibilite;  she  speaks  of  affinities,  of  a  "  secret 
conformity  of  affections "  proceeding  from  Nature.  The  best 
love  should  be  unique  and  purifying.  Saint-Preux,  though  less  of 
a  Platonist,  agrees  that  love  must  be  linked  with  morality,  must 
have  elevation  and  aim  at  perfection.  Taken  rightly,  love  is 
the  whole  thing  in  life,  and  the  absolute  view  of  this  sentiment  is 
one  of  the  great  novelties  introduced  by  Rousseau.  In  the  midst 
of  their  gallantries  and  frivolities,  he  made  the  worldlings  "  feel." 
Again,  expansive  virtue  for  Jean-Jacques  is  less  a  matter  of  prac- 
tical ethics  than  an  impulse  from  the  bottom  of  the  soul.  His  is  a 
sentimental  morality,  and  he  declares  significantly  that  sentiment 
is  his  conscience.  It  is  also  the  judge  of  art,  it  makes  the  true 
power  of  music  and  the  interest  of  fiction  for  him.  Compared 
with  feeling,  reason  is  nothing,  and  he  exalts,  beyond  reason  and 
beyond  sustained  morality,  the  theory  of  the  exquisite  moment 

'  The  north-east  wind. 


490  ROUSSEAU 

made  immortal  by  recollection  and  revery.  Certainly  in  the 
moral  world  Rousseau  confuses  kinds  and  values;  but  the 
Nouvelle  Heloise  opened  powerful  fresh  channels  for  literature. 
It  still  attracts  readers  through  its  appreciation  of  love  and 
nature,  as  well  as  through  its  finely  eloquent  style,  Romantic  in 
its  essence  and  influence. 

To  go  back  in  time,  Rousseau's  first  printed  work  was  the 
Discours  sur  les  Sciences  et  les  Arts  (1750).  Probably  under  the 
The  Two  influence  of  Diderot  and  in  a  state  of  imaginative 
"Discours"  exaltation,  he  decided  to  maintain,  in  the  Dijon 
Academy  debate,  that  the  arts''  and  sciences  are  con- 
nected with  the  corruption  of  humanity.  Much  of  the  essay 
is  declamatory  and  parpdoxical  and  shows  little  historical  knowl- 
edge. Yet  in  his  praise  of  the  old  Roman  vertu,  the  author 
indicates  the  main  principle  of  all  his  subsequent  work:  the 
opposition  of  artificial  society  to  a  simpler  life,  to  which,  as  far 
as  practicable,  man  should  make  his  civilization  conform. 
This  principle,  in  another  aspect,  also  underlies  the  second  essay, 
Discours  sur  I'origine  et  les  fondements  de  I'inegalite  parmi  les 
hommes  (1755).  Rousseau  here  has  a  vision  of  primitive  man 
as  a  happy  amoral  animal,  equal  in  all  respects  to  his  neighbor. 
But  he  lives  separated  from  this  neighbor,  and  the  "  state  of  na- 
ture "  is  a  state  of  isolation.  With  the  organization  of  society, 
man  becomes  gradually  less  free  and  equal.  Interdependence, 
strife,  ambition  are  developed,  particularly  through  the  posses- 
sion of  property,  which  Rousseau  views  as  the  root  of  all  evil, 
The  foundation  of  the  political  State  came  about  in  order  to 
protect  property,  to  uphold  the  rich  and  oppress  the  poor.  In- 
equality led  to  slavery,  and  Rousseau  sees  no  escape  save  through 
a  general  uprising.  The  power  and  daring  of  this  Discours,  in 
spite  of  its  many  mistakes,  made  it  figure  along  with  the  Contrat 
social  in  the  propaganda  of  the  Revolution. 
"L  c  t  t  ^^^  ^^^^  chapters  of  the  Contrat  social  (1762) 
social":  are  individualistic,  but  as  a  whole  the  work  stands 
Summary  Jqj.  g^  constructive  organization  of  democratic  society 
and  for  the  recognition  of  moral  principles  in  politics.    Neither 

'  This  thesis  is  developed  with  regard  to  literature  in  the  Lettre  &  Dalembert  «ur 
la  spectacles  (1768),  in  which  the  drama  and  Moli^e  particularly  are  condemned  m 
immoral. 


LE    CONTRAT    SOCIAL  491 

the  right  of  the  strongest,  nor  divine  right,  nor  the  family,  is  the 
true  source  of  human  society.  In  the  (hypothetical)  primitive 
"  contract "  which  should  today  be  reinforced,  it  was  a  ques- 
tion of  mutual  consent  and  obligation  between  members  of  a 
self-governing  community.  The  forfeiture  of  "  inalienable 
rights  "  in  favor  of  an  oppressive  monarch  is  a  void  contract ;  but 
Rousseau  then  urges  the  alienation  of  many  individual  claims  in 
favor  of  the  community,  the  popular  State.  Each  person  is  at 
once  subject  and  citizen-ruler  in  this  collective  body  politic. 
Such  is  the  famous  doctrine  of  popular  sovereignty.  The  law  is 
the  expression  of  the  "  infallible  "  general  will.  Its  agent  is  the 
governing  or  executive  body,  which  may  be  of  several  kinds.  A 
sort  of  aristo-democracy  is  preferred,  a  cabinet  ministry  which 
shall  be  controlled  by  the  sovereign  people  through  referendums 
and  the  like.  The  general  will  implies  both  a  collective  con- 
sciousness and  a  public  spirit,  and  Rousseau  holds  that  under 
modern  conditions  "  neither  reason  nor  the  moral  law  is  to  be  real- 
ized by  man  except  in  and  through  the  civil  state."  The  author  now 
modifies  these  abstract  ideals  by  considerations  of  circumstance 
and  expediency.  He  concedes  that  some  of  the  rights  which 
have  been  taken  from  the  individual  subject  may  be  guardedly 
handed  back  to  him.  A  small  State  should  be  democratic,  but 
a  large  one  rather  monarchical  (cf .  Montesquieu) .  Having  small 
democracies  in  mind,  Rousseau  held  that  representative  gov- 
ernment was  not  truly  popular.  Sometimes  unanimity  of  the 
popular  vote  is  demanded,  sometimes  merely  a  plurality.  But 
such  attenuations  and  uncertainties  do  little  to  modify  the  effect 
of  the  Contrat  social  in  its  main  features:  equality  before  the 
law;  the  rights  of  the  individual  as  merging  in  the  interests  of 
the  State;  hence  State  sovereignty  and  what  might  be  called 
democratic  despotism. 

Disregarding  other  errors  and  confusions,  we  may  emphasize 
the  last  idea  as  containing  the  germs  of  much  subsequent  evil. 
Fimdamental  personal  rights  —  the  right  of  free  asso- 
n  icism  elation,  of  choosing  one's  religion  and  of  using  one's 
property  —  are  made  subordinate  to  those  of  the  sovereign 
State.  The  despotism  of  the  Terror  derived  very  considerably 
from  Rousseau,  and  the  modern  German  State  owes  something 
to  his  conception  of  absolute  sovereignty.    On  the  other  hand, 


492  ROUSSEAU 

Rousseau  did  a  great  deal  to  forward  the  general  democratic 
idea;  his  theory  of  the  Contract  may  be  stripped  of  its  hazy 
primitivism  and  taken  more  justly  to  mean  that  government 
must  depend  on  the  "  consent  of  the  governed."  The  Contrat 
social  is  the  one  work  in  which  Rousseau  leaves  individualism; 
he  goes  indeed  to  the  other  extreme  of  collectivism.  His  errors 
are  due  both  to  a  lack  of  the  historical  sense  —  any  sense  of 
development  or  of  a  complex  of  conditions  —  and  to  unbalanced 
or  confused  thinking.  His  "  temperament,"  which  had  its  great 
value  in  his  imaginative  or  personal  works,  often  leads  him  astray 
in  matters  of  sound  knowledge  and  reasoning. 

The  opposition  between  nature  and  society,  particularly  as 
regards  education,  is  again  enforced  in  Emile  (1762).  This 
"  educational  romance "  is  partly  fictional,  partly 
autobiographical;  as  a  treatise,  it  has  links 
with  the  simplifying  and  realistic  ideas  of  Rabelais  and  of  Fe- 
nelon.  The  boy  Emile  progresses  from  the  education  of  the 
senses  to  that  of  the  intelligence  and  the  emotions.  The  child 
should  be  brought  up  without  constraint,  knowing  first  a  moth- 
er's care,  then  passing  to  a  governor  or  father,  whose  primary 
object  should  be  to  "  faire  un  homme."  Between  the  ages  of 
five  and  twelve,  the  boy  remains  in  a  "  state  of  nature,"  re- 
ceiving no  regular  lessons,  learning  rather  from  experience  and 
example,  talking  with  common  folk  and  persistently  asking 
questions.  Emphasis  is  laid  on  physical  exercises  and  only 
after  the  age  of  twelve  does  the  youth  actually  study ;  even  then 
he  studies  things  (object-lessons)  rather  than  books.  During 
adolescence  he  will  read  a  few  "  historians  of  the  soul,"  such  as 
Plutarch,  and  gradually  his  sentiments  will  be  awakened. 
Finally,  the  youth  will  subdue  his  passions,  travel  a  little,  meet 
and  marry  his  Sophie,  who  has  been  trained  mainly  to  please 
Emile.  And  the  author  celebrates  the  wedding  in  a  lyrical 
manner,  not  without  absurdities. 

The  chief  objection  to  this  general  theory  is  that  it  does  not 
fit  a  man  for  social  life.    Emile  is  brought  up  in  an  improbable 
state  of  isolation,  and  his  education  is  neither  thor- 
oughly human  nor  humanistic.    The  study  of  lan- 
guages and  literature  is  not  encouraged,  the  memory  is  not 
trained,  and  the  boy's  mind  and  soul  are  long  kept  inactive.    He 


EMILE  493 

is  reared  as  a  solitary  Rousseauist  rather  than  as  a  future  citi- 
zen. But  in  many  things  concerning  child-welfare  the  author's 
views  are  sound.  In  this  respect  he  inaugurated  an  educational 
revolution.  Mothers  began  to  nurse  their  children,  people  began 
to  study  handicrafts,  and  physical  exercises  were  made  more 
prominent  in  France;  in  Germany,  Rousseau's  "  Gospel  of  child- 
hood," coming  down  through  Pestalozzi  and  Froebel,  forms 
the  basis  of  the  modern  kindergarten.  Rousseau's  influence 
was  due  to  the  novelty  and  sincerity  of  his  revolt  against 
artificial  systems  and  to  the  persuasiveness  of  his  appeals  to 
sentiments  and  passions.  The  natural  education  which  he 
recommends  stands  for  simplicity  versus  apparatus,  for  real 
objects  versv^  forms,  and  for  first-hand  experiences  versus 
authority. 

The  fourth  book  of  Emile  contains  the  gist  of  Rousseau's  re- 
ligion in  the  Profession  de  foi  du  Vicaire  Savoyard.  We  have 
seen  how  in  practice  he  changed  from  Protestantism 
*  ^""^  to  Catholicism  and  back  again,  usually  under  per- 
sonal influences.  His  religion  is  also  a  highly  individual 
and  sentimental  affair.  It  does  not  need  logical  proofs, 
but  only  emotions,  a  swelling  sense  of  virtue  and  contact  with 
the  infinite.  It  has  been  best  defined  as  a  "  sentimental 
Deism,"  with  strong  Pantheistic  leanings;  Rousseau  sees  the 
divine  spirit  in  all  nature.  This  emotional  religiosity  finds 
many  echoes  in  the  nineteenth  century,  beginning  with  Chateau- 
briand. 

Rousseau  appears  then  as  a  man  of  unfortunate  life  and  of  very 
mobile  character.  His  strivings  towards  virtue  were  in  the  end 
sincere,  but  his  ethical  message  is  blurred  by  his 
Conclusion  egotism  and  by  his  tendency  to  exalt  sentiment 
above  knowledge  and  reason.  The  same  objections  apply  to  his 
dealings  with  politics  and  education,  where  the  mind  rather 
than  the  heart  and  imagination  should  be  in  control;  yet  in 
neither  of  these  fields  can  his  great  contributions  be  ignored. 
Rousseau,  more  than  any  other  writer  of  his  century,  counted 
powerfully  upon  the  Revolution,  through  both  the  people  and 
their  leaders  (Mme  Roland,  Robespierre),  in  both  its  idealistic 
and  its  excessive  phases.  Indeed,  some  hold  that  it  is  chiefly  the 
excessive  side  of  Rousseau  that  has  prevailed,  in  matters  of  con- 


494  ROUSSEAU 

duct  as  well  as  in  politics  and  literature.  In  the  last  domain,  how- 
ever, in  the  Confessions  and  the  Nouvelle  Heloise,  his  very  de- 
fects become  in  some  sort  virtues.  The  exaltation  of  the  ego  and 
the  heart,  the  freeing  of  the  imagination,  the  passionate  expres- 
sion of  man's  aflBliations  with  Nature  and  with  the  vast  unknown 
not  only  give  immortality  to  Rousseau's  own  Romanticism,  but 
make  him  the  father  of  the  subsequent  Romantic  movement.^ 
His  eloquent  prose  is  refashioned  in  the  lyrics  of  Lamartine 
and  of  Musset.  Thus  he  exerts  an  expansive  influence  in  several 
fields,  and  with  all  his  faults  he  appeals  to  something  abiding 
in  human  nature. 

Bernardin  de  Saint-Pierre  (1737-1814),  the  immediate  disciple 
of  Rbusseau,  resembled  him  in  leading  an  eccentric,  vagrant  and 
Bernardin  dreamy  life.  He  was  subject  to  melancholy,  mad 
Pierre"*'  ^^  times,  but  successful  in  both  worldl^jj^  literary 
ways,  towards  the  end  of  his  career.  He  first  mei^iWusseau  in 
1772,  and  yielded  at  once  to  the  spell  which  led  him  to  produce 
books  and  to  preach  the  worship  of  Nature.  Bernardin's 
Etudes  de  la  Nature  (1784)  is  characteristic  of  the  author  in  its 
mingled  exoticism  and  pseudo-science.  Nature  is  viewed  as 
the  source  of  all  good,  of  all  utility  and  beauty;  she  should  be 
observed  less  by  savants  than  by  sentimental  believers.  In  the 
latter  role,  Saint-Pierre  undertook  to  show  that  the  whole  aim  of 
creation  was  the  happiness  of  man,  and  he  makes  an  excessive 
use  of  the  doctrine  of  final  causes.  (For  instance,  cantaloupes 
are  divided  by  kindly  nature  into  sections  for  family  eating.) 
Better  than  his  logic  is  Bernardin's  analysis  of  sentiment.  He  also 
forestalls  Romantic  melancholy  in  his  fusion  of  man  and  nature ; 
when  it  rains  the  landscape  seems  to  him  "  une  belle  femme  qui 
pleure."  The  ardor  of  his  feeling  imparts  a  commimicative  fire 
to  his  descriptions,  which  are  full  of  color  and  movement,  and 
he  has  a  keen  sense  of  the  picturesque.  The  specific  element 
which  he  adds  to  Rousseau  is  exoticism.  He  describes  not  only 
Europe  but  also  tropical  scenes,  and  this  knowledge  and  feeling 
for  exotic  nature  is  continued  in  Paul  et  Virginie  (1788).  Here 
the  setting  is  the  Ile-de-France  (Mauritius),  which  the  author 
knew  quite  well.  The  subject  of  the  story  is  the  development  of  a 
young  pair  according  to  natural  education  and  sentiment.    The 

«  See  below,  Bk.  V,  Ch.  II  and  Bk.  VI,  Chs.  II  and  IV. 


PAUL    ET   VIRGINIE  495 

effects  of  landscape,  as  mingled  with  intimate  human  life,  and  the 
growth  of  adolescent  love  are  well  depicted,  less  so  is  the  ship- 
wreck and  tragic  climax.  Paul  et  Virginie  is  a  Rousseauistic 
idyll;  it  is  not  a  great  book,  but  it  still  retains  a  certain  charm 
for  the  sentimentally  minded. 


CHAPTER  II 
MADAME    DE    STAEL.     CONSTANT. 

The  reader  is  doubtless  acquainted  with  the  series  of  dyna- 
mic changes  that  took  place  in  France  from  the  death  of  Louis 
XV  to  the  battle  of  Waterloo.  The  succession  of 
>s  ory  events,    briefly,    is    as    follows:    the    reign   of   the 

well-meaning  but  inadequate  Louis  XVI  (1774-92) ;  the  vain 
endeavor  of  several  excellent  ministers,  notably  Turgot  and 
Necker,  to  stem  the  rising  tide;  and  during  thj|  period  the 
participation  of  France  in  the  American  cause;  th^-%onvocation 
of  the  States-General,  the  formation  of  the  Constituent  Assem- 
bly and  the  fall  of  the  Bastille  (1789) ;  the  defeat  of  the  milder 
Revolutionaries  {les  Girondins)  and  the  Reign  of  Terror  (from 
1793) ;  the  inauguration  of  European  wars  on  a  large  scale; 
the  National  Convention  superseded  by  the  Directory  (1795- 
99) ;  Napoleon  Bonaparte  as  First  Consul  (to  1804)  and  as 
Emperor  (to  1815) ;  his  victories,  his  domination  of  Europe,  the 
efforts  of  the  Allies  and  the  final  abdication  of  Napoleon. 

The  effect  of  the  Revolution  on  pure  literature  could  hardly 
be  immediately  beneficial.  As  in  the  Great  War,  people's 
j^.  thoughts  were  running  in  other  channels,  and  pas- 

and  the  sions  were  too  inflamed  to  allow  the  necessary  de-. 
Revolution  tachment.  The  Revolution  practically  destroyed 
the  old  society,  together  with  the  tradition  of  the  salons  and 
the  predominant  influence  of  women  —  except  that  of  Mme  de 
Stael.  Modern  journalism  took  strong  root  in  this  epoch;  at 
one  time  several  hundred  periodicals  were  in  circulation,  and 
Napoleon  found  it  expedient  to  reduce  this  number  materially. 
Usually  journalism,  in  its  virulence  and  prejudice,  is  the  t3rpical 
expression  of  Revolutionary  literature.  Better  than  the  other 
periodicals  were  the  Decade  philosophique,  the  organ  of  the 
"  ideologues,"  and  the  liberal  Journal  des  Debats.  Camille 
Desmoulins  is  probably  the  most  noted  journalist  of  the  age; 

496 


MME    DE    STAEL  497 

his  letters  written  from  prison  show  a  fevered  sensitive  soul, 
which  the  Revolution  pushed  almost  to  the  verge  of  madness. 
The  great  orator  of  the  time  was  the  Marquis  de  Mirabeau,  a 
man  of  strong  passions  and  intellect;  this  double  strength  still 
vibrates  in  his  speeches,  whose  eloquence  now  seems  old- 
fashioned  in  some  particulars  but  was  based  upon  fact  and 
logic  as  well  as  emotional  appeal.  The  condition  of  the  theater 
and  of  poetry  under  the  Revolution  has  already  been  stated.^ 
In  short,  no  great  books  were  produced  \mtil  Napoleon  had  re- 
stored order.  At  the  very  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century 
two  great  writers  come  to  the  fore:  Mme  de  Stael  and  Chateau- 
briand. 

Germaine  Necker  de  Stael  (1766-1817)  was  of  Swiss  parentage 
but  French  upbringing.  The  ministry  of  her  father,  the  finan- 
cier Ne^fker,  was  virtually  the  last  hope  of  the  old 

^^  *  ®  regime.  Her  mother  founded  the  brilliant  "  salon 
Necker."  Germaine's  happy  home,  its  social  spirit  and  the 
influence  of  her  father  counted  for  much  in  her  life  and  ideals. 
She  was  a  precocious  child,  listening  eagerly  to  such  talkers  as 
Marmontel  and  Buffon.  Her  ardent  sensibility  appears  in  her 
early  writings  on  Rousseau.  She  was  led  into  a  foolish  manage 
de  raison  with  the  Baron  de  Stael-Holstein,  the  Swedish  ambas- 
sador, who  gave  her  an  eminent  position,  but  who  seemed  un- 
congenial and  unlovable.  She  immediately  started  a  salon  of 
her  own  and  became  a  young  queen  among  the  most  intelligent 
groups  of  the  dying  monarchy.  Her  influence  was  not  political, 
and  the  Revolution  soon  submerged  her  power.  She  joined  the 
party  of  victims  and  emigres,  whom  she  generously  helped.  In 
1792,  she  began  her  series  of  flights  to  Coppet,  an  estate  near 
Geneva,  and  after  that  date  she  appeared  only  intermittently 
at  Paris.  The  crisis  of  her  life  was  her  affair  with  Benjamin 
Constant,  who  owed  much  of  his  success  to  Mme  de  Stael,  but 
who  finally  wearied  of  her.  In  1795  she  was  allowed  to  return 
to  France,  where  she  consorted  with  the  liberals  and  the  Republi- 
cans. But  she  was  soon  accused  of  political  intriguing  and  was 
persecuted  by  several  French  governments.  In  1802,  however, 
she  reached  the  height  of  her  power  in  Paris,  conducting  a 
famous  salon,  frequented  by  Mme  Recamier,  Constant,  Fauriel 

1  8ee  above,  Bk.  Ill,  Chs.  I  and  IV. 


498  MADAME    DE    STAEL 

and  others.  Her  early  hopes  of  Napoleon  had  ended  in  dis- 
appointment, and  he  becanae  her  enemy.  The  lady,  as  usual, 
was  too  free-spoken.  Police  decrees  closed  her  salon  and  practi- 
cally banished  Mme  de  Stael.  She  traveled  in  Germany  and 
Italy,  but  made  her  headquarters  at  Coppet,  holding  a  court 
which  rivaled  that  of  Voltaire  a  generation  before.  The  death 
of  her  husband  did  not  lead  to  a  marriage  with  Constant. 
Sorrow  and  bereavement  deepened  her  mind,  while  her  foreign 
experiences  bore  fruit  in  her  masterpieces.  As  a  middle-aged 
woman  she  married  a  young  man  named  De  Rocca,  who  seems 
to  have  really  cared  for  her.  She  traveled  in  Russia  and  visited 
England  for  the  second  time.  Soon  after  the  triimiph  of  the 
Allies,  which  did  not  realize  her  political  ideals,  she  died,  ex- 
hausted by  her  stormy  career. 

It  was  a  pathetic  great  life,  largely  because  Mme  de  Stael's 
enthusiasm  and  exceptional  talents  were  frustrated  by  circum- 
stances and  therefore  she  never  attained  happiness. 

arac  er  Impatient,  frank  and  not  very  tactful,  she  dismayed 
men  as  different  as  Schiller,  Scott,  Byron,  Napoleon  and  Jou- 
bert.  Wherever  she  went,  says  Sainte-Beuve,  she  was  "  destmee 
a  porter  du  mouvement  et  de  I'imprevu."  She  had  an  eager 
need  for  fresh  knowledge  and  fresh  contacts,  an  almost  universal 
intelligence  and  much  capacity  for  affection.  She  loved  her 
father  and  adored  his  memory,  which  is  enshrined  in  Corinne. 
She  was  an  excellent  mother;  and  she  said  truly  that  friendship 
was  the  "  religion  of  her  life."  When  disappointed  in  the  love  of 
men  —  Narbonne,  Talleyrand,  Constant  —  she  turned  to  the  love 
of  mankind.  She  had  a  good  heart,  benevolent  and  gen- 
erous. Enthusiasm  and  sensibility  were  the  salient  traits  of 
her  youth;  later  she  believed  in  a  sterner  stoicism  and  finally 
in  the  necessity  of  Christian  duty  and  morality.  She  represehted 
in  her  experience  and  work  all  the  phases  of  France,  from  the 
epoch  of  the  later  philosophes,  through  the  Revolution,  down  to 
the  Empire  and  the  Restoration. 

Mme  de  Stael  had  a  virile  and  energetic  mind,  but  her  heart 
was  quite  feminine,  while  her  sociability  was  a  marked  char- 
acteristic. "  La  vie  "  is  her  favorite  word,  and  she 
^"^  tends  to  see  life  in  terms  of  "  society."  Conse- 
quently she  writes  with  clearness,  swiftness  and  an  appeal  to 


HER    MINOR   WORKS  499 

general  cultured  interest.  Again,  she  was  the  most  charming 
and  absorbing  talker  of  her  time.  Her  written  thought  would 
often  spring  from  her  conversation  and  is  clothed  in  conversa- 
tional form.  Even  in  Corinne,  the  most  artistic  of  her  works, 
much  is  made  of  formal  dialogue  and  of  society.  Thus  her  style 
shows  a  certain  improvisation,  a  tendency  to  run  on  carelessly, 
but  it  has  the  qualities  of  impetuosity  and  naturalness.  She 
is  not  a  professional  writer ;  books  are  simply  the  overflow  from 
her  very  full  life;  literature  with  her  is  a  way  of  keeping  in 
touch  with  the  world  — "  c'est  de  la  conversation  indirecte." 

Her  early  works  show  particularly  the  reveries,  passions  and 
ideals  of  her  youth.    The  Lettres  sur  les  ecrits  et  le  caractere 
de  Jean-Jacques  Rousseau  (1788)  are  a  tribute  to 
'  the  writer  who  attracted  her  most.    The  book,  De 

I'lnjluence  des  passions  (1796),  constitutes  at  once  an  indict- 
ment and  a  eulogy  of  such  "  dark  influences  "  as  love  and  ambi- 
tion. The  steadier  lights  of  morality  and  usefulness  are  recom- 
mended, but  Mme  de  Stael  is  not  yet  purged  of  the  spirit  of 
Romanticism;  while  declaring  that  one  should  flee  from  the 
passions,  she  still  perceives  their  fascination  and  their  absorbing 
power  upon  life.  The  Reflexions  sur  la  paix  (1794)  show  a 
singularly  moderate  tone  and  a  political  sagacity  in  the  midst 
of  turmoil.  Sympathizing  with  the  republican  idea,  she  is  yet 
opposed  to  fanaticism  and  wishes  an  even-handed  justice. 
Finally,  her  Essai  sur  les  fictions  may  be  viewed  as  the  stepping- 
stone  to  her  greater  productions  both  in  fiction  and  criticism. 
She  holds  that  the  novel  as  a  genre  should  be  more  esteemed 
and  better  done;  it  will  be  the  form  of  the  future,  especially 
when  it  displays  all  sides  of  life  and  not  merely  the  sentiment 
of  love.  She  prefers  truly  psychological  fiction,  which  turns 
into  drama  the  changes  and  subtleties  of  the  hiunan  heart;  and 
she  still  believes  in  the  consoling  effect  of  romances,  in  their 
power  to  remove  us  to  an  ideal  world.  She  said  that  the  carry- 
ing off  of  Clarissa  Harlowe  seemed  an  "  event "  in  her  own 
youth,  and  on  her  death-bed  she  was  found  reading  Walter  Scott. 
Mme  de  Stael's  novels  renovate  the  form  of  fiction  and  closely 
reflect  her  personality.  "  Corinne  est  I'ideal  de 
DelpMne"  j^^^^  ^^  Sta61;  Delphine  est  la  realite  pendant  sa 
jeunesse "   (Sainte-Beuve) .    In  other  words,  the  former  novel 


500  MADAME    DE    STAEL 

shows  more  of  the  writer's  intelligence  and  the  latter  more 
of  her  sensibility.  Both  partake  of  the  nature  of  "  confessions." 
Both  dwell  on  the  idea  that  a  superior  woman  is  destined  to 
misfortime,  if  she  opposes  the  fixed  views  of  man;  but  while 
Corinne  has  the  superiority  of  talent,  the  heroine  of  Delphine 
(1802)  surpasses  through  her  character  and  heart.  The  latter 
story  is  a  story  of  self-sacrifice  in  favor  of  a  poor  sort  of  lover, 
a  copy  of  the  one  who  made  Mile  de  Lespinasse  so  unhappy. 
Delphine  has  something  of  the  passionate  style  of  Mile  de  Les- 
pinasse, though  it  is  more  directly  modeled  on  Rousseau.  The 
form  is  that  of  the  epistolary  novel,  and  the  book  suffers  from 
the  artifices  demanded  by  this  method  of  narration.  It  is  also 
a  "  lyrical  novel,"  like  the  Nouvelle  Heloise,  giving  the  greatest 
place  to  love,  its  transports  and  problems.  It  is  modem  in  that 
it  poj.es  the  question  of  a  woman^  right  to  struggle  for  her  place 
in  the  sun  and  to  keep  her  individual  conscience.  It  states  the 
ideal  which  permeates  much  of  Mme  de  Stael's  work  — "  the 
desire  for  happiness  in  marriage."  The  style  is  sometimes  in- 
correct and  hasty,  whereas  the  plot  is  improbable  and  roman- 
esque.  But  Delphine  remains  a  stimulating  and  distiirbing 
book,  on  account  of  its  individualism,  its  subtlety  and  its  fine 
conception  of  feminine  character. 

Corirme   (1807)  is  a  greater  novel  and  the  writer's  master- 
piece from  an  artistic  standpoint.    Here  there  is  a  closer  sense 

of   style   and   a   better   sustained   eloquence.    The 
"  Corinne  "  ^ 

novel  not  only  revealed  the  beauties  of  Italy  to 

France,  but  it  showed  the  authoress  at  the  apogee  of  her  powers. 
For  Europe  henceforth  she  was  known  as  the  writer  of  Corinne, 
taken  as  the  symbol  of  the  independence  of  genius.  The  heroine, 
like  her  creator,  is  a  talented  improviser,  who  converses  to  a 
select  circle  on  literature,  love  and  death.  She  also  resembles 
Mme  de  Stael  in  feeling  the  rivalry  between  fame  and  love,  in 
experiencing  much  hostile  criticism,  and  above  all  in  her  need 
for  an  understanding  husband.  She  has  apparently  foimd  him 
in  Lord  Nelvil,  a  rather  stiff  Englishman,  but  there  are  family 
vetoes  against  their  union,  and  Corinne  finally  yields  her  sweet- 
heart to  a  "  truly  English  "  maiden.  Much  of  the  action  is 
laid  amid  Italian  scenes  and  there  are  long  digressions  con- 
cerning Italian  art,  literature  and  manners,  which  remind  one 


HER    LITERARY    CRITICISM  501 

rather  too  much  of  a  guide-book.  This  feature,  together  with 
certain  improbabilities  and  conventions  in  the  plot,  lends  the 
story  an  old-fashioned  air.  But  the  intermingling  of  sight- 
seeing with  heart-affairs  is  well  done,  and  in  sentiment  and 
thought,  Corinne  is  absolutely  a  first-class  novel.  It  has 
spiritual  miity  and  it  is  a  cultiu-al  landmark.  Its  penetration, 
its  melancholy,  the  sweet  frank  charm  of  the  heroine,  her 
nobility  of  character,  and  a  deeply  moving  note  which  comes 
from  personal  experience  are  still  most  effective  and  give  the 
story  its  high  place  in  the  finer  literature  of  love.  And,  as 
Brunetiere  observes,  the  psychological  excellence  of  Mme  de 
Stael  is  only  equaled  by  her  historical  importance.  That  is, 
Delphine  and  Corinne  are  the  first  modern  novels  to  give  an 
inside  view  of  French  society  at  a  crucial  epoch.  Mme  de 
Stael,  then,  succeeded  in  her  effort  to  raise  fiction  to  a  higher 
dignity  of  intrinsic  worth  and  of  general  consideration.  Her 
wide  powers  of  sympathy  and  her  thorough  feminism  make  her 
the  ancestress  of  George  Sand  and  the  individualistic  school. 
But  it  is  notable  that  Mme  de  Stael  does  not  allow  passion  to 
triumph  and  that  she  maintains  the  usual  moral  standards. 

In  literary  criticism,  her  work  emphasizes  a  new  point  of  de- 
parture. She  is  the  first  wholly  to  break  away  from  the  abso- 
"De  la  luteness  of  Classical  standards ^.  and  to  emphasize 

Litterature"  that  cosmopolitan  spirit  which  recognizes  the 
relativity  of  taste  and  freely  admires  the  beauties  of  foreign 
countries.  Also  she  changes  the  direction  of  criticism  from  the 
study  of  detail  (rhetorics,  treatises  on  taste,  commentaries)  to 
the  study  of  literature  in  its  relation  to  other  social  currents  — 
the  modern  idea  of  "  Kulturgeschichte."  In  the  introduction  to 
De  la  Litterature  (1801),  she  says  : 

Je  me  suis  propose  d'examiner  quelle  est  rinfluence_  de^  la 
religion,  des  moeurs  et  des  lois  sur  la  litterature,  et  quelle  est 
rinfluence  de  la  litterature  sur  la  religion,  les  moeurs  et  les  lois.  .  .  . 
On  n'a  pas  suffisamment  analyse  les  causes  morales  et  politiques 
qui  modifient  I'esprit  de  la  Utterature. 

These  rapports  and  others,  such  as  historibal  circumstances,  the 
structure  of  society  and  especially  the  genius  of  each  race,  she 
connects  with  her  special  subject,  quite  in  the  manner  of  Montes- 

'  See  above,  pp.  346-47;   Voltaire  had  not  dared  to  go  so  far. 


502  MADAME    DE    STAEL 

quieu,  and  she  uses  many  of  the  divisions  that  appear  in  the 
Esprit  des  lois.  De  la  Litterature  is,  in  fact,  an  eighteenth- 
century  book  in  that  it  revives  the  question  of  progress,  aims 
at  human  perfectibility  and  sets  liberal  philosophy  above  all 
else.  Its  argument  along  these  lines  is  hampered  by  the  old 
confusion  between  an  advance  in  the  arts  and  in  the  other 
fields  of  human  endeavor.  Mme  de  Stael  admits,  indeed,  this 
"principe  des  beaux  arts:  I'imagination  ne  permet  pas  la  per- 
fectibilite  indefinie."  But  in  practice  she  is  so  ardent  in  up- 
holding the  cause  of  intellectual  progress  that  she  diminishes 
the  role  of  creative  genius  and  sets  the  thought  of  the 
eighteenth  century  above  the  more  artistic  literature  of  the 
seventeenth.  Thus  she  is  a  "  Modern."  As  regards  other  coun- 
tries, she  is  disposed  to  set  Rome  above  Greece,  since  the  former 
civilization  came  later  in  time;  and  she  was  not  yet  well 
acquainted  with  Italy  and  Germany.  In  these  connections,  the 
reader  must  allow  for  misconceptions  and  inacciiracies.  But 
Mme  de  Stael  becomes  a  critical  prophet  in  maldng  her  great 
and  lasting  distinction  between  the  "  Literatures  of  the  North  " 
and  those  of  the  South:  Great  Britain  and  Germany  as  opposed 
to  the  Mediterranean  countries,  or  the  Teutonic  versus  the 
Classical  and  Romance  languages.  The  qualities  of  the 
North  are  courage,  a  melancholy  imagination,  metaphysical 
brooding  and  mysticism.  These  qualities  are  well  displayed  in 
Ossian,  who  is  erroneously  called  the  "  Homer  of  the  North." 
More  plausibly,  poetic  genius  is  associated  with  the  misty 
English  skies  and  comes  to  an  admirable  culmination  in  Shake- 
speare and  Milton.  For  the  Northern  imagination  loves  the 
sea,  the  wind  and  wild  heather,  and  thoughts  of  the  other  world 
are  blown  across  these  cloudy  horizons.  Thus  Montesquieu's 
theory  of  climate  is  renovated.  Mme  de  Stael 's  liberal  spirit 
also  attempts  to  reconcile  the  newly  born  political  ideals  with  the 
progress  of  literature.  Intellectual  progress  must  be  "conse- 
crated by  liberty,  guaranteed  by  democratic  institutions  and 
manners,  and  reinvigorated  by  cosmopolitanism."  But  litera- 
ture, together  with  other  things,  is  an  "  expression  of  society," 
aristocratically  viewed.  This  book  was  the  first  of  the  writer's 
works  to  create  a  commotion.  It  was  severely  judged  by  the 
semi-oflBcial  and  doginatic  critics  of  the  Empire.    It  also  in- 


ON    GERMANY  508 

stituted  the  rivalry  between  Mme  de  Stael  and  Chateau- 
briand, who  aptly  said:  "Vous  n'ignorez  pas  que  ma  folie  a 
moi  est  de  voir  Jesus-Christ  partout,  comme  Mme  de  Stael  la 
perfectibilite." 

The  bold  distinctions  between  North  and  South  are  reinforced 
in  De  I'Allemagne,  which  was  suppressed  by  Napoleon's  orders 
"De  I'Alle-  ^^  ^^^^  ^°^  finally  published  in  1813.  This  is  cer- 
magne  "  tainly  the  masterpiece  of  Mme  de  Stael  as  a  thinker. 
It  is  the  book  which  first  disclosed  Germany  to  France  and 
which  gave  a  worthy  image  of  the  outburst  of  genius  associated 
with  the  age  of  Goethe.  Apart  from  any  theories,  the  basic 
qualities  of  the  work  are  the  unusual  breadth,  penetration  and 
sympathy,  which  still  make  De  I'Allemagne  such  satisfactory 
critical  reading.  It  consists  of  four  parts:  (1)  a  general  view  of 
Germany;  (2)  its  literature;  (3)  its  philosophy;  (4)  a  treatise 
on  religion  and  "  I'enthousiasme."  Of  these,  the  second  part 
is  of  chief  importance  for  us,  since  the  writer's  knowledge  of  the 
country  itself  was  not  very  wide.  Outside  of  court  and  literary 
circles,  she  had  seen  little  of  general  manners  or  of  middle-class 
life,  which  she  idealizes. 

She  begins  her  critical  treatment  by  regretting  that  the 
French  will  not  do  justice  to  German  literature,  because  of 
linguistic  barriers  and  inherent  national  prejudices.  Among 
these  are  the  French  faith  in  rules,  the  power  of  tradition,  of 
public  opinion,  and  especially  the  social  standpoint  which 
French  writers  too  constantly  bear  in  mind.  Here  and  elsewhere, 
she  holds  —  rather  against  the  grain,  one  supposes  —  that 
solitary  thought  and  feeling  constitute  the  strongest  basis  for 
literary  creation.  The  Germans  now  are  independent  and  indi- 
vidual in  their  books,  as  they  long  were  in  their  political  units. 
It  is  true  that  they  often  tend  to  obscurity,  "  se  plaisent  dans  les 
tenfebres,"  and  their  prose  is  negligent  as  compared  with  the 
cult  of  style  in  France.  In  the  drama,  all  that  concerns  plot 
and  action  is  better  handled  by  the  French ;  but  a  German  play 
will  go  deeper'  in  psychology,  in  heart-interest  and  in  the  study  of 
strong  passions.  From  this  point  on  the  writer  pleads  for  inter- 
national tolerance  in  letters  and  for  the  benefits  which  the  French 
particularly  would  derive  from  admitting  the  best  of  German 
ideas  and  emotions. 


604)  MADAME    DE    STAEL 

All  this  illustrates  the  candor  and  personality  which  made 
the  charm  of  Mme  de  Stael  and  which  she  most  admired  in  the 
Germans.  She  revolted  against  the  Classical  rules  and  models, 
she  preferred  subjectivity,  sentiment,  imagination  and  revery. 
Therefore  she  is  plainly  for  the  North  against  the  South  (includ- 
ing in  the  latter  division  the  Classic  age  of  France).  She  now 
definitely  connects  the  North  with  the  word  "  Romanticism."  In 
Germany,  she  says,  the  term  "  Romantic  "  has  recently  been  in- 
troduced and  applies  to  the  kind  of  poetry  that  mingles  chivalry 
and  Christianity.  The  English  have  surpassed  in  this  kind. 
The  South  is  more  clear-sighted  and  pagan;  so  classic  poetry  is 
that  of  the  ancients  and  their  imitators.  Either  kind  is  ad- 
missible, for  a  natural  and  national  diversity  of  tastes  springs 
"  des  sources  primitives  de  I'imagination  et  de  la  pensee."  But 
on  the  whole  she  contends  for  the  inspiration  of  indigenous 
Romanticism  rather  than  the  imitation  of  transplanted 
Classicism.  She  chiefly  admires  Goethe,  Schiller  and  Lessing. 
She  is  not  thorough  on  philosophy,  which  she  knew  mostly 
through  Schlegel,  but  she  sees  the  importance  of  Kantian 
idealism  —  "the  starry  heavens  above  and  the  sense  of  duty 
within."  She  stresses  morality  in  the  third  as  well  as  in  the 
fourth  part  of  the  book,  where  "  enthusiasm  "  now  takes  on  a 
deeper  and  sterner  note.  Genius  for  her  should  finally  serve  to 
manifest  "  la  bonte  supreme  de  I'ame."  As  a  critic,  her  contact 
with  art  is  not  immediate  and  spontaneous,  but  rather  intellec- 
tualized  and  ethical. 

By  selection  and  idealizing,  Mme  de  Stael  gave  a  rather 
rose-colored  picture  of  Germany,  as  Heine  showed  in  his 
Deutschland.  But  her  impulse  toward  Teutonic  studies  was 
felt  by  such  men  as  Cousin  in  France,  by  Ticknor 
and  Prescott  in  America.  It  was  largely  through 
her  initiative  that  the  movement  towards  German  universities 
began.  More  widely,  the  critical  and  cosmopolitan  spirit  of 
Mme  de  Stael,  together  with  her  fine  Romanticism  of  feeling, 
counted  upon  diverse  groups.  In  poetry,  her  theory  of  enthusi- 
asm influenced  especially  Lamartine.  In  criticism,  the  cosmo- 
politan tone  of  the  Ohhe,  Hugo's  Preface  de  Cromwell  and 
the  exotic  gleanings  of  Nodier  owe  a  good  deal  to  her  guidance.* 

•  For  these  and  other  names,  see  next  Book. 


CONSTANT  505 

In  politics  and  history,  the  liberal  doctrinaires  were  cer- 
tainly affected  by  the  latest  and  most  mature  of  her  books, 
the  Considerations  sur  la  Revolution  frangaise  (published  post- 
humously, 1818).  The  "trio  of  the  Sorbonne  "  —  Villemain, 
Guizot,  Cousin  —  are  her  disciples.  The  first-named  more  com- 
pletely makes  literature  the  expression  of  society  and  also  stud- 
ies international  literary  influences.  Guizot  figures  among  the 
group  of  translators  and  propagandists,  who  mainly  through 
Mme  de  Stael's  impulsion,  promote  the  vogue  of  Shakespeare 
and  of  Schiller.  In  general,  as  Sainte-Beuve  says,  she  helped 
restore  the  sense  of  the  infinite,  which  is  the  spirit  of  the  North. 
A  ripe  mind,  a  deep  heart  and  a  keen  enthusiasm  are  the  per- 
sonal qualities  which  she  impresses  upon  her  work.  She  en- 
larged the  borders  bf  her  country,  she  helped  to  Europeanize 
modern  thought. 

By  the  side  of  Mme  de  Stael,  her  lover  cuts  rather  a  poor 
figure.    A  native  of  Lausanne,  Constant  was  early  naturalized 

„  .  .  as  a  French  citizen  and  played  a  considerable  politi- 
Benjamin  .  .  . 

Constant,        cal  role.    His  character  forms  a  singular  mixture  of 

1767-1830  intellectual  strength  and  moral  weakness.  He  was 
a  liberal  skeptic,  an  acute  logical  thinker  and  a  psychological 
analyst  of  the  first  order.  But  "  Constant  I'inconstant "  had 
a  feeble  will,  an  excitable,  over-active  temperament,  an 
arid  egotistical  nature.  He  was  a  .perpetual  diner-out, 
talker,  duellist,  Don  Juan  and  sensation-seeker.  On  account 
of  his  two-fold  nature,  he  has  been  called  "  un  homme  qui  re- 
gardait  un  enfant,"  and  like  Chauteaubriand's  Rene  and  Lord 
Byron,  he  was  one  of  the  great  biases  of  the  Romantic  period. 
His  character  appears  nakedly  in  Adolphe  (1816),  as  a  mix- 
ture of  egotism,  passion  and  irony.  Adolphe  falls  out  of  love 
with  his  mistress  and  makes  her  suffer  cruelly;  he 
"  ^^"'P''®  "  too  suffers  because  of  his  very  impotence  in  feeling. 
The  successive  steps  in  this  affair  are  treated  with  rare  pro- 
fundity and  give  the  impression  of  close  living  truth.  Indeed, 
the  chief  scenes  and  sentiments  were  actually  lived,  since  the 
heroine,  Ellenore,  is  a  compound  of  Constant's  two  loves,  Mme 
de  Charrifere  and  Mme  de  Stael.  The  gentle  devotion  of  the  one 
and  the  impetuous  and  exigent  temper  of  the  other  do  not  make 
a  unified  character.    Otherwise,  Constant  shows  much  insight  in 


506  MADAME    DE    STAEL 

portraying  human  weaknesses.  The  decadence  of  love;  the  in- 
tervention of  amour-propre,  that  great  stumbling-block  of 
French  lovers;  the  effect  of  EUenore's  mature  age  and  of  her 
too  clinging  disposition;  the  self-torture  of  Adolphe  and  his 
subjection  to  public  opinion;  the  painful  and  false  side  of  such 
liaisons:  all  these  phases  are  considered  with  penetration  and 
restraint.  The  style  is  sober,  clearly  fitting  the  thought,  not 
rhetorical.  Constant  did  not  have  a  creative  imagination,  and 
his  characters  are  real  people,  somewhat  changed.  But  he  had 
the  two  gifts  of  clairvoyance  and  of  precision.  Consequently 
Adolphe,  an  intensely  psychological  novel,  is  the  first  of  the 
ultra-modern  variety  and  leads  on  to  Stendhal. 


CHAPTER  III 

CHATEAUBRIAND 

Of  the  three  great  forerunners  of  Romanticism,  Chateau- 
briand exercised  the  most  immediate  and  imposing  influence. 
Chief  Cosmopolitan   and   eloquent   like   Mme   de   Stael, 

Qualities  he  has  a  less  disciplined  brain  and  a  colder  heart. 
Sensitive,  imaginative  and  self-centered  like  Rousseau,  he  is 
more  aristocratic,  less  primitive,  and  absorbed  in  more  exotic 
landscapes.  Where  Rousseau  pleads  for  a  generous  sprinkling 
of  nature,  Chateaubriand  believes  in  total  immersion.  Where 
Mme  de  Stael  is  humanitarian  and  forward-looking,  Chateau- 
briand is  pessimistic  concerning  man,  rejects  every  liberal 
belief  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  stands  for  the  "  Catholic 
and  monarchical  reaction."  Naturally,  then,  he  turns  to  the 
Gothic  and  medieval.  Yearning  for  remoteness,  he  also  chooses 
his  subjects  and  scenes  from  the  farthest  Occident  and  Orient. 
He  thus  leads  the  Romantic  movement  in  these  important 
novelties:  medievalism;  the  revival  of  aesthetic  Christianity;  the 
impassioned  description  of  exotic  nature;  and  the  enthronement 
of  the  melancholy  ego  therein. 

Frangois-Rene  de  Chateaubriand  (1768-1848)  was  born  at 
Saint-Malo  in  Brittany,  within  sound  of  the  sea  which  always 
stirred  his  imagination  and  feeling.  He  came  of  an 
"^  '  *  ancient  and  illustrious  family.  His  father  was 
a  stern  despot,  and  his  mother  stood  somewhat  apart  from  her 
children;  Rene's  affection  was  rather  for  his  sister,  Lucile,  who 
had  a  temperament  much  like  his  own.  These  two,  in  the  lonely 
Chateau  de  Combourg,  led  a  strange  and  melancholy  youth, 
hushed  in  the  presence  of  their  gloomy  father,  listening  to  tales 
of  ghosts  and  to  the  wind  which  moaned  around  the  lonely  turret. 
For  Rene,  it  was  a  life  of  hard  exercise,  followed  at  night  by 
much  solitude  and  haunted  meditation.  No  wonder  that  he  dates 
from  this  epoch  his  lifelong  sadness  and  his  vast  creative  in- 

607 


508  CHATEAUBRIAND 

stinct.  "  Mon  imagination  allumee,  se  propageant  sur  tons  lea 
objets,  ne  trouvait  nulle  part  assez  de  nourriture  et  aurait  devore 
la  terre  et  le  ciel."  He  was  sent  away  to  school  and  became  a 
good  student  in  late  adolescence.  After  considering  several 
careers,  he  was  suddenly  put  into  the  army  by  his  father,  pre- 
sented at  court  and  to  certain  lights  of  the  old  regime;  Males- 
herbes,  the  former  minister,  advised  the  journey  to  America 
which  Chateaubriand  imdertook  in  1791.  He  traveled  from  the 
seaboard  cities  to  Niagara  and  probably  to  the  Ohio,  but  he  never 
saw  the  primeval  southern  forests  which  made  his  works  so 
famous.  Returning  to  France,  he  was  drawn  into  a  conventional 
marriage,  then  emigrated  and  played  his  part  courageously  as 
a  soldier  of  the  royal  camp.  Wounded  and  ill,  disillusioned  and 
desperate,  he  sought  refuge  in  England,  where  h«  lived  for  eight 
years.  At  London,  he  was  at  first  poverty-stricken  and  on  the 
verge  of  suicide.  Becoming  acquainted  with  English  coimtry 
life,  he  had  an  idyllic  affair  with  the  daughter  of  a  pastor.  Fi- 
nally he  met  Fontanes,  a  sympathetic  critic  and  counselor,  who 
with  Joubert  later,  was  largely  instrumental  in  advancing  Cha- 
teaubriand's literary  career.  He  returned  to  Paris,  and  the  pub- 
lication of  Atala  (1801)  was  followed  by  the  Genie  du  Chris- 
tianisme  in  the  next  year.  This  was  at  the  time  when  Napoleon's 
"  Concordat "  aimed  at  reconciling  France  and  the  Catholic 
Church,  a  circumstance  which  assured  to  Chateaubriand  and  his 
Genie  a  brilliant  success.  From  now  on  he  is  the  lion  of  the 
salons,  be  lives  but  little  with  his  wife,  and  he  becomes  distin- 
guished as  statesman,  ambassador,  and  the  foremost  literary 
figure  of  his  age. 

It  was  the  perpetual  desire  for  fresh  conquests  that  led  Cha- 
teaubriand into  politics.  For  a  time  he  had  the  favor  of  Napo- 
Political  ^^°°>  ^^^  ^°°°  broke  with  him  and  became  a  stanch 
Career  legitimist.    He  was  the  chief  promoter  of  the  Chris- 

tian and  monarchical  tendency  which  centered  around  the  Res- 
toration of  1815  and  affected  the  earlier  Romanticists,  for  ex- 
ample, Lamartine.  Having  made  a  splendid  trip  to  the  Orient, 
having  won  the  devotion  of  duchesses  and  the  ear  of  the  public, 
it  seems  that  at  last  Chateaubriand  might  have  been  happy. 
But  his  haughty  spirit  soon  found  defects  in  the  new  monarchy. 
Under  whatever  dynasty,  it  was  Chateaubriand's  nature  to  be 


HIS    CHARACTER  509 

always  in  the  opposition.  Yet  he  was  made  ambassador,  for 
short  intervals,  to  Rome,  to  Berlin  and  to  London;  in  England 
he  lived  in  sumptuous  contrast  to  his  former  poverty.  As 
minister  of  foreign  affairs,  he  threw  his  country  into  a  brief  war 
with  Spain  (1823).  On  the  advent  of  the  bourgeois  monarchy 
of  Louis-Philippe  (1830),  Chateaubriand  withdrew  from  political 
life  and  henceforth  reigned  in  the  salon  of  Mme  Recamier.  Here 
he  was  viewed  as  a  social  and  literary  oracle,  dominating  and 
often  disdaining  the  younger  generation  of  writers.  He  pre- 
pared his  final  attitude  by  writing  his  Memoires  d'outre-tombe 
and  by  arranging  for  his  burial  in  a  little  island  near  Saint- 
Malo,  where  his  lonely  tomb  still  confronts  the  sea. 

This  agitated  life  contained  features  of  grandeur,  but  was 

darkened  by  Chateaubriand's  constant  melancholy,  egotism  and 

ennui.    "  J'ai  bailie  ma  vie,"  as  he  bitterly  said, 

'*  '  because  his  imperious  imagination  always  outstripped 
rpality.  His  perpetual  longings  for  the  unattainable  brought 
into  Trench  literature  the  so-called  mal  de  Rene.  He  was  too 
intense,  too  self-centered  and  haughty.  His  pride  devoured 
everything,  leading  to  disgust  with  action,  with  affection,  with 
glory  and  finally  with  himself.  But  his  egotism  rides  above  the 
wreck,  not  only  permeating  his  Memoirs,  but  making  him  the 
chief  hero  of  his  other  works.  "  II  n'y  a  que  Chateaubriand  dans 
I'ceuvre  de  Chateaubriand."  With  the  exceptions  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  honor  and  the  Catholic  reli^on,  he  affects  to  consider 
life  an  utter  void  and  he  enjoys  a  perverse  satisfaction  in  the 
spectacle  of  human  ruins  and  illusions.  Thus  it  is  not  sur- 
Iprising  that  Chateaubriand  represents  primarily  the  literature 
of  escape,  and  that  his  splendid  gifts  adorn  the  presentation  of 
far-off  civilizations,  whether  in  the  East  or  in  the  West. 

The  Western  influence,  dating  from  bis  four  months'  stay 
in  America,  appears  in  Atala,  Rene  and  Les  Natchez;  the 
Western  Eastern,  in  which  may  be  included  much  of  Cha- 
inspiration  teaubriand's  treatment  of  Christianity,  is  visible  in 
the  Geme  du  Chnstianisme  and  conspicuous  in  the  Itineraire  de 
Paris  a  Jerusalem  and  the  prose  epic,  Les  Martyrs.  With  the 
partial  exception  of  the  Genie  and  of  his  Memoirs,  all  of  Cha- 
teaubriand's important  works  deal  either  with  the  Orient  or  with 
the  Occident.    In  the  latter  field  he  found  more  novelty  and 


510  CHATEAUBRIAND 

exhibited  more  strength.  He  had  composed,  by  1800,  a  huge 
manuscript  volume,  describing  his  trip  to  America  and  the 
Indian  tribe  of  the  Natchez;  for  during  the  years  of  fighting 
and  exile,  his  visions  of  American  vastness  and  his  embellish- 
ment of  Indian  maidens  had  grown  apace.  He  was  ready  now 
to  extract  from  this  manuscript  such  episodes  as 
Ataa"  Atala  and  Bene.  Atala  (1801)  is  probably  the 
most  perfect  of  his  works  in  its  harmonious  construction,  the 
interest  and  charm  of  its  characters,  the  high  values  of  its 
scenery  and  style.  It  has  a  peculiar  attraction  for  Americans, 
since  it  is  the  first  work  of  French  genius  in  which  the  scene  is 
laid  wholly  in  this  country.  Chateaubriand's  accounts  of  the 
savannahs  and  forests  of  the  old  Louisiana  territory  have  long 
been  famous;  and  the  flora  and  fauna  which  he  exhibits  in  his 
luxuriant  images  and  descriptions  were  according  to  the  recorded 
documentation  of  the  time.  The  same  may  be  said  of  his  general 
use  of  local  color  and  local  customs.  As  regards  character, 
he  adds  the  new  note  of  "  psychological  exoticism  "  (Chinard) , 
or  the  absorbing  depiction  of  modem  struggles  against  a  primi- 
tive background.  But  it  may  be  admitted  that  his  savages  are 
rather  too  "  good  Indians  "  to  be  probable.  The  heroine,  Atala, 
has  been  brought  up  by  a  Christian  mother.  Her  lover,  Chactas, 
later  becomes  half-civilized.  As  a  young  warrior,  he  was  taken 
prisoner  by  a  hostile  tribe  of  which  Atala  was  a  member;  she 
rescues  him  and  flees  with  him  into  the  forest;  but  she  cannot 
marry  him  because  of  a  vow  made  to  her  dying  mother.  The 
conflict  in  her  mind,  the  love-passages  in  the  forest,  crowned  by 
the  death  and  burial  of  Atala,  are  very  impressive  and  recall 
in  places  Manon  Lescaut.  Underlying  the  story  are  deep  cur- 
rents of  emotion  which  break  out  in  extreme  Romantieian:  as 
where  Chactas  expresses  a  desire  to  clasp  his  beloved  and 
soar  with  her  through  the  debris  of  the  world  and  eternity;  and 
elsewhere  the  author  declares:  "  Les  grandes  passions  sent 
solitaires  et  les  transporter  au  desert  c'est  les  rendre  a  leur 
empire."  This  is  Rousseauism,  with  more  emphasis  on  wider 
spaces  and  the  wildest' desires.  "The  style,  as  usual  with  Cha- 
teaubriand, is  majestic  and  melancholy.  The  grave  cadences 
of  his  prose  seem  naturally  allied  with  this  tale  of  "  old  unhappy 
far-off  things,"  with  the  sweep  of  great  expanses  and  eternal 


O 

3 
OS 


o 


O 


THE   MAL    DE    RENE  611 

passions.  The  descriptions  of  nature  are  both  accurate  and 
picturesque,  and  Atala  worthily  opens  the  nineteenth  century  as 
the  first  masterpiece  of  French  eloquence  after  Rousseau. 

Another  tragic  story  of  the  West  was  first  published  as  a  part 
of  the  Oenie  du  Christianisme.  Rene  (1802)  is  but  a  brief 
,  -„  episode,  yet  its  influence  upon  both  the  form  and 
sentiment  of  Romantic  fiction  was  very  great.  The 
hero  is  another  Chateaubriand,  an  ill-fated  young  Frenchman, 
who  can  find  happiness  neither  in  the  civilization  of  Europe  nor 
beyond  the  sea.  He  cannot  live  with  his  devoted  Indian  wife, 
and  he  relates  to  Chactas,  now  grown  old,  the  melancholy  his- 
tory of  his  sentimental  experiences.  These  include  poignant 
memories  of  childhood,  the  affection  of  an  unfortunate  sister, 
travels  and  adventures  in  the  "  stormy  ocean  of  the  world," 
attempts  at  suicide  and  finally  the  plunge  into  the  American 
wilderness.  The  mal  de  Rene  consists  in  the  perpetual  dis- 
appointment which  confronts  insatiable  desires,  whether  con- 
cerning the  sympathy  of  women,  the  consolation  of  Nature,  or 
the  venture  of  life  as  a  whole.  The  mal  is  not  wholly  new, 
but  the  personal  intensity  of  Chateaubriand  gives  it  fresh  poig- 
nancy. "  Mon  cceur  est  naturellementpetri  d'ennui  et  de  misere." 
He  finds  existence  only  a  shifting  abyss  and  he  calls  on  the 
longed-for  storms  to  sweep  him  into  unknown  climes.  By  a 
sort  of  cosmic  fallacy,  the  greater  aspects  of  Nature  are  associ- 
ated with  man's  daimonic  heart,  whose  movements  are  compared 
with  the  rising  and  sinking  of  the  Mississippi's  floods.  The 
following  passage  may  well  illustrate  Chateaubriand's  dangerous 
charm:  '     " 

Je  descendais  dans  la  vallee,  je  m'elevais  sur  la  montagne, 
appelant  de  touts  la  force  de  mes  desirs  I'ideal  objet  d'une  flamme 
future;  je  I'embrassais  dans  les  vents,  je  croyais  I'entendre  dans 
les  gemissements  du  fleuve;  tout  etait  ce  fantome  imaginaire,  et 
les  astres  dans  les  cieux,  et  le  principe  meme  de  vie  dans  runivers. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  author  is  perfectly  aware  of  his 
Romantic  excesses;  Chactas  concludes  with  the  safe  moral: 
"  II  n'y  a  de  bonheur  que  dans  les  voies  communes." 

From  his  manuscript  volume  of  Americana,  Chateaubriand 
drew  later  the  long  epic  narrative  of  Les  Natchez  (1826).    The 


512  CHATEAUBRIAND 

subject  is  the  massacre  of  the  French  colony  of  the  Natchez  in 
1727,  with  which  is  interwoven  the  story  of  the  Indian  adven- 
tures and  loves  of  Rene  and  their  tragic  termination. 

es  a  c  ez  pj^^  ^^^  probability  are  hampered  by  Chateau- 
briand's insistence  on  certain  stock  devices  of  the  epic  form  (cf. 
Les  Martyrs) :  invocations,  apparitions,  enumerations  of  tribes 
and  troops,  and  particularly  the  intervention  of  angels  and  Indian 
gods  in  battles.  Apart  from  this  absurdity,  the  author  again 
follows  fact  as  regards  both  the  central  subject  and  the  use  of 
local  and  historical  color.  The  characters  offer  interesting  cases 
of  exotic  sentiments  and  conflicts.  An  older  and  more  despairing 
Rene,  who  has  been  adopted  by  the  Natchez,  is  observed  in  his 
ebb  and  flow  from  the  savage  to  the  civilized  life,  and  back  again. 
He  is  loved  by  Celuta,  whom  he  weds  through  gratitude,  and 
this  bronzed  heroine  alternates  between  sentiment  and  duty  — 
for  Rene  is  supposed  to  have  betrayed  her  tribe.  The  real  traitor, 
Ondoure,  and  Rene's  blood-brother,  Outougamiz,  are  conventional 
figures  of  the  epic.  More  individual  and  pleasing  is  the  maiden 
Mila,  whose  naive  feeling  for  Rene  is  well  portrayed.  The  story 
ends  in  a  general  catastrophe  of  violence,  suicide  and  murder. 

The  work  which  marks  the  transition  from  the  Western  to 
the  Eastern  influence  is  the  Genie  du  Christianisme  (1802). 
"Le  Genie  du'^''^^^  book  stands  at  the  center  of  Chateaubriand's 
Christianiflme"system,  whether  as  regards  religion  or  art,  forces 
which  he  here  tries  to  amalgamate.  He  defends  the  "  genius  " 
of  Christianity  in  maintaining  that  this  faith  has  been  produc- 
tive of  greater  results,  in  literature  and  the  arts,  than  are  found 
in  the  ancient  pagan  masterpieces.  The  Genie  represents  a  revo- 
lution in  criticism  and  aesthetics;  it  breaks  with  the  tradition  of 
the  Renaissance ;  it  is  rather  hostile  to  the  eighteenth  century ;  it 
prefers  the  medieval  and  the  Gothic,  and  aims  at  reviving  the 
historic  past  of  France;  it  is  Romantic  rather  than  Classical 
or  philosophic  in  spirit;  it  argues  for  the  "beau  ideal"  or  the 
principle  of  an  artistic  choice  in  nature;  and  it  establishes  the 
moi  as  the  main  source  of  inspiration:  "  On  ne  peint  bien  que 
son  propre  cceur  et  la  meilleure  partie  du  genie  se  compose  de 
souvenirs." 

Chateaubriand  believes  that  Christianity  has  developed  the 
soul  of  man  and  made  literature  and  the  arts  expressive  of  a 


ON    CHRISTIANITY  513 

higher  spiritual  truth  than  was  possible  in  the  pagan  "  chaos." 
This  holds  even  for  writers  like  Racine  and  Voltaire,  whose  best 
jjjg  characters  —  Phedre  and  Lusignan  —  are  Christian 

Argument  in  spite  of  themselves.  The  chief  beauties  of  a 
"  bizarre "  product  like  the  Divine  Comedy,  thinks  Chateau- 
briand, also  spring  from  Christianity.  Milton  is  better  appreci- 
ated by  this  critic  than  by  any  French  writer  hitherto.  The 
Bible  itself  is  discussed  and  praised  as  a  literary  monument. 
Yet  Chateaubriand  shows  a  wise  moderation  in  esteeming  the 
truth  and  taste  of  the  best  ancients,  like  Vergil.  Again,  Christi- 
anity is  associated  with  the  idea  of  solitude  in  nature.  The 
nymphs  and  fauns  have  vanished,  "  pour  rendre  aux  grottes  leur 
silence  et  aux  bois  leurs  reveries."  The  divine  immensities  of  the 
deserts  and  of  the  American  forests  are  now  capable  of  a  vaster 
inspiration.  So  modern  descriptive  poetry,  of  which  Chateau- 
briand gives  a  faulty  sketch,  should  be  superior  to  the  ancient. 
Also  the  modem  Christian  epic,  using  its  own  supernatural 
machinery,  is  better  than  the  pagan  variety.  This  support  of 
the  merveilleux  chretien,  challenging  Boileau's  Classical  prin- 
ciples, is  exemplified  by  the  practice  of  Milton  as  well  as  of  Dante, 
and  produced  imfortunate  results  in  Chateaubriand's  own  work. 
With  regard  to  prose  literature,  it  is  not  surprising  that  he  re- 
jects "  la  philosophic,"  in  favor  of  the  more  orthodox  seventeenth 
century.  As  regards  the  fine  arts,  rather  superficially  treated, 
it  is  notable  that  be  dwells  on  the  religious  side  of  Gothic 
architecture,  which  is  linked  with  his  passion  for  the  past.  There 
is  a  pictiu-esque  chapter  on  ruins,  the  "  poetique  des  morts,"  which 
always  attracted  his  interest.  The  Madonnas  of  the  Italians 
and  the  orations  of  Bossuet  are  also  cases  in  point,  and  the 
general  conclusion  is:  "Que  I'incredulite  est  la  principale  cause 
de  la  decadence  du  gout  et  du  genie." 

But  Chateaubriand's  logic  is  not  so  serried  as  it  may  appear 
from  the  above  presentation.  He  is  more  occupied  with  present- 
Defects  and  ^^S  plausible  sentiments  or  series  of  glittering 
Merits  tableaux,  often  done  in  his  handsomest  bravura  style. 

The  Genie  has  been  called  a  religious  museum.  Christian  truth, 
declares  one  critic,  can  do  without  art  and  uses  a  sterner  apolo- 
getic, as  with  Pascal.  Just  as  Mme  de  Stael  had  a  weakness  for 
the  pleasures  of  melancholy,  so  Chateaubriand  indulges  in  the 


614  CHATEAUBRIAND 

pleasures  of  Christianity.  He  inaugurates,  for  France,  the  aes- 
thetic view  of  religion,  which  has  been  so  prominent  since.  But 
his  book  represents  a  strong  and,  at  its  time,  a  necessary  re- 
action. Eighteenth-century  skepticism  had  fallen  into  des- 
iccation and  materialism.  It  was  the  right  moment  for  a  reli- 
gious revival.  Chateaubriand's  influence  was  felt  on  the  Biblical 
poetry  of  the  Romanticists  and  on  certain  writers  of  the  historical 
school.  His  unparalleled  prestige  was  largely  based  on  the 
Genie  du  Christianisme. 

The  prose  epic  of  Les  Martyrs  (1809)  is,  as  regards  its  central 
subject,  a  more  old-fashioned  Qiw  Vadis.  It  deals  with  the 
_,  conversions,  struggles  and  martyrdoms  of  the  early 

Subjects:  Christians  under  Diocletian.  But  this  frame-work 
"Les  Martyr8"ig  extended  through  the  recit  of  Eudore,  the  hero,  to 
cover  travels  and  experiences  in  various  Roman  provinces,  in- 
cluding the  Orient.  The  imity  of  the  story  suffers  through  this 
extension.  Its  illusion,  as  a  work  of  fiction,  is  weakened  by  the 
introduction  of  all  the  epic  machinery  of  the  merveillevx  chretien. 
The  best  part  of  Les  Martyrs  is  found  in  particular  characters 
and  episode^:  the  charm  of  Cynwdocee,  the  heathen  maiden 
whom  Eudore  loves  and  converts;  the  pictm-e  of  Velleda,  the 
stormy  druidess;  and  the  battle-scenes  among  the  Franks,  con- 
taining the  war-cry  of  "  Pharamond,"  which  incited  Thierry  to 
write  his  history  of  the  Merovingians. 

Whatever  his  anachronisms,  Chateaubriand  made  wide  studies 
for  Les  Martyrs,  the  results  of  which  appear  also  in  L'ltine- 
"  L'ltine-  raire  de  Paris  a  Jerusalem  et  de  Jerusalem  a  Paris 
raire"  (1811).    This   work,    like    Corinne,    had   a    great 

success  as  a  sort  of  glorified  guide-book;  it  is  written  with  more 
good-humor  and  is  concerned  more  with  everyday  life  than  any 
other  of  Chateaubriand's  productions.  But  it  is  artistically 
composed  and  well  reveals  his  essential  traits.  The  three  high 
points  in  his  travels  were  Sparta,  Athens  and  Jerusalem,  and 
the  treatment  of  these  places  is  climactic  and  impressive. '  The 
prevailing  mood  is  that  of  saturation  with  the  melancholy  of 
ruins,  the  sadness  of  vanished  glory,  the  mobility  of  human 
things  amid  the  immobility  of  nature.  The  suavity  of  Greece  is 
contrasted  with  the  touching  mystery  of  Calvary,  and  the  reli- 
gious note  is  often  sounded.    The  author  admits  that  he  is 


THE    MEMOIRS  515 

more  interested  in  monuments  than  in  men.  He  went  forth 
in  the  spirit  of  a  crusader  and  he  anticipated  Byron  by  awaken- 
ing an  enthusiasm  for  the  Orient. 

This  large  collection  of  Memoirs  is  Chateaubriand's  last  will 
and  testament.  It  is  a  voice  speaking  "  from  beyond  the  tomb," 
"Memoires  to  tell  the  whole  truth  about  the  author  and  his 
tom]^^'  epoch.    Unsuccessful    when    first    published,    the 

1848-50  Memoires  are  now  recognized  as  one  of  the  fore- 

most documents  of  the  Romantic  era.  They  contain  all  of 
Chateaubriand,  his  beauties  and  defects,  his  power,  egomania 
and  puerilities;  they  recount  the  several  chief  stages  in  his 
career,  parading  what  he  calls  his  "triple  influence,  religieuse, 
politique  et  litteraire  ";  they  deal  closely  with  the  leading  figures 
and  events  of  his  day,  giving  vivid  sketches  of  Revolutionary 
types  like  Mirabeau  and  a  full-length  portrait  of  Napoleon  as 
a  despot.  But  the  most  fascinating  pages  of  the  Memoires  are 
found  in  the  early  volumes  where  Chateaubriand  dwells  upon  his 
formative  years  at  Combourg,  the  dreams  and  yearnings  of  his 
adolescence.    He  thinks  that  a  later  visitor  to  the  sacred  spot  — 

pourra  reconnaitre  le  chateau;  mais  11  chercherajvainement  le 
grand  bois:  le  berceau  de  mes  songes  a  disparu  comme  ces  songes. 
Demeure  seul  debout  sur  son  rocher,  I'antique  donjon  pleure  les 
chenes,  vieux  compagnons  qui  renvironnaient  et  le  protegeaient 
contre  la  tempete.  Isole  comme  lui,  j'ai  vu  corame  lui  tomber 
autour  de  moi  la  famille  qui  embellissait  mes  jours  et  me  pretait 
son  abri:  heureusement  ma  vie  n'est  pas  batie  sur  la  terre  aussi 
solidement  que  les  tours  ou  j'ai  passe  ma  jeunesse,  et  rhomme 
resiste  morns  aux  orages  que  les  monuments  eleves  par  ses  mains. 

There  are  many  such  wistful  passages ;  for  it  is  one  characteristic 
of  the  Memoirs,  composed  from  1811-41,  that  they  weave  back 
and  forth  between  the  emotions  of  youth  and  the  memories  of 
age.  The  highest  virtues  of  style  are  found  in  the  reminiscent 
preludes  to  the  several  Parts  into  which  the  work  is  divided. 
Its  tone,  as  a  whole,  is  unequal ;  vigor  alternates  with  triviality, 
harmony  and  vision  with  bitterness  and  wrath;  but  throughout 
there  is  an  effect  of  reality  and  passion  recalling  Saint-Simon. 
Perhaps  this  is  due  to  the  fact,  of  which  Chateaubriand  boasts, 
that  he  had  actually  lived  what  his  books  describe,  whether 
as  traveler,  soldier,  diplomat  or  publicist.  He  was  almost  the 
last  to  live  and  to  write  in  the  grand  manner. 


516  CHATEAUBRIAND 

Chateaubriand's  genius  made  itself  felt  through  the  double 
force  of  his  morbid  charm  and  his  expansive  imagination.  As 
seen  in  connection  with  Rene,  the  charm  has  its 
dangers,  but  it  also  has  its  delights.  "Son  role  est 
d'enchanter."  There  is  a  seduction  in  his  sensibility,  a  lulling 
sweetness  in  his  melancholy,  and  a  high  excellence  in  his  har- 
monious rhythms  and  images.  Chateaubriand's  very  egotism 
has  its  fascination;  the  reader  substitutes  himself  for  the  author 
and  goes  through  similar  moods  of  yearning,  pride,  isolation  and 
disillusionment.  Again,  Chateaubriand  was  "  all  compact "  of 
imagination,  which  quality  he  expands  East  and  West  in  the 
comprehensive  fashion  of  modem  art.  Hence  the  marvelously 
rich  pictures  of  many  lands  and  climes.  He  pours  his  soul  out 
upon  all  that  is  beautiful  in  Nature;  but  he  cares  little  for  the 
souls  of  other  people,  he  is  a  poor  psychologist.  As  oracle  and 
leader  emeritus,  he  exercised  a  great  influence  upon  the  Romantic 
movement.  According  to  Faguet,  "  il  est  I'homme  qiii  a  re- 
nouvele  I'imagination  frangaise."  For  two  generations  such 
writers  as  Lamartine  and  Hugo,  G.  Sand  and  even  Flaubert 
derive  much  of  their  earlier  manner  from  Chateaubriand.  In 
our  own  time,  Pierre  Loti  is  bis  most  distinguished  literary 
descendant. 


BOOK  VI 
ROMANTICISM 

CHAPTER  I 
THE    ROMANTIC   MOVEMENT 

The  full  flowering  of  the  Romantic  Movement  took  place 
between  1820,  when  Lamartine  published  his  Premieres  Medita- 
History  of  ^'"'^>  ^nd  1843,  when  Hugo's  last  tragedy  failed, 
the  Period  The  political  history  of  that  period  furnishes  a  sig- 
nificant background  to  its  literary  output:  the  individualism  of 
despots,  the  royalist  hopes  and  the  growing  sense  of  democracy 
are  successively  reflected  in  the  work  of  the  Romanticists.  After 
Napoleon,  the  Restoration  of  the  Bourbons  was  accomplished 
by  a  sharp  monarchical  reaction.  Louis  XVIII  (1815-24)  was 
at  first  obliged  to  grant  a  Constitutional  Charter,  with  liberal 
provisions,  and  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  was  established.  But 
the  returning  emigres  were  very  influential  and  soon  a  reac- 
tionary ministry  was  formed,  combining  aristocracy,  royalism 
and  strong  Catholic  sympathies.  Censorship  of  the  press  and 
the  sway  of  landowners  were  restored.  These  tendencies  be- 
came more  pronounced  under  the  reign  of  Charles  X  (1824- 
30) ,  who  wanted  to  be  a  despot  of  the  old  regime.  But  France, 
having  had  a  taste  of  liberty,  was  unwilling  to  submit.  Pub- 
licists like  Chateaubriand  and  Royer-Collard,  professors,  jour- 
nalists and  the  City  of  Paris  all  protested,  with  the  result 
that  the  Bourbon  monarchy  was  overthrown  in  1830  ("  Revolu- 
tion of  July  ") ;  Louis-Philippe,  Duke  of  Orleans,  was  made  King 
of  the  French  and  the  so-called  "  bourgeois  monarchy  "  began 
(1830-48).  This  government,  in  turn,  disgusted  many  writers, 
because  of  its  lack  of  distinction  and  its  addiction  to  timid 
compromises. 

Each  new  ruler  had  brought  fresh  hope  to  the  younger  genera- 
tions of  which  the  Romanticists  were  composed.    It  was  a  time 

617 


518  THE    ROMANTIC    MOVEMENT 

of  expansive  feeling  and  wide  aspirations ;  but  these  were  followed 
only  too  soon  by  disappointment  and  weariness  when  govem- 

j^j  ments  and  councils  did  not  fulfil  their  promises. 

Background  The  social  atmosphere  was  full  of  ferment,  there  was 
heard  the  clash  of  new  and  old,  of  the  individual  against  the 
many.  Hundreds  of  brilliant  youths,  abandoning  the  political 
arena,  turned  their  talents  to  literature  and  art.  They  were  no 
longer  hampered  by  academic  training  or  the  tradition  of  the 
salons;  they  could  be  fully  themselves.  The  renaissance  of 
poetry  and  painting  —  fraternal  arts  which  were  now  closely 
connected  —  the  considerable  development  of  jomnalism,  the 
vogue  of  the  "  vie  de  boheme "  and  of  romantic  love- 
affairs:  all  this  gave  opportunities  to  these  restless  young  men. 
Currents  of  dandyism,  picturesque  costumes  or  poses,  and  im- 
portant foreign  influences  served  to  direct  or  to  adorn  the  new 
movement. 

Romanticism  was  primarily  a  revolt  against  the  outworn 
principles  of  neo-classicism,  as  exemplified  by  the  poetasters  and 
Essential  dramatists  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  the 
Features  beginning  of  the  ninteenth.  Soon,  however,  the 
movement  condemned  the  methods  .of  Boileau  and  Racine  as 
well.  Consequently  it  rejected  the  old  rules  of  versification 
and  of  tragedy.  But  more  positive  features  appear  among  the 
chief  tenets  of  Romanticism.  It  stood  for  individual  liberty,  for 
an  expansion  of  the  field  of  art,  for  the  superiority  of  imagina- 
tion and  feeling  over  reason,  for  a  truly  poetical  revival.  In 
its  earlier  phase,  under  the  influence  of  Chateaubriand  and 
Lamartine,  it  was  curiously  linked  with  a  political  con- 
servatism and  a  return  to  the  national  past.  It  was  also 
more  idealistic  before  1830,  whereas  after  this  date  disillusion- 
ment and  pessimism  became  more  prominent  in  the  work  of 
various  writers. 

Theophile  Gautier,  an  ardent  adherent  of  the  Romantic  cause, 
declares  that  the  people  of  a  later  day  can  hardly  understand 
Inspiration  *'^^  effervescent  enthusiasm  of  that  time.  There 
and  Energy  was  a  new  sap  of  life,  an  intoxicating  atmosphere, 
an  absolute  surrender  to  the  poetic  ideal.  There  are  many 
records  of  the  advance  of  the  Romantic  army  upon  Paris, 
nearly  one  hundred  years  ago.    Personages  of  fact  and  of  fiction, 


THE    FIRST    CENACLE  519 

undisciplined  egoists  like  the  heroes  of  Stendhal  and  of  Balzac, 
followed  Napoleon,  the  "  great  condottiere,"  in  the  direction  of 
lawless  and  materialistic  ambition.  But  others,  like  the  inti- 
mate circle  of  Hugo,  expressed  their  personalities  through  emo- 
tional experience  and  intense  imaginings,  with  an  outburst  of 
tumultuous  revolt  and  wild  creative  energy.  In  their  assertion 
of  individual  rights,  their  deification  of  human  love  and  the 
fatality  of  passion,  their  devotion  to  the  long  wonders  of  im- 
mortal beauty,  they  bring  back  to  France  a  feeling  which  had 
been  in  abeyance  since  the  days  of  Ronsard. 

The  great  writers  of  Romanticism  were  Lamartine,  Hugo, 
Musset,  Vigny,  Gautier  and  George  Sand;  and,  to  a  lesser  extent. 
Leaders  and  Sainte-Beuve  as  critic,  Dumas  pere,  Stendhal  and 
".(Jenacles"  Merimee.  These  names  together  with  certain 
others  will  occupy  us  in  the  following  chapters.  But  there  were 
many  minor  writers  who  will  here  be  dealt  with  briefly  in  connec- 
tion with  the  progress  of  the  movement,  the  formation  of  the 
different  groups  or  cenacles.  First  came  the  group  which 
rallied  aroimd  La  Muse  Frangaise.'  This  journal  lasted  only 
"La  Muse  two  years  (1823-24),  but  it  had  a  significant  influence 
Frangaise"  upon  nascent  Romanticism.  As  in  the  case  of  the 
Pleiade,  its  foimders  and  chief  contributors  were  seven  in  num- 
^  ber:  Alexandre  Soumet,  Alexandre  Guiraud,  Emile  Deschamps; 
Hugo  and  Vigny;  Saint- Valry  and  Desjardins.  The  "two 
Alexanders,"  who  were  then  among  the  foremost  representatives 
of  poetry  and  drama,  were  still  semi-classical  and  timid  in  revolt. 
They  came  from  Toulouse  and  they,  with  others  of  the  group, 
were  crowned  by  the  Acadeinie  des  Jeux  Floraux  of  that  city. 
Soumet  is  best  known  for  his  tragedy  of  Saill.  He  had  a  second- 
rate  derivative  talent^  but  he  was  then  ranked  as  a  demi-god  and 
his  prestige  considerably  aided  the  Miise.  Guiraud  wrote  the 
prospectus  for  the  journal,  a  valuable  feature  of  which  was  the 
attention  paid  to  foreign  literatures.  Emile  Deschamps  actively 
launched  the  publication  and  furnished  a  salon  for  the  first 
cenacle.  As  a  poet,  Deschamps  is  credited  with  a  Lamartinian 
sweetness  and  grace.  Lamartine  himself  remained  apart  from 
the  circle.  Its  two  minor  adherents  need  not  concern  us,  but  let 
us  note  that  several  of  Vigny's  best  poems  appeared  in  the 
Mme;  also  five  contributions  from  Hugo,  including  an  interesting 


520  THE    ROMANTIC    MOVEMENT 

review  of  Scott's  Quentin  Durward.  In  1824,  the  main  issues 
of  Romanticism  were  still  confused  and  vague;  Hugo  disavowed 
the  term;  the  new  spirit  was  not  yet  disentangled  from  Classicism 
and  royalism.  But  already  it  was  sufficiently  strong  to  call 
forth  denimciations  from  academic  critics,  who,  declaring  that 
Romanticism  "did  not  exist,"  thereby  helped  to  crystallize  its 
existence. 

The  Muse  suspended  publication,  and  Soumet  passed  to  the 
ranks  of  the  enemy.  The  rest  of  the  group  were  kept  together 
The  Salon  ^^  Charles  Nodier,  who  received  and  encouraged 
de  I'Arsenal,  them  in  his  home  at  the  Arsenal  Library.  Nodier 
1824-27  ^ggg  ^gjj^  chapter)   was  an  indolent  good-natured 

dilettante  who  had  in  him,  it  is  said,  the  composition  of  ten  men, 
including  "  poet,  romancer,  historian,  bibliophile."  He  defined 
Romanticism  as  "  la  liberte  regie  par  le  gout,"  a  remark  which 
set  the  tone  for  his  chatty  receptions.  Lesser  lights  of  the  Muse 
and  of  the  Nodier  cenacle  were  these:  the  wild  Jules  LefSvre, 
a  Byronist;  the  witty  Ulric  Guttinguer;  Baour-Lonnian,  trans- 
lator of  Ossian;  ChSnedolle,  a  transition  poet;  and  the 
beautiful  Delphine  Gay,  known  as  the  "  Muse  de  la  Patrie,"  who 
had  the  fortune  to  be  admired  by  Classicists  and  Romanticists 
alike. 

By  1827,  Victor  Hugo  had  attained  his  poetic  majority. 
In  the  same  year  he  formed  a  close  friendship  with  Sainte- 
r  Q  ^  Beuve,  and  these  two  constitute  the  head  and  front 
CSnaele,  of  the  greatest  Romantic  cenacle.    This  was  known 

1827-30  as  "  le  cenacle  de  Joseph  Delorme,"  such  being  the 
pen-name  of  Sainte-Beuve.  In  its  membership  were  numbered 
such  familiar  names  as  Vigny,  Nodier,  Deschamps  and  Gut- 
tinguer; that  weird  poet,  Gerard  de  Nerval;  the  enthusiastic 
Dumas  pere;  and  the  adolescent  Musset,  who  came  more  cas- 
ually. The  movement  now  takes  on  more  significance  and 
breadth;  it  includes  painters  (Delacroix)  as  well  as  poets;  it 
makes  the  theater  its  chief  stamping-groimd ;  plays  like  Hugo's 
Marion  Delorme  are  read  to  large  gatherings;  more  important 
works  are  actually  produced;  and  a  critical  direction  is  given 
to  Romanticism  through  the  efforts  of  Sainte-Beuve  (see 
Bk.  VIII,  Ch.  I) .  With  some  justice,  then,  this  group  has  been 
called  "  le  cenacle  de  Joseph  Delorme."    But  its  creative  leader 


JOURNALISM  621 

was,  of  course,  Victor  Hugo,  whose  priest-like  personality  was 
almost  worshiped  by  his  associates.  Theophile  Gautier,  an- 
other enthusiastic  admirer,  was  enlisted  for  the  battle  of  Her- 
nani  (1830),  which  marked  the  definite  triumph  of  the  move- 
ment. Shortly  afterwards  the  imity  of  the  Romantic  school 
was  broken  up  and  the  last  cenacle  was  dissolved;  partly  be- 
cause of  the  Revolution  of  July,  but  more  on  accoimt  of  dra- 
matic rivalries  and  the  exaggeration  of  ideas  and  egoistic  tend- 
encies. The  current  of  production,  however,  continued  until 
well  into  the  forties. 

The  severe  censorship  of  Napoleon  and  some  hesitation  re- 
garding the  "  Charter  "  had  much  restricted  the  liberty  of  the 
press  imtil  about  1820.  From  then  dates  the  foun- 
Infiuenees:  dation  of  modem  literary  journalism,  the  establish- 
Joumalism  ment  of  important  critical  reviews.  They  appear 
in  considerable  number  between  1820  and  1830.  They  are 
mostly  short-lived  and  reflect  the  confused  conflicts  of  the  time; 
those  that  are  liberal  in  politics  are  often  reactionary  in  litera- 
ture, and  vice  versa.  La  Muse  Frangaise  is  the  most  thoroughly 
Romantic.  But  Le  Globe  (1824r-30)  had  a  wider  scope  and  a 
vaster  influence,  and  it  aimed  at  liberalism  in  every  sphere.  It 
was  founded  by  Dubois  and  other  disciples  of  the  "  trio  of  the 
Sorbonne;"^  the  "doctrinaires"  were  among  its  contributors, 
and  Sainte-Beuve  was  its  chief  critic.  These  men  expand  the 
treatment  of  literature,  in  an  intelligent  and  cosmopolitan  spirit, 
to  include  social  and  political  topics;  and  the  various  fields  are 
divided  up  among  expert  writers.  Romanticism  is  given  ample 
room  in  the  Globe,  though  few  of  these  intellectuals  are  sensi- 
tive to  the  more  imaginative  and  artistic  values  of  the  new 
movement.  On  the  other  hand,  they  adopt  the  formula  that 
"literature  is  the  expression  of  society,"  and  they  show  wide 
cosmopolitan  tastes,  both  of  which  tendencies  proceed  from  Mme 
de  Stael.  If  Rousseau  is  the  fountain-head  of  Romanticism, 
Chateaubriand  is  its  "Sachem,"  Lamartine  its  elder  brother, 
and  Mme  de  Stael  its  intellectual  godmother.'' 

Mme  de  Stael,   indeed,   had   given   currency  to   the  term 

•  Villemain,  Guizot,  Cousin;   see  below,  Ch.  VII;  and  for  the  "doctrinaireB" 
or  liberal  bourgeois  statesmen,  see  same  chapter. 

'  A  reference  to  the  preceding  Book  will  make  this  plain. 


522  THE    ROMANTIC    MOVEMENT 

"  Romantic."     Her  interest  in  Italy  is  responsible  for  French 
contacts  with  the  works  of  Sismondi  and  Manzoni.    But  it  is 
.  chiefly  the  increasing  vogue  of  De  I'Allemagne  that 

Influences:  makes  us  realize  how  Romanticism  was  a  general 
Germany  European  movement,  with  emphasis  on  the  liter- 
atures of  the  North.  The  Northern  inspiration  largely  replaced 
the  imitation  of  antiquity.  The  Germans  who  influenced  the 
younger  French  writers  are  mainly  those  of  the  Golden  Age, 
especially  Goethe  and  Schiller.  Goethe  was  long  known  as  "  the 
author  of  Werther"  a  work  which  fostered  the  sentimental- 
ism  of  Nodier's  nouvelles,  as  well  as  the  mcd  de  siecle  of  Con- 
stant's Adolphe  and  of  Senancour's  Obermann  (1804)  —  that 
"  confession  monotone  et  penetrante."  Sainte-Beuve  and 
Musset  also  wrote  confessional  novels,  partly  modeled  on 
Werther.  Gotz  von  Berlichingen,  also  by  Goethe,  is  a  predeces- 
sor of  the  Romantic  drama;  poems  like  the  Erlkonig  had  some 
influence  on  the  mysterious  and  fantastic  side  of  Romanticism; 
while  Faust,  especially  in  its  sentimental  and  diabolical  aspects, 
deeply  impressed  the  French  imagination.  Faust  was  known 
through  many  versions,  the  most  remarkable  of  which  is  the 
translation  by  Gerard  de  Nerval.  About  1830,  there  are  many 
expressions  of  an  exalted  admiration  for  Goethe,  who  was 
viewed  as  the  archetype  of  the  man  of  genius.  Schiller  is  a 
good  second,  particularly  as  regards  the  theater.  His  his- 
torical dramas,  Don  Carlos,  Wallenstein,  etc.,  imdoubtedly 
furnish  examples  for  the  Romantic  school.  The  third  conspic- 
uous success  in  France  was  the  Tales  of  Hoffmann.  These  were 
admired  and  imitated,  for  their  fantasy  and  diablerie,  by  such 
men  as  Nodier  and  Soulie.  It  was  almost  entirely  the  Roman- 
tic side  of  Germany  that  was  appreciated  in  France.  There 
were  two  general  effects  of  this  influence:  German  writers  gave 
a  considerable  impulse  to  the  new  currents  of  poetic  liberty; 
and  their  works  served  less  as  close  models  than  as  sources  of 
vigorous  inspiration  for  the  French. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  enumerate  all  the  phases  of  the 
English  influence;  four  of  the  capital  names  must  sufiBce. 
England:  Shakespeare  furnished  much  of  the  argument  for 
Shakespeare  the  chief  Romantic  manifesto,  Hugo's  Preface  de 
Cromwell,  and  his  treatment  of  buffoons  and  crowds  underlies 


OSSIAN    AND    BYRON  523 

Hugo's  practice  in  this  respect.  The  translations  by  Alfred 
de  Vigny,  Shylock  and  Le  More  de  Venise,  were  the  finest  ever 
made,  and  the  performance  of  the  latter  play  marked  an  epoch  in 
the  Romantic  drama.  Dumas  pere  declares  that  Hamlet  opened 
to  him  a  new  dramatic  world  and  that  his  own  historical 
"  tableaux "  owe  much  to  Shakespeare.  Musset's  woodland 
fantasies  are  like  delicate  echoes  of  Twelfth  Night  and  As  You 
Like  It.  All  of  this  implies  that  there  had  been  a  thorough  re- 
volt against  the  Voltairian  attitude  towards  Shakespeare. 
Furthermore,  two  visits  of  English  actors  to  Paris  materially 
assisted  in  promoting  the  Shakespearean  vogue.^ 

With  this  was  coupled  a  vogue  of  a  very  different  character. 
The  strange  fascination  which  "  Ossian  "  exerted  on  the  French 
Macpherson's  reached  its  climax  in  the  Napoleonic  era.  Chateau- 
"  Ossian  "  briand  was  his  herald,  and  Mme  de  Stael  made  him 
the  Homer  of  her  North.  The  discovery  that  "  Ossian  "  derived 
less  from  Homer  than  from  Macpherson  gradually  chilled  the 
French,  but  the  legend  of  the  Bard  was  not  yet  dispelled  for  the 
men  of  1830.  He  is  still  a  fixed  star  in  the  literary  firmament, 
and  his  nebulous  glamour  appeals  to  many  amateurs  and  minor 
poets.  Authoresses  like  Mme  de  Genlis  and  Delphine  Gay, 
long-haired  Romanticists  like  Boulay-Paty  and  Jules  Lefevre, 
lead  the  Caledonian  through  strange  mazes  and  metamorphoses. 
The  Ossianic  atmosphere  penetrates  a  good  deal  of  Lamartine, 
especially  the  Premieres  Meditations,  inducing  a  tender  feeling 
for  landscape,  mingled  with  the  melancholy  attached  to  earthly 
things.  Alfred  de  Musset  also  imitates  the  Bard  in  several 
poems.  Mistiness  and  sadness,  together  with  the  passion  for 
the  past,  are  what  this  generation  admired  in  Ossian. 

Byron  is  the  most  important  foreign  influence  upon  French  Ro- 
manticism. Indeed,  by  many  Byron  was  regarded  as  the  arch-ro- 
manticist of  Europe.    His  person  was  made  the  sub- 

^"^  jeet  of  a  sinister  legend,  according  to  which  the  poet 

appeared  as  a  murderer  and  criminal.  For  French  imitators,  he 
stood  as  the  representative  of  Satanic  revolt,  of  grandiose  nature, 
of  the  Orient,  of  passion  ending  in  cynicism.  His  works  were  trans- 
lated in  twenty  complete  editions  from  1820  to  1850.  The  phases 
of  his  influence  begin  with  Childe  Harold,  passing  through  the 

•  More  about  Shakespeare  will  be  found  in  Ch.  V,  below. 


624  THE    ROMANTIC    MOVEMENT 

rebellious  individualism  of  Manfred,  Lara  and  Cain,  to  end  with 
the  sensual  cynicism  of  Don  Juan.  Important  critical  appre- 
ciations were  written  quite  early  by  Nodier,  Vigny  and  Hugo. 
Then  Byronic  enthusiasm  was  fanned  to  a  white  heat  by  the 
poet's  connection  with  the  Grecian  cause  and  by  his  untimely 
death.  The  Muse  Frangaise  "  ne  pent  que  chanter  et  pleurer  By- 
ron." Delavigne  mingled  Byronic  and  Oriental  inspiration  in  his 
Odes  Messeniennes;  so  did  painters  like  Delacroix  and  Gericault. 
Many  imitators  were  variously  indebted  to  the  Englishman,  in- 
cluding the  four  chief  poets  of  the  era.  First,  Lamartine 
declares  a  warm  personal  admiration  for  him.  The  poem  of 
Desespoir  owes  much  of  its  power  to  Manfred,  and  in  L'Homme 
Lamartine  tries  at  once  to  glorify  Byron  and  to  refute  his  pes- 
simism. "  C'est  un  ange  qui  a  etudie  le  diable  "  —  even  to  the 
extent  of  feebly  continuing  Childe  Harold  in  Le  Dernier  peleri- 
nage  d'Harold.  Hugo  feels  the  influence  especially  in  Les 
Orientales  {Mazeppa,  etc.)  and  in  some  of  the  melancholy  notes 
of  the  Feuilles  d'automne.  Vigny  imitates  Byron  in  a  dozen 
early  poems,  and  his  very  notion  of  the  philosophic  poem,  as 
found  in  Le  Delude  for  example,  is  probably  Byronic  in  source. 
Similar  echoes  are  found  in  the  sadder  poems  of  Musset,  as  well 
as  in  such  of  his  dreams  as  express  bitterness  and  revolt.  Fi- 
nally, Gautier's  Albertiis  is  quite  Don  Juanesque  in  character. 
It  is  plainly  the  more  passionate,  the  more  melancholy  and  ex- 
cessive aspects  of  French  Romanticism  that  seek  their  prototype 
in  Byron. 

Sir  Walter  Scott  is  the  father  of  the  French  historical  novel  as 
regards  the  picturesque  reconstitution  of  the  past.  Picturesque- 
ness  in  description,  characterization  and  dialogue,  is 
the  triple  aspect  of  the  Waverley  Novels  that  carries 
over  into  France.  Scott's  diffused  influence  reached  its  apogee 
about  1820,  when  he  was  universally  admired.  He  harmo- 
nized with  the  prevailing  vogue  of  local  color  and  of  an  anti- 
quarian interest  in  the  past.  These  characteristics  are  found, 
for  instance,  in  Vigny's  Cinq-Mars,  together  with  Scott's  ability 
to  brush  in  the  political  background.  Balzac's  Chouans  shows 
picturesqueness  in  dialogue  and  costumes,  as  well  as  Scott's 
penetration  into  epochs  and  his  skill  in  handling  crowds.  Meri- 
mee's  Charles  IX  and  Hugo's  Notre-Dame  represent  the  farther 


ROMANTIC    QUALITIES  625 

reaches  of  the  movement.  The  Waverley  Novels  likewise  pro-, 
moted  a  feeling  for  the  past  and  a  care  for  characteristic  detail 
among  such  historians  as  Thierry  and  Barante.  Scott's  anti- 
quarianism  had  a  more  human  appeal  than  that  of  Chateau- 
briand. 

It  will  now  appear  that  there  are  many  aspects  to  French 
Romanticism  and  that  it  is  difficult  to  summarize  the  great  move- 
ment  satisfactorily.  Its  pervasive  force  may  be 
centered  around  its  belief  in  the  expansive  power  of 
the  individual.  It  emphasizes  the  particular,  where  Classicism 
had  emphasized  the  universal.  Individual  sentiment,  passion, 
genius,  are  the  order  of  the  day;  hence  lyric  poetry  is  the  pre- 
dominant form.  The  individual  soul  rises  high  in  exaltation  or 
it  plunges  into  its  own  depths  with  a  fresh  sense  of  the  mystery 
of  existence;  or  it  goes  roaming  far  from  actuality,  seeking  re- 
moteness in  place  or  time.  Associated  then  with  the  emotional 
development  of  the  ego  are  such  major  Romantic  qualities  as 
idealism,  melancholy,  liberalism,  exoticism  anc^  medievalism, 
together  with  an  expansive  treatment  of  nature  and  li!e.  Ex- 
amining these,  we  find  that  idealism,  which  begins  as  "  en- 
thusiasm," is  not  characteristic  of  the  whole  movement  and  is 
best  illustrated  by  Lamartine  and  certain  phases  of  Vigny  and 
Hugo.  Many  Romanticists  are  prone  to  melancholy,  due  to  the 
failure  of  their  too  personal  or  conflicting  ideals.  Liberalism 
was  prominent  in  the  political  current;  it  is  also  found  in  the 
literary  revolt  against  Classical  subjects,  styles  and  rules;  it 
is  connected  with  the  spirit  of  adventure  and  personal  freedom. 
How  natural  for  the  Romanticist  to  go  far  afield  for  material, 
to  invade  the  Middle  Ages  and  many  distant  lands!  Hence  his 
predilection  for  splendid  scenery,  for  local  color  and  the  pic- 
turesque. Finally,  the  school  expands  the  Classical  conception 
of  the  world,  to  include  not  only  the  beautiful  but  also  the 
"grotesque"  and  the  characteristic;  not  so  much  the  abstract 
and  universal  as  the  concrete  and  diversified.  The  whole  ap- 
proach to  art  is  now  through  the  senses  and  imagination  rather 
than  through  the  reason.  As  regards  form,  these  various  tend- 
encies appear  in  a  considerable  enlargement  of  the  language, 
admitting  specific  and  colorful  terms,  in  a  greater  variety  of 
styles,  in  an  anti-classical  belief  in  the  "  melange  des  genres." 


526  THE    ROMANTIC    MOVEMENT 

That  is,  comedy  and  tragedy  may  be  woven  together,  and  lyri- 
cism dominates  even  in  drama  and  fiction.  Contrary  to  the  ei^tr 
eenth  century,  the  emphasis  is  now  less  on  ideas  than  on  artistic 
inspiration  and  processes ;  a  change  that  will  be  reflected  in  our 
subsequent  treatment. 


CHAPTER  II 

IMMEDIATE    PREDECESSORS:    NODIER, 
BERANGER,   LAMARTINE 

It  has  been  seen  that  Charles  Nodier  (1780-1844)  was  very- 
susceptible  to  foreign  influences  and  that  he  served  as  a  leader 

and  enthusiastic  comrade  of  one  Romantic  group. 

Sainte-Beuve  considers  him  the  type  of  the  generally 
productive  man  of  letters,  who  lacked  concentration:  "  Philo- 
logue  ici,  romanesque  la,  bibliographe  et  Wertherien,  academique 
et  .  .  .  excentrique."  Nodier  also  reflects  the  stormy  uncer- 
tainty of  his  political  epoch.  He  was  born  at  Besangon,  edu- 
cated privately,  and  went  up  to  Paris  for  a  literary  career.  But 
the  key-note  oi  his  character  was  a  revolutionary  Romanticism, 
and  his  anti-Napoleonic  manifestations  soon  caused  the  author- 
ities to  banish  him  to  Switzerland  and  the  Jura,  where  he  was 
"  interned  "  for  a  number  of  years.  He  there  developed  a  taste 
for  nature-studies  and  philology.  Travels  in  Italy  and  Illyria 
completed  his  literary  baggage.  He  returned  to  France  just  in 
time  for  the  tempests  of  1814-15,  wrote  as  journalist  under  the 
Restoration,  and  finally  settled  down  as  librarian  at  the  Biblio- 
theque  de  I'Arsenal  in  1824.  Here  his  talent  mellowed,  his  ami- 
ability furthered  his  reputation,  and  he  was  elected  to  the  Acad- 
emy before  his  death. 

Nodier  wrote  some  charming  poetry  and  some  adequate  criti- 
cism, but  the  only  surviving  portion  of  his  work  consists  of 
„.    „    .       tales  that  curiously  mingle  sentiment  and  fancy. 

They  are  laid  in  remote  and  romanesque  places,  they 
have  strong  touches  of  diablerie  and  superstition,  they  contain 
Wertherean  melancholy,  desperate  deaths,  anti-social  sentiments, 
brigands,  fairies,  various  kinds  of  madness,  mystery  and  vam- 
pires. His  earlier  works  (Le  Peintre  de  Saltzbourg  and  Les  Pros- 
crits)  are  mainly  sentimental  and  doleful.  The  later  stories 
show  his  adventurous  imagination  and  emphasize  the  fantastic, 

527 


628  NODIER,   BERANGER,    LAMARTINE 

an  element  which,  following  Hoffmann,  Nodier  acclimatized  in 
France.  The  two  Illyrian  productions,  Jean  Sbogar  (1818)  and 
Smarra  (1820),  present  respectively  a  mysterious  bandit  and 
the  legend  of  a  vampire.  They  belong  to  what  Nodier  himself 
styled  the  frantic  school  ("  I'ecole  frenetique  ") .  Trilby,  which 
probably  furnished  the  title  for  Du  Manner's  novel,  is  one  of 
Nodier's  most  finished  and  delightful  stories.  It  concerns  a 
goblin  or  lutin  who  befriends  and  bewilders  a  Scotch  maiden. 
Therese  Aubert  recalls  the  days  of  youthful  sentiment,  but  in 
a  more  mature  and  truly  moving  fashion.  Some  of  Nodier's 
best  writing  was  done  in  his  calmer  matxuity;  he  was  always 
a  master  of  a  certain  kind  of  style,  composed  of  flexible  charm- 
ing sentences  and  a  graceful  fancy.  He  is  not  strong  on  char- 
acters or  composition.  He  is  thoroughly  Romantic  in  sources, 
subjects  and  temperament. 

Jean-Pierre  de  Beranger  (1780-1857),  of  bourgeois  parentage 
and  habits,  belonged  to  no  literary  group.  He  was  a  chansonnier 
and  he  remains  the  most  notable  composer  of  French 
popular  songs.  In  1813  the  epicurean  poet,  De- 
saugiers,  led  Beranger  to  a  certain  caveau  or  "  Rhjrmers'  Club," 
where  the  newcomer  sang  and  was  well  received.  His  topical 
and  political  songs  soon  had  a  wide  vogue;  he  is  considered  to 
have  "  enfranchised "  the  chanson  in  1817  with  his  Dieu  des 
bonnes  gens.  Beranger  was  always  close  to  the  popular  heart 
and  from  now  on  he  aided  in  promoting  the  cult  of  Napoleon 
among  the  people.  He  was  prosecuted  twice  for  sedition.  Aside 
from  that,  Beranger  always  modestly  refused  public  recognition 
and  led  a  retiring  life.  In  his  old  age,  his  company  was  valued 
by  such  men  as  Chateaubriand  and  Lamartine.  His  excessive 
prestige  in  his  own  era  was  followed  by  a  strong  critical  re- 
action. But  he  must  be  credited  with  having  conferred  upon 
the  chanson  all  the  literary  value  of  which  it  seems  capable. 

Beranger  wrote  at  least  three  different  kinds  of  songs.  He 
began  with  the  old  gaulois  type,  free,  gay  and  bacchanalian. 
Kinds  of  This  was  the  kind  affected  by  Desaugiers,  who  re- 
Chansons  mained  superior  to  his  disciple  in  gaiety  and  ease. 
In  B&anger,  the  epicurean  manner  seems  artificial,  though  he 
possesses  wit  and  a  certain  gallant  swing.  This  style  may  be 
illustrated  by  Le  Rot  d'Yvetot: 


BERANGER'S    MUSE  629 

II  6tait  un  roi  d'Yvetot 

Peu  connu  dans  I'histoire, 
Se  levant  tard,  se   couchant  tot, 

Dormant  fort  bien  sans  gloire, 
Et  couronne  par  Jeanneton 
D'un  simple  bonnet  de  coton, 
Dit-on  .  .  . 

Beranger  really  finds  himself  in  the  second  kind  of  chanson, 
where  he  indulges  the  liberal  and  patriotic  vein.  Barring  ephem- 
eral and  occasional  pieces,  the  best  products  of  this  period 
are  those  where  the  larger  popular  sentiments  and  questions  are 
treated  —  such  as  Napoleon  or  the  "  principles  of  '89  "  —  and 
no  discrepancy  was  felt  between  the  two  ideals,  since  they  both 
tended  to  the  glory  of  France.  The  third  division  consists  of 
the  songs  of  Beranger's  old  age,  which  are  often  of  a  personal 
or  sentimental  cast,  exemplified  by  Ma  Canne  or  U Adieu.  Some 
irony,  more  of  fantasy  and  revery  characterize  these  last  songs, 
which  are  often  wholly  delightful. 

Along  with  much  that  is  commonplace,  Beranger  has  the  in- 
stinct for  reflecting  the  hiunan  currents  and  feelings  of  his 
Beiaagei's  period.  His  muse  is  essentially  patriotic  or  senti- 
Quahties  mental.  His  form  is  usually  simple  and  direct, 
though  sometimes  the  exigencies  of  the  stanza  forced  him  into 
obscm-ities  and  awkward  turns  of  expression.  The  new  Roman- 
ticism did  not  affect  him  greatly;  his  verses  are  neo-classical, 
if  anything.  It  should  be  remembered  that  they  were  intended 
primarily  to  be  sung,  and  the  sweep  of  the  rhythm,  mounting  up 
to  a  well-chosen  and  memorable  refrain,  may  thus  disguise  a 
certain  literary  poverty.  The  sentimental  manner  may  be 
illustrated  by 

Sois-moi  fidele,  6  pauvre  habit  que  j'aime; 

the  clever  refrain  by  that  of  Le  Juif  errant: 

Toujours,  toujours, 
Toume  la  terre  ou  moi  je  cours; 

and  political  satire  by  the  refrain: 

Cbapeau  bas!    chapeau  bas! 
Gloire  au  marquis  de  Carabas! 


530  NODIER,   BERANGER,   LAMARTINE 

The  case  of  Alphonse  de  Lamartine  (1790-1869)  is  quite 
different.  His  name  authentically  opens  the  succession  of 
great  Romantic  poets.  To  his  noble  and  channing 
figure  is  attached  the  triple  prestige  of  poet,  idealist 
and  statesman.  He  was  of  a  versatile,  sensitive  and  thoroughly 
aristocratic  nature.  Born  at  Macon,  of  an  excellent  patriarchal 
family,  he  always  cltmg  with  a  "  natural  piety  "  to  his  early 
associations.  His  sensibility  and  Rousseauistic  readings  made 
him  a  prey  to  melancholy  in  his  adolescence.  This  tendency 
was  increased  by  his  unfortvmate  love-affair  with  Mme  Julie 
Charles,  who  became  the  "  Elvire  "  of  Lamartine's  inspiration. 
What  saddened  the  man  deepened  and  purified  the  poet.  The 
publication  of  Les  Premieres  Meditations  (1820)  was  an  event; 
the  work  attracted  the  attention  of  Talleyrand,  and  Lamartine 
was  appointed  as  secretary  to  the  embassy  at  Naples. 

Even  in  his  troubled  youth,  Lamartine  had  strong  political 
ambitions.  After  serving  at  Naples  and  at  Florence,  he  wished 
to  play  a  greater  r61e  at  home,  and  stood  for  elec- 
tion as  deputy.  Defeated  at  first,  he  was  elected 
in  1831,  and  this  date  is  a  turning-point  in  his  career.  Return- 
ing from  the  Orient,  he  issued  a  manifesto  which  announced  a 
progressive  and  liberal  policy.  Then  he  took  his  seat  as  an 
independent  and  maintained  a  position  of  isolation  for  ten 
years,  during  which  period  he  perfected  himself  as  an  orator. 
In  1840,  distrustful  of  the  bourgeois  ministry,  Lamartine  came 
out  in  the  Opposition,  declaring  frankly  his  belief  in  the 
Revolution  of  1789.  Eight  years  later  he  was  the  leading  figure 
in  another  revolution,  which  he  animated  by  many  democratic 
speeches  as  well  as  by  his  glowing  and  inaccurate  Histoire  des 
Girondins.  When  another  Saint-Antojne  swept  into  the  Hotel 
de  Ville  in  February,  1848,  it  was  Lamartine  who  time  after 
time  restrained  the  mob  by  his  commanding  presence,  his 
courage  and  his  adroit  oratory.  Adored  by  the  populace,  he 
reached  his  zenith  as  minister  of  foreign  affairs  and  virtually 
as  head  of  the  Provisional  Government.  Yet  in  a  few  months 
he  had  lost  all  his  prestige  and  in  the  presidential  election  the 
fickle  people  turned  from  him  to  the  rising  star  which  bore  the 
magic  name  of  Bonaparte.  When  Bonaparte  perpetrated  his 
Coup  d'Etat  and  became  Napoleon  III,  Lamartine  was  sub- 


THE    SOURCES    OF    LAMARTINE  .    531 

merged  politically.  After  all  his  triumphs,  he  spent  an  old  age 
of  semi-poverty  and  literary  hack-work.  He  was  not  a  prac- 
tical politician;  in  politics  as  in  other  matters  he  remained  the 
idealist.  There,  too,  he  sowed  the  seeds  of  fine  thought  and 
feeling,  some  of  which  have  flowered  in  modern  democratic 
France.  Yet  in  spite  of  his  statesmanship  and  his  powers  of 
eloquence,  the  real  enduring  contribution  of  Lamartine  was 
made  to  French  poetry. 

The  three  forces  which  dominated  Lamartine's  early  life  and 
which  constituted  the  chief  inspiration  of  his  poems  were  nature, 
His  religion  and  woman ;  it  may  be  added  that  the  three 

Inspiration  j^j-g  closely  associated  in  his  greatest  verse,  he 
Crucifix,  for  instance,  in  which  the  beloved  emblem  passes  from 
the  dying  to  the  living,  is  in  memory  of  the  ethereal  Elvire,  and 
in  Le  Temple  the  poet  mingles  sacred  and  profane  love.  Again, 
his  sweethearts  are  linked  with  their  background  in  nature.  So 
the  bright  figure  of  Graziella,  the  Italian  maiden,  is  duly  por- 
trayed against  the  brilliant  Neapolitan  scenery;  and  the  pale 
shade  of  Elvire  haunts  immortally  the  placid  Lac  du  Bourget. 
The  typical  Lamartinian  landscape  is  formed  by  certain  elements 
which  stand  almosTlis  symbols" uf^ioVe-and  revery:  the  lake, 
the  twili^rirbouf ,  the  stealmglmoonbeam^the  gentle  slopes,  the 
tall  sad  trees.  Finally,  nature  and  God,  "le  roi  de  la  nature," 
are  made  one  in  many  Pantheistic  poems,  especially  from  Les 
Harmonies.  Lamartine's  faith  is  not  strictly  orthodox.  It  par- 
takes of  a  vague  religiosity  and  it  concerns  itself,  none  too 
deeply,  with  the  usual  philosophical  problems;  but  it  expresses 
a  constant  idealism. 

Les  Premieres  Meditations  (1820)  mark  the  beginning  of 
nineteenth-century  poetry.  As  M.  Lanson  has  demonstrated, 
„.  ^  .  these  lyrics  usually  have  bookish  sources  (Petrarch, 
Rousseau,  the  Bible)  and  in  form  they  show  a 
continuity  with  neo-classical  tradition  rather  than  a  distinct 
break.  Their  tremendous  vogue  was  due  primarily  to  the  inti- 
macy, the  purity  and  plaintive  sincerity  of  Lamartine's  indi- 
vidual voice,  which,  like  that  of  Rousseau,  restored  the  ring  of 
great  emotion  to  literature.  Hence  the  immediate  effect  of  the 
Volume  on  the  tender-hearted.  In  spite  of  the  fading  in- 
fluence of  time,  Lamartine's  best  stanzas  still  lie  embedded,  like 


532  NODIER,   BERANGER,    LAMARTINE 

perfect  crystals,  in  the  memories  of  many  readers.  Such  arc 
the  verses  of  L'lsolement: 

Fleuves,  rochers,  forets,  solitudes  si  cheres, 
Un  seul  etre  vous  manque  et  tout  est  depeuple. 

Such  is  the  picture  of  L'Automne: 

Salut,  bois  couronne  d'un  rests  de  verdure.  .  .  . 

And  such  the  beauty  of  Le  Lac,  which  perpetuates  the  memory 
of  Elvire  in  one  of  the  most  famous  and  sorrowful  love-songs 
in  the  language: 

Que  le  vent  qui  gemit,  le  roseau  qui  soupire, 
Que  les  parfums  Jegers  de  ton  air  embaume, 
Que  tout  ce  qu'on  entend,  ron  voit  ou  Ton  respire, 
Tout  dise:  "lis  ont  aime!  " 

Nothing  that  characterizes  Lamartine  is  absent  from  this  first 
volume.  Les  Nouvelles  Meditations  (1823),  published  after  his 
marriage  to  an  Englishwoman,  partially  substitute  for  the  old 
melancholy  a  happy  love  in  a  sunny  landscape;  otherwise  they 
prolong  the  moods  and  measures  of  the  first  collection  and  have 
suffered  to  some  extent  the  common  fate  of  a  sequel.  Sainte- 
Beuve  says  of  the  second  Meditations  that  they  constitute  a  less 
artistic  whole,  though  several  individual  pieces  show  a  more 
sustained  breadth  and  inspiration.  The  first  series  has  more 
spontaneity,  the  second  more  finish.  Among  the  best-known 
lyrics  here  may  be  mentioned:  Le  Crucifix  (to  Elvire) ;  the 
sensuous  beauty  of  Ischia  and  Chant  d' Amour  (to  his  wife) ; 
Les  Preludes  and  Bonaparte  (reflective  poems).  When  La- 
martine published  Les  Harmonies  poetiqv£s  et  religietises 
(1830),  the  audience  had  grown  accustomed  to  the  poet's  voice. 
Here  he  sings  mainly  of  religion,  through  hymns  and  prayers, 
cantatas  and  invocations.  He  frequently  strikes  a  bold  and 
rich  note  —  which  he  is  tempted  to  hold  too  long.  This  tendency 
towards  length  leads  to  an  increased  use  of  varied  rhythms  in 
the  same  poem.  The  easy  flow  sometimes  becomes  too  easy  and 
the  memorable  effects  are  fewer  in  proportion.  But  there  are 
half-a-dozen  unforgotten  poems,  including  the  Hymne  de  I'en- 
fant    (naive  childish  faith),  L'Occident    (solemn  and  superb 


LAMARTINE'S    POETIC    TRAITS  533 

Pantheism),  the  despairing  confession  of  Novissima  verba  and 
above  all  the  tribute  to  Graziella  in  Le  Premier  Regret: 

Mais  pourquoi  m'entrainer  vers  ces  scenes  passees? 
Laissons  le  vent  gemir  et  le  flot  murmurer; 
Revenez,  revenez,  o  mes  tristes  pensees! 
Je  veux  rever  et  non  pleurer. 

After  writing  this  volume,  Lamartine  turned  to  politics,  and  his 
succeeding  publications  (for  instance,  Les  Becueillements  and 
the  prose  romance  of  Graziella)  are  not  so  significant.  An  ex- 
ception must  be  made  for  Jocelyn  (1836).  This  long  narrative 
poem  concerns  the  frustrated  loves  of  a  priest  and  his  com- 
panion. It  is  remarkable  for  two  things:  a  deeper  philosophy 
than  is  customary  with  Lamartine  and  a  splendid  treatment  of 
nature  in  the  episode  of  Les  Laboureurs.  The  conception  of 
Jocelyn,  as  of  La  Chute  d'un  ange  (1838),  is  often  epic  and 
symbolical  in  effect,  reminding  one  of  Alfred  de  Vigny  (see 
Ch.  IV,  below). 

The  technical  qualities  of  Lamartine's  poetry  are,  first,  a 
suave  harmony,  continuing  the  tradition  of  Racine  and  of  the 
His  eighteenth-century  elegists;  a  fluidity  of  composi- 

Quaities  ^JQu^  connected  with  a  preference  for  floating,  soar- 
ing objects  and  images;  a  softness  of  tone  and  outline;  and  an 
exposed  sensibility,  like  that  of  "  an  .lEolian  harp."  Moreover, 
his  poetry  is  subjective  to  a  degree  unknown  in  French  poetry 
since  the  Pleiade.  In  form,  Lamartine  stands  less  for  elaborate 
workmanship  than  for  improvisation  and  spontaneity.  He  did 
not  despise  revision,  but  he  needed  restriction.  His  poems  tend 
progressively  towards  a  full  easy  movement,  lacking  definiteness 
of  contoiu-  and  containing  sometimes  negligences  and  bombast. 
Often  too  his  muse  has  an  airy  insubstantiality,  like  that  of 
Shelley.  But  it  is  seldom  that  Lamartine  fails  to  affect  the 
reader  by  the  expansive  grace  of  his  emotions  and  the  lifting 
power  of  his  ideals. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    POETS:   VICTOR    HUGO 

As  Voltaire  dominated  the  eighteenth  century,  so  does  Hugo 
dominate  the  nineteenth,  and  partly  for  the  same  reasons:  ver- 
satility,  longevity  (1802-85)  and  the  power  of  an 
ever-driving  pen.  Not  only  is  Hugo  the  most  repre- 
sentative writer  of  the  past  century;  he  is  the  greatest  lyric 
poet  that  S'rance  ever  had,  and  he  possesses  one  of  the  master 
imaginations  of  the  world.  The  French  are  proud  of  him,  not 
so  much  as  the  author  of  Les  Miser ables  or  of  Hemani,  but  be- 
cause in  the  writing  of  poetry  he  shows  amazing  powers  of 
vision  and  expression.  But  his  judgment  and  balance  fall  be- 
low his  creative  abilities,  and  the  man  is  inferior  to  the  poet. 
The  facts  of  his  life  and  work  must  be  distinguished  from  the 
"  legend,"  which  he  and  his  admirers  carefully  fostered. 

Victor-Marie  Hugo  was  born  at  Besan^on  in  1802.  His 
father  was  an  officer  in  Napoleon's  army  and  commanded  under 
Joseph  Bonaparte  when  the  latter  was  made  king 
of  Spain.  General  Hugo  took  his  family  with  him, 
and  Victor's  boyish  eyes  were  filled  with  the  picturesqueness 
of  Italy,  the  light  and  splendor  of  Spain.  The  latter  country 
left  its  impress  upon  many  of  his  works  (for  example,  Hemani, 
La  Legende  des  siecles).  The  Hugo  family  settled  at  Paris  in 
1812,  and  Victor  went  in  for  omnivorous  study  and  much  juve- 
nile verse-making.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  declared:  "  Je  veux 
etre  Chateaubriand  ou  rien."  The  youthful  poet  failed  of  the 
prize  in  several  Academy  competitions,  but  was  later  crowned 
by  the  Jeux  Floraux  de  Toulouse.  He  and  his  brother  estab- 
lished a  journal  —  Le  Conservatevr  litteraire,  (1819-21) — for 
which  Victor  wrote  voluminously.  The  journal  was  well  named, 
for  at  this  period  Hugo  was  conservative  in  everything,  pre- 
ferring the  consecrated  literary  tradition  and  manifesting,  d.  la 
Chateaubriand,  an  ardent  royalism  and  Catholicism.    These 

534 


HIS    LIFE  535 

were  also  the  principles  of  the  Sodiete  des  Bonnes  Lettres,  which 
Victor  joined  a  little  later.  After  his  mother's  death,  a  period 
of  discouragement  and  loneliness  propelled  Hugo  into  a  swift 
marriage  with  the  beautiful  Adele  Foucher.  Marital  responsi- 
bilities hastened  his  productivity  and  he  brought  out  the  first 
volume  of  Odes  et  Ballades  (1822).  This  publication  launched 
him  on  his  career,  talented  young  friends  were  grouped  aroimd 
him,  and  the  cenacle  of  the  Mwse  Frangaise  was  formed  with 
Hugo's  active  collaboration.  The  youth  already  impressed 
these  coteries  by  his  grave  and  priest-like  demeanor  and  by  the 
promise  of  his  genius. 

The  year  1827  may  be  regarded  as  marking  Hugo's  maturity 
and  his  conversion  to  Romanticism.  This  year  saw  the  publi- 
cation of  Cromwell  and  its  preface ;  the  poet  assumed 
the  leadership  of  the  chief  Romantic  cenacle;  and  his 
intimate  friendship  and  literary  association  with  Sainte-Beuve 
was  started.  In  1830,  he  is  at  the  height  of  his  young  glory,  with 
the  victory  of  Hemard,  and  for  ten  years  thereafter  he  wields  a 
literary  scepter.  In  this  decade  numerous  plays  were  performed, 
four  important  volumes  ,  of  verse  were  published,  together 
with  the  very  successful  Notre-Dame  de  Paris;  and  Hugo  was 
gradually  converted  to  a  cautious  republicanism.  His  popularity 
was  increased  through  his  expression  of  democracy  (for  example, 
in  Ruy  Bias),  as  well  as  through  his  exaltation  of  Napoleon,  and 
fresh  coteries  surrounded  him  with  dangerous  incense.  After 
several  applications,  he  was  elected  to  the  Academy  in  1841. 
He  suffered  a  great  domestic  bereavement  through  the  drowning 
of  his  daughter  in  1841;  he  had  already  broken  with  Sainte- 
Beuve  for  private  reasons.  He  assumed  a  more  prominent  role 
politically,  and  from  1849  he  declared  for  republicanism  against 
Bonaparte.  His  opposition  to  the  latter  led  to  Hugo's  exile  and 
caused  an  inextinguishable  hatred  for  "Napoleon  le  petit." 
The  poet  was  banished  first  to  Brussels,  then  took  up  his  resi- 
dence on  the  Channel  Islands,  Jersey  and  Guernsey  (1852-70). 
His  life  in  exile  was  characterized  by  virulent  attacks  on  Napo- 
leon III  {Les  Chdtiments)  and  on  other  French  leaders;  by  an 
acquaintance  with  new  landscapes  and  seascapes,  which  are 
prominent  in  Les  Travailleurs  de  la  mer;  and  by  an  imceasing 
literary  productivity,  which  finds  its  crown  in  La  L6gende  des 


536  THE    POETS:    VICTOR    HUGO 

siecles.  Returning  to  Paris  in  1870,  Hugo  went  through  the 
siege  and  reconstruction,  and  wrote  L'Annee  terrible.  He  was 
now  a  "  grand  vieillard,"  who  posed  in  his  salon  as  a  demi-god. 
His  last  years  were  filled  with  a  great  and  growing  popularity. 
France  saw  in  him  a  hero  and  prophet  who  had  experienced 
and  reflected  her  own  vicissitudes  and  who  now  shed  glory  on 
the  Republic.  In  1875  he  was  elected  senator  from  Paris;  he 
was  feted  widely  on  his  eightieth  birthday,  and  his  death  in 
1885  was  made  the  occasion  of  an  apotheosis.  His  ashes  were 
laid  in  the  Pantheon  amid  much  pomp  and  almost  universal 
tribute. 

In  many  respects  Hugo  deserved  his  fame.  He  was  an  authen- 
tic genius  and  an  indefatigable  worker.  His  best  writings  are 
marked  by  a  great  imaginative  flame  and  by  an  un- 
derstanding of  the  heart  of  humanity.  But  in  his 
own  life  his  heart  and  his  judgment  likewise  were  often  sub- 
merged by  his  ego.  Friends  fell  away  from  him,  women  suffered 
from  his  treatment,  no  cause  could  reckon  on  his  support,  if  his 
pride  or  prestige  was  at  stake.  His  inordinate  vanity  has  been 
made  the  subject  of  many  stories;  he  actually  thought  that  the 
city  of  Paris  should  be  renamed  in  his  honor.  He  loved  his 
country  and  especially  his  children;  but  love,  literature  and 
politics  became  with  Hugo  occasions  for  self-aggrandizement, 
and  because  of  his  political  veering,  the  charge  has  been  made 
that  he  lacked  sincerity  both  in  his  life  and  his  works.  This 
is  probably  too  severe,  but  steadfastness  of  thought  and  conduct 
was  scarcely  to  be  expected  from  Hugo's  whirling  brain  and 
imagination.  He  is  an  echo  of  ideas  rather  than  an  originator. 
He  is  not  to  be  greatly  loved  or  trusted,  but  rather  to  be  admired 
when  properly  set  on  his  pedestal.  That  pedestal  consists  of 
nearly  fifty  volumes,  many  of  which  arc  masterpieces.  We  shall 
consider  only  his  poetry  in  this  chapter.^  The  lyrical  inspiration 
with  which  Hugo  began  predominated  for  twenty  years  and  was 
also  conspicuous  in  his  drama  during  that  period. 

The  volumes  of  Odes  (1822-24)  and  later  of  Odes  et  ballades 
First  Fruits    (^^26)   are  far  from  indicating  the  true  power  of 
Hugo.    The  odes  particularly  seem  second-rate  to- 
day in  their  effete  royalisra  and  neo-classicism.    These  occasional 
'  For  his  drama  and  fiction,  see  bei|^,  Chapters  V  and  VI. 


HIS    VERSE  637 

pieces  are  full  of  apostrophes  and  banalities.  The  ballads  are 
better  poetry,  and  such  a  chivalric  inspiration  as  Le  Pas  d'armes 
du  roi  Jean,  with  its  skilful  swing,  announces  the  author  as  a  vir- 
tuoso of  rime  and  rhythm.  These  qualities  and  others  are  con- 
spicuous in  Les  Orientales  (1829) ,  where  Hugo's  muse  is  decidedly 
stronger.  Deference  is  shown  to  the  Byronic  vogue,  and  certain 
poems  dealing  with  Greece  and  Turkey  have  a  conventional 
flavor;  but  those  dealing  with  Spain  have  kept  all  their  freshness 
of  coloring;  in  fact,  splendid  color  is  the  hall-mark  of  Les 
Orientales.  The  volume  includes  such  a  tour  de  jorce  as  Les 
Djinns  and  the  reworking  of  Byron's  Mazeppa,  with  the  fine 
symbol  of  the  poet  bound  to  his  genius  as  Mazeppa  was  bound  to 
his  horse.  Great  suppleness  of  rhythm  and  language  is  to  be 
found  in  Les  Orientales,  of  which  one  critic  has  said,  "  On  est 
ebloui,  mais  on  n'est  pas  emu." 

More  emotion  appears  in  the  four  volumes  of  the  next  decade. 
The  poet  now  tiu-ns  to  subjective  experience.  Also,  profiting  by 
Mature  *^®  advice  of  Sainte-Beuve,  Hugo  seems  to  reveal  a 

Personal        better  taste  and  less  tendency  to  excess  than  in  any 
***  ^  other  period.    This  is  certainly  true  of  Les  Feuilles 

d'awtomne  (1831) ,  where  the  treatment  is  subdued  and  the  themes 
are  personal  or  concerned  with  hearth  and  home.  But  the  poet 
loses  in  eclat  what  he  gains  in  sobriety.  The  "  twilight "  note  of 
the  Chants  du  crepuscvle  (1835)  indicates  more  melancholy  and 
pensive  doubt  than  is  found  elsewhere;  but  there  is  too  much 
"  occasional  verse  "  on  very  different  subjects.  Consequently 
the  volume  lacks  unity.  It  is  noticeable  that  here  Hugo  seems 
less  captivated  by  kings  and  shows  the  beginnings  of  his  htiman- 
itarian  sentiments.  His  religion  had  died  down.  In  fact,  no 
great  convictions  inspire  Les  Chants  du  crepuscule,  though  the 
form  is  often  powerful  or  graceful.  Les  Voix  interieures  (1837) 
set  out  to  express  "  cette  musique  que  tout  homme  a  en  soi," 
and  the  personal  voices  often  mingle  with  those  of  Nature  at 
large.  There  are  echoes  of  her  moods,  whether  compassionate 
or  indifferent,  the  sound  of  the  sea  is  heard,  and  nature  and  art 
are  prettily  compounded  in  such  charming  poems  as  Le  Passe 
or  Puisqu'id-bas  toute  dme.  The  volume  is  an  admirable  lyric 
collection.  Finally,  Les  Rayons  et  les  Ombres  (1840),  in  its 
alternation  of  happiness  and  sorrow,  also  contains  many  notable 


538  THE    POETS:    VICTOR   HUGO 

poems.    There  is  the  famous  Guitare,  with  its  refrain, 

Le  vent  qui  souffle  a  travers  la  montagne 
Me  rendra  fou! 

There  is  the  mournful  splendor  of  Oceano  Nox  and  another 
mingling  of  art  and  nature  in  La  Statue.  Above  all,  there  is 
Hugo's  greatest  poem  of  sentiment,  that  "pathetic  sonata" 
called  Tristesse  d'Olymjno.  The  theme  of  this,  as  in  La- 
martine's  Lac  and  Musset's  Souvenir,  is  the  revival  of  love's 
memory  amid  associated  scenery,  and  Hugo's  solution  is  that 
the  memory  is  not  preserved  in  external  objects  but  lives  dark- 
ling in  the  hiunan  heart  — 

C'est  toi  qui  dors  dans  I'ombre,  6  sacre  souvenir. 

In  general,  nature  is  viewed  as  linked  with  our  emotions  and 
as  an  educator  of  humanity-  The  volume  sums  up  several 
of  the  author's  previous  tendencies,  such  as  the  depiction  of 
family  life  or  of  landscape,  and  announces  coming  tendencies, 
such  as  compassionate  humanitarianism  and  satiric  indignation, 
Les  Chatiments  (1853)  fulfil  Hugo's  declaration  — 

Et  j'ajoute  a  ma  lyre  une  corde  d'airain. 

Written  during  exile,  the  book  is  one  long-sustained  invective 
against  Napoleon  III.  On  account  of  its  unity,  vehemence  and 
biting  force,  this  is  regarded  by  many  as  Hugo's 
greatest  volume  of  verse.  That  distinction  should 
rather  be  reserved  for  La  Legends  des  siecles,  but  it  is  true  that 
Les  Chatiments  "enlarge  the  limits  of  poetry  "and  bring  into 
satire  a  new  ardor  and  imagery.  We  have  here  less  virtuosity  and 
more  direct  emotion  than  is  usual  with  Hugo,  because  his  hatred 
of  the  third  Napoleon  was  probably  the  master-feeling  of  his 
public  life.  Les  Chatiments  present  a  constant  antithesis  be- 
tween the  night  of  the  past  (usurpations,  crime  and  the  degra- 
dation of  races)  and  the  light  of  the  future  (expiation,  the 
restoration  of  justice,  the  triumph  of  human  love  and  of  the 
powers  of  nature).  Much  of  this  appears  in  L'Expiation,  the 
best-known  poem  in  the  collection.  Its  moral  is  that  the  great 
and  Napoleon's  ruthlessness  is  punished  less  by  his  own 

Meditations     defeats  than  by  the  nullity  of  his  successor.    This 
poem  contains  some  of  the  finest  tirades  in  the  language.    Les 


HIS    MASTERPIECE  539 

Contemplcdions  (1856)  are  more  serene  and  constitute  a  sort 
of  long  autobiography.  Hugo  has  now  assumed  his  role  of 
songeur  or  seer.  He  "  contemplates "  nature  (Pasteurs  et 
troupeaux),  meditates  on  death,  particularly  the  loss  of  his 
daughter,  reflects  on  his  own  past  and  still  hates  his  enemies. 
All  his  lyric  gifts  are  here  in  full  force  and  certain  of  his  lyric 
extravagances:  an  abuse  of  enumeration  and  repetition,  a  flux 
of  words,  or  a  tendency  towards  a  mere  coquettish  prettiness 
{mignardises,  cf.  Rostand's  Musardises).  But  his  ^power  of 
apocalyptic  vision  makes  the  second  part  of  the  volume 
resemble  a  darker  Revelation  of  St.  John.  This  soaring 
away  from  the  known  earth  into  realms  of  hallucination  and 
immensity  is  Hugo's  greatest  feat  in  La  Legende  des  siecles. 

That  collection  consisted  of  four  volumes,  ranging  from 
1859  to  1883.  The  earlier  volumes  are  superior  to  the  later. 
Epic:  "  La  '^^®  *^^°^  "  petites  epopees "  was  used  as  a  sub- 
legende  des  title,  and  the  whole  work  proceeded  from  the  epic 
conception  of  recording  the  destinies  of  mankind  at 
various  periods  and  as  expressed  by  various  heroes.  Vigny  had 
abeady  poetized  this  idea,  which  was  carried  on  by  Hugo,  by 
the  work  of  Leconte  de  Lisle  and  by  Heredia's  Trophies. '  Apart 
from  the  conception,  however,  Hugo's  manner  is  epic  in  only  a 
few  narratives  {Eviradnus,  Batbert,  etc.)  and  includes  poems  of 
all  sorts  and  sizes.  In  his  survey  of  the  ages,  the  author  shows 
a  preference  for  remote  and  god-like  periods,  and  his  apocalyptic 
genius  appears  riding  above  the  chaos  of  pre-historic  times. 
The  beginnings  of  creation  (Le  Sacre  de  la  femme,  La  Con- 
science) ;  the  warfare  of  Titans  and  gods  (Le  Titan,  Le  Oeant 
<mx  dieiix) ;  a  superb  Naturalistic  vision  of  Pan  and  his  like 
(Le  Satyre) ;  the  heroics  of  Roland  and  of  the  Cid:  these  are 
the  subjects  that  attracted  Hugo,  who  felt  an  aflSnity  for  the 
gigantic  and  even  the  monstrous.  He  also  well  portrayed 
Biblical  times,  as  in  the  charming  idyll  of  Booz  endormi;  and 
the  ideals  of  chivalry  still  stirred  him,  as  in  Aymerillot  and 
Eviradnus.  But  more  civilized  aspects  of  culture,  such  as  Grecian 
beauty  or  the  modern  refinement  of  France,  scarcely  inspired 
him  at  all.  Consequently,  La  Legende  des  siecles  shows  great 
gaps  from  the  historical  point  of  view.    Again,  Hugo's  treatment 

»  See  below,  Bk.  VII,  Ch.  III. 


540  THE    POETS:    VICTOR   HUGO 

of  history  was  too  simplified  in  that  he  saw  a  clear  conflict  be- 
tween good  and  evil,  a  perpetual  antithesis  of  "  Dieu "  and 
"Satan."  Kings  are  always  odious  and  tyrannous,  whereas 
democracy  (le  peuple)  shall  be  released  and  justified.  Hope  is 
the  vision  which  shines  above  the  crumbling  "  wall  of  the  cen- 
turies." Hugo,  for  poetical  pm-poses,  puts  "  legend  "  side  by 
side  with  history  and  violates  accuracy  at  will ;  but  the  historical 
coloring  is  often  superb,  vivid  reconstruction  is  attained  in  many 
places,  the  symbols  are  usually  well-chosen,  and,  above  all,  the 
powers  of  expression  here  revealed  are  unrivaled  and  almost 
inhuman.  The  poet  creates  his  own  mythology  in  his  dealings 
with  Titans  and  giants  and  in  the  marvelous  Satyre.  A 
sinister  beauty  and  a  strange  force  predominate  in  the  work 
{L'Aigle  du  Casque,  Le  Parricide) ;  there  is  an  alternation  of  the 
ideal  with  the  brutal  (L'Epopee  du  ver) ;  magnificent  invective 
shines  in  La  Vision  de  Dante,  and  a  more  restrained  Renaissance 
beauty  in  La  Rose  de  I'Injante.  Sometimes  there  are  violences 
and  absurdities,  as  in  the  notion  of  the  Sultan  who  achieves  re- 
demption through  succoring  a  pig.  Kings,  monsters,  children, 
gods,  animals,  criminals  and  the  abounding  personality  of  the 
author  make  the  strangest  jmnble.  More  and  more  Hugo  dons 
the  mantle  of  the  prophet  alid  lays  down  the  law  to  humanity 
(cf .  La  Fonction  du  poete) .  The  thought  is  often  commonplace  or 
empty,  yet  it  has  been  said  that  the  hollowest  verses  are  formed 
so  solidly  that  they  stand  upright  like  richly  wrought  armor. 
The  composition  of  individual  poems  is  excellent.  Hugo  can 
do  anything  with  rhythm,  while  in  language  ajid  in  metaphor  he 
opens  new  horizons.  His  greatest  gifts  of  imagination  and 
rhetoric  are  here  revealed  in  their  perfection  and  even  in  their 
over-perfection  and  excess.^ 

His  imagination  declares  itself  in  many  ways:  in  the  actual 
number  and  novelty  of  his  images;  in  his  power  of  sustained 
Imagination  P^i'sonification  and  vision;  and  particularly  in  his 
myth-making  faculty,  his  evocation  of  immensity. 
In  the  first  place,  his  images  are  often  striking,  novel  or  freshly 
adapted ;  they  are  sometimes  ugly  and  they  are  incessant.    Hugo 

•  La  lAgende  is  Hugo's  culminating  work,  but  for  the  sake  of  completeness  there 
may  be  mentioned:  Chansons  des  rues  et  des  boia  (1865),  L'AH  efitre  grand' pin 
(1877)    and  Les  Quaire  Vents  de  I'esprU  (1881). 


fflS    IMAGINATION  641 

simply  saw  the  world  in  terms  of  the  imagination,  and  he  has 
been  called  "  next  to  Chateaubriand ...  the  great  imagist "  of 
French  literature  (Babbitt).  So  we  find  long  successions  of 
figures,  the  intention  being  to  compare  the  object  to  as  many 
other  objects  as  possible.  This  sometimes  leads  to  a  welter  of 
mixed  figures,  as  where  Dante  is  compared  first  to  a  mountain, 
then  to  an  oak  and  finally  to  a  lion.  But  at  his  best  Hugo  pre- 
sents hundreds  of  suitable  poetic  images,  consisting  mainly  of 
similes  and  metaphors.  His  figures  are  of  the  greatest  variety, 
realistic,  spiritual,  tragic  and  terrible,  or  simply  charming.  The 
second  feature  of  his  imaginative  ability  is  the  gift  of  sustained 
personification  or  amplification.  This  appears  in  his  vision  of 
the  Wall  ("  le  mur  des  siecles  ") ,  or  in  such  a  poem  as  Mazeppa, 
where  we  find  a  long  and  appropriate  succession  of  images 
within  the  main  simile.  Bold  metamorphoses  and  many  personi- 
fications of  general  ideas  {le  Peuple,  le  Vers,  I'Idee)  also  occur. 
There  is  the  recurrent  personification  of  I'Echafaud,  like  the 
sustained  vivification  and  symbolism  of  Notre-Dame.  Finally, 
his  creative  myth-making  has  already  been  exemplified  in  con- 
nection with  La  Legende  —  a  new  angle  on  Olympus',  a  bold  en- 
trance of  titanic  forces,  together  with  the  Zodiac,  the  Word  and  a 
comprehensive  person  called  Tout.  Hugo  constructs  fresh 
figures  in  "  la  Deroute  "  and  "  les  Batailles  "  of  Napoleon.  He 
shows  a  kind  of  animism  in  treating  elements  as  living,  thinking 
forces:  "La  mer  fait  des  maladresses."  Oceans  and  wars, 
demi-gods  and  centuries  parade  before  us,  and  Hugo's  highest 
visioning  does  not  fall  short  of  sublimity. 

To  illustrate  this  power  of  sublime  conception,  we  may  take 
the  poem  called  Le  Parricide.  King  Canute  of  Denmark 
has  killed  his  own  father.  The  crime  is  not  discovered,  but 
Canute  dies,  rises  again  in  his  restlessness,  wraps  himself  in  a 
shroud  of  snow  and  goes  roaming  in  search  of  God.  Wherever 
he  goes,  throughout  a  strange  universe,  "  a  drop  of  blood  falls 
upon  his  shroud."  This  is  the  recurrent  motif,  like  the  constant 
snow  in  L'Expiation.  The  shroud  soon  becomes  wholly  crimson, 
and  Canute  in  an  agony  of  remorse  is  driven  from  the  throne 
of  God. 

A  like  sublimity  marks  Hugo's  language  at  its  best.  He  is 
the  greatest  master  of  poetic  style  and  knows  all  the  resources 


542  THE    POETS:    VICTOR    HUGO 

of  French  rhetoric.  His  language  is  nearly  always  grannnatical 
and  syntactical;  his  faults  proceed  rather  from  too  much  style 
and  too  much  imagination.  He  had  the  widest 
Rhetoric  ^^^^^  .^  vocabulary  of  any  French  poet,  totally 
outsoaring  the  Classical  restrictions.  He  adored  words: 
Car  le  mot,  e'est  le  Verbe  et  le  Verba  c'est  Dieu. 

Above  all,  he  had  a  preference  for  the  grandiose:  for  such  words 
as  immense,  sombre,  vaste,  for  such  figures  as  lions,  titans  and 
the  seven  wonders  of  the  world.  The  gigantic  runs  readily  into 
the  grotesque,  and  the  grotesque  into  the  goguenard  {Le  Geant 
aux  dieux) .  He  also  gives  a  large  place  to  the  purely  fantastic. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  does  not  always  eschew  mere  prettiness 
and  wit.  Among  his  prominent  rhetorical  devices  are  the 
following:  the  double  substantive  (I'homme-troupeau,  la  reine- 
esclave) ;  the  recurrent  mstif,  such  as  the  Eye  that  ever  watches 
Gain  in  La  Conscience;  and  long  eniunerations  or  parallel  clauses 
beginning  with  the  same  word.  This  last  habit,  effective  at  first,  ■ 
grew  upon  Hugo  until  it  became  a  fault  of  his  method,  leading 
to  many  repetitions  and  excrescences.  But  his  inveterate  trait, 
equally  dangerous,  is  antithesis,  the  psychological  results  of 
which  will  be  developed  elsewhere.  Here  it  may  be  exemplified 
by  the  title  of  Les  Rayons  et  les  Ombres  or  by  the  fine  Alexan- 
drine from  Booz  endormi: 

Car  le  jeune  homme  est  beau,  mais  le  vieillard  est  grand. 

Harmless  and  even  appropriate  in  many  cases,  this  kind  of 
balance  became  an  obsession  with  Hugo,  leading  to  monotony 
and,  often,  to  a  twisting  of  the  truth.  Another  device,  more  typ- 
ically French,  is  the  long  periode,  the  sustained  sweep  of  sen- 
tences in  which  the  effective  line  or  word  comes  last.  This  has 
analogies  with  the  "  sm-prise  ending  "  of  Maupassant  and  may 
be  found  in  Bivar,  Tristesse  d'Olympio  (see  above)  and  several 
speeches  from  Hemani,  ending  in  "  I'^chafaud."  In  the  matter 
of  sonority  and  tone-color,  Hugo  is  unsurpassed.  Witness  the 
vibrant  note,  the  clashing  of  dollars  and  drums  in  Les  Rdtres: 

Sonnez,  clairons,  sonnez,  cymbales! 
On  entendra  siffler  les  balles.  .  .  . 
Sonnez,  rixdales,  sonnez,  doublons! 


HIS    GENIUS  543 

Or  again,  the  sinister  noise  of  the  yew-trees  crushed  by  the 
genii  (Les  Djinns) : 

Les  ifs  que  leur  vol  fracasse 
Craquent  comme  un  pin  brulant. 

As  regards  structure,  Hugo  is  a  master  of  exact,  harmonious 
and  beautiful  composition,  whose  regularity  he  knows  how  to 
vary  at  need.  Finally,  his  verse-rhythms  show  an  equal  variety 
and  freedom.* 

It  has  been  seen  that  Hugo  runs  to  excess ;  he  has  the  defects 
of  his  qualities.  But  the  qualities  outweigh  the  defects  —  a 
_  .  truth  which  hostile  critics  hardly  consider  —  and 
there  are  dozens  of  masterpieces  in  which  the 
artist  displays  an  almost  Classic  beauty  and  restraint.  Other 
of  his  poetic  virtues  might  be  mentioned,  such  as  his  sensibility 
and  his  power  of  suggestiveness.  Through  the  imiversality  of 
his  genius  he  exemplifies,  indeed,  nearly  every  mode  and  quality 
of  Romanticism.  But  rhetoric  and  imagination  are  his  special 
forte.  His  thought  lacks  depth  and  coherency:  his  Naturalism 
wars  with  his  more  orthodox  faith  in  God,  in  immortality  and  in 
the  spirit  of  mankind.  His  expansive  poetic  power  is  the  gift 
that  remains  unassailable.  This  gift  has  influenced  and  often 
transported  two  generations,  at  home  and  abroad.  Other  poets 
may  do  this  or  that,  said  Theodore  de  Banville,  but,  he  added, 
referring  to  Hugo's  Guernsey  sojourn. 

The  Master's  yonder  in  the  Isle. 

And  in  England,  Swinburne  was  one  of  Hugo's  greatest  admirers 
and  imitators. 

*  For  the  Romantic  liberation  of  the  Alexandrine,  see  below,  Ch.  V. 


CHAPTER  rV 
THE     POETS:     MUSSET,     VIGNY,     GAUTIER 

Of  these  three  writers,  Musset  is  the  most  passionate,  Vigny 
the  most  intellectual,  and  Gautier  the  most  elaborate  and  sensu- 
ous. Alfred  de  Musset  expresses  the  direct  emotions  of  love  and 
youth;  Alfred  de  Vigny  fathers  the  "  poeme  philosophique"; 
Theophile  Gautier  begins  a  tendency  towards  impersonality  and 
incorporates  in  his  work  the  doctrine  of  art  for  art's  sake. 

The  chief  event  in  Alfred  de  Musset 's  life  (1810-57)  was  his 
love-affair  with  George  Sand.  As  a  youth  of  eighteen  he  had 
been  the  enfant  terrible  of  Hugo's  group,  and  his 
early  poems  show  a  mingling  of  Byronic  passion  with 
adolescent  gaiety  and  daring.  The  trip  to  Italy  with  George 
Sand  (1833)  effectively  disposed  of  the  gaiety,  and  the  two 
writers  failed  in  their  signal  attempt  to  carry  the  Romantic  theo- 
ries into  love  and  life.  Their  rupture  left  the  stronger  nature 
of  the  woman  almost  unharmed,  but  Musset  sank  into  despair 
and  debauchery,  a  night  relieved  only  by  the  composition  of  a 
few  great  poems  that  immortalize  his  sorrow.  He  produced  very 
little  during  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life.  "  Que  de  lumierel"  ex- 
claims Sainte-Beuve,  "que  d'eclipse  et  d'ombre!  " 

Musset's  poems  are  to  be  found  today  in  the  two  collections  of 
Premieres  poesies  (to  1833)  and  Poesies  nouvelles  (1836-52). 
Chief  They  range  from  the  youthful  abandon  of  his  first 

Volumes  volume  {Contes  d'Espagne  et  d'ltaXie,  1829) ,  through 
the  cynic  gloom  of  Eolla,  down  to  the  supreme  cry  of  defeated 
passion  in  the  famous  Nuits.  The  prose  Confession  d'un  Enfant 
du  siecle  also  recoimts  his  love  and  grief.  His  poetic  dramas 
will  be  considered  in  the  next  chapter.  The  Contes  d'Espagne 
et  d'ltalie  show  Romantic  exoticism  and  the  "  lure  of  distance," 
Romantic  swagger  and  irony  {Don  Paez,  Mardoche).  Though 
inferior  as  a  whole  to  his  later  work,  this  volmne  contains  vari- 
ous charming  chansons,  which  were  always  a  forte  with  Musset 

644 


MUSSET'S    VERSE  545 

The  Contes  represent  the  reckless  sparkling  dandy  that  was  the 
poet's  first  incarnation.  As  for  expression,  this  is  the  only  volume 
that  freely  takes  Romantic  liberties  {enjambement,  etc.),  and 
even  here  Musset  parodies  certain  features  of  the  Romantic 
technique.  His  break  with  the  school  occurred  shortly  after- 
wards; he  rebelled  against  the  rime  riche  and  the  rhetorical 
processes  of  Hugo's  circle ;  but  the  narrative  poems  of  Namouna 
and  Bolla  (1833)  none  the  less  reflect  the  exaltation,  Don  Juan- 
ism  and  disillusionment  so  characteristic  of  the  period.  Rolla, 
or  the  "  last  night  of  a  rake,"  is  Musset's  longest  narrative  poem 
and  made  his  reputation  among  those  who  admired  Byronic 
effusions.  Up  to  this  point  Musset  is  essentially  the  poet  of 
youth,  and  Sainte-Beuve  declared  him  the  embodiment  of  ado- 
lescent genius. 

He  fully  became  the  poet  of  love  in  the  series  always  associ- 
ated with  his  name :  the  Nuit  de  mai  and  the  Nuit  de  decembre 
(1835),  which  particularly  and  poignantly  recall  his  heart-affair; 
the  Nuit  d'aout  and  the  Nuit  d'octobre,  which  are  calmer  in  tone. 
Three  of  these  four  lyrics  consist  of  dialogues  between  the  poet 
and  his  Muse.  The  latter  generally  urges  recovery  from  sorrow, 
the  healing  effects  of  time  and  of  work.  But  the  poet  retorts  — 
and  this  is  Musset's  outstanding  creed: 

Apres  avoir  souffert,  il  faut  souffrir  encore, 
II  faut  aimer  sans  cesse,  apres  avoir  aime. 

.The  Souvenir  of  1841  worthily  concludes  the  series  in  its  vehe- 
^ment  and  beautiful  expression  of  the  thought  that,  though  love 
may  be  lost,  its  memory  can  never  perish.  Of  these  masterpieces, 
VLa  Nuit  de  mai  is  the  most  exquisite  lyrically,  from  the  swooning 
beauty  of  the  early  strophes  to  the  great  figure  of  the  pelican  as 
compared  with  the  poet's  heart.  Musset's  other  verse  often  has 
this  lyric  charm,  especially  audible  in  such  songs  as  Adieu  Suzon, 
Rappelle-toi  and  the  Chanson  de  Barberine: 

Beau  chevalier  qui  partez  pour  la  guerre,'* 

Qu'allez-votis  faire 

Si  loin  de  nous? 
J 'en  vais  pleurer,  moi  qui  me  laissais  dire 

Que  men  sourire 

Etait  si  doux. 


546  MUSSET,   VIGNY,    GAUTIER 

The  Stances  a  la  Malibran,  in  their  insistence  on  the  essential 
unity  of  genius  and  love,  constitute  a  fine  elegy.  The 
Other  Poems  ^g(^j.g  ^  Lamartine  pays  tribute  to  that  poet's  cahner 
idealism,  contrasted  with  the  mal  romantique  of  Musset  himself. 
Sur  la  paresse  lets  the  writer,  with  his  usual  frankness,  tell  lis  a 
great  deal  about  his  ideas  and  his  habits:  his  invincible  idleness; 
his  hatred  of  present-day  manners,  mediocrity,  journalism;  his 
preference  for  the  gallantry  of  his  ancestors,  for  living  danger- 
ously and  expansively;  and  his  love  of  Regnier  as  the  master 
of  virile  satire.  The  poet's  spiritual  longings  are  vaguely  ex- 
pressed in  L'Espoir  en  Dieu: 

Malgre  moi  Tinfini  me  tourmente, 

but  elsewhere  Musset  admits  his  general  indifference  to  politics 
and  religion.  His  apprehension  of  such  subjects  is  quick  rather 
than  profound.  He  is  not  a  philosopher,  not  an  interpreter  of 
mankind  nor  of  nature.  He  is  distinguished  by  a  charming  fancy 
rather  than  by  the  greater  creative  imagination.  He  is  at  his 
best  in  "  short  swallow-flights  of  song." 

The  form  of  this  poetry  is  not  perfect.  In  versification  and 
expression  Musset  is  too  often  careless  or  obscure.  Yet  his  style 
_    ...  has  a  natural  eloquence.    His  verse  is  most  distin- 

guished when  his  emotion  is  at  white  heat,  and  in  re- 
belling against  the  cenacle  he  declared  that  feeling  is  far  more 
important  than  form.  His  cult  of  the  emotions  and  senses  is 
more  refined  than  Gautier's  and  more  idealistic  than  Byron's. 
His  great  merit  is  that  he  sings  incomparably  of  the  ardors  of 
love  and  the  depths  of  love's  despair.  His  ennui  and  Byronism 
are  compatible  with  a  passionate  sincerity;  his  eloquence  and 
harmony  are  then  the  direct  expression  of  his  feeling;  he  really 
did  desire  and  strive  to  make  romantic  love  the  greatest  thing 
in  life.  He  lives  as  the  chief  exponent  and  victim  of  this  tend- 
ency, which  is  so  marked  in  his  generation.  He  is  also  Romantic 
in  his  frank  self-confession,  his  need  for  individual  expansion 
and  exaltation.    He  is  the  poet  of  personality: 

Mon  verre  n'est  pas  grand,  mais  je  bois  dans  mon  verre. 

Hence  he  formed  no  school  and  has  had  no  successful  imitators. 
Like  his  hero,  Rolla,  he  displays  his  bruised  heart  amid  the 


VIGNY'S    LIFE  547 

magnificence  of  nature  and  of  history;  yet  we  feel  that  these 
trappings  are  not  the  essential  thing.  He  reflects  the  exoticism 
and  the  medievalism  of  his  epoch  —  but  medieval  faith  is  no 
longer  his: 

Je  suis  venu  trop  tard  dans  un  monde  trop  vieux. 

He  is  capable  of  witty  dialogue  and  of  telling  stories  in  verse 
(Simone,  Silvie)  —  but  his  best  story  is  his  own,  as  related  in 
the  Nuits.  He  appeals  most  deeply  to  those  whose  hearts  have 
remained  young;  yet  the  sober  critic,  Taine,  concludes  his 
Litterature  anglodse  by  an  ardent  appreciation  of  Musset.  Com- 
paring him  to  Tennyson,  Taine  admits  that  in  several  respects, 
the  English  country  gentleman  was  superior  to  the  fevered 
Parisian  roue  —  "mais  j'aime  mieux  Alfred  de  Musset  que 
Tennyson."  There  are  many  for  whom  Musset  is  still  singing 
and  who  will  agree  with  Taine  as  to  the  power  and  poignancy 
of  his  lyric  cry. 

The  poetry  of  Alfred  de  Vigny^  (1797-1863)  is  more  im- 
personal in  expression  than  that  of  Musset,  but  it  also  springs, 
Vigny's  partially  at  least,  from  the  circumstances  of  his 
Outer  Life  inner  and  outer  life.  That  life  consisted  of  a  series 
of  disappointments.  Born  of  a  noble  family  and  believing  in 
noblesse  oblige  in  every  sense,  Vigny  realized  that  nobility  was 
at  a  discount  in  France.  Entering  military  service  he  found 
that  career  unsatisfactory  and  recorded  his  experiences  in  the 
collection  of  stories  called  Servitude  et  grandeur  militaires 
(1835).  Falling  in  love  with  the  actress  Dorval,  he  was  de- 
ceived by  her  and  gave  vent  to  his  bitterness  in  the  poem  on 
i,  La^  Colere  de  Samson.  Attached  quite  early  to  two  of  the 
Romantic~c^7zncfe,  he  lost  faith  in  the  movement  and  broke  with 
his  former  comrades;  in  Sainte-Beuve's  famous  phrase: 

Et  Vigny,  plus  secret, 
Comme  en  sa  tour  d'ivoire,  avant  midi  rentrait.^ 

He  retired,  that  is,  into  an  intellectual  and  artistic  solitude,  and 
emerged  only  when  duty  called  him. 

'  See  also  Chs.  V  and  VI,  below. 

•  Hence  the  origin  of  "the  ivory  tower"  in  modem  usage;  its  ancient  source 
is  the  turris  ebitmea  of  the  Vulgate. 


648  MUSSET,   VIGNY,    GAUTIER 

Vigny  is  then  the  poet  of  the  inner  life.  His  thought  re- 
volves around  certain  fixed  ideas,  and  the  idea,  in  each  poem. 
Inner  Life  is  embodied  in  a  concrete  imaginative  symbol, 
and  Symbols  -pjjjg  process  can  be  illustrated  by  the  principal 
titles  in  Vigny's  single  volume  of  poetry.*  In  the  poem  already 
cited,  Samson  represents  the  betrayal  of  man's  strength  — 

Et  plus  ou  moina  la  femme  est  toujours  Dalila. 

In  Moise,  the  prophet  typifies  the  loneliness  of  genius.  In  La 
Bouteille  a  la  mer,  the  imperishable  idea  ("  la  Science ")  is 
symbolized  by  the  message  cast  overboard  in  a  shipwreck;  a 
similar  devotion  to  the  Idea  is  foimd  in  L'Esprit  pur  and  La 
Maison  du  berger.  The  latter  poem  suggests,  in  its  title  and 
content,  a  retreat  into  the  bosom  of  nature.  Le  Cor  symbolizes 
^  Roland's  heroic  death,  and  Ln.  Mnrt.  dulniiji  teaches  silence  and 
energy.  It  is  in  this  fashion  that  Vigny  creates  the  "  poeme," 
which  may  be  defined  as  a  short  narrative  or  idyllic  poem  ex- 
pressing symbolically  a  philosophical  thought. 

The  final  divisions  of  his  work  correspond  partly  to  his 
favorite  reading  (the  Bible,  Homer,  Byron) .  The  "  Livre  mys- 
„.  .  tique  "  includes  Mdise,  Le  Deluge  and  Eloa,  that 
story  of  the  angel-maiden  who  became  enamored 
of  Lucifer.  The  "  Livre  antique  "  has  both  a  Biblical  and  a 
Homeric  subdivision,  and  the  latter  class,  by  extension,  includes 
Vigny's  early  idylls  (La  Dryade,  etc.) .  The  "  Livre  modeme  " 
is  largely  historical  and  more  definitely  symbolic:  it  contains 
Le  Cor,  Madame  de  Soubise,  etc.  The  fourth  and  most  im- 
portant division  is  "  Les  Destinees,"  wherein  appeared  most  of 
the  poems  mentioned  in  the  preceding  paragraph.  There  is  a 
certain  historical  progression  in  the  volume  and  this,  together 
with  the  emphasis  on  human  deeds  and  "  destinies,"  the  migra- 
tion of  the  human  spirit  across  the  ages,  makes  Vigny  antedate 
the  Legende  des  siecles  and  Leconte  de  Lisle. 

The  nature  of  Vigny,  proud,  sincere,  pessimistic  and  stoical, 

Ideas  ^^  discreetly  revealed  in  most  of  his  poems;  but 

the!  direct  personal  confession  or  complaint  is  hardly 

found.    He  generalizes  from  experience,   and  his  tendency  is 

•  One  volume  holds  his  entire  verse  to-day.  But  he  published,  in  order, 
Pohnes,  1822;  Eloa,  1824;  Pohmes  anHgues  et  modernes,  1826;  there  appeared  post- 
humously Lea  Destinies,  1864,  and  the  prose  Journal  d'vin  poHe,  1867. 


VIGNY'S    CREED  549 

towards  the  abstract.  His  chief  ideas  may  be  now  summed 
up.  He  believes  primarily  in  the  power  of  thought,  whether 
as  scientific  knowledge  or  as  the  poet's  vision.  In  the  latter 
form,  the  outer  world  may  serve  for  symbols,  but  the  inner 
world  contains  the  endvu-ing  reality.  Vigny's  sensibility  is 
awakened  less  by  the  usual  human  emotions  than  by  the  thrill 
of  comprehending  and  expressing  "  le  Dieu  des  idees."  He  can 
trust  no  other  god  but  this;  his  pessimism  causes  him  to  doubt 
the  beneficence  of  Providence  and  the  effective  intervention  of  ^^v 
Christ  {Le  Silence,  Le  Mont  des  Olivier s).  Vigny  belieyesthat W 
man's_  existence^  is  unjustly  ordered  ^nd  that  evil  is  often 
triumphant.  This  melancholy  is  the  essential  feature  of  his 
philosophy  and  arises  not  only  from  the  facts  of  his  life  — 
and  his  exalted  demands  upon  life  —  but  also  from  his  concep- 
tion of  the  poet  as  necessarily  an  isolated  martyr  (cf.  Chatter- 
ton).  A  stoical  silence  or  energetic  labor  constitutes  the  only 
refuge.  Another  refuge  may  appear  in  Nature,  but,  closely  con- 
sidered, Nature  does  not  answer  the  appeal  of  man  {La  Maison 
du  berger) : 

On  me  dit  una  mere  et  je  suis  une  tombe. 

For  Vigny,  the  pathetic  fallacy  is  pathetic  folly.  Therein 
he  differs  from  such  Romanticists  as  Lamartine.  Vigny  is 
almost  the  first  to  adopt  the  scientific  attitude  that  the  natural 
law  is  non-human  and  implacable.  He  is  uncertain  with  regard 
to  love.  Delilah  is  viewed  as  an  "enfant  malade,"  but  more 
usually  woman  (Eva,  Eloa)  is  idealized  and  made  the  symbol 
of  beauty.  ^Man  is  ^ated,  whether  under  the  ancient  or  the 
Christian  dispensation  {Les  Destinees)  Jto  jndJess_striving_and 
^jldless  faihge.  Without  hope,  but  with  resignation  and  in 
silence,  he  should  endure  his  fate  and  show  compassion  towards 
his  kind.    Addressing  Nature,  the  poet  declares: 

Plus  que  tout  votre  regne  et  que  ses  splendeurs  vaines, 
J'aime  la  majeste  des  souffrances  humaines. 

This  message  is  expressed  in  language  of  a  singular  eleva- 
tion and  sobriety.  Vigny's  best  manner  is  simple  and  large, 
stvi  Classic  rather  than  Romantic.  He  composed  slowly, 

was   not   naturally  productive,    and   is    at   times 


550  MUSSET,    VIGNY,    GAUTIER 

halting  or  obscure.  Like  Lamartine,  he  had  an  aristocratic 
contempt  for  the  writer's  trade.  But  just  as  Musset's  style  be- 
comes perfected  through  warm  emotion,  so  does  Vigny's  through 
the  cooler  but  intense  processes  of  thought.  With  him  the  idea 
at  its  best  imposes  the  proper  form.  He  is,  then,  the  intellectual 
among  the  Romanticists,  and  he  reflects  the  more  pessimistic 
side  of  the  movement  with  nobility  and  sincerity.  In  his  tech- 
nique, his  view  of  nature  and  his  impersonal  manner  he  stands 
apart  from  Romanticism;  yet  a  subjective  mood  or  sentiment 
underlies  the  majority  of  his  poems,  which  show  Romantic  in- 
fluences also  in  their  exotic,  primitive  or  historical  coloring.  A 
grave  and  melancholy  power,  a  stem  idealism,  a  soldierly  view 
of  duty  and  honor  —  these  things  elevate  Vigny's  poetic  ex- 
pression to  a  very  high  level. 

The  nature  and  the  talent  of  Theophile  Gautier  (1811-72) 
were  thoroughly  artistic.  He  cared  for  nothing  but  art,  he 
g    y  was  a  painter  in  his  youth,  and  he  developed  to  a 

high  degree  the  quality  of  form  in  poetry.  His  ad- 
miration for  Victor  Hugo  turned  him  from  painting  to  poetry 
and  it  was  at  the  premiere  of  Hernani  that  Gautier's  pink 
doublet  ("  le  gilet  rouge  ")  symbolized  his'  new  fervor  as  well  as 
his  perpetual  desire  to  scandalize  the  bourgeois.  His  early 
poems  began  to  appear  {Poesies,  1830;  Albertus,  1832;  La 
Comedie  de  la  Mort,  1833).  From  1836,  Gautier  became  a 
galley-slave  of  journalism,  a  polygraph  who  wrote  criticism, 
stories  and  travels.  His  appreciation  of  nature  and  art  was 
enlarged  by  visits  to  various  countries,  especially  by  his  trip 
to  Spain  in  1840.  Poetry  was  still  Gautier's  chief  attachment 
and  in  the  publication  of  Emaiix  et  C amies  (1852),  he  attained 
his  high-water  mark.  In  person,  "  le  bon  Theo  "  was  a  sort 
of  sunny  Hercules,  calm  and  almost  Oriental  in  appearance, 
fond  of  the  pleasant  externalities  of  life.  He  significantly  said 
of  himself:  "Je  suis  un  homme  pour  qui  le  monde  exterieur 
existe." 

Gautier's  early  poetry  is  violently  Romantic.  Albertm  is 
a  free  and  fantastic  narrative  poem,  dealing  with  the  trans- 
Early  Poems  ^orm^tions  and  orgies  of  a  witch,  containing  both 
macabre  and  Don  Juanesque  elements.  Gautier 
here  uses  strong  words  and  metaphors  and  is  evidently  striving 


GAUTIER'S    ART  551 

for  originality;  the  composition  of  his  verse  is  solid  and  his 
talent  for  close  description,  with  analogies  to  painting,  is  already 
prominent.  Still  more  sepulchral  in  tone  is  La  Comedie  de  la 
Mart,  presenting  a  hero  who  is  seeking  an  ideal  love  through 
many  loves  that  are  not  ideal.  This  is  Gautier's  farewell  to 
youthful  Romanticism;  but  he  also  wrote  about  this  time 
(Poesies  diverses)  some  elegies  as  well  as  delicate  and  colorful 
poems  of  a  more  impersonal  cast.  This  tendency  is  fvdly  re- 
"Emaux  et  yealed  in  Emaux  et  Camees,  a  volume  which  must 
Camees"  have  been  slowly  elaborated  and  which  crystallizes 
a  transition  in  French  poetry.  From  now  on  the  movement  is 
away  from  the  sentimental  and  the  personal  towards  the  im- 
passive and  the  "  Parnassian."  *  Gautier  is  the  man  who  bridges 
the  two  schools;  his  more  morbid  Romanticism  is  reflected  by 
his  great  admirer,  Baudelaire;  but  his  sense  of  objective  form 
finds  its  continuation  not  only  in  Baudelaire  but  in  the  whole 
Parnassian  group. 

The  very  title  of  Bmavx  et  Camees  implies  delicate  workman- 
ship, and  the  volume  as  a  whole  perfectly  illustrates  Gautier's 
Theory  of      artistic  standards  and  processes.    His  point  of  de-^ 
^^  parture,  in  theory,  is  I'art  pour  I'art;  in  practice,  the 

example  of  other  arts,  especially  painting  and  sculpture,  con- 
trols his  technique.  The  theory  is  indifferent  to  morality;  not 
eager  for  emotions  or  ideas,  it  is  concerned  mainly  with  external 
beauty.  The  practice  includes,  first,  the  "  seeing  eye,"  whether 
as  directed  to  the  larger  tableaux  of  nature  or  to  the  smaller 
gems  of  art;  second,  the  clever  hand,  exercised  in  the  manipula- 
tion of  the  brush  and  the  chiselling  of  poetic  cameos;  and  finally, 
as  a  consequence  of  this  attitude,  frequent  transpositions  d'art  — 
that  is,  the  transportation  of  pictorial,  sculptural  and  jewel-like 
effects  from  art  into  literature.  It  is  significant  that  Gautier's 
favorite  subjects  are  paintings  and  pastels,  obelisks  and  pans 
de  mur;  also  that  his  brother  poets  speak  of  him  in  terms  of 
painting  and  enamelling.  Emaux  et  Camees  give  an  impression 
of  slow  chiselling  and  a  kind  of  airy  solidity;  the  poems  stand 
out  in  telief  like  massy  clouds  before  a  thunder-shower.  In 
this  volume  Gautier  uses  octosyllabic  quatrains  almost  entirely, 
and  it  goes  without  saying  that  his  sense  of  composition,  in 
short  pieces,  is  almost  perfect. 

•  See  below.  Bk.  VII,  Ch.  III. 


652  MUSSET,    VIGNY,    GAUTIER 

"  Art  for  Art's  sake  "  is,  then,  Gautier's  special  contribution 
and  his  war-cry.    He  is  not  interested  in  politics,  philosophy 
.  .  or  religion,  but  he  has  enough  intelligence  to  serve 

his  own  plastic  ends.  He  also  subdues  emotion  to 
the  piu-poses  of  art.  Personal  incidents  and  love-affairs  are 
treated,  but  they  are  made  impersonal  and  serene.  The  form 
is  certainly  more  evident  than  the  feeling,  and  the  form  is  a 
close  transcription  of  beautiful  reality.  Gautier  is  a  great  stylist. 
His  poetry  has  the  correctness,  limpidity  and  purity  of  the  best 
prose  —  even  of  his  own  prose.  In  either  field  he  possesses  a 
very  large  vocabulary  from  which  he  can  draw  the  choice  word 
for  exactness  and  vividness.  His  words  often  have  an  exotic 
or  artistically  technical  coloring.  He  achieves  picturesque  bril- 
liancy in  landscapes  and  interiors.  His  rhythms  are  subtle  and 
varied,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  his  images,  which  are  fre- 
quent and  sustained.  In  his  desire  to  give  the  sharp  external 
impression,  he  anticipates  the  Imagists  of  today.  In  his  in- 
sistence on  beauty  as  the  important  content  of  life  and  of 
poetry,  he  narrows  the  Romantic  formula,  but  he  leads  the  way 
for  a  whole  generation  of  modern  French  poets,  who  also  usually 
follow  his  impersonal  and  plastic  bent.  His  creed  is  epitomized 
in  the  poem  called  L'Art,  of  which  part  has  been  thus  translated 
by  Austin  Dobson: 

All  passes.    Art  alone 

EnduriQg  stays  to  us; 
The  Bust  outlasts  the  throne, 
The  Coin,  Tiberius. 

Even  the  gods  must  go; 

Only  the  lofty  Rhyme 
Not  countless  years  o'erthrow, — 

Not  long  array  of  time. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE    ROMANTIC   DRAMA 

The  stage  was  the  first  thing  affected  by  the  Revolution,  and 
as  late  as  Napoleon,  Classical  tragedy  was  still  supreme.  Bona- 
Tenacity  of  parte  reorganized  the  theaters  and  established  the 
Tragedy  f^^^  houses  —  the  Opera,  the  Opera-Comique,  the 
Comedie-Frangaise  and  the  Odeon  —  that  remain  subventioned 
by  the  government  today.  He  also  fostered  the  Classical  forms 
because  of  their  reactionary  tendency;  he  wished  his  Empire  to 
resemble  the  old  monarchy.  Talma  and  other  notable  tragedians 
trod  the  boards  in  the  high  Roman  fashion,  declaiming  Comeille, 
Racine,  Voltaire,  their  feeble  imitators  and  the  dilutions  of  Ducis. 
Even  under  the  Restoration  little  visible  change  appeared  until 
Hugo,  though  certain  popular  imderciurents  were  making  for 
freedom. 

From  1778-84  appeared  the  drames  of  Sebastien  Mercier,^  who 

broke  theoretically  with  Classicism  but  was  too  timid  in  practice. 

„   ,  His  name  should  be  distinguished   from  that  of 

Fredecessors  . 

of  Nepomucene  Lemercier,  who  did  just  the  opposite 

Romanticism  thing:  the  latter  did  not  dare  to  theorize  but  at- 
tempted various  innovations,  especially  in  Pinto  (1800).  This 
play  is  really  a  drame,  written  in  prose  and  including  the  mix- 
ture of  comic  elements.  There  is  little  tragic  dignity  about  Le- 
mercier, who  suggests  Bernard  Shaw  in  his  leveling  of  history  to 
the  bourgeois  and  practical  plane.  The  subject  of  Pinto  is  akin 
to  that  of  Hugo's  Ruy  Bias.  More  directly  antecedent  to  the 
Romantic  drama,  however,  is  the  Boulevard  melodrama  of  Pixe- 
recourt  and  his  followers.  Pixerecourt  (1773-1844)  was  called 
the  "  roi  du  melodrame,"  and  no  less  than  thirty  thousand  repre- 
sentations were  accorded  to  his  plays,  which  were  quite  lacking 
in  literary  value  (Cristophe  Colomb,  Robinson  Crusoe,  Ccelina) . 
But  it  seems  likely  that  such  productions  paved  the  way  for  Hugo 

1  See  above,  p.  423 
553 


554  THE    ROMANTIC    DRAMA 

in  the  following  respects:  the  attention  paid  to  scenery  and 
stage-devices,  the  mingling  of  comic  and  tragic  elements,  and  the 
development  of  foiu-  staple  figures  of  melodrama  (jeune  jrremier, 
heroine,  heavy  villain  and  grotesque  buffoon).  By  laying  a 
substratum  of  popularity  for  the  new  form,  Pixerecourt  served 
Hugo  as  Hardy  had  served  Corneille.  The  poets  of  the  twenties 
are  transitional  in  their  sympathies.  Alexandre  Soumet  is 
vaguely  Romantic  in  aspiration  and  more  definitely  so  in  his 
use  of  historical  "  machines  "  (for  instance,  Jeanne  d'Arc,  1825) ; 
but  he  clings  to  the  Classical  rules.  So  does  Casimir  Delavigne 
in  such  early  plays  as  Les  Vepres  sicUiennes  (1819).  But 
Delavigne  was  the  most  fashionable  poet  of  his  decade,  fol- 
lowing the  Greek  vogue  in  his  Odes  messeniennes  and  shifting 
more  decidedly  towards  Byronism  and  Romanticism  in  his 
Marino  Faliero  (1829).  The  historical  coloring  of  this  play, 
as  of  Louis  XI  and  of  Les  Enfants  d'Edouard  (Shakespearean) , 
bears  witness  to  the  new  influences;  also  Delavigne,  though 
essentially  a  compromiser,  handles  the  unities  with  some  freedom 
and  introduces  Romantic  sentiments  and  temperaments. 

Various  foreign  influences  should  also  be  mentioned,  such 
as  the  interest  in  German  drama,  due  to  Mme  de  Stael  and 
Schlegel;  Fauriel's  translations  from  Manzoni  (1823),  who  was 
the  flrst  Italian  to  rebel  against  the  imities ;  and  particularly  the 
change  in  the  French  attitude  towards  Shakespeare.  This  was 
caused  partly  by  the  visits  of  English  actors  to  Paris.  Their 
second  visit  (1827-28)  was  a  notable  event.  Such  players  as 
Kean,  Kemble,  and  Miss  Smithson  took  literary  Paris  by  storm. 
Hamlet  and  Othello  were  especially  well  received,  and  these  per- 
formances affected  the  production  of  Dmnas  pere,  Alfred  de 
Vigny  and  Victor  Hugo. 

The  last-named  writer  was  the  Romantic  leader  in  every  field, 
and  it  was  on  the  stage  that  he  won  the  victory  for  the  Romantic 
Hugo's  cause.   It  should  be  noted  that  much  of  this  drama  is 

Theory  polemic  in  intention.    Hugo  threw  down  the  gauntlet 

in  his  Preface  to  Cromwell  (written  1827).  This  docximent  is 
considered  as  the  manifesto  of  the  new  school.  Hugo  divides  the 
course  of  poetry  into  three  great  ages,  of  which  the  modem  is 
primarily  dramatic  and  culminates  in  Shakespeare.  But  the  dra- 
matic does  not  exclude  an  admixture  of  the  epic  or  the  lyric.   The 


HUGO'S    THEORIES  555 

author  thus  declares  for  a  melange  des  genres  —  a  famous  phrase, 
more  particularly  applicable  to  the  mingling  of  tragic  and  comic 
effects  conspicuous  in  the  Romantic  drama.  This  combination, 
together  with  the  juxtaposition  of  beautiful  and  ugly,  of  bad  and 
good,  is  included  in  Hugo's  "  theory  of  the  grotesque,"  involving 
an  antithesis  which  he  would  derive  philosophically  from  the 
dual  nature  of  man.  The  grotesque  is  illustrated  in  art  by 
Gothic  architecture  and  by  Shakespeare's  alternations  of  buf- 
foonery and  high  tragedy ;  it  is  found  in  nature  itself,  and  Hugo 
boldly  asserts:  "  Tout  ce  qui  est  dans  la  nature  est  dans  I'art." 
This  phrase  expresses  the  broad  Romantic  view  of  both  terms, 
in  opposition  to  the  Classic  view  of  la  belle  nature.  As  regards 
drama  and  verse,  the  revolt  is  fundamentally  against  the  neo- 
classical system.  The  forcible  imposition  of  the  unities,  whether 
suitable  or  not,  is  characterized  as  a  fetish  of  mediocrity  and 
of  slavish  imitators.  The  only  essential  unity  is  that  of  action, 
which  may  well  exclude  the  other  two.  Hugo  also  attacks  the 
banal  recit  and  insists  on  the  importance  of  the  concrete  spec- 
tacle, with  some  use  of  local  color.  Like  Diderot,  he  holds  that 
rules  are  an  impediment  to  genius.  He  wishes  for  more  liberty 
in  the  Alexandrine,  for  more  "  characteristic "  touches.  He 
believes  that  verse  is  still  the  best  vehicle  for  the  serious  drame: 
this  term,  as  used  by  the  Romanticists,  designates  an  all-inclusive 
"tableau  of  life,"  especially  the  elaborate  historical  drama. 
Cromwell  itself  is  a  huge  historical  hurly-burly,  but  an  impos- 
sible play.  The  real  importance  of  Hugo's  manifesto  is  in  the 
new  liberty  which  it  evokes  and  the  new  theories  which  it  sets 
in  action. 

To  make  these  theories  count,  there  were  the  enthusiasm  and 
talent  of  the  royally  gifted  writers  of  that  age  ■ —  Hugo,  Dumas 
"Hemani,"  pere,  Musset  and  Vigny  shall  be  our  chief  ex- 
^*3°-  amples  —  ably    seconded    by    admiring    groups    of 

artists  and  minor  poets.  These  groups  had  the  interests  of 
literature  at  heart,  they  were  inspired  by  the  passion  of  reform 
and  revolt,  and  they  had  gallant  leaders.  Consequently  there 
was  enough  to  make  the  atmosphere  electric  when,  on  February 
25,  1830,  the  first  representation  of  Hernani  was  staged  before 
the  two  rival  camps.  The  Classicists  protested  against  every 
daring  enjambement,  against  every  realistic  or  extravagant  touch. 


656  THE    ROMANTIC    DRAMA 

But  the  Romanticists,  rallying  around  the  red  gilet  of  Gautier, 
answered  with  vehement  applause,  cheering  the  fresh  sweep  of 
action  and  passion  here  displayed.  For  several  nights  the  issue 
of  the  battle  was  in  doubt,  and  then  the  opposition  slowly  gave 
way.    The  Romantic  drama  was  an  accomplished  fact. 

The  innovations  effected  by  Hernani  appear,  first,  in  violat- 
ing the  rules  of  the  Alexandrine.  The  play  begins  with  an 
Inn  f  enjambement,  or  run-over  line,  of  the  kind  that  no 
Classicist  could  tolerate;  again,  many  lines  discard 
the  set  division  of  the  Classical  Alexandrine  into  two  equal 
halves  and  employ  an  irregular  division  into  three,  frequently 
unequal  periods.    For  example: 

Qu'est  cet  homme?    Jesus  men  Dieu!    si  j'appelais? 

contrasted  with  the  Classical: 

Nuit  et  jour,  en  effet,  pas  a  pas,  je  te  suis. 

These  two  features  {enjambement  and  "  free  cesura ")  are 
henceforth  characteristic  of  Romantic  versification  in  general: 
but  it  should  be  remembered  that  even  the  Romanticists  stick 
to  Classic  regularity  in  about  ninety  per  cent  of  their  verse. 
The  path  of  freedom  is  none  the  less  made  clear.  Hernani  also 
offended  "  les  purs,"  as  they  called  themselves,  by  the  use  of 
everyday  language,  by  calling  a  spade  a  spade  on  occasion; 
and  by  alternating  this  tendency  with  gorgeous  and  even  vio- 
lent epithets  and  figures.  Another  novelty  in  style  is  the  broken 
movement,  due  to  interruptions  or  shifts  of  mood.  This  gives 
rise  to  "  moody  "  dialogue,  as  it  may  be  termed,  unlike  the  smooth 
Classic  pattern.  Again,  Classical  decorum  is  violated  by  the 
attention  paid  to  objects  and  concrete  action;  this  is  manifest 
in  the  stage-directions,  which  here  for  the  first  time  become 
elaborate.  The  unities,  as  necessary  rules,  are  forever  laid 
to  rest.  Henceforth,  though  many  good  plays  are  written  within 
and  the   unities,   no    good   play    must   be   so   written. 

Character-  Hernani  changes  its  place  and  time  at  will,  and  has 
no  compelling  unity  of  action.  Part  of  the  time 
our  sympathy  is  with  Hernani,  the  gloomy  bandit,  and  with  his 
sweetheart,  Doiia  Sol.  In  another  act,  we  are  more  concerned 
with  Don  Ruy  Gomez,  the  jealous  old  guardian  of  the  girl. 


HERNANI  557 

In  Act  IV  (which  is  frequently  a  hors  d'muvre  in  the  Romantic 
drama) ,  we  applaud  the  nobility  of  Charles  V,  the  newly  elected 
emperor.  For  a  time  it  appears  that  Hernani,  restored  to  rank 
and  power  by  Charles,  will  win  his  bride,  and  a  happy  ending 
is  indicated.  But  the  vengeance  of  Ruy  Gomez  is  still  to  be 
reckoned  with ;  in  Act  V  he  calls  the  bride  and  groom  to  account, 
with  disastrous  consequences  for  all  concerned.  A  famous  and 
typical  expression  of  the  Romantic  temperament  is  to  be  found 
in  Hernani's  speech  (Act  III,  scene  IV) : 

Je  suis  une  force  qui  va! 
Agent  aveugle  et  sourd  de  mysteres  funebres! 
Une  ame  de  maUieur  faite  avec  des  tenebres! 
Ou  vais-je?  je  ne  sais.    Mais  je  me  sens  pousse 
D'un  souffle  impetueux,  d'un  destin  insense. 
Je  descends,  je  descends,  et  jamais  ne  m'arrete. 
Si  parfois,  haletant,  j'ose  toumer  la  tete, 
Une  voix  me  dit:  Marche!  et  I'abime  est"  prof  end, 
Et  de  flamme  ou  de  sang  je  le  vols  rouge  au  fond! 
Cependant,  a  Tentour  de  ma  course  farouche, 
Tout  se  brise,  tout  meurt.    Malheur  a  qui  me  touche! 
Oh!  fuis!  detourne-toi  de  mon  chemin  fatal, 
Helas!  sans  le  vouloir,  je  te  ferais  du  mal! 

The  characters  in  the  play  are  all  Romantic  types,  moved  by 
strong  passions  of  love  or  revenge  and  repeating  the  typical 
gestiu-es  of  melodrama.  The  removal  of  the  unity  of  time  should 
allow  ample  space  for  character  development,  but  Hugo's  psy- 
chology, here  and  elsewhere,  is  inferior  to  his  lyric  gift  and  in- 
tensity. There  are  fine  poetic  outbursts  in  Hernani,  attended 
by  brilliant  coups  de  theatre.  The  construction,  however,  is  not 
sound  throughout,  and  the  characters  are  excessive,  theatrical 
and  often  untrue  to  life. 

Hugo's  other  plays  may  be  more  briefly  considered.  Marion 
.Delorme  (written  1829,  produced  1831)  is  the  story  of  a 
0th  Pla  courtesan  redeemed  by  love  and  is  the  first  play  of 
importance  to  treat  that  favorite  Romantic  theme 
(cf .  La  Dame  aux  camelias) .  It  is  an  unpleasant  but  powerful 
tragedy,  and  the  two  main  characters  —  Marion  and  her  lover 
Didier —  however  exaggerated,  are  impressively  presented. 
The  construction  of  the  play  would  be  excellent,  were  it  not 
marred  by  the  introduction  of  a  burlesque  element.    Le  Roi 


558  THE    ROMANTIC    DRAMA 

s'amuse  (1832)  was  removed  from  the  boards,  partly  on  account 
of  its  horror,  but  mainly  because  it  presents  the  monarchy, 
especially  Francis  I,  in  no  favorable  light.  The  King  endeavors 
to  seduce  a  girl  whose  father,  the  King's  jester,  unwittingly  has 
his  own  daughter  killed  instead  of  the  libertine  monarch.  From 
this  drama,  Verdi  took  the  plot  of  his  opera,  Bigoletto.  Le 
Roi  s'amuse  shows  the  development  of  Hugo's  democratic  senti- 
ments. Passing  over  minor  plays  (Lucrece  Borgia,  Marie  Tudor 
and  Angelo)  —  which  are  in  prose  and  thereby  even  more  melo- 
dramatic—  we  come  to  Buy  Bias  (1838).  After  Hemani,  this 
is  Hugo's  most  important  play.  The  two  dramas  antithetically 
treat  of  the  rising  splendor  of  the  Spanish  monarchy  and  of  its 
gloomy  decline.  In  Buy  Bias,  the  historical  presentation  of  a 
corrupted  court  and  its  usages  is  very  well  done.  The  plot 
offers  a  violent  contrast  in  situation.  Ruy  Bias  is  a  lackey, 
who  through  his  passion  for  the  Queen  rises  to  high  dominion 
in  Spain.  He  is  overthrown  partly  through  the  machinations 
of  the  villain,  Don  Salluste,  partly  because  his  own  character 
is  not  equal  to  his  opportunities.  The  moral  seems  to  be,  once 
a  lackey  always  a  lackey.  The  most  interesting  personage  in 
the  drama  is  the  bohemian  Don  Cesar  de  Bazan.  The  passions 
are  strongly  depicted,  and  the  plot  is  unusually  logical  and 
swift.  With  Buy  Bias,  Hugo's  dramatic  glory  ended,  Les 
Burgraves  (1843)  was  a  failure,  in  spite  of  its  epic  quality,  and 
marks  the  finish  of  the  Romantic  drama.  As  Gautier  signifi- 
cantly said:  "  II  n'y  a  plus  de  jeunes  gens  ";  reactionary  tastes 
were  in  control  of  writers  and  public. 

Not  only  did  Hugo  liberate  versification  but  several  of  his 
plays  tended  also  to  liberate  the  minds  of  the  people  and  to 
Qualities:  serve  democracy.  Historically,  these  dramas  are 
Defects  and  likely  to  take  one-sided  views,  but  they  traverse  a 
wide  range  of  countries  and  periods,  at  least  five 
countries  being  represented.  A  wide  free  scope  in  place,  time 
and  subject,  is  an  essential  feature  of  the  treatment;  a  new 
complexity  is  given  to  drama,  by  the  expression  of  things  his- 
torical, picturesque,  physiological,  "moody"  and  concrete;  the 
caracteristique  offers  realistic  details  about  manners  and 
costumes;  stage-setting  is  for  the  first  time  fully  described;  the 
number  of  speaking  parts  is  far  beyond  that  of  Classic  tragedy. 


A.    DUMAS   PERE  559 

But  with  all  these  additions,  the  Romantic  theater  remains 
inferior  to  the  Classical  in  harmonious  artistic  worth.  The 
reason  is  that  Hugo's  drama  is  mostly  melodrama.  We  find 
constant  excesses  and  forced  antitheses,  whether  of  language, 
character  or  plot.  These  "  fatal "  heroes,  forever  making  the 
same  gestures,  these  suddenly  converted  kings  or  lackeys  do  not 
give  a  sense  of  reality.  And  the  plots,  in  spite  of  their  fevered 
movement,  frequently  lack  the  solid  construction  that  makes 
for  dramatic  probability.  There  are  too  many  wild  flights,  too 
many  strange  devices  and  tricks;  hiding  places,  disguises,  pon- 
iards, sombreros,  duels  and  scaffolds;  and  grotesque  buffoonery 
is  pushed  beyond  all  limits.  At  the  same  time,  there  are  scenes, 
situations  and  coups  de  theatre  (like  the  picture-scene  in  Hernani) 
that  are  extremely  effective ;  there  are  tirades  that  can  still  sweep 
an  audience  off  its  feet;  and  always  Hugo  remains  the  master 
of  poetic  expression,  especially  in  love  passages.  This  is  the 
greatest  merit  of  his  drama.  With  Hugo,  whatever  is  not  lyrical 
is  melodramatic. 

Alexandre  Dimias  pere,"  in  spite  of  the  great  vogue  of  his 
romances,  figures  in  French  literature  rather  as  a  dramatist. 
,  He  wrote  mainly  in  prose,  and  his  plays  are  of  two 
kinds:  the  big  historical  "  spectacle,"  and  the  more 
personal  drama  of  Romantic  character  and  passion.  He  was 
even  more  melodramatic  than  Hugo;  he  underwent  similar 
foreign  influences  (Shakespeare  and  Byron) ,  and  he  too  brought 
in  many  lands  and  epochs.  A  sort  of  rivalry  is  to  be  noted 
between  Delavigne,  Hugo  and  Dumas;  in  successive  plays  one 
of  the  trio  would  strive  to  outdo  the  others  in  strong  effects. 
Dimias  had  a  more  consecutive  dramatic  sense  than  Hugo,  but 
his  plays,  lacking  all  poetic  virtue,  are  often  brutal,  feverish 
and  crude.  Coming  after  Pixerecourt,  he  is  the  first  Roman- 
ticist to  evoke  the  national  past  and  to  "  put  the  memoirs  into 
action,"  in  ways  that  are  picturesque,  vivid  and  violent.  Such 
are  the  characteristics  of  Henri  III  et  sa  cour  (1829),  a  well- 
conducted  play  of  jealousy  and  assassination;  of  Christine  and 
her  lover  Monaldeschi  (1830);  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte  (1831), 
which  begins  the  series  of  vast  historical  tableaux.  In  the 
same  year,  Dumas  also  begins  the  other  kind  of  drama  (personal 

»  For  his  biography  and  his  novels,  see  Ch.  VI,  below. 


560  THE    ROMANTIC    DRAMA 

passion)  by  his  remarkable  and  famous  Antony.  This  play 
carries  to  an  extreme  the  presentation  of  the  Romantic  hero, 
who  is  the  victim  of  fatality  and  an  outcast  from  society. 
Antony  pushes  his  passion  and  misanthropy  to  the  point  of 
slaying  the  woman  whom  he  loved,  because  in  his  (and  her) 
distorted  view,  this  is  the  only  way  of  saving  her  lost  honor. 
Other  historical  plays  are  Charles  VII  chez  ses  grands  vassavx, 
Catherine  Howard  and  particularly  La  Tour  de  Nesle  (1832). 
This  last  has  been  called  a  "fantastic  evocation  of.  the 
Middle  Ages."  It  deals  with  the  loves  of  Marguerite  de  Bour- 
gogne  and  Buridan,  who  pass  through  all  degrees  of  criminality 
and  excess;  murders,  dungeons,  sorcery,  disguises,  and  an  es- 
pecial emphasis  on  physical  suffering,  are  characteristic  of  this 
play  and  of  the  author's  melodramatic  talent  generally. 
Dumas  staged  also  many  successes  from  the  "  Babylonian 
edifice  "  of  his  novels  —  La  Reine  Margot,  Les  Trois  Mousque- 
taires  —  huge  productions,  taking  many  hours  to  act.  His 
preference  was  for  historical  subjects,  which  he  recreated  in  the 
alembic  of  an  imagination  both  riotous  and  imrestrained.  -  The 
best  of  his  plays,  well-plotted  and  grimly  powerful,  are  more 
widely  representative  of  the  drame  than  is  the  lyrical  output 
of  Victor  Hugo. 

The  plays  of  Musset  also  fall  mainly  within  two  divisions:  the 
play  of  fancy  in  the  manner  of  Shakespeare,  and  the  drawing- 
j.  room  comedy  in  the  manner   of  Marivaux.    The 

first  kind  may  be  illustrated  by  Fantasia  and  by  A 
quoi  revent  Us  jeunes  filles.  Such  plays  reflect  the  woodland 
atmosphere  of  As  You  Like  It,  together  with  a  sort  of  irresponsi- 
bility as  to  time,  place  and  setting;  a  fanciful  charm  in  the 
treatment  of  femininity  and  in  poetic  style  also  suggests  Shake- 
speare. The  other  type,  illustrated  by  II  faut  qu'une  porte  soit 
ouverte  ou  fermee,  uses  the  salon  atmosphere  and  shows  the  wit 
and  delicacy  of  a  more  Romantic  marivaudage.  Musset's  origi- 
nality shines  through  his  imitations.  The  titles  of  his  plays 
are  frequently  taken  from  popular  proverbs,  which  they  illus- 
trate in  action ;  hence  these  dramas  are  called  comidies-proverbes 
(cf.  II  ne  faut  jurer  de  rien,  La  Coupe  et  les  levres)-  The  pro- 
verbes  are  written  mainly  in  prose,  though  of  a  poetic  cast. 
Musset's  best  plays  were  composed  from  1830  to  1840. 


MUSSET'S    DRAMA  661 

Musset  wrote  for  his  own  satisfaction  and  for  the  reading 
public  rather  than  for  the  stage.  Only  a  few  of  his  eighteen 
dramas  were  acted  during  his  lifetime  and  are  regularly  pre- 
sented to-day.  The  characteristics  of  the  "  closet-3rama  "  are 
seen  in  their  somewhat  archaic  style,  the  rapid  changes  of 
scene,  the  wilful  play  of  fancy  rather  to  the  neglect  of  solid  con- 
struction, and  a  tendency  to  interrupt  the  action  with  lyric 
individualism.  Fantasio  depicts  a  hero  of  romantic  tempera- 
Particular  ment  who  rebels  against  the  commonplace  and  be- 
Plays  comes  a  buffoon  in  order  to  aid  a  pretty  princess^ 

A  quoi  revent  les  jeunes  filles  is  a  poetic  extravaganza,  which 
derides  the  "  romanesque."  Un  Caprice  is  also  rather  anti- 
romantic  in  theme ;  a  man  has  a  passing  fancy  for  a  woman  who 
sends  him  back  to  his  wife.  II  ne  faut  jurer  de  rien  again  pre- 
sents a  charming  heroine  who  convinces  a  rake  that  domestic  love 
is  best.  Other  interesting  plays  are  Barberine  and  Les  Caprices 
de  Marianne.  Lorenzaccio  is  a  drame,  in  which  the  chief 
character  is  a  kind  of  Hamlet  drawn  against  a  Renaissance  back- 
ground. This  is  considered  one  of  the  best  historical  plays  of  the 
period.  The  best  of  the  comedies-proverbes  is  On  ne  badine  pas 
avec  I'amour,  with  its  very  significant  title.  Here  we  have 
echoes  of  the  affair  with  George  Sand,  not  only  in.  the  famous 
speech  which  declares  the  elevating  power  of  love,  but  also  in 
the  cold  and  coquettish  figure  of  the  heroine.  She  rejects  the 
affection  of  her  cousin,  Perdican.  He  begins  to  console  himself 
with  a  village  girl,  the  heroine  then  becomes  jealous  and  seeks 
to  win  Perdican  back.  The  play  ends  with  the  suicide  of  the 
village  gjrl  and  the  tragic  separation  of  the  would-be  lovers 
who  have  "jested." 

■  It  is  evident  that  Musset's  plays,  like  his  poetry,  tend  to  the 
Romantic  exaltation  of  love.  These  dramas  frequently  have  the 
true  "  lyrical  cry."  But  the  passionate  expression  of  sentiment 
alternates  with  the  reverse  of  the  medal  —  a  Byronic  and  cynical 
attitude  (cf.  La  Coupe  et  les  levres).  Musset  is  excellent  in 
poetic  flights,  his  dialogue  is  often  witty  and  appropriate,  and  he 
is  more  competent  in  the  depiction  of  character  —  mainly  the 
several  Varieties  of  his  own  character  —  than  any  other  Roman- 
tic dramatist.  He  imderstands  what  makes  a  dramatic  situation. 
But  instead  of  sticking  to  the  development  of  the  plot  he  often 


562  THE    ROMANTIC    DRAMA 

prefers  to  wander  irresponsibly  in  charming  and  imaginative 
bypaths.    His  plays  have  a  personal  and  unique  attractiveness. 

Alfred  de  Vigny's  drama  also  closely  reflects  his  indi- 
vidual nature.  He  was  first  inspired  by  the  English  actors 
to  produce  certain  Shakespearean  adaptations 
{Othello,  1829;  Shylock,  never  acted),  which 
were  the  best  hitherto  made  in  French.  In  opposition  to 
the  prudery  and  thinness  of  Ducis,  they  convey  to  a  high 
degree  the  spirit,  the  fulness  and  the  freedom  of  the  orig- 
inal. Vigny  also  attempted  the  historical  drama  in  La 
Marechale  d'Ancre  and  wrote  a  graceful  salon-comedy  in  Quitte 
pour  la  pew.  But  his  best  play,  which  many  think  the  greatest 
play  of  the  Romantic  era,  is  the  drame  intime  of  Chatterton.  The 
legend  of  Chatterton,  the  "  marvellous  boy,"  is  used  to  develop 
the  thesis  of  the  poet-martyr:  the  possessor  of  such  a  talent  is 
necessarily  in  discord  with  ordinary  life  and  must  live  and  die 
unhappily.  Chatterton  is  placed  in  a  quiet  domestic  setting,  an 
old  Quaker  and  the  heroine,  Kitty  Bell,  are  kind  to  him ;  but  there 
is  a  coarse  business  husband,  and  the  hard  world  is  too  much  for 
the  poet.  He  is  mortified  by  lordly  patronage,  his  manuscripts 
are  finally  rejected,  and  his  love  for  Kitty  cannot  be  honorably 
returned.  Therefore  he  kills  himself.  The  treatment  is  elevated 
and  even  calm  in  tone,  the  sentiment  fine  and  poignant.  In  pre- 
senting the  dilemma  of  the  poet-martyr,  Vigny  gives  a  new  sub- 
ject to  the  Romantic  theater.  He  also  crystallizes  in  dramatic 
form  the  main  motif  of  his  own  poetry,  the  lonely  and  melancholy 
devotion  to  "I'esprit  pur." 

Thus  the  Romantic  Drama  has  to  its  credit  a  dozen  plays  of 
considerable  strength  or  charm.  It  expresses  best  the  surge  of 
„  feeling  and  of  passion.    Its  poetry  is  in  excess  of  its 

strictly  theatrical  values.  Its  powers  of  character- 
ization are  not  great  and  are  rather  monotonously  exercised: 
the  "  fatal  "  hero  is  always  in  revolt,  the  suffering  heroine  is 
always  in  love.  As  drama,  the  Romantic  output  is  STurpassed 
both  by  the  Classical  and  by  the  Realistic  kind.  Racine  excels 
Hugo  in  well-balanced  art,  just  as  Augier  excels  him  in  truth 
to  life.  Yet  the  Romantic  theater  appears  historically  as  a 
necessary  bridge  between  Classicism  and  Realism.  It  for- 
ever destroyed  Classical  tragedy,  by  its  establishment  of  a  larger 


CONCLUSION  563 

framework  and  its  abolition  of  set  rules.  It  anticipates 
Realism  in  the  attention  paid  to  characteristic  and  concrete 
detail,  whether  in  vocabulary,  dialogue,  description  or  stage- 
directions.  But  of  course  the  spirit  of  Romanticism  is  different 
from  that  of  any  other  school,  and  to  those  who  admire  the 
ardors  and  melancholies  of  that  spirit,  the  Romantic  drama  will 
always  appeal. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE    ROMANTIC    NOVEL 

Either  the  Romanticists  were  disposed  to  view  nature  and 
society  as  symbolic  of  their  inner  dreams;  or  else,  self-absorbed, 
they  tended  to  neglect  the  realities  of  the  outer  world.  Hence 
they  were  usually  disqualified  as  novelists  of  contemporary 
French  life.  They  sought  refuge  in  the  ivory  tower,  in  the 
picturesque  past,  in  exotic  landscapes  or  reahns  of  pure  fancy, 
and  finally  in  humanitarian  visions.  So  we  may  classify  four 
different  types  of  fiction,  which  at  least  offered  a  considerable 
range  of  imagination  and  feeling. 

1.    The   Personal  Novel   and   Stendhal. 

The  novel  of  sentiment,  issuing  from  Rousseau,  from  Mme  de 
Stael  and  especially  from  Rene,  is  dominant  at  the  beginning 
The  Personal  of  the  century.  Senancour's  Obermann  (1804)  goes 
N°'^*  farther  than  Rene  in  its  representation  of  morbid 

pessimism  and  an  impotent  will.  Without  being  a  masterpiece, 
the  book  contains  much  sincere  thought  and  feeling;  there  is 
almost  no  outer  action.  Senancour's  single  frustrated  love-affair 
is  incorporated  in  this  novel,  which  presents  as  its  main  interest 
the  sufferings  of  an  uneasy  and  despairing  soul.  Because  of  this 
feature,  Obermann,  in  spite  of  its  early  date,  has  been  held  to 
anticipate  the  gloomy  decline  of  Romanticism  in  the  thirties. 
Two  other  important  autobiographical  novels  belong  to  this 
later  period.  Sainte-Beuve's  Volupte  (1834)  is  again  the  record 
of  an  intimate  heart-affair,  analyzed  with  great  skill  and  pene- 
tration. The  book  lacks  emotional  appeal,  and  the  hero's  ego- 
tism and  sensual  mysticism  are  not  attractive.  But  Sainte- 
Beuve  frequently  attains  both  scientific  precision  and  a  supple 
artistic  expressiveness.  Volupte  thus  has  affinities  with  the  work 
of  Stendhal ;  and  the  hero  ( Amaury) ,  though  a  dreamer,  believes 
in  the  power  of  action  and  will.    Such  attributes  are  not  con- 

564 


STENDHAL-BEYLE  566 

spicuous  in  Musset's  Confession  d'un  enjant  du  siecle  (1836), 
which  is  turgid  with  the  full  Romantic  tide  of  aspiration  and 
despair.  It  records  the  fiasco  with  George  Sand  and  is,  a  lament 
for  unfulfilled  love.  Sincerity,  sensibility  and  sadness  make  this 
book  representative  of  its  generation,  while  the  less  pleasing 
"  confessional "  note  goes  back  to  Rousseau.  More  character- 
istic of  Musset's  talent  are  such  charming  and  melancholy  tales 
as  Frederic  et  Bemerette  and  Le  Merle  blanc.  As  personal 
novels  should  be  mentioned  also  the  Stello  of  Vigny,  and  much 
later  (1863)  the  Dominique  of  Fromentin  (see  Bk.  VIII, 
Ch.  III). 

The  psychological  novel,  whose  chief  representative  in  this 
period  was  Stendhal,  may  be  associated  with  the  above.    Henri 
AF\st   dhal         Beyle  (1783-1842),  who  took  the  pen-name  of  Sten- 
[^ '  dhal,  is  one  of  the  most  curious  and  interesting  figures 

of  his  time.  He  stands  distinctly  outside  of  the  main  Romantic 
current  and  was  generally  at  odds  with  his  French  environment. 
He  disliked  his  own  family  and  his  early  surroundings  at  Gre- 
noble, was  unhappy  in  Paris,  and  much  preferred  Italy,  where  he 
mainly  lived  after  the  Restoration.  But  he  took  a  creditable 
part  in  the  Napoleonic  campaigns;  indeed,  Napoleon  and 
Byron  were  his  chief  heroes.  A  "  romantic  hussar,"  a  man  of 
action,  he  believed  in  energy,  liberty  and  the  development  of 
the  passions.  Outwardly,  Beyle  was  hard,  proud  and  egotistical ; 
but  inwardly  he  had  "  too  sensitive  a  heart  and  too  clairvoyant 
a  mind."  He  was  a  skeptic  and  a  psychologist,  deriving  intel- 
lectually from  the  ideologues.^  His  two  great  passions  were  war 
and  love,  and  his  eleven  heart-affairs  are  boldly  analyzed  in  his 
four  chief  books.  De  I'Amour  (1822)  consists  of  a  series  of 
notes,  almost  formless,  written  in  the  dry  precise  style  which 
was  habitual  with  Stendhal.  The  book  divides  love  into  four 
categories  and  deals  with  the  effect  of  each  variety  upon  the 
several  temperaments.  Eccentricity  and  obscurity  of  statement 
alternate  with  remarkable  penetration.  For  instance,  we  have 
the  famous  theory  of  "  crystallization,"  according  to  which  one's 
sweetheart  becomes  the  center  of  the  world's  beauty  and  interest; 
and  beauty  itself  is  defined  as  "  la  promesse  du  bonheur."  Sten- 
dhal's novels   amplify   the   themes   here   suggested.    Armance 

»  Especially  Destutt  de  Tracy.    See  above,  Bk.  IV,  Ch.  I. 


566  THE    ROMANTIC    NOVEL 

(1827)  deals  with  the  failure  of  two  proud  sensitive  souls  to  come 
to  an  understanding.  Far  more  important  in  the  history  of 
fiction  is  Le  Rouge  et  le  Noir  (1831).  The  title  indicates  the 
strife  between  the  Napoleonic  spirit  of  the  military  and  the 
power  of  the  clergy,  whom  Stendhal  thorou^ly  hated.  The 
originality  of  the  book  appears  both  in  the  manner  of  treatment 
and  the  character  of  the  hero,  Julien  Sorel.  The  latter  is  no 
romantic  sentimentalist,  but  personifies  the  strong-willed  egotis- 
tical arriviste  of  the  period  (cf.  Balzac).  Julien  makes  love  in 
order  to  further  his  ambition  and  slays  his  first  mistress  when  she 
betrays  him  to  his  second.  The  women  are  modeled  upon 
Stendhal's  intimate  acquaintances.  Their  conduct  is  open  to 
the  charge  of  improbability.  But  in  the  dissection  of  motive, 
the  presentation  of  ambition,  passion  and  revenge,  the  book 
shows  a  power  which  was  rare  at  that  time.  La  Chartreuse  de 
Parme  (1839)  makes  easier  reading,  is  more  eventful  and  pictur- 
esque and  seems  wider  in  its  appeal.  Stendhal  is  now  in  his 
favorite  Italy;  Italian  passions,  intrigues  and  society  are  excel- 
lently depicted.  The  author's  worst  fault  is  usually  a  kind  of 
hard  tension/  and  aggressiveness,  whose  effects  are  less  conspic- 
uous here.  "His  forte  at  all  times  is  the  minute  observation  of 
"  soul-states."  In  La  Chartreuse  de  Parme,  he  reveled  in  the 
portrayal  and  analysis  of  the  impulsive  duchess,  the  highwayman 
and  the  unscrupulous  hero.  Stendhal's  heroes  are  really  himself 
in  various  environments,  and  thus  his  fiction  is  linked  with  the 
personal  novel.  He  also  wrote  Racine  et  Shakespeare  (1824),  a 
paradox  on  the  Romantic  revolt,  which  shows  that  he  hardly 
understood  the  movement.  His  books  were  little  read  in  their 
own  period.  He  was  evidently  bom  out  of  his  due  time,  and 
it  is  not  surprising  that  he  waited  (as  he  prophesied)  half  a 
century  for  recognition.  Then  occurred  a  curious  literary  re- 
vival. Stendhal  was  claimed  and  praised  both  by  the  Natural- 
ists and  the  psychologists.  Ta,ine,  Zola,  Bourget,  Rod  and  Her- 
vieu  vied  in  doing  him  honor  or  in  imitating  his  processes ;  and  his 
influence  has  become  conspicuous  on  the  latter-day  analytical 
novel. 


VIGNY    AND    MERIMEE  667 

S.    The  Historical  Novel  and  Hugo. 

We  shall  see  in  the  next  chapter  how  Romanticism  "  revolu- 
tionized history,"  how  the  enthusiastic  imaginations  of  Thierry 
Vieny  ^^^  °^  Michelet  put  life  and  color  into  the  Middle 

Ages.  But  the  historians  themselves  were  actually 
inspired  by  the  Romantic  fiction  of  Chateaubriand  and  Scott, 
and  the  historical  novel  stands  as  a  dominant  literary  form  for 
nearly  two  decades  after  1826.  This  date  marks  the  appearance 
of  the  first  important  example,  Alfred  de  Vigny's  Cinq-Mars, 
a  romance  of  the  conspiracy  under  Louis  XIII.  Through  his 
serious  attention  to  the  genre  and  his  abundant  docmnenta- 
tion  —  having  read  some  three  hundred  works  in  preparation 
—  Vigny  really  organizes  the  historical  novel  after  the  pat- 
tern of  Sir  Walter  Scott:  the  study  of  manners  and  costumes 
together  with  character-sketches  of  the  epoch  treated.  But  Vi- 
gny's pen  is  too  heavy  to  create  a  vivid  masterpiece,  his  figures 
are  obscured  by  their  environment,  and  the  book  lacks  life  and 
verve.  The  milieu  and  the  historical  color  are,  however,  well 
represented,  and  thereby  Vigny  makes  the  "  first  evocation  of 
the  national  past "  in  Romantic  fiction. 

Merimee's  Chronique  de  Charles  IX  is  a  more  authentic  and 
vital  novel,  and  there  are  features  in  the  author's  character  and 
^jj,  .  g  career  which  will  help  explain  this.    Prosper  Meri- 

mee  (1803-1870)  was  born  a  Parisian,  but  with  a 
strain  of  English  blood  and  English  phlegm  in  his  make-up. 
With  his  intimate,  Stendhal,  he  shared  powers  of  objectivity  and 
of  psychological  penetration  rare  among  the  Romanticists ;  arch- 
eological  researches  were  also  prominent  in  his  mind.  He  be- 
gan writing  with  the  so-called  Theatre  de  Clara  Gazul  (1825), 
containing  plays  in  imitation  of  the  Spanish  drama.  The  "  local 
color  "  in  this  is  excellent,  as  also  in  another  mystification  called 
La  Guzla^  a  collection  of  spurious  Illyrian  ballads  which  quite 
imposed  upon  the  public.  Merimee  thus  shows  his  capacity  for 
dealing  ironically  with  Romantic  motives.  He  led  for  some  years 
the  life  of  a  Parisian  man  of  fashion,  winning  fame  not  only 
through  the  Chronique  but  through  the  series  of  nouvelles  which 
will  be  treated  in  the  next  section.  In  1830  he  paid  a  visit  to 
Spain  and  formed  a  lasting  association  with  the  family  of  the 


668  THE    ROMANTIC    NOVEL 

future  Empress  Eugenie.  His  heart-affairs  culminated  in  the 
correspondence  known  as  Lettres  a  une  inconniLe  —  "probably 
his  best  romance,"  since  here  alone  do  we  find  adequate  feeling. 
A  cultivated  man  of  the  world,  a  student  and  linguist,  Merimee 
was  appointed  Inspector-general  of  historical  monuments,  and  his 
archeological  preoccupations  overflow  into  his  tales.  He  became 
an  Academician,  a  promoter  of  such  exotic  interests  as  Russian 
fiction,  and  under  the  Empire  he  wielded-  some  power  as  senator 
and  diplomat. 

Written  during  Merimee's  youth,  the  Chrordque  du  regne  de 
Charles  IX  (1829),  represents  the  artistic  flowering  of  the  his- 
The  torical  novel.    Proceeding  from  Scott,  as  did  all  of 

"  Chronique  "  these  writers,  Merimee  conserves  the  famous  pictur- 
esqueness  of  description  and  dialogue  which  characterize  the 
Waverley  Novels ;  also  he  uses  true  historical  figures  (kings  and 
potentates)  mainly  as  background  and  concentrates  on  the  en- 
deavor to  depict  manners  through  typical  invented  figures  and 
vivid  scenes.  Of  the  latter,  several  are  imitated  from  D'Au- 
bigne's  Les  Aventures  du  Baron  de  Fceneste  (1630).  With 
sprightliness  and  ease  Merimee  presents  successively  the  German 
mercenaries,  the  raffines  (dandies)  of  the  epoch,  court  scenes 
and  various  occupations  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  author's 
great  virtue  is  that  he  is  a  master  of  brevity,  as  opposed  to 
the  long  descriptions  of  Scott,  Hugo  and  Balzac.  Another 
quality  is  his  impartial  objectivity.  Relating  the  strife  of 
Catholics  and  Protestants  at  the  time  of  the  massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew,  Merimee  holds  a  brief  for  neither  side;  he  ironi- 
cally shows  how  conversions  could  be  involved  with  personal 
influences,  as  where  the  seductive  Diane  de  Turgis  woos  Mergy 
partly  in  the  hope  of  winning  him  to  Catholicism.  The  heart- 
interest  is  prettily  handled,  but  is  left  somewhat  in  the  air  at 
the  end,  with  Merimee's  characteristic  indifference.  The  style 
is  beyond  praise,  terse,  witty  and  finished.  Well-written,  inter- 
esting, with  excellent  characterization  and  a  large  amount  of 
historical  truth,  the  Chrordque  du  regne  de  Charles  IX  remains 
the  most  artistically  proportioned  novel  of  this  kind.  But  like 
most  of  the  author's  work,  it  lacks  strong  emotion. 

Victor  Hugo  introduced,  as  he  wished  to  do,  an  epic  range 
and  significance  into  the  novel.     He  shows  again  his  poetic 


HUGO  569 

p6wer  of  vision,  his  liking  for  large  symbols  and  vivifications. 
Notre-Dame  de  Paris  (1831),  on  the  picturesque  side  marvel- 
"Notre-Dame  ously  revives  the  fifteenth  century  and  makes  the 
de  Paris"      Cathedral  itself,  in  all  its  Gothic  elaboration,  the 
epitome  of  that  century  and  the  hero  of  the  book.    The  very 
bells  of  the  cathedral  are  animated,  the  bell-ringer,  Quasimodo, 
is  a  "  human  gargoyle,"  and  the  descriptions  of  Paris  at  large 
are  unusually  vivid  and  lifelike.    Unfortunately  this  gift  does 
not  extend  to  the  creation  of  character,  and  Hugo's  lack  of 
psychological  power  was  never  more  conspicuous.     There  are 
no  grays  or  browns  on  his  palette ;  he  silhouettes  people  in  black       '' 
and  white;  and  in  order  to  display  "the  continual  antitheses  of     ^' 
God,"  a  character  is  likely  to  be  black  within  and  white  without,    ^- 
or  vice  versa  (the  ugly  Quasimodo  versus  the  handsome  Phoebus) .  [k   ^, 
As  for  plot,  we  find  many  exciu-sions,  long  descriptions  and>*  ~  V 
melodrama,  whether  of  the  improbable  or  the  brutal  kind.    But 
individual  scenes  and  the  massed  effects  of  crowds  are  often 
excellent.    The  style  is  characteristic  of  its  author,  colorful,  evoc- 
ative, very  large  in  vocabulary  and  in  imaginative  appeal.    This 
power  of  imaginative  rendering,  of  summoning  back  the  swarm- 
ing life  of  the  Middle  Ages,  is  the  best  feature  of  Notre-Dame.    ' 

A  certain  interest  in  the  proletariat  is  discernible  in  the  above 
novel  and  is  more  conspicuous  in  Les  Travailleurs  de  la  mer  and 
His  Social  in  Les  Miserables.  The  former  work  is  a  fruit  of 
Novels  Hugo's  Guernsey  sojoiu^n  and  depicts  the  warfare 

between  human  and  elemental  forces  —  an  epic  conception.  So 
the  lonely  fisherman,  Gilliat,  struggles  with  waves  and  storms  and 
is  finally  involved  in  the  great  combat  with  the  octopus.  Les 
Miserables  (1862)  was  partly  written  two  decades  before  it  was 
published  and  thus  properly  belongs  to  the  Romantic  era.  This 
novel,  for  breadth  and  massiveness,  is  Hugo's  most  imposing 
work.  It  is  a  "  chaos  of  all  genres  and  subjects,"  ranging  in 
tone  from  the  lyric  idyll  to  apocalyptic  prose,  including  human- 
itarian sentimentalism,  pathos,  bathos,  discussions  of  argot  and  of 
sewers,  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  politics,  and  antiquarianism.  The 
five  loosely  coordinated  books,  the  episodes,  and  the  interventions 
of  the  author  show  that  he  is  using  the  novel  less  as  a  form  of 
art  than  as  a  vehicle  for  his  social  views.  Of  his  two  main  ideas, 
the  first  is  that  embodied  in  the  title:  the  proletariat  (Jean  Val- 


570  THE    ROMANTIC    NOVEL 

jean,  Fantine)  is  crushed  by  organized  society,  represented  by 
its  prejudices  and  its  police;  and  secondly,  Hugo  believes  that 
human  misery  and  crime  may  offer  their  own  expiation,  as  in  the 
case  of  Valjean,  the  ex-convict.  The  early  parts,  concerning  the 
redemption  of  Valjean,  are  surely  the  best  and  the  most  moving; 
the  great  merit  of  the  novel  (as  in  the  case  of  Dickens  and  of 
Tolstoy)  is  in  its  power  of  making  the  reader  thrill  to  the  simpler 
feelings  of  humanity ;  for  example,  the  desperation  and  devotion 
of  Cosette's  mother  and  the  idyllic  loves  of  Cosette  and  Marius. 
The  variety  of  the  mUieux  treated  also  adds  to  the  range  of  the 
social  novel.  On  the  other  hand,  the  characters  are  delineated 
either  superficially  or  with  too  much  symbolism  —  Javert  as  the 
policeman  —  and  the  wandering  story  allows  too  many  improba- 
bilities and  coincidences.  Hugo  conferred  upon  fiction  the  two 
gifts  of  his  imaginative  style  and  his  encyclopedic  ardor.  His 
last  novel,  Quatre-vingt-treize,  is  a  return  to  the  historical 
romance.  It  deals  with  the  Terror,  in  the  Vendee  and  in  Paris, 
and  presents  excellent  pictures  of  the  Revolution.  Hugo's  fond- 
ness for  children  reappears,  also  his  animism  or  the  power  of 
endowing  external  objects  with  life.  Pou-ely  as  fiction,  Quatre- 
vingt-treize  ranks  among  his  best  work. 

Finally,  Alexandre  Dumas  pere  (1802-70)  represents  the  full 
popular  success  of  the  historical  novel  and  also  its  artistic  deca- 
Dumaspere  ^^^^^-  Dumas,  a  mixture  of  noble  and  negroid 
blood,  drew  from  his  father  the  cult  of  Napoleonic 
energy  which  overflows  into  his  life,  his  dramas  and  his  novels. 
Scott  and  Shakespeare  were  his  literary  masters.  His  dramatic 
successes  (see  preceding  chapter)  launched  him  on  a  tide  of  high 
living  and  fast  writing  which  he  kept  up  for  forty  years.  In 
fiction  he  was  responsible  for  nearly  three  hundred  substantial 
volumes,  a  certain  portion  being  delivered  by  his  "  factory  "  of 
collaborators.  Like  Balzac,  Dumas  carried  his  imagination  into 
life  itself,  living  fantastically,  buying  schooners,  building  a  huge 
palace  of  "  Monte  Cristo,"  which  had  to  be  sold  for  debt.  Towards 
the  last  he  became  a  poverty-stricken  wanderer.  He  was  a  strong 
eupeptic  person  and  put  his  vigorous  vitality  into  his  ro- 
mances, which  otherwise  are  often  improbable,  whether  as  history 
or  fiction.  But  Dumas'  robust  treatment,  his  popularizing  genius 
and  his  dramatic  temperament  make  him  the  chief  representa- 


THE    NOUVELLE  571 

tive  of  the  "cloak-and-sword"  novel,  which  he  handles  with 
much  narrative  skill,  especially  in  dialogue.  He  gives  us  the 
spectacle  of  a  past  which  cannot  have  existed  as  a  whole,  though 
many  separate  traits  are  historical.  His  sources  were  usually  the 
memoir-writers  of  the  various  periods;  but  the  memoirs  were 
hastily  read  and  freely  adapted  by  Dumas  or  his  collaborators. 
His  characters  are  of  the  simplest  types  and  his  style  is  poor; 
also  he  is  fond  of  melodramatic  incident  and  he  boldly  "  fakes  " 
history  when  he  caimot  find  it;  consequently  most  of  his  work  is 
below  par  from  the  standpoint  of  literature.  Exceptions  must 
be  made  for  the  best  of  the  Valois  series,  for  the  Trois  Mous- 
quetaires  (1844)  and  for  one  or  two  novels  centering  around 
Marie  Antoinette.  These  relics  of  our  youth  still  stand  out 
alluringly  and  are  still  entertaining.  It  was  as  an  "  entertainer  " 
that  Dumas  became  a  prey  to  the  roman-feuilleton,  a  news- 
paper-serial form  of  publication  which  hindered  the  footsteps 
of  Balzac  and  Sand,  and  finds  its  culmination  in  the  wild  creations 
of  Eugene  Sue  (Les  Mysteres  de  Paris,  Le  Juif  errant).  Both 
Dumas  and  Sue  flourished  in  the  forties,  which  period  then  marks 
the  decline  of  the  historical  novel  proper. 

S.    Tales    and   Fantasies. 

The  master  of  the  nouvelle  '■'  is  Merimee,  Romantic  in  his  de- 
piction of  exotic  scenes  and  primitive  passions.  But  he  is  the 
"  Classicist  of  Romanticism  "  in  his  objective  coolness  and  the 
admirable  qualities  of  his  restrained  style.  Let  us  consider, 
among  his  best  works,  Colomba,  Carmen  and  La  VeniLS  d'llle. 
The  celebrated  Colomba  (1840)  remains  the  most  finished  exam- 
ple of  his  art.  Already  in  Mateo  Falcone,  Merimee  had  dealt 
with  Corsican  passions,  but  with  less  direct  observation  and 
vraisemhlance.  Colomba  is  remarkable  for  excellent  and  not  too 
excessive  local  color,  for  the  skilful  transition  to  the  Corsican 
point  of  view,  and  for  the  able  characterization  of  Colomba  her- 
self.   This  independent  and  revengeful  girl  gradually  leads  her 

2  This  term  will  be  used  mainly  in  its  modem  signification  of  a  long  short-story, 
tending  towards  the  "novelette" ;  the  term  conte  will  mean  short-story;  but  at  times 
the  earlier  meaning  of  the  two  words  will  persist,  the  nowoelle  as  the  more  realistic 
type,  the  conte  as  suggesting  the  fantastic  or  marvellous  (Contes  cruels,  Contea  de* 
miUe  et  line  NmU) 


672  THE    ROMANTIC    NOVEL 

more  civilized  brother  to  the  point  of  slaying  their  hereditary 
enemy.  Several  of  the  minor  characters,  especially  those  without 
the  law,  are  well  sketched.  The  book  is  a  masterpiece  of  concise 
and  sustained  narrative  power.  These  qualities  are  not  so  visible 
in  Carmen,  which  is  loosely  composed,  especially  as  compared 
with  the  dramatic  versions.  The  archeologist  who  tells  the 
story  is  not  sufficiently  alive  to  the  misfortunes  of  Carmen's  be- 
sotted lover.  But  the  heroine  is  amply  and  powerfully  displayed 
and  creates  the  role  of  the  Spanish  "  vampire."  La  Venus  d'llle 
is  really  a  conte  in  its  dealing  with  the  fantastic  and  supernat- 
ural world.  It  springs  from  the  myth  of  the  statue  of  Venus 
whom  a  mortal  has  unwittingly  espoused  to  his  own  great  det- 
riment. Besides  these  stories  of  primitive  passions,  Merimee 
also  sponsored  the  nouvelle  mondaine  in  the  dandyism  and 
worldly-wiseness  of  Le  Vase  etrusqiie  and  La  double  Meprise. 
Sangfroid  is  Merimee's  virtue  as  well  as  his  fault.  Emotion 
with  him  is  sporadic,  but  his  judicious  constraint,  together  with 
the  ease  and  elegance  of  his  finished  style  must  place  him  very 
high.  Colomba  has  been  called  "  un  roman  dont  le  seul  defaut 
est  d'etre  aujourd'hui  sans  defauts." 

The  "fantastic  "  school  of  story-telling,  fathered  by  Nodier's 
talent,  finds  its  natural  leader  in  Gautier.  His  early  volimie, 
Les  Jeunes-France  (1833)  combines  gaiety,  libertin- 
ism and  irony.  He  indulges  in  persiflage  against 
certain  Romantic  excesses  and  habitually  chooses  from  the  move- 
ment only  what  he  needs  for  his  own  artistic  purposes.  In  the 
novel  Mademoiselle  de  Maupin  (1835)  and  in  Fortunio,  we 
are  frankly  in  a  pagan  wonderland,  where  morality  is  in  abey- 
ance, and  where  passion,  beauty  and  wealth  are  supreme.  Two 
of  Gautier 's  major  themes,  fantasy  and  the  macabre,  are  found 
in  La  Morte  amoureuse,  a  superbly  constructed  story  of  a  wild 
love  that  conquers  death.  The  idea  of  "  phantom  love  "  or  the 
dream-mistress  is  very  insistent  in  this  author's  tales.  It  recurs 
in  Arria  Marcella,  in  Omphale,  line  Nuit  de  Cleopdtre,  etc.  This 
reveals  Gautier's  type  of  Romanticism.  It  is  the  kind  that  re- 
volts against  the  mediocre  and  the  ugly  aspects  of  modernity 
and  seeks  escape  either  in  exotic  lands  or  the  distant  past.  Such 
heroes  as  Fortunio,  Gyges  and  Tiburce  (in  La  Toison  d'Or) 
are  mouthpieces  for  the  expression  of  Gautier's  dreams  and 


GAUTIER'S    STORIES  573 

longings,  which  are  sensuous  and  plastic  rather  than  idealistic. 
They  are  voiced,  however,  not  in  the  more  flamboyant 
manner  of  Romanticism,  but  moderately,  artistically,  with 
a  care  for  diction  and  elegant  decoration.  Gautier  is  still 
writing  enamels  and  cameos.  La  Jettatura  (1856)  might 
in  other  hands  be  full  of  wild  throbs  and  rhetoric  —  it  is  a 
tale  of  the  evil  eye,  of  lost  love  and  duels  and  suicide  —  but 
it  is  treated  by  Gautier  in  a  mild-mannered  and  somewhat 
ironic  fashion  that  removes  much  of  its  dramatic  force.  Local 
color  and  a  choice  style  are  the  dominant  interests.  Similarly, 
Le  Capitaine  Fracasse  (1861-63)  belongs  to  the  Romantic 
era  as  a  historical  fantasy.  Following  Scarron,  Gautier  resusci- 
tates a  band  of  strolling  players,  interweaves  their  fortunes  with 
those  of  some  youthful  nobles,  and  beautifully  describes  certain 
features  and  landmarks  of  the  epoch  (Louis  XIII),  especially 
the  Chateau  de  la  Misere.  Le  Capitaine  Fracasse  is  for  maiyr' 
the  most  delightful  of  Gautier's  novels;  it  is  akin  to  the  pica- 
resque romance  of  adventure.  His  brilliant  style,  his  fine  prose 
rhythm,  his  sense  of  color  and  form,  his  search  for  imusual  or 
exotic  characters,  are  more  conspicuous  than  any  wealth  of^ 
ideas  or  any  depth  of  sensibility. 

Gautier  and  Hugo  kept  up  their  Romanticism  well  into  the 
second  half  of  the  centiuy.  Two  latter-day  Romanticists,  writers 
of  fantastic  tales,  are  Villiers  de  I'lsle-Adam  (1838-89),  author 
of  Contes  cruels,  Isis,  etc.,  and  the  eccentric  Barbey  d'Aurevilly 
(1808-89).  The  latter  achieved  striking  effects  in  his  best  novel, 
Le  Chevalier  des  Touches,  and  in  a  collection  of  stories  well/ 
named  Les  Diaboliques. 

4-    George  Sand. 

Aurore  Dupin,  who  married  the  Baron  Dudevant  and  is  best 
known  by  her  pen-name  of  George  Sand,  led  a  productive  and 
variegated  life  (1804r-76).  She  came  of  a  mixed 
stock,  which  on  her  mother's  side  had  been  very 
irregular  in  its  love-affairs;  her  paternal  grandmother  was  se- 
vere and  aristocratic:  the  girl's  youth  was  divided  between 
the  two  households,  and  it  is  characteristic  that  she  kept  her 
affection  for  both.    Most  of  her  childhood  was  passed  in  the 


574  THE    ROMANTIC    NOVEL 

ancient  and  pleasant  province  of  Berry  (central  France),  whither 
she  returned  in  her  old  age  and  where  many  of  her  stories  are 
located.  Religious  phases,  a  convent  education  in  Paris  and 
much  reading  of  Rousseau  were  followed  by  the  stultifying  mar- 
riage of  convenience  with  Dudevant,  whom  Aurore  presently 
abandoned.  But  she  remained  devoted  to  her  two  children.  She 
was  launched  on  her  literary  career  partly  through  the  collabora- 
tion of  Jules  Sandeau  and  through  influential  friendships.  The 
affair  with  Musset  was  preceded  and  followed  by  others.  But 
no  emotion  could  permanently  upset  the  deep  placidity  of  George 
Sand's  character,  nor  interrupt  the  sequence  of  her  numerous  vol- 
umes. She  traveled  abroad  about  1836,  became  interested  in 
the  doctrines  of  1848,  and  later  retired  to  her  province,  where 
she  was  known  to  the  neighborhood  as  "  la  bonne  dame  de  No- 
hant."  An  interesting  correspondence  with  Flaubert  belongs  ■ 
to  this  period;  he  emphasizes  the  head  and  she  prefers  the 
heart.  Instead  of  art  for  art's  sake,  she  upholds  "  I'art  pour  le 
vrai,  I'art  pour  le  beau  et  le  bon." 

Hers  was  a  big  broad  nature,  amoral  or  apathetic  in  certain 
respects,  but  capable  of  much  ardor  and  devotion.  George  Sand 
p   .  ,  was  always  in  love  with  somebody  or  something  and 

the  four  stages  of  her  productiveness  simply  vary  the 
object  of  her  affections.  The  first  period  (1832-40)  is  the  epoch 
of  I' amour-passion  (Stendhal's  phrase)  and  marks  the  creation 
of  her  special  type,  "  la  femme  incomprise."  In  a  series  of 
feverish  novels  {Indiana,  Lelia,  Valentine,  Mauprat) ,  the  author- 
ess expresses  her  violent  reaction  from  her  house  of  bondage 
and  proclaims  the  rights  of  free  love.  Her  reputation  was  made 
by  Indiana  (1832),  which  is  the  first  novel  to  hold  forth  lyri- 
cally on  woman's  sufferings,  and  may  be  taken  as  typical  of  the 
series.  A  young  girl,  having  married  an  old  man,  is  attended 
by  two  would-be  lovers.  The  one,  "  Sir  Ralph,"  is  her  cousin 
and  guardian.  Mute,  devoted  and  stolid,  he  protects  her  from 
the  selfish  passion  of  the  other  lover,  who  is  not  above  courting 
the  Creole  maid  in  lieu  of  her  mistress.  When  Indiana  has 
gone  through  countless  sufferings  and  humiliations  in  the  affair, 
"  Sir  Ralph  "  proposes  a  joint  suicide  which  somehow  results 
in  their  union  instead.  The  story  contains  violent  scenes  and 
declamations  against  the  cruelty  of  man.    LSUa  is  even  sttonger 


GEORGE    SAND  575 

in  the  enthroning  of  Romantic  passion.  The  revolt  against 
marriage  expressed  in  the  above  novels  led  to  a  wider  revolt 
in  George  Sand's  second  or  socialistic  period  (1840-48).  Hav- 
ing been  subjected  to  diverse  strong  influences,  Lamennais  in 
religion,  Proudhon  and  a  certain  Michel  (de  Bourges)  in  radical 
politics,  she  proceeded  to  mingle  utopianism  and  metaphysics  in 
various  novels  (for  example,  Le  Compagnon  du  Tour  de  France) . 
They  are  not  remarkable  for  strong  thought  or  consistency,  but 
again  they  show  emotion  —  which  is  now  the  love  of  humanity  — 
and  her  usual  charm  of  style.  This  series  also  includes  the  in- 
teresting Consuelo,  which  is  concerned  with  eighteenth-century 
history  and  intrigue.  More  purely  "  social "  is  the  communistic 
and  leveling  Meunier  d' Angibavlt,  in  which  a  good  deal  of  prop- 
erty is  burned  in  order  that  a  rich  widow  may  marry  an  artisan. 
/■It  is  generally  conceded  that  there  is  too  much  "  thesis  "  and 
J  declamation  about  George  Sand's  problem-novels.  _After  the 
disillusionment  of  1848,  she  returns  to  her  native  heath  and 

(writes  the  best  stories  of  country  life  that  the  century  has  pro- 
duced. She  had  already  shown  her  ability  in  this  direction  by 
jibe  two  idylls.  La  Mare  au  diable  and  Frangois  le  Cham-pi.  The 
third  period  (c.  1848-60)  is  then  filled  by  her  love  of  outdoor 
nature  and  country  folk.  La  Petite  Fadette  illustrates  the  genre, 
with  the  fidelity  of  its  beautiful  description  and  its  excellent 
psychology  of  simple  hearts.  Finally,  a  fourth  period  (1860-76) 
is  mentioned  by  some  critics  and  would  include  later  miscella- 
neous novels.  They  are  love-stories  at  large  and  show  occasional 
signs  of  weariness.  Of  these,  Nanon  is  a  tale  of  the  Revolution 
and  Le  Marquis  de  Villemer — the  best  of  this  period  —  deals 
capably  with  high  life. 

It  will  be  apparent  that  George  Sand  did  many  things.  As 
opposed  to  Balzac,  she  is  supposed  to  represent  the  "roman 
idealiste."  Individualistic  and  passionate  at  first,  she  also  helps 
create  the  social  novel  in  her  second  period,  attains  her  apogee 
with  her  country  stories,  and  writes  always  with  ease  and  often 
with  eloquence.  A  tendency  to  over-idealize  or  romanticize  and 
a  lack  of  good  composition  are  her  worst  faults.  She  was  an 
improviser  and  admitted  that  she  wrote  simply  by  "  turning-  on 
the  faucet."  But  at  her  best  she  is  widely  sympathetic  and 
interesting  and  conveys  the  sense  of  life  in  many  ways. 


CHAPTER  VII 
CRITICS    AND    HISTORIANS 

In  general,  Romanticism  met  with  no  formidable  opposition, 
but  there  were  several  important  writers  who  stand  apart  from 
The  Reaction-  ^^^  main  currents  of  the  period.  Already  under  the 
aries:  Empire,  a  group  of  critics  were  marked  by  their 

Joubert  conservative    tendencies.     Joseph    Joubert    (1754^ 

1824) ,  a  profound  and  delicate  thinker,  has  been  called  "  the 
critics'  critic,"  since  he  won  the  admiration  of  Sainte-Beuve, 
Arnold  and  others.  He  led  a  simple  and  retired  life,  devoted 
mainly  to  the  pleasures  of  friendship  and  conversation.  In  his 
stormier  youth,  he  was  influenced  by  Diderot  and  became  the 
lifelong  friend  of  Fontanes;  from  about  1800  Fontanes  and 
Joubert  together  were  the  chief  counselors  of  Chateaubriand. 
Joubert's  single  volume  of  Pensees  (not  published  imtil  1838) 
is  a  series  of  crystallized  meditations  in  the  manner  of  the  seven- 
teenth-century moralistes.  The  eighteenth  century  was  severely 
judged  by  this  Platonic  idealist,  who  preserved  a  detached  and 
serene  soul  through  all  the  national  upheavals.  His  literary 
judgments  show  true  insight,  but  his  form  suJBfers  from  too  much 
subtlety  or  too  much  condensation.  Joubert  was  not  really 
creative,  and  the  future  will  probably  find  that  he  has  been  over- 
valued by  the  past. 

The  "  Catholic  reaction,"  in  which  Lamartine  and  Chateau- 
briand participated,  was  headed,  in  the  domain  of  theology 
Joseph  de  proper,  by  Joseph  de  Maistre  and  the  Abbe  de 
Maistre  Lamennais.      The     former     (1753-1821)     was     a 

"  grand  theoricien  theocratique "  and  the  first  leader,  under 
Napoleon,  to  demand  the  restoration  of  Catholicism.  De 
Maistre  was  a  semi-foreigner,  a  Savoyard  by  birth  and  resi- 
dence. He  lived  the  career  of  a  magistrate  and  diplomat.  He 
was  strong  for  the  principle  of  Papal  authority,  even  infalli- 
bility (Dm  Pape,  1819) ,  and  he  became  a  dominant  figure  among 
the  Ultramontanes,  the  group  that  sought  to  subordinate  the 

576 


THE    CATHOLIC    REACTION  577 

Galilean  church  to  the  power  of  Rome.  His  finest  book  is  the 
Soirees  de  Saint-Petersbourg  (1821),  dialogues  dealing  with  high 
spiritual  problems.  They  are  expressed  in  a  clear  logical  form 
which  owes  much  to  the  eighteenth  century,  whose  principles 
De  Maistre  detested.  His  influence  was  at  its  height  during 
the  Second  Empire  and  affected  the  virulent  journalist,  Veuillot, 
and  the  eccentric  neo-romanticist,  Barbey  d'Aurevilly.  Of  a 
very  different  character  was  Joseph's  brother,  Xavier  de  Maistre, 
who  wrote  the  sentimental  and  charming  Voyage  autour  de  ma 
chambre  (1794). 

The  Abbe  de  Lamennais  (1782-1854),  by  his  ardent  and  elo- 
quent nature  and  by  his  association  with  Chateaubriand  and 
.  Lamartine,  is  more  closely  linked  with  literature. 
Like  Chateaubriand,  he  came  of  a  Breton  family 
and  environment  and  was  endowed  with  certain  traits  of  the 
"Northern"  romantic  imagination.  A  great  reader  in  his 
youth,  he  passed  through  a  stage  of  skepticism  and  was  not 
ordained  priest  until  1816.  The  Essai  sur  I'indijference  (1817- 
19)  attracted  much  attention,  and  Lamennais  was  esteemed  one 
of  the  Catholic  leaders.  His  chief  disciples  were  Lacordaire  and 
Montalembert.  The  three  writers  founded,  after  the  Revolution  of 
July,  a  progressive  journal  called  UAvenir,  which  became  too 
liberal  in  the  eyes  of  the  Church.  Lamennais  was  finally  con- 
demned by  the  Pope  and  lost  his  power  among  the  orthodox.  He 
had  previously  published  (1834)  his  Paroles  d'un  croyant,  which 
remain  the  most  individual  expression  of  his  fiery  faith.  Dog- 
matic and  Ultramontane,  Lamennais  yet  represented  a  fine 
effort  to  assimilate  Catholic  orthodoxy  and  democratic  liberal- 
ism, and  the  effort  wholly  failed.  His  endeavor  was  to  spirit- 
ualize the  Church,  working  first  from  the  top  and  then  (after 
1830)  from  the  bottom.  The  Essai  sur  I'indifference  develops  a 
theory  of  "  certainty  "  as  regards  dogma,  using  the  fallacious 
basis  of  universal  historic  testimony.  The  Paroles  d'un  croyant 
consist  of  highly  imaginative  parables  and  visions,  written  or 
chanted  in  a  Biblical  style.  The  book  resembles  its  author  in 
its  alternation  of  tenderness  and  violent  ardor,  and  thereby 
Lamennais  clearly  belongs  to  the  Romantic  generation. 

Under  the  Restoration,  there  were  three  gifted  professors  and 
lecturers  who  exercised  a  considerable  influence  upon  French 


578  CRITICS    AND    HISTORIANS 

youth.  This  "  trio  of  the  Sorbonne  "  was  composed  of  Villemain 
in  criticism,  Cousin  in  philosophy  and  Guizot  in  history.  In  their 
The  Trio  several  fields,  each  of  these  men  stood  for  a  new 
Sorbonne-  historical  method,  and  all  three  were  liberal-minded. 
ViUemain'  Their  eloquence  was  unsurpassed,  while  their  best 
books  were  simply  products  of  their  courses.  Abel  Ville- 
main (1790-1870)  emphasized  social  background  and  compara- 
tive literature.  The  value  of  his  Tableau  de  la  litterature  au 
moyen  age  has  faded  out  since  specialists  have  made  a  study 
of  medieval  documents,  but  his  Tableau  de  la  litterature  fraiv- 
gaise  au  XVIIIe  siecle  (1828)  still  keeps  its  usefulness  and  in- 
terest. This  work  helped  restore  the  eighteenth  century  to  its 
proper  place  in  the  history  of  thought;  it  offered  capital  ex- 
amples of  "  literature  as  the  expression  of  society  " ;  it  used  the 
method  of  comparisons  and  cross-influences  (particularly  from 
England) ;  and  it  was  written  in  a  style  of  genuine  if  old- 
fashioned  eloquence.  Villemain  had  taste,  judgment  and  knowl- 
edge. Together  with  Mme  de  Stael,  he  may  be  credited  with 
founding  nineteenth-century  criticism. 

The  talent  of  Victor  Cousin  (1792-1867)  was  less  reliable. 
His  life  carried  out  his  motto  of  "  il  f aut  paraitre  " ;  he  was  con- 
-     .  stantly  in  evidence  as  a  popular  lecturer  and  edu- 

cator. Appointed  professor  of  philosophy  when  quite 
young,  he  endeavored  to  fill  the  gaps  in  his  training  by  trips  to 
Germany  and  an  enthusiasm  for  Hegel.  His  most  important 
volume,  Du  Vrai,  du  Beau  et  du  Bien  (1853)  was  composed  of 
courses  delivered  in  1818  and  again  in  1836.  He  received  many 
public  honors,  influenced  the  mechanics  of  the  French  educa- 
tional system,  and  in  his  old  age  wrote  a  series  of  admiring 
volumes  on  his  "  amoureuses,"  such  heroines  of  the  seventeenth 
century  as  Mme  de  Longueville  and  Mme  de  Sable.  Victor 
Cousin  stands  first  for  a  new  and  significant  emphasis  on  the  his- 
tory of  philosophy  and,  secondly,  for  the  doctrine  of  Eclecticism, 
or  the  endeavor  to  combine  into  a  working  creed  the  best  and 
most  plausible  portions  of  past  systems.  Revolting  against  the 
Empiricists  (sensationalists) ,  he  manufactured  an  unstable  com- 
pound of  Plato,  Descartes  and  the  German  idealists.  His  eclectic 
synthesis  is  superficial  and  his  method  faulty.  In  aesthetics,  he 
again  approximates  a  Platonic  idealism,  an  emotion  which  is  the 


GUIZOT  579 

"  pure  sentiment  of  the  beautiful  and  the  sublime."  More  charac- 
teristic of  his  age  is  the  fact  that  he  recognizes  the  independ- 
ently creative  role  of  the  artist,  and  he  is  among  the  first  to 
formulate  the  doctrine  of  "  art  for  art's  sake."  He  also  belongs 
to  his  period  by  his  capacity  for  feeling  and  inspiring  Romantic 
enthusiasm  and  by  his  lack  of  deep  reflective  powers. 

Frangois-Pierre-Guillaume  Gtiizot  (1787-1874)  was  a  more 
solid  and  serious  person.  A  French  Protestant  by  upbringing, 
Guizot:  the  he  preserved  throughout  life  the  austerity  of  that  sect. 
^^^  As  teacher,  historian  and  statesman,  he  was  a  leader 

of  the  "  doctrinaires,"  the  moderate  liberals  who  stood  as  cham- 
pions of  the  bourgeoisie  and  of  constitutional  monarchy.  Guizot 
was  also  a  distinguished  orator  and  publicist'.  He  entered  politics 
early,  occupied  various  administrative  positions  after  Waterloo, 
lost  and  regained  his  professorial  chair,  and  gave  his  epoch-mak- 
ing courses  on  civilization,  1828-30.  Under  Louis-Philippe,  Guizot 
held  several  portfolios,  was  made  ambassador  to  England  and, 
joining  the  Opposition,  ranked  as  minister  of  foreign  affairs 
and  head  of  the  cabinet,  1841-48.  In  government  he  believed 
in  the  jitste  milieu,  repressed  democracy  pure  and  simple,  and 
constantly  maintained  that  the  upper  middle  class  was  the 
backbone  of  the  nation.  Similar  views  characterize  his  attitude 
towards  history,  which  he  tended  to  consider  as  an  adjunct  to 
practical  politics. 

Nevertheless,  Guizot  is  regarded  by  many  as  the  greatest  of 
French  historiajis.  In  opposition  to  the  Romantic  school  (see 
„.  ^  ,  subsequent  pages),  he  headed  the  political  school, 
"  whose  object  was  rather  to  explain  than  to  narrate, 
to  teach  than  to  paint  "  (Gooch) .  Furthermore,  Guizot's  master- 
piece, the  Histoire  Genercde  de  la  Civilisation  en  Europe  ^  inaugu- 
rated a  fresh  philosophy  of  history  and  revealed  its  author  as 
the  greatest  generalizer  since  Montesquieu.  As  a  universal  his- 
tory, the  work  is  more  broadly  based  than  that  of  Bossuet  or 
even  that  of  Montesquieu;  it  accepts  the  theory  of  Providence, 
but  usually  explains  events  as  arising  from  human  and  social 
causes  or  the  structure  of  governments.    Guizot's  forte  is  the 

*  Published  with  the  accompanying  work  (Histoire  GinSrale  Se  la  Civilisation  en 
France)  aa  a  Cours  d'Histoire  moderne,  in  1828-30.  Guizot  also  wrote  a  valuable 
Histoire  de  la  Revolution  d'Angleterre  (1828) ;  he  was  a  profound  admirer  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  institutions. 


580  CRITICS    AND    HISTORIANS 

exposition  of  the  underlying  ideas  of  an  epoch.  For  instance, 
he  holds  that  the  two  main  currents  of  modern  civilization  are 
the  spirit  of  free  inquiry  and  the  struggle  for  liberty  as  warring 
with  the  slow  centralization  of  power.  Again,  Guizot  shows 
how  the  modern  world  amalgamated  older  elements  from  the 
Roman  Empire,  from  the  establishment  of  Christianity  and 
Feudalism.  The  bourgeoisie  incorporated  the  best  progressive 
growth  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  in  the  long  rim  "  its  existence  in- 
volved representative  government."  The  CivUiscUion  en  France 
was  intended  to  develop  the  thought  that  France,  through  her 
assimilative  and  radiating  energy,  exhibits  the  highest  type  of 
intellectual  civilization.  The  lectures  were  unfortunately  sus- 
pended before  Guizot  had  passed  the  early  Middle  Ages,  but  he 
had  revealed  his  ability  to  study  the  body  politic  as  an  organism 
and  had  strongly  emphasized  the  national  "  imite  morale  "  as 
rising  above  the  conflict  of  classes.  The  author's  cold  reasoning 
and  his  sober  style  prevent  any  display  of  picturesque  or  dramatic 
talent.  He  is  not  dealing  primarily  with  personalities  or  with 
facts  in  themselves  and  his  books  lack  color.  Sainte-Beuve  de- 
clared that  Guizot  made  everything  too  symmetrical  and  "  en- 
chained," and  the  great  critic,  after  reading  the  historian,  woul4 
take  down  a  volimie  of  De  Retz's  Memoirs  to  remind  himself 
how  history  was  actually  made.  But  Guizot,  by  his  intellectual 
quality,  by  his  impartiality  and  sure  erudition,  as  well  as  by  his 
establishment  of  the  Societe  de  I'Histoire  de  France,  ranks  as 
the  leader  of  this  earlier  generation  in  philosophic  history,  as 
Thierry  was  the  master  in  the  narrative  kind. 

The  imaginative  qualities  which  Guizot  lacked  are  to  be 
found,  even  too  abundantly,  in  the  Romantic  school  of  historians. 
The  Michelet  was  profoundly  influenced  by  the  general 

ScSd^"'  Romanticism  of  his  period,  and  Thierry  found  his 
Thierry  vocation  through  reading  Chateaubriand's  Martyrs. 

Scott  and  Chateaubriand,  the  one  in  his  antiquarianism,  the 
other  in  his  poetizing  of  the  Middle  Ages,  may  be  considered 
the  godfathers  of  this  school.  Augustin  Thierry  (1796-1856) 
must  be  distinguished  from  his  yoimger  brother,  Am^dee,  who 
wrote  about  the  Gauls.  Thierry  began  his  career  as  the  secre- 
tary of  the  eccentric  social  philosopher,  Henri  de  Saint-Simon, 
from  whom  the  historian  may  have  partly  derived  his  sympathy 


THIERRY  681 

with  the  masses.  An  interval  of  journalism  and  a  systematic 
study  of  the  sources  of  French  history  were  followed  by  the  pro- 
duction of  two  masterpieces,  the  Histcdre  de  la  cmquete  de 
I'Angleterre  par  les  Normands  (1825)  and  the  Recits  des  Temps 
Merovingiens  (1840).  Unlike  other  historical  writers  of  the 
time,  Thierry  was  neither  a  professor  nor  a  politician.  His  health 
prevented  any  active  life;  from  the  age  of  thirty  he  was  blind 
and  partially  paralytic;  but  these  handicaps  blighted  neither 
his  vital  enthusiasm  nor  his  capacity  for  labor.  His  was  a  fine 
character,  courageous,  simple  and  ardent.  As  a  writer,  he 
combines  a  genius  for  detail  with  a  power  to  animate  the  whole 
record  of  a  faded  past.  The  result  is  a  picturesque  restoration 
of  the  early  Middle  Ages,  an  imaginative  and  colorful  interpre- 
tation, which  combines  a  true  "  intuition  "  of  past  sentiments 
and  ideas  with  an  ability  to  press  out  the  storied  life  from 
charters  and  chronicles.  So  the  Merovingian  kings  move  vividly 
before  our  eyes,  and  the  epic  of  the  races  takes  form  in  their 
migrations.  Thierry  is  among  the  first  to  emphasize  intensive 
racialism  (that  fetish  of  the  nineteenth  century),  and  his  Con- 
quete  de  I'Angleterre  over-stresses  the  Norman  influences  on  Eng- 
lish social  life.  His  narrative  gift  is  excellent,  he  is  a  master 
of  proportion  in  composition  and  of  choice  and  moderate  ex- 
pression in  style.  Thierry  is  the  first  to  put  history  on  a  high 
literary  plane. 

The  Romantic  qualities  appear  in  their  greatest  efflorescence 
in  the  work  of  Jules  Michelet,  the  "  Victor  Hugo  of  history." 
„.  .  .  .  He  came  of  the  people  and  he  was  right  in  declar- 
ing, "  Je  suis  reste  peuple."  The  poverty  and  pri- 
vations of  his  childhood  left  Michelet,  as  they  left  Dickens, 
with  a  warm  sympathy  for  the  masses  and  with  some  distrust 
of  the  world  of  society.  As  a  boy,  he  sought  relief  from 
drudgery  in  visiting  a  certain  Museum  of  French  history,  which 
gave  him  the  first  inspiration  for  his  future  work.  He  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  an  education  and  was  an  avid  reader.  In 
1827  he  translated  the  works  of  Vico,  the  Italian  philosopher, 
and  was  appointed  to  teach  at  the  Ecole  Normale,  where  his 
causeries  were  much  esteemed.  Ten  years  later  he  passed  to  the 
College  de  France.  As  a  consequence  of  an  attack  on  the  Jesuits 
he  lost  his  professorial  chair;  he  also  lost  his  post  in  the  national 


682  CRITICS    AND    HISTORIANS 

archives,  when  Napoleon  III  came  into  power.  Discouraged 
and  embittered  against  imperialism,  Michelet  won  happiness 
again  through  the  companionship  and  collaboration  of  his  de- 
voted second  wife.  This  is  the  epoch  of  his  travels  and  of  his 
curious  volumes,  semi-scientific,  semi-mystical,  on  L'Oiseau,  La 
Femme,  La  Bible  de  I'Humanite.  Michelet  always  kept  some- 
thing of  the  feeling  and  enthusiasm  of  a  child.  Susceptible, 
kind-hearted  and  thoroughly  good,  he  was  rather  a  solitary, 
revealing  his  "  winged  spirit "  only  to  his  intimates  or  in  his 
books. 

As  for  the  Histoire  de  France,  the  composition  of  this  work 
runs  through  all  his  mature  life.  Three  separate  parts  are  to 
"Histoire  de  be  distinguished:  six  voliunes  on  the  Middle  Ages, 
France"  written  from  1833-43;  then  Michelet's  sudden  leap 
to  the  Revolution,  1847-53 ;  finally,  the  treatment  of  the  inter- 
vening period  (Renaissance  et  Temps  modernes,  eleven  volumes, 
1855-67).  The  first  part  is  Michelet's  most  perfect  and  har- 
monious work,  written  before  his  prejudices  and  imagination 
overcame  him.  His  ardent  patriotism  and  his  tendency  to  sym- 
bolism made  him  view  medieval  France  as  a  living  person. 
His  object  is  the  "  resurrection  of  the  life  of  the  past  as  a  whole," 
and  he  succeeds  in  this  through  his  gift  of  sympathetic  imagina- 
tion, applied  to  the  complex  of  institutions,  events  and  person- 
alities. He  believed  that  a  great  writer  should  imderstand  and 
welcome  eagerly  "  the  diverse  manifestations  of  the  human 
spirit "  (Monod) .  The  powjer-  of  vision  and  expression  thus 
attained  is  beyond  anythmg  in  the  range  of  French  history 
hitherto.  As  Sainte-Beuve  says,  Michelet  makes  all  other 
historians  seem  like  compilers.  Some  of  the  outstanding  fea- 
tures of  the  work  are  the  famous  survey  of  the  French  provinces 
(Michelet  was  the  first  to  emphasize  geographical  history) ; 
the  apotheosis  of  Joan  of  Arc  as  the  soul  of  France;  and  the 
full-length  depictions  of  Louis  IX  and  Louis  XL  The  writer's 
usual  habit  is  to  narrate  by  a  succession  of  vivid  scenes.  The 
second  part  of  the  work  was  undertaken  after  Michelet's  cam- 
paign against  the  Jesuits.  It  enthrones  the  Revolution  as  em- 
bodying, especially  in  its  dawn,  the  hope  of  a  humanity  liberated 
from  king  and  church.  The  people  en  masse  can  be  viewed  as 
the  hero  of  the  epic,  and  the  people  can  do  no  wrong,  in  Miche- 


MICHELET  683 

let's  view.  At  least,  the  mob  spirit  and  the  Terror  are  atten- 
uated, to  the  greater  glory  of  Revolutionary  principles  and  ideals. 
In  brilliant  tableaux  (the  Convocation  of  the  States-General, 
the  flight  to  Varennes,  etc.)  and  in  prophet-like  demeanor, 
Michelet  is  rivaled  only  by  Carlyle,  whom  he  also  resembles  in 
various  errors  and  faults  of  proportion.  The  third  part  of  the 
Histoire  shows  this  great  talent  in  its  decline.  Bitter  attacks 
on  the  old  regime  and  the  Catholic  church,  a  tendency  to  credit 
scandalous  memoirs  and  to  over-estimate  the  small  fact  as 
determining  history,  are  scarcely  atoned  for  by  the  continuance 
of  the  author's  wonted  eloquence  and  power  of  depiction.  There 
is  too  much  propaganda  and  too  little  care  and  thought.  Miche- 
let here  exhales  hatred  and  prejudice,  and  the  four  chief  objects 
of  his  hatred,  it  has  been  well  said,  were  priest,  king,  England 
and  the  bourgeoisie. 

But  at  his  best,  as  an  interpreter  of  the  Middle  Ages,  Michelet 
is  incomparable.  Page  after  page  contains  fire  and  feeling. 
His  Tal  nt  ^^''''l^dg®  and  insight.  Like  Thierry,  he  breathes 
upon  musty  documents  and  informs  them  with  life. 
He  was  possessed  of  a  "  flamme  interieure,"  which  he  communi- 
cates to  ancient  ages  and  to  the  reader  as  well.  One  of  his  ad- 
mirers, Monod,  declares  that  Michelet  remained  the  chief  forti- 
fying and  consoling  force  in  the  nation;  that  after  1830  he  was 
almost  the  only  example  of  continued  Romantic  idealism  and 
optimism.  He  sought  the  original  and  striking  features  of  an 
epoch,  and  his  Histoire,  in  its  mobile  and  fervent  style,  is  most 
original  and  inimitable.  He  was  too  individual  to  found  a 
school,  but  later  historians  admit  their  debt  to  his  inspiration 
and  admit  his  supremacy  in  the  imaginative  and  emotional  re- 
vivification of  the  past.  Michelet  was  primarily  an  artist,  who 
chose  history  as  his  working  material. 

The  work  of  Thiers  and  of  Mignet,  who  belonged  to  the 
"  political "  rather  than  to  the  Romantic  school,  may  be  more 
Thiers  and  briefly  considered.  Adolphe  Thiers'  long  and  bril- 
*^snet  lig^jj^  career  (1797-1877)  is  closely  connected  with 

the  destinies  of  his  country.  With  Mignet,  he  founded  Le 
National  and  helped  expel  the  Bourbons  in  1830.  With  Guizot, 
he  shared  the  direction  of  the  doctrinaire  policy  and  alternated 
with  him  as  leader  of  the  cabinet  and  of  the  Opposition  under 


684  CRITICS    AND   HISTORIANS 

Louis-Philippe.  Thiers  was  partly  responsible  for  the  third 
Napoleon,  but  his  great  opportunity  was  found  in  the  days  of 
70-71,  and  his  patriotic  services  then  were  rewarded  by  his 
election  as  the  first  President  of  the  French  Republic.  As  a  his- 
torian he  is  not  deep,  shows  political  bias  and  neglects  documen- 
tary sources.  But  his  treatment  is  extremely  clear  and  fresh. 
The  Histoire  de  la  Revolution  frangaise  (1823-27)  was  for  long 
the  most  popular  work  on  the  subject.  It  shows  a  certain 
political  opportunism  and  fatalism,  but  it  is  tolerably  impartial 
and  very  readable,  with  its  easy  luminous  style.  The  Histoire 
du  Consulat  et  de  I'Emjnre  (1845-62)  is  a  greater  book  and  re- 
mains the  most  complete  account  of  Napoleon,  as  it  was  a 
considerable  factor  in  the  restoration  of  the  Napoleonic  cult. 
Thiers  was  well  equipped  and  experienced  in  matters  of  ad- 
ministration and  diplomacy ;  he  made  special  studies  of  finance, 
geography  and  battle-fields;  his  chief  handicap  is  externality, 
a  lack  of  the  philosophic  power  with  which  Guizot  was  so 
abundantly  endowed.  Thiers'  close  friend,  Mignet  (1796- 
1884)  has  a  higher  place  as  an  accurate  and  thoughtful 
historian.  His  Precis  de  la  Revolution  frangaise  (1824)  is  still 
useful  in  its  condensed  and  logical  presentation  of  events.  But 
Mignet  is  not  an  accomplished  writer.  His  chief  work,  the 
Sv<:cession  d'Espagne  and  the  editing  of  documents  relative  to 
that  subject,  belongs  to  history  as  a  science  rather  than  to  history 
as  literature. 


BOOK  VII 
REALISM 

CHAPTER  I 

THE    TRANSITION:    BALZAC 

HoNOR^  DE  Balzac  (1799-1850),  in  spite  of  the  de  which  he 
inserted  in  his  name,  was  of  comparatively  humble  birth.  He 
was  of  peasant  stock  on  the. side  of  his  father,  -yvho 
seems  to  have  endowed  Honore  with  his  strong 
physique  and  personality.  The  mother  left  him  her  taste  for 
mystical  reading  (cf.  Louis  Lambert) ;  also  she  paid  his  debts 
and  often  nagged  him  mercilessly.  More  sympathetic  to  the 
lad's  ambitions  was  a  sister,  Laure,  who  was  among  Balzac's 
first  biographers.  Though  the  family  was  of  Southern  origin, 
Honore  was  born  and  spent  his  youth  in  the  sunny  country 
of  Touraine,  which  he  has  glowingly  celebrated  in  his  fiction 
(Le  Lys  dans  la  vallee,  Contes  drolatiques) ,  and  this  environ- 
ment probably  added  to  his  Rabelaisian  exuberance.  At  the 
College  Vendome,  near  Tours,  Balzac  passed  six  years  of  hot- 
house discipline  and  promiscuous  hard  reading.  His  health  was 
seriously  affected  for  a  time.  Then  he  was  sent  to  Paris,  "  pour 
faire  son  droit ";  his  law-studies  and  the  notary  who  directed 
them  appear  conspicuously  in  his  novels  (Gobseck,  L'lnterdic- 
tion) .  He  was  finally  allowed  to  take  a  fling  at  literature,  and 
we  see  him  (1819)  happily  installed  in  the  conventional  garret 
and  writing  enthusiastically  to  his  sister  about  his  career  — 
which  he  had  not  yet  started.  Some  years  of  application  re- 
sulted in  ten  melodramatic  novels  (CEwvres  de  jeunesse) ;  these 
even  Balzac  would  not  sign.  Desiring  to  make  money  rapidly, 
he  became  involved  in  a  printing  and  publishing  concern,  which 
led  to  financial  insolvency  {Illusions  perdues,,  Cesar  Birotteau) , 
The  aristocratic  Mme  de  Berny  helped  rescue  him  from  this 
predicament  and  interested  him  in  the  epoch  of  the  Revolution. 

585 


586  THE    TRANSITION:    BALZAC 

This  was  depicted  in  Les  Chouans  (1829),  with  which  novel 
^alzac  begins  the  famous  series  of  the  Comedie  humaine. 

^  Les  Chouans  is  significant  because  it  marks  the  transition 
from  the  historical  novel  to  the  novel  of  contemporary  manners. 

^When  the  transition  became  complete,  modem  Realism  was  born. 
The  Realistic  tendency  is  still  more  pronounced  in  the  early 
Scenes  de  la  Vie  Privee,  which  included  such  important  studies 
in  actual  life  as  Gobseck  and  the  Cure  de  Tours.  With  the  ap- 
pearance of  such  masterpieces  (1833-34)  as  Eugenie  Grandet,  Le 
Pere  Goriot  and  La  Recherche  de  I'Absolu,  Balzac's  method  of 
work  may  be  considered  as  established.  His  enormous  pro- 
ductivity has  fairly  begun.  He  is  henceforth  the  "  anchorite  of 
labor  "  who  toils  for  months  together,  from  two  in  the  morning 
all  through  the  day,  sustaining  himself  with  black  coffee  and 
allowing  an  occasional  holiday  for  Gargantuan  meals  and  social 
pleasures.  Balzac  was  well  received  in  certain  salons  and  deigned 
to  pose  as  a  social  lion.  But  he  lacked  distinction  and  was  never 
admitted  to  the  Academy.  He  grew  up  in  the  society  of  the 
Restoration,  which  knew  all  the  difficulties  of  "  reconstruction  " 
on  a  large  scale.  So  his  novels  present  many  types  of  arrivistes 
(Rastignac,  Rubempre) ,  who  pass  through  various  environments 
in  their  search  for  position  and  wealth.  Owing  to  his  perpetual 
need  of  money,  Balzac  was  in  changing  relations  with  different 
publishers  and  theatrical  directors ;  he  also  found  it  wise  to  change 
his  place  of  residence  frequently,  in  order  to  avoid  persistent 
creditors.  He  had  fleeting  affairs  with  various  women,  but  the 
only  true  successor  to  Mme  de  Berny  was  a  Polish  lady,  Mme 
Hanska.  This  affair  began  in  1833,  was  long  maintained  by 
scattered  meetings  and  correspondence  {Lettres  a  I'Etrangere) , 
caused  sudden  visits  to  Switzerland,  Italy  and  the  Ukraine,  and 
was  consummated  in  marriage  just  before  the  novelist's  death. 
Though  it  ultimately  ruined  him,  this  passion  fostered  Balzac's 
talent  and  productive  power.  "  Etre  celebre  et  etre  aime  "  were 
his  two  most  steadfast  desires.  So  we  find  him  absorbing  Pari- 
sian and  provincial  life,  entertaining  strange  dreams  of  wealth, 
either  through  Sardinian  mines  or  through  dealings  with  the 
Great  Mogul,  becoming  an  amateur  of  bibelots  and  collections 
(Le  Cousin  Pons) ,  constantly  binding  himself  over  to  publishers 
and  pawning  the  future  for  the  present.    In  this  respect  he  re- 


HIS    TEMPERAMENT  587 

sembled  Sir  Walter  Scott,  and  the  practical  life  of  each  was  dam- 
aged by  the  writer's  too  liberal  imagination.  Like  others,  Balzac 
contracted  to  produce  romans-feuilletons  at  top  speed,  and  after 
1836  the  results  appear  in  some  instances  of  hasty  composition 
and  style.  Yet  many  of  his  best  works  (for  example,  Cesar 
Birotteau,  1837)  were  also  written  rapidly.  It  has  been  estimated 
that  he  made  an  average  of  almost  twenty-five  thousand  francs 
yearly,  and  from  1845  his  financial  position  became  easier.  By 
then  all  his  efforts  were  directed  toward  marrying  Mme  Hanska 
and  setting  up  a  fine  establishment  in  Paris.  Trips  to  Russia, 
a  long  sickness,  and  disillusionment  after  marriage,  precipitated 
the  end.  He  died,  literally  worn  out  by  life  and  labor,  in  August, 
1850. 

By  nature,  Balzac  offers  a  curious  compound  of  the  idealist 
and  the  materialist.  His  powerful  imagination,  his  sanguine 
_  ret  ^®^''™^  °^  ^°^®  ^°^  happiness,  his  (Swedenborgian) 
mysticism  tended  in  the  one  direction;  but  his  very 
physical  being,  his  coarseness,  his  Rabelaisian  and  middle-class 
characteristics  induced  in  him  much  giisto  for  the  real  world. 
By  intuition  he  is  a  Romantic  genius ;  by  his  extraordinary  and 
detailed  memory  for  the  concrete,  he  is  the  founder  of  the  Real- 
istic school.  His  two  chief  ideals,  love  and  creative  art,  were 
stained  by  the  money-makihg  ambition.  Exuberant  and  even 
titanic  power  is  his  special  mark.  No  such  industry  and  driving 
force  had  hitherto  appeared  in  fiction.  It  led  him  into  eruptions 
of  gaiety  and  egotism,  in  which  everything  had  to  bend  to  his 
will,  and  in  which  the  world  of  real  people  faded  away  before 
the  huger  reality  of  the  Comedie  humaine.  It  led  him  finally 
into  that  realm  of  hallucination  and  monomania  in  which  he 
wrote  his  last  imposing  novels  —  Le  Cousin  Pons,  La  Cousine 
Bette.  Nimierous  anecdotes  show  how  for  Balzac  his  visions  be- 
came facts,  and  it  is  in  the  ultimate  fusion  of  the  real  and  the 
romantic  that  the  secret  of  his  spell  resides. 

Besides  his  fiction,  Balzac  wrote  several  volumes  of  plays,  arti- 
cles and  miscellanea;  but  the  Comedie  humaine,  the  product  of 
Plan  of  the  twenty  years'  labor,  slands'^ut  as  his  great  achieve- 
tamSM"  ^^^^-  This  collection  includes  about  ninety-five 
separate  titles  of  novels,  novelettes  and  short  stories.  Over 
four  million  words  and  over  two  thousand  characters,  one-fourth 


688  THE    TRANSITION:    BALZAC 

of  them  "  reappearing,"  were  used  in  this  vast  scheme.  Its  central 
feature jgjthe  endeavor  to  present  completely  and  concretdy  the 
socialjife  of  contemporary  France ;_"  completely,"  because  Bal- 
zac's idea  was  tolncludre  every  social  category  and  most  fields 
of  knowledge ;  "  concretely,"  because  Realism  of  detail  and  a  close 
acquaintance  with  small  boiu-geois  life  were  employed  to  an  un- 
precedented extent;  "  contemporary,"  because  the  historical  novel 
of  the  past  is  incidental  in  Balzac's  work  and  he  studies  chiefly 
the  modern  epochs  with  which  he  had  personal  contact.  It  is  in 
these  three  respects  that  he  expands  the  novel  far  beyond  the 
range  attempted  by  Scott  and  Hugo.  As  early  as  the  middle 
thirties  he  had  determined  his  plan  of  social  studies  and  had  fixed 
on  the  device  of  reappearing  and  interlocking  characters  to  mortice 
together  his  growing  edifice.  About  1841  he  chose  his  general  title 
(as  a  counterpart  to  Dante's  Divina  Commedia).  In  the  Avant- 
propos  of  1842  he  evinces  his  encyclopedic  intention  and  his  view 
of  society  as  divisible  into  species  according  to  profession  and 
habitat.  At  least  one-third  of  his  titles  {Le  Medecin  de  Cam- 
pagne,  La  Vieille  Fille,  Les  Employes,  etc.)  indicate  this  preoc- 
cupation with  social  types,  which  is  further  manifest  from  the 
f  divisions  given  to  the  Comedie.  The  first  and  largest  Part  is 
called  "  Etudes,  de ..Moeurs  "  and  is  subdivided  into  six  kinds  of 
Scenes:  those  pertaining  respectively  to  the  Vie  privee,  Vie  de 
province,  Vie  Parisienne,  Vie  politique,  Vie  rmlitcdre  and  the 
vFie  de  campagne.  The  second  Part  is  called  "  Etudes^  Philo- 
sophiques,"  and  the  third,  "Etudes  Analytiques."  These  in- 
clude fewer  titles  and  have  no  subdivisions;  the  intention  here 
was  more  abstract  —  to  deal  with  the  causes  and  principles 
underlying  society  (La  Recherche  de  I'Absolu,  La  Peau  de 
chagrin,  La  Physiologic  du  mariage) .  To  recur  to  the  first  Part, 
the  various  Scenes  overlap  in  their  content,  which  is  not  always 
logically  subdivided;  but  Balzac's  intention  of  becoming  the 
"  secretary  of  society,"  studied  in  its  chief  categories,  is  here 
fulfilled.  We  may  mention  a  few  samples  imder  each  heading. 
The  Vie  privee  included  ultimately  the  early  novelettes  dealing 
with  modest  bourgeois  life  {La  Bourse,  La  Maison  du  Chat- 
qm-pelote) ,  together  with  such  fine  character  studies  as  Le 
Colonel  Chabert  and  later  full-length  novels  like  Le  Pere  Gvriot 
or  Beatrix.    The  Vie  de  province  contains  Balzac's  main  attempt, 


HIS    ROMANTICISM  689 

turgid  and  sentimental,  to  depict  idealistic  love  —  Le  Lys  dans 
la  vallee;  it  also  has  the  incomparable  Eugenie  Grandet,  Pier- 
rette, the  great  fresco  of  Illusions  perdues,  and  others.  The  titles 
here  cover  four  French  provinces.  The  Vie  Parisienne  includes 
a  parallel  fresco  of  the  metropolis  —  the  Splendeurs  et  Miseres 
des  courtisanes  —  and  several  novels  of  intrigue  and  business. 
The  Vie  politique  has,  for  instance,  Une  Tenebreuse  Affaire 
(mystery  story) ;  the  Vie  mUitaire  has  Les  Chouans;  and  the 
Vie  de  campagne,  appropriately  includes  Les  Paysans,  Le 
Medecin  de  campagne  (ideal  doctor)  and  Le  Cure  de  village 
(ideal  priest).  The  last  three  Scenes  embrace  fewer  titles  than 
the  first  three,  and  it  was  Balzac's  intention  to  enlarge  their 
content.  He  planited  in  all  one  hundred  and  fifty  novels. 
Several  unwritten  masterpieces  were  to  gather  around  his  hero 
Napoleon,  and  others,  judging  from  the  semi-autobiographical 
novels  already  mentioned,  would  undoubtedly  have  gathered 
around  Balzac  himself. 

As  with  his  temperament,  so  we  must  consider  Balzac's  work 
in  its  Romantic  and  in  its  Realistic  aspects.  The  origins  of  his 
Balzac's  Romanticism  are  not  far  to  seek.  The  English 
Romanticigm  «  School  of  Terror  "  (Maturin  and  Lewis),  the  melo- 
drama of  Pixerecourt,  certain  contemporary  strains  in  Hugo  or 
in  Sue  were  not  without  influence.  Balzac's  own  CEuvres  de 
jeunesse  {Argow  le  Pirate,  Jane  la  Pale,  etc.),  which  are  fairly 
voluminous,  teem  with  melodramatic  incidents,  violent  deeds, 
missing  heirs  and  mysterious  characters.  Consequently,  the  Co- 
medie  humaine  contains  a  revival  of  Maturin's  Melmoth;  a  grue- 
some villain  like  Vautrin ;  sinister  bands  like  that  of  the  "  Thir- 
teen ";  piracy  in  La  Femme  de  trente  ans;  crimes,  vendettas  and 
harrowing  deaths  in  many  novels.  Apart  from  this  bas-roman- 
tisme,  there  is  also  the  more  legitimate  type,  to  be  seen  in  Bal- 
zac's individualism:  not  only  does  he  exhibit  his  heart  and  mind 
in  many  passages,  but  be  preaches  individualism  in  the  careers 
of  his  male  and  female  climbers  (Rastignac,  de  Marsay, 
Valerie  Mameffe).  The  exaltation  of  the  imagination  {Sera- 
phita,  La  Peau  de  chagrin),  of  passion  (Veronique,  Mme  d* 
Mortsauf,  Esther  van  Gobseck),  of  the  artistic  life  {Gambara, 
Illusions  perdues)  all  have  their  Romantic  bias.  The  delineation 
of  such  strong  passions,  rising  to  the  point  of  mania,  is  often 


590  THE    TRANSITION:    BALZAC 

fine  and  stirring;  but  pathos  is  not  usually  Balzac's  forte.  Again, 
his  descriptive  processes  are  often  those  of  the  Romantic  painter. 
Except  in  Le  Lys  dans  la  vallee,  he  scarcely  treats  nature  in  an 
idealistic  way;  nor  is  he  prone  to  use  Catholicism  other  than  as 
a  desirable  discipline.  This  is  replaced  by  the  somewhat  mate- 
rial and  exaggerated  mysticism  of  Louis  Lambert  and  Seraphita. 
Exaggeration  and   excess  were,  unfortunately,  two  Romantic 

n^emptations  to  which  Balzac  fell  an  easy  prey.  The  thick 
coloring,  of  his  style  in  "  purple  passagesj"  the  millions  of 
francs  with  which  he  suddenly  endows  his  leading  characters, 
the  agonising  death-beds,  and  especially  the  growing  effect 
of  hallucinations  in  his  own  mind,  the  huge  mushrooms  of  many 
midnights  of  toil  —  all  these  are  symptoms  of  the  Romantic 

Ijever. 

But  as  a  whole  the  Comedie  humaine  is  the  earliest  and  still 
the  most  con^icuous  monument-of  French  Realism.  We  may 
Realistic  define  Realism  as  the  art  of  representing  actuality. 
Features  viewed  largely  from  the  material  standpoint,  in  a 
way  to  produce  as  closely  as  possible  the  impression  of  truth. 
What  then  are  the  chief  Realistic  qualities  and  elements  in  the 
work  of  Balzac?  As  regards  truth,  it  would  seem  that  his 
deliberate  pessimism,  his  exaggerations  in  plot  and  incident,  and 
his  use  of  grandiose  monomaniacs  as  characters,  would  be 
"  romantic."  But  his  careful  verisimilitude  gives  nevertheless 
the  impression  of  reality,  and  we  feel  that  most  of  the  Comedie 
humaine  has  actually  happened.  This  is  imdoubtedly  because 
Balzac  conceives  his  novels  with  an  intense  and  powerful  vision. 
He  leans  towards  materialism,  which  is  his  second  Realistic 
quality  —  the  «mphasis  on  force,  food,  money  and  concrete 
objects.  He  especially  stressed  various  material  occupations: 
physical  living,  which  depends  upon  eating,  which  depends  upon 
money,  which  depends  upon  work  in  trade  or  profession.  The 
space  given  to  money  and  business  affairs  is  among  Balzac's 
most  notable  features,  and  his  knowledge  of  this  field  seems 
comprehensive.  The  insistence  on  material  things  is  also  ap- 
parent, not  only  in  the  long  descriptions  of  furniture  and  the 
like,  but  in  the  fact  that  a  mere  object  (a  purse,  a  crucifix)  is 
often  made  a  pivot  in  the  plot.  Again,  it  seems  materialistic 
that  so  many  of  his  characters  have  analogies  with  the  animal 


HIS    REALISM  691 

world.  The  very  idea  of  social  species  came  to  him,  as  he  says, 
from  a  comparison  "  entee  rhumanite  et  I'animalite,"  and 
throughout  he  sustains  the  comparison  and  insists  upon  the  re- 
semblance between  men  and  beasts.  Allied  to  this  trait  is  the 
attention  paid  to  science,  especially  the  modifications  of  charac- 
ter due  to  environment,  topography,  physiology  or  pathology. 
Certain  pseudo-sciences,  such  as  mesmerism,,  also  figure  largely. 
Balzac's  "  encyclopedic  zeal "  finds  expression  in  documen- 
tation and  in  breadth  of  treatment.  Two  kinds  of  docimients 
appear:  technical  disquisitions  by  the  author,  with  display  of 
erudition  in  many  fields;  or  the  use  of  sueh  actual  documents 
as  a  military  proclamation  or  a  business  prospectus.  Conscien- 
tious researches  {enquetes)  often  seem  inorganic  as  regards  the 
story  proper,  but  add  to  the  fullness  of  background  and  the 
sense  of  reality.  The  breadth  of  treatment  (Realistic  uni- 
versality) seems  to  ignore  nothing  in  contemporary  life  and  is 
conspicuous  in  Balzac's  elaborate  introductions.  Some  tedious- 
ness  results  from  such  long-winded  descriptions  and  expositions. 
One  finds  also  a  tendency  towards  mediocrity  and  triviality  of 
representation,  but  in  this  respect  Balzac  sins  less  than  his 
successors,  and  many  even  believe  that  he  attains  his  greatest 
effects  in  the  depiction  of  mediocre  and  ordinary  lives.  He  is 
not  so  successful  in  etching  true  aristocrats  and  people  of  refined 
breeding.  He  was  a  Royalist  and  something  of  a  tuft-hunter, 
yet  his  vision  of  manifold  democracy  is  perhaps  the  best  em- 
bodiment of  the  mingled  art  and  truth  of  the  Comedie  humaine. 
All  in  all,  he  attains  a  solidity  of  effect,  of  workmanship,  of 
cumulative  power  that  is  simply  incomparable.  But  among  his 
Realistic  virtues  we  can  include  neither  a  thoroughly  sym- 
pathetic heart  (such  as  the  Russians  have)  nor  the  impartial 
and  impersonal  attitude  of  Flaubert  and  the  later  school.  Balzac 
is  perpetually  intruding  himself  into  the  story.  The  sociological 
aspect  already  developed,  the  amount  of  delineation  by  classes 
and  types,  is  the  crowning  conception  of  this  Realist. 

Other  features  of  his  method  will  appear  from  a  considera- 
tion of  such  fictional  elements  as  exposition,  plot  and  character- 
Method  ization.    A  Balzacian  exposition,  like  the  head  of  a 
comet,  bulks  very  large  and  frequently  tries  the 
patience  of  the  reader.    Often  fifteen  or  twenty  per  cent  of  the 


592  THE    TRANSITION:    BALZAC 

whole  novel  will  be  devoted  to  preambles,  topographical,  socio- 
historical,  biographical  or  generally  descriptive.  At  times 
(Eugenie  Grandet,  P.ere  Goriot)  this  expository  manner  is  logi- 
cal, progressive  and  valuable  for  an  understanding  of  the  whole. 
At  other  times  (throughout  the  Medecin  de  campagne  and  the 
Cure  de  village)  there  are  too  many  imorganized  disquisitions. 
In  about  one-third  of  his  stories,  Balzac  uses  the  method  of 
beginning  with  action,  in  medias  res,  and  then  returns  to  solid 
exposition.  He  uses  the  first-person  form  of  narration  almost  as 
frequently,  and  both  of  these  devices  are  evidently  intended  to 
vitalize  the  heavy  material. 

His  plots  are  rather  complex  in  the  conspiracy-novel  {roman- 
complot)  as  well  as  in  the  large  frescoes,  where  it  is  a  question 
of  depicting  various  social  groups.  The  study  of  many  milieux, 
both  for  their  historical  value  and  as  influencing  character, 
is  very  important  in  his  scheme.  But  when  the  exhibition  of 
one  salient  character  is  the  main  thing,  then  the  plot  tends 
towards  simplification  and  a  progressive  accumulation  of  in- 
cidents. The  roman-complot  itself  usually  revolves  aroimd  the 
doing  to  death  of  some  particular  martvr:  examples  are  Cousin 
Pons,  Pierrette  and  Colonel  Chabert.  f  In  the  character-novel 
also,  the  protagonist  is  often  done  to  death,  but  rather  by  his 
or  her  own  fault;  some  mischievous  mania  obsesses  and  finally 
destroys  the  person.  Examples  are  Cesar  Birotteau,  led  astray 
by  his  ambitions;  Balthazar  Claes,  whose  passion  for  research 
ruins  his  family  life  and  ultimately  his. whole  morale;  Baron 
Hulot,  disintegrated  by  libertinism;  Goriot,  with  his  excessive 
paternal  devotion.  Such  plots  frequently  present  grandiose  char- 
acters, analogous  to  Shakespeare's  passion-ridden  heroes,  and 
with  Balzac  too  we  may  find  the  "  ruling  passion  strong  in  death." 
So  the  miser  Grandet  clutches  on  his  death-bed  at  the  golden 
crucifix,  and  so  Claes  ends  his  illusory  search  with  the  cry  of 
"Eureka!"  Impressive  as  these  monomaniacs  are,  solidly  as 
they  are  built  up,  they  seem  less  humanly  real  than  the  host 
of  more  average  characters,  belonging  to  every  grade,  profes- 
sion and  moral  stratum,  which  swarm  through  the  Comedie 
humaine.l  Balzac  often  constructs  his  character  around  a  defi- 
nite keynote  or  central  personal  trait  (cf.  La  Bruy^re).  Thus 
Cesar  Birotteau  is  described  as  a  large  sanguine  son  of  a  peasant, 


STYLE    AND    INFLUENCE  593 

and  this  r61e  he  maintains  throughout.  His  costume,  his  physique, 
his  deeds  must  correspond  to  this  initial  diaracterization.  A 
similar  use  of  harmony  is  found  in  most  of  Balzac's  descriptions, 
whether  of  person  or  place,  and  together  with  this  is  found  a 
process  of  accumulation  of  points  along  the  definite  line  sug- 
gested by  the  keynote.  The  "  maison  Vauquer "  breathes  an  " 
atmosphere  of  wretched  poverty:  each  room,  each  article  of 
furniture,  the  aspect  of  each  boarder  must  contribute  to 
the  total  effect.  At  the  same  time,  each  boarder  has  his  or  her 
distinctive  individuality,  to  be  reinforced  through  the  de- 
tails of  costume,  personal  habit,  biography  and  manner  of 
speech.  For  example,  Poiret  is  a  machine  and  everything 
about  him  is  mechanical.  Small  wonder  that  Balzac  needed 
miles  of  descriptive  matter  and  that  his  details  —  character- 
istic, causal  or  cumulative  —  appear  as  numerous  as  stars  in 
the  sky! 

Most  cultivated  critics  have  held  that  Balzac  does  not  write 
well,  that  his  style  is  too  cmnbersome,  materialistic,  sometimes 
Style  and  absxird  and  pedantic.  Lapses  of  various  kinds  can 
Influence  certainly  be  found.  But  granted  the  nature  of  his 
material  —  and  his  own  nature  —  it  is  difficult  to  see  how 
another  medium  could  be  employed.  He  marches  "  with  huge 
feet  fairly  plowing  the  sand  of  our  desert "  (Henry  James) , 
and  his  style  labors  onward  with  him.  In  the  best  narrative 
portions  it  can  be  swift,  impretentious,  direct;  when  he  tries 
fine  writing,  he  usually  and  ridiculously  fails;  but  at  certain 
puissant  moments,  the  "  efflorescence "  of  his  style  rises  to 
heights  of  delineation  and  passion.  In  appropriate  figures  of 
speech  an(Lin  characteristic  dialogue,  he  is  not  found  want- 
ing. Thua  hjs_stYle_  is  as  variable  as  his  subject-matter, 
but  it  too  frequently  lacks  distinction  —  just  as  his  depiction 
of  fine  women  often  lacks  delicacy.  In  this,  as  in  other  re- 
spects, he  inaugurates  the  rule  of  force  and  displaces  that  of 
beauty.    I 

The  influence  of  Balzac  has  no  limitations  or  end.  He  simply 
transformed  fiction  and  made  the  modem  novel  the  most  com- 
prehensive literary  vehicle.  Important  novelists  in  many  coun- 
tries have  recognized  his  leadership.  Henry  James,  primarily 
a  psychologist,  calls  him  "  the  master  of  us  all " ;  George  Moore, 


594  THE    TRANSITION:    BALZAC 

though  a  dilettante,  has  written  a  wonderful  tribute  to  the 
reality  of  the  Comedie  humaine;  as  for  his  Realistic  successors, 
their  name  is  legion  throughout  Europe  and  America  (see 
Chapters  IV  and  V,  below).  This  predominance,  together  with 
his  expansive  and  titanic  power,  goes  far  towards  ranking  Balzac 
as  the  greatest  novelist  of  all  time. 


CHAPTER  II 
AUGIER,    DUMAS    FILS   AND    HENRY   BECQUE 

The  year  which  saw  the  failure  of  Hugo's  Bwgraves  (1843) 
also  saw  an  attempted  revival  of  Classical  tragedy  in  Ponsard'a 
Ponsardand  Lucrece.  In  this  and  in  more  modern  subjects, 
Scribe  Ponsard  represents,  in  opposition  to  Romanticism, 

the  so-called  school  of  "  bon  sens."  But  his  drama  was  color- 
less and  short-lived.  More  important  historically  was  the 
varied  productivity  of  Eugene  Scribe  (1791-1861),  who  occu- 
pied the  post  of  chief  entertainer  during  the  first  half  of  the 
century.  Scribe  created  the  modern  vaudeville,  or  light  comedy 
of  intrigue,  and  his  mechanical  dexterity  furnished  many  of  the 
elements  of  the  "  well-made  play,"  whose  formula  still  subsists. 
Neo-classical  comedy,  under  the  Empire,  was  but  a  bare  skele- 
ton which  Scribe  imdertook  to  vitalize  by  a  system  which  both 
suspends  and  complicates  the  interest;  he  introduced  much  in 
the  way  of  devices,  preparations  and  stage-business.  But  Scribe 
scarcely  belongs  to  literature.  He  was  a  vulgar  author,  depict- 
ing superficially  a  vulgar  bourgeoisie.  His  characters  are  sil- 
houettes, his  style  crass  and  incorrect,  and  his  ideals  center 
around  money-marriages.  His  vogue  marks  the  fact  that  pure 
tragedy  is  dead  and  that  comedy,  light  or  serious,  will  hence- 
forth occupy  itself  with  clever  plots  and  with  contemporary  life. 
Successors  to  Scribe,  under  the  Second  Empire,  were  Eugene 
Labiche  (Le  Voyage  de  Monsieur  Perrichon,  etc.,  etc.),  whose 
gay  talent  and  fertility  found  a  suitable  outlet  in  the  vaudeville; 
and  Meilhac  and  Halevy,  who  wrote  sparkling  librettos  for 
Offenbach's  operas. 

Serious  Realistic  comedy  was  undertaken  by  Emile  Augier 

(1820-89),   who   owes   something   to   Scribe   and  to   Ponsard. 

Anrier  Augier  led  an  even,  prosperous  life  as  a  Parisian 

bourgeois  of  the  better  sort,  and  his  career  was 

marked  by  almost  unbroken  successes  with  critics  and  public 

595 


596       AUGIER,    DUMAS    FILS,    HENRY    BECQUE 

alike.  For  a  generation  his  name  predominated  in  the  repertoire 
of  the  Comedie-Frangaise.  He  wrote,  partly  in  collaboration, 
twenty-seven  plays,  roughly  divisible  into  three  groups.  The 
earliest  group  contains  dramas  written  for  the  most  part  in 
mediocre  verse  and  including  fanciful  or  remote  subjects:  La 
Cigue  (1844)  imitates  the  antique  in  the  manner  of  Ponsard; 
L'Aventuriere  (Padua,  sixteenth  century)  presents  already  one 
of  Augier's  main  theses,  that  the  adventiu^ess  is  the  enemy  of 
the  family.  More  significant  is  Gabrielle  (1849),  which  de- 
nounces the  doctrine  of  Romantic  escape  in  free  love.  By  sen- 
sible arguments  the  heroine  is  won  back  to  her  husband,  whom 
she  thus  apostrophises: 

0  pere  de  famille,  6  poUe,  je  t'aime! 

The  dramatist  seems  to  conceive  of  poetry  as  a  domestic  virtue. 
' "  In  his  second  period,  Augier  establishes  himself  as  a  writer 
of  excellent  comedies  de  moeurs,  a  modern  though  inferior 
Moliere.  The  famous  Gendre  de  M.  Poirier  (1854)  recalls  the 
Bourgeois  Gentilhomme  in  the  aspirations  of  its  hero,  in  the 
blend  of  sense  and  humor,  and  especially  in  the  deft  balancing 
of  characters,  scenes  and  forces.  The  Manage  d'Olympe,  in- 
tended as  an  answer  to  the  Dame  aux  Camelias,  again  denounces 
and  punishes  the   courtesan   who   has   invaded   an   honorable 

*  family.  In  fact,  the  family  and  marriage  are  now  the  chief 
concerns  of  Augier:  a  marriage  must  be  properly  established 
(Ceinture  doree) ,  or  it  must  be  safeguarded  (Poirier) ,  or  it  must 

^be  broken  up,  if  unsuitable  {Mariage  d'Olympe) . 

Augier's  third  period  consists  mainly  of  "  social  comedy,"  a 
broader  development  of  the  comedy  of  manners.  Either  the  fam- 
ily is  viewed  as  part  of  the  organism  of  society  or  widespread 
social  defects  (money-rule,  luxury,  clericalism  and  corruption  of 
the  press)  are  portrayed  on  an  ample  scale.  Luxury  and  venal 
love  are  strongly  depicted  in  Les  Lionnes  pauvres;  Maitre  Guerin 
presents  the  unscrupulous  man  of  affairs  who  always  remains 
within  the  law;  Les  Effrontes  and  its  sequel,  Le  Fils  de  Giboyer 
(1862),  deal  with  political  and  clerical  intrigue  and  give  us  a 
new  type  in  Giboyer,  the  indurated  journalist.  Like  Figaro, 
this  personage  has  had  a  variegated  career;  he  represents  the 
proletariat  and  a  sort  of  socialism.    The  dramatist  appropriately 


AUGIER'S    QUALITIES  597 

concluded  his  career  with  Mme  Caverlet,  a  play  concerning  di- 
vorce, and  with  Les  Fourchambault  (1878),  a  large  tableau  of 
family  complications. 

In  Augier's  drama  we  have  something  like  a  less  elaborate 
and  more  moral  Comedie  humaine.  He  stages  a  history  of  the 
His  bourgeoisie  vmder  the  Second  Empire.     His  social 

Qualities  purview  covers  the  new  struggle  of  classes,  the  ques- 
tions of  patriotism  and  clericalism,  several  varieties  of  the  money 
question,  and  marriage  with  all  its  adjuncts  (love,  dowry,  tri- 
angles, children,  divorce) .  His  Realism  appears  in  this  compre- 
hensiveness, as  also  in  a  certain  impartiality  and  impersonality  of 
treatment;  in  contrast  to  Dumas  fits,  Augier  rarely  intervenes 
with  sermons,  and  events  of  his  own  life  are  apparently  not 
dramatized.  His  careful  massing  of  background  (Mariage 
d'Olympe,  etc.,)  is  again  Realistic,  and  so  is  the  use  of  small  in- 
cidents and  objects.  The  characters,  many  of  whom  stand  on 
their  feet  as  solid  and  salient  types,  are  gradually  and  distinctly 
built  up.  Thus  Augier  is  a  psychological  Realist  as  well.  People 
like  Poirier,  Olympe  and  Vernouillet  are  not  easily  forgotten.  The 
ideas  of  Augier  are  anti-romantic  and  sensible  from  the  stand- 
point of  average  living.  He  is  never  mystical  or  passioiiate,  he 
does  not  understand  or  employ  the  grander  sweeps  of  passion, 
emotion,  religion  or  speculative  thought.  Unoriginal,  sane  and 
healthy,  he  is  a  good  representative  of  the  best  bourgeois  spirit 
as  well  as  of  an  excellent  dramatic  tradition.  His  technique  is 
occasionally  conventional  in  the  use  of  stage  tricks,  in  concessions 
regarding  the  heart-interest  and  happy  endings;  but  he  is  rich 
in  situations  and  scenes,  while  his  gestures  and  single  speeches 
{mots  de  situation)  are  often  telling.  Augier  and  Dumas  jils  to5 
gether  establish  the  Realistic  drama  in  their  successful  endeavor 
"  de  porter  au  theatre  une  peinture  exacte  de  I'hmnanite,  et  deSj 
cas  de  conscience." 

More  impassioned  and  personal  than  Augier,  more  of  a  preacher 

and  a  genius  was  Alexandre  Dumas  jils  (1824^1895),  who  as  a 

natural  son  of  his  Romantic  father  would  readily 

"™**  *  turn  to  dramatic  paths.  After  a  rather  unhappy 
boyhood  in  a  boarding-school,  he  was  taken  under  the  wing  of 
the  elder  Dumas  and  shown  certain  varieties  of  gay  life.  But 
having  no  pronounced  taste  for  dissipation  and  being  considerably 


598        AUGIER,    DUMAS   FILS,    HENRY    BECQUE 

in  debt,  the  son  turned  to  literature  and  first  to  novel  writing 
(La  Dame  aux  Camelias,  etc.) .  A  dramatic  version  of  this  story- 
started  his  career  as  a  playwright,  which  continued  until  1887 
and  included  sixteen  plays.  Dumas  fils  was  made  an  Academi- 
cian and  became  quite  a  figure  in  society,  in  spite  of  frail  health. 
Among  his  friends  he  was  noted  for  his  penetrating  wit  and  his 
essentially  upright  character.  He  took  up  several  social  causes, 
defending  the  rights  of  natural  children  as  well  as  more  liberal 
divorce  laws.  The  Naquet  divorce  bill  (1884)  was  passed 
largely  through  Dumas'  influence.  In  many  of  his  earlier  plays, 
his  own  experiences,  contemporary  events  and  personages  appear, 

^  though  with  adequate  disguise.  Two  opposing  tendencies  dom- 
inate his  later  work  —  good  Realistic  technique  versus  a  moral- 

V  izing  and  sermonizing  habit  which  grew  on  him.  Thus  an  intense 
and  concrete  vision  of  "  I'homme  social "  wars  with  the  ftwce  a 
these  (the  problem-play  with  a  dogmatic  solution),  which  he 
virtually  creates.  His  drama  is  abundantly  moral  but  it  seems 
risque  and  cynical  in  that  he  usually  deals  with  the  divagations 
of  love  in  high  life. 

It  is  perhaps  unfortunate  that  Dimias  fXs  -is  still  largely  known 
to  the  Anglo-Saxon  public  as  the  author  of  "  Camille  "  or  La 
Dame  aux  Camelias  (1852).  This  play  is  Romantic 
in  theme  —  a  courtesan  "  rehabilitated  "  or  purified 
by  a  great  love  —  and  exhibits  a  youthful  ardor  not  found  else- 
where in  Dumas'  work.  More  characteristic  of  his  true  manner 
is  the  careful  rendering  of  Marguerite  Gautier's  milieu.  Similarly, 
in  Le  Demi-monde  (1855)  all  that  concerns  the  shady  setting 
is  masterfully  handled,  and  in  this  respect  Dumas  is  an  initiator. 
The  heroine,  Suzanne  d'Ange,  is  among  the  first  of  modern 
vampires,  and  Olivier  de  Jalin  is  the  author's  favorite  type  of 
raisonneur  hero.  The  trick  by  which  the  latter  deceives  and 
frustrates  Suzanne  has  been  severely  criticized.  First-hand 
knowledge  of  Parisian  life  is  also  found  in  two  subsequent  plays, 
Le  Pere  prodigue  and  Le  Fils  naturel  —  the  titles  of  which  are 
evidently  applicable  to  the  two  Dimias.  In  La  Question  d'argent 
(1857),  Realistic  drama  takes  a  distinct  step  forward  in  the 
presentation  of  business  affairs  and  of  the  unscrupulous  million- 
aire, Jean  Giraud.  Money  is  as  conspicuous  as  in  Balzac,  and 
yet  the  author  is  at  pains  to  show  that  it  cannot  conquer  esteem 


DUMAS'    TRAITS  599 

or  love.  His  disposition  to  moralize  begins  to  be  notable  in  this 
play  and  comes  to  a  climax  in  Les  Idees  de  Mme  Aubray  (1867) , 
in  which  theories  of  Christian  charity  are  placed  in  opposition 
to  maternal  affection.  Other  plays  of  this  last  period  are:  L'Ami 
des  femmes,  a  complicated  diatribe  against  irresponsible  women ; 
La  Femme  de  Claude,  in  which  another  vampire  meets  death  in 
the  author's  "  revolver  reaction  against  Romanticism;"  L'Etran- 
gere,  which  is  good  melodrama;  Demise  and  Francillon,  which* 
again  display  Parisian  women  in  no  favorable  light. 

The  fact  is  that  neither  Dumas'  men  nor  his  women  are  of 
heroic  mold;  the  women  are  usually  viewed  either  as  seductive 
Characters  perils  or  as  empty-headed  playthings;  the  men  are 
Character-  ^^ak,  selfish  and  voluptuous.  The  only  type  ad- 
istics  mired  by  the  author  is  that  of  the  raisonneur  —  the 

cynical  and  clever  man  of  the  world,  who  understands,  explains 
and  manipulates  the  other  characters,  not  usually  for  his  own 
benefit  (Rene  de  Charzay,  Olivier  de  Jalin  and  the  hero  of  L'  Ami 
des  femmes).  But  all  of  these  types  —  pleasure-seekers,  feeble 
parents,  hard  young  men  and  girls  —  are  set  forth  with  precision 
and  logic.  These  two  qualities  are  marked  in  all  of  Dumas' 
processes:  precision  and  logic  produce  the  clear-cut  effect  of  his 
style  and  appear  in  his  salient  epigrams;  they  also  characterize 
his  plot-construction,  which  is  closely  knit  together  and  de- 
velops like  a  mathematical  demonstration.  The  plots  progress 
not  by  Augier's  balance  of  forces,  but  by  straight  logic  to  an 
inevitable  conclusion.  The  use  of  "  seeds  "  or  preparations  and 
of  dove-tailing,  cumulative  scenes  is  conspicuous.  A  certain 
balance,  however,  is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  sub-plots  often 
doubly  illustrate  the  main  theme:  two  groups  of  people,  respec- 
tively more  advanced  and  less  advanced  in  years  than  the  main 
protagonists,  are  involved  with  the  same  general  problem  (for 
example.  La  Question  Sargent,  Le  Demi-monde) .  These  several 
features  of  Dumas'  method  are  not  all  Realistic;  in  fact  his  logic 
sometimes  operates  to  the  detriment  of  his  Realism,  ^nd  the  same 
is  true  of  his  preachments.  For  instance,  in  too  many  plays  a 
character  steps  out  of  the  picture  to  moralize  its  message;  in 
others,  probabilities  and  persons  are  forced  in  order  to  convey 
the  moral.  Characters  become  more  and  more  mouthpieces 
of  the  author  and  are  even  allegorical  symbols:  one  man  has  been 


600     AUGIER,    DUMAS    FILS,    HENRY    BECQUE 

dubbed  Conscience,  one  woman  is  Passion,  Olivier  de  Jalin  is 
Friendship  and  Mme  Aubray  the  Gospel.  Dumas'  theory  of  the 
"  theatre  utile  "  damaged  his  dramatic  illusion  and  his  artistic 
verity. 

P  Yet,  all  in  all,  he  is  a  convinced  and  capable  Realist,  and  his 
dramatic  skill  and  power  are  often  beyond  praise.  Intensity 
and  vibrant  sincerity  set  him  above  Augier,  whom  he  also  sur- 
passes in  imaginative  force  and  feeling.  But  he  is  inferior  to 
Augier  in  breadth  of  treatment  and  in  poise.  Dumas  is  Real- 
istic in  his  penetrating  and  unsparing  delineations  of  Parisian 
society,  the  deft  natural  touches  in  dialogue  and  in  stage-busi- 
ness, and  the  slow  painstaking  reproduction  of  all  that  concerns 
background  and  the  gradual  evolution  of  character.  In  spite 
of  some  fixed  ideas  and  habits,  he  remains  a  creative,  earnest 
dramatist  of  very  nearly  the  first  order,  essentially  French  in 
his  subjects  and  viewpoints,  his  coruscating  wit,  psychological 

insight  and  knowledge  of  theatrical  resource. 

Dumas'  most  noteworthy  successor,  after  Realism  had  passed 
into  Naturalism,  was  Henry  Becque  (1837-1899).  Becque 
Becque  ^°^®  further  than  Dumas  in  the  direction  of  pessi- 

mism, in  a  sort  of  brutal  photography  and  in  sharp 
concise  technique.  These  are  his  main  qualities,  which  may 
have  resulted  in  part  from  the  disappointments  of  his  life:  he 
failed  on  the  Bourse  and  in  journalism,  and  his  plays  were  not 
really  successful  until  his  name  became  identified  with  the 
Theatre  Antoine  (see  Bk.  IX,  Ch.  II).  Michel  Pauper  (1870) 
reveals  the  sources  of  Becque's  pessimistic  power.  "The  drama 
concerns  an  inventive  workman.  The  effect  of  his  lonely  de- 
spair in  conflict  with  capitalism  is  very  strong.  Certain  minor 
plays  preceded  Les  Corbeaux  (1882)  which  is  Becque's  mas- 
terpiece and  probably  the  best  play  produced  by  the  Nat- 
uralistic movement.  The  Vigneron  family  is  suddenly  left 
without  a  head  and  father;  the  four  helpless  women  are  about 
to  be  victimized  by  the  birds  of  prey  (lawyer,  notary,  creditors) 
who  descend  upon  the  house.  The  chief  "  corbeau  "  agrees  to 
defend  the  women  from  the  other  rascals,  if  the  second  daughter 
will  marry  him;  he  tells  her,  "  Vous  etes  entour^e  de  fripons, 
mon  enfant."  The  drama  gives  a  great  impression  of  reality, 
done  with  contained  irony.    Becque  expresses  himself  without 


BECQUE'S   NATURALISM  601 

exaggeration  or  sympathy;  his  tone  is  that  of  cold  disgust.  He 
stands  for  the  "  slice  of  life  "  theory,  according  to  which  the 
absolute  verity  of  the  single  scene,  with  carefully  chosen,  biting 
dialogue,  is  of  more  importance  than  the  total  composition. 
Finally,  in  La  Parisienne  (1885),  we  have  a  portrait  of  the 
light-hearted  woman  who  vibrates  from  one  lover  to  another, 
because  her  first  choice  behaves  too  much  like  a  husband.  La 
Parisienne,  even  more  than  Les  Corbeaux,  represents  the  perfect 
"  slice  of  life  "  with  its  return  at  the  end  to  the  original  situation. 
Apart  from  photography  and  pessimism,  Becque's  Naturalism 
is  also  seen  in  the  exactness  of  his  ironic  "  studies,"  especially 
in  matters  of  business.  Affairs  are  affairs  for  him  —  and  he^ 
learned  them  on  the  Bourse.  The  influence  of  money  is  con- 
stantly shown,  often  in  petty  ways.  His  intense  though  partial 
vision  of  reality  is  heightened  by  his  dramatic  short  cuts  and 
concentration.  He  and  his  school  strive  for  an  "  integral 
Realism,"  the  core  of  a  situation  or  of  a  character,  presented 
in  a  condensed  dialogue  that  is  bare  of  ornament.  Becque  is  an 
artist  in  ugliness.  He  has  a  tragic  power  that  is  found  neither 
in  Augier  nor  in  Dumas.  In  technique,  he  is  more  Naturalistic 
than  these  two  men,  for  he  revolts  against  the  devices  which 
they  had  inherited  from  Scribe.  Henry  Becque  has  been  a 
strong  influence  upon  the  younger  generation  of  dramatists 
(seeBk.  IX,  Ch.  II). 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    REACTION    IN    POETRY: 
BAUDELAIRE    AND    THE    PARNASSIANS 

The  year  1857  was  a  notable  date  in  French  letters.    It  was 

marked  by  the  appearance  of  Dumas'  Question  d'argent,  of 

„  ,  ,  .  Flaubert's  Madame  Bovary  and  of  Baudelaire's 
BaudelAire 

Flews  du  mal.    Partly  a  successor  to  the  Romantic 

poets,  partly  in  revolt  against  their  doctrines,  Charles  Baudelaire 
(1821-67)  crowded  into  his  short  life  the  elements  of  dissipation 
and  of  spiritual  travail  which  find  intense  expression  in  his  single 
volume  of  verse.  A  rebel  against  domestic  restraint,  against 
scholastic  discipline,  against  any  respectable  career  or  behavior, 
he  found  himself  at  twenty  a  dandy  of  the  Latin  Quarter,  in 
possession  of  a  small  fortune.  This  he  quickly  spent.  Involved 
in  debts  and  in  an  imfortimate  liaison,  he  tried  art-criticism 
and  joiu'nalism,  writing  up  two  of  the  yearly  "  Salons,"  and  pro- 
ducing at  intervals  (1856-65)  his  remarkable  translation  of  Edgar 
Allan  Poe,  whose  tales  he  made  known  to  Europe.  The  publica- 
tion of  the  Fleurs  du  mal  engaged  Baudelaire  in  a  lawsuit  which 
caused  a  certain  scandal.  But  the  poet  was  honored  by  his 
brother  artists  (Gautier  and  Banville),  and  his  position  seemed 
secure.  Unfortunately,  his  health  was  already  undermined. 
He  shortly  made  the  mistake  of  trying  to  live  in  BelgSum, 
a  coimtry  which  he  found  imsympathetic ;  there  he  was  stricken 
with  paralysis,  and  he  returned  to  die  in  Paris. 

Baudelaire's  strange  physiognomy,  like  that  of  a  shady  priest 
or  a  seedy  actor,  was  borne  out  by  a  wilful  singularity  in  charac- 
ter and  behavior.  Desiring  to  astonish,  over-fond  of  mystifica- 
tions, he  was  deliberately  irregular  in  costume,  language  and 
opinions.  Behind  his  cold  and  disturbing  mask,  he  indulged 
tastes  for  debauchery,  wine  and  hashish ;  and  he  sometimes  exag- 
gerated his  perversity  to  the  point  of  Satanism.  Yet  he  had 
strong  spiritual  reactions  and  was  influenced  by  an  ideal  love. 

602 


LES    FLEURS    DU    MAL  603 

These  opposing  forces  vie  with  one  another  throughout  the 
Flews  du  mal  and  are  crystallized  in  the  great  line: 

Dans  la  brute  assoupie  un  ange  se  reveille. 

A  number  of  these  poems  had  appeared  first  in  the  reviews. 
The  title  chosen  for  the  volume  was  meant  to  "  epater  le  bour- 
"les  Fleurs  geois  "  and  is  not  very  suitable;  Spleen  et  Ideal  (a 
du  Mal"  sub-title)  is  more  exact.  The  book  has  no  central 
plan,  except  as  it  depicts  the  successive  soul-states  of  the  author. 
The  essential  duality  of  his  nature  produces,  on  the  one  hand, 
many  evidences  of  Catholic  mysticism:  repentance,  desire  for 
atonement,  appeals  to  the  Lord,  a  churchly  vocabulary  and  rem- 
iniscences, a  liking  for  ritual  and  hymns ;  on  the  other  hand,  the 
poetry  of  revolt  finds  expression  in  tributes  to  Satan  or  to  Cain 
and  in  complacent  descriptions  of  debauchery  and  horrors.  Ado- 
ration for  Madonnas  and  a  pure  earthly  love  are  at  variance 
with  Realistic  impressions  of  "  une  horrible  Juive,"  of  corpses, 
of  creepy  sunsets  and  of  Les  petites  Vieilles.  Ennui  and  spleen, 
mulattos  and  cats,  "  artificial  paradises  "  and  other  artificiali- 
ties, white  nights,  sumptuous  imaginings,  and  fervent  solenm 
religious  prostrations,  make  a  curious  jangle  in  Baudelaire's 
"  cracked  soul  "  (La  Cloche  jelee) .  But  whatever  the  material, 
the  projection  of  the  poet's  inner  life  is  always  powerful  and  in- 
tense. His  form  is  masterly  and  original,  while  the  "  new 
shudder  "  upon  which  Hugo  congratulated  him  applies  as  much 
to  the  poetic  transcription  as  to  the  sinister  subjects  treated. 

The  poems  are  mostly  short,  comprised  within  a  page  or  two, 
and  the  irregular  sonnet  form  (see  L'Ennemi)  is  a  favorite. 
Formal  This   brevity   was   partly   inspired    by   Poe,   who 

Merits  ^jgg  geems  responsible  for  some  use  of  the  repe- 

tend  and  the  refrain.  Baudelaire  reacts  against  the  Romantic 
theories  of  facile  inspiration  and  effusiveness,  and  he  takes 
few  of  the  Romantic  liberties;  he  is  sparing  in  his  use 
of  enjambement,  of  rich  or  rare  rimes.  He  employs  mainly 
the  Classic  mold,  into  which  he  pours  his  unusual  sub- 
stance. His  Alexandrines  are  more  full  and  sonorous  than 
tho^  of  any  Romantic  poet.  He  is  the  master  of  a  certain 
organ-roll,  aided  by  polysyllables,  enumerations  and  a  plenitude 
oieffect  which  has  been  aptly  likened  to  a  Beethoven  symphony: 


604  THE    REACTION   IN    POETRY 

Je  sais  que  vous  gardez  une  place  au  poete 
Dans  les  rangs  bienheureux  des  saintes  Legions, 
Et  que  vous  I'invitez  a  Teternelle  fete 
Dee  Trones,  des  Vertus,  des  Dominations. 

His  images  are  original  and  readily  visualized;  we  see  the  woman 
who  sails  along  like  a  "  beau  navire  "  or  the  wounded  man  who 
lies  under  a  pile  of  corpses, 

Et  qui  meurt,  sans  bouger,  dans  d'immenses  efforts. 

Baudelaire  also  makes  an  excellent  use  of  antithesis,  and  his 
epithets  are  striking,  suggestive  and  sometimes  paradoxical 
("  aimable  pestilence  ") .  He  chooses  his  words  with  unerring 
care  and  artistic  restraint.  Perhaps  his  most  important  quality 
is  a  power  of  concentration  and  condensation,  visible  in  the  total 
plan  of  the  poem  as  well  as  in  single  verses.  Therefore  certain 
of  his  lines  are  memorable  and  of  a  lapidary  perfection  — 

La  musique  souvent  me  prend  comme  une  mer. 

L'empire  familiar  des  tenebres  futures. 

Les  parfums,  les  couleurs  et  les  sons  se  repondent. 

The  last  quotation  illustrates  Baudelaire's  conception  of  sense- 
transference  or  of  certain  correspondences  betw«en  the  arts,  a 
theory  which  he  did  not  push  to  the  extreme  of  the  later  Symbol- 
ists (see  Bk.  IX,  Ch.  Ill) .  His  own  senses  were  very  keen.  His 
thorough  acquaintance  with  painting  and  with  music,  his  love 
for  Delacroix  and  his  early  appreciation  of  Tannhduser,  will 
account  for  such  perfect  tableaux  as  Don  Juan  avx  enfers  and 
for  the  orchestral  effect  already  mentioned.    Such  a  couplet  as 

Je  hais  le  mouvement  qui  deplace  les  lignes 
Et  jamais  je  ne  pleure  et  jamais  je  ne  ris, 

indicates  an  impassivity  rebutted  by  such  a  prayer  as 

Ah!  Seigneur,  donnez-moi  la  force  et  le  courage 
De  contempler  mon  cceur  et  mon  corps  sans  degoflt. 

Baudelaire  never  had  this  "  force  and  courage."  Consequently 
his  poetic  expression  is  limited  to  a  few  ideas  and  to  a  tnngle 
deep  furrow  plowed  in  the  lyric  field.  But  his  form  and  his 
virtues  are  Classical,  and  Baudelaire  is  already  a  classic.    He 


4 


THE    PARNASSIANS  605 

was  a  sufficiently  great  artist  to  universalize  his  personal  ex- 
perience, to  subject  his  reality  to  a  lifting  and  transmutmg  power, 
and  thereby  to  say  certain  sorrowful  things  once  for  all. 

Baudelaire  represented  the  decay  of  Romanticism  in  his 
morbidity  and  taste  for  ejctremes;  he  was  like  his  "maitre  im- 
BanviUe  peccable,"  Gautier,  in  linking  the  two  major  obses- 
sions of  death  and  voluptuousness.  Romantic  de- 
votion to  technique  reaches  its  climax  in  Theodore  de  Banville 
(1823-91),  a  clever  and  sometimes  a  charming  manipulator  of 
rimes  and  rhythms.  His  numerous  volumes,  from  Les  Caria- 
tides  through  the  Trente-six  ballades  joyeuses,  show  facility, 
verve  and  a  sense  of  beauty  which,  however,  he  is  inclined  to 
make  an  "  article  de  Paris."  He  is  mainly  occupied  with  cele- 
brating lovely  ladies  in  sparkling  odes,  triolets  and  other  set 
forms.    Banville  has  dexterity  without  depth. 

The  pressure  of  the  new  Realistic  forces,  particularly  as  re- 
gards science  and  the  objective  attitude  towards  history  and 
"Le  Pamasse"  nature,  impinges  on  poetry  in  the  work  of  the  Par- 
nassians. The  activity  of  these  poets  was  brought 
to  a  focus  in  the  collection  called  Le  Pamasse  contemporain^ 
(1866,  1869  f.)  which  gave  its  name  to  the  school.  The  group 
started  with  diverse  talents  and  aims,  but  with  a  common  desire 
for  faultless  artistic  workmanship.  Some  of  the  early  founders 
(Catulle  Mendes,  Glatigny,  etc.,)  never  made  a  profound  mark; 
others  began  as  Parnassians  and  ended  as  something  else.  This 
was  the  case  with  Sully  Prudhomine,  Frangois  Coppee  and 
Verlaine  (see  Bk.  IX,  Ch.  III).  The  term  "  Parnassiens " 
came  to  connote  an  Oljmapian  calm,  which  these  young  writers 
affected;  they  were  averse  to  Romantic  storm,  stress  and  sub- 
jectivism; for  similar  reasons  they  were  also  known  as  "  les 
Impassibles."  For  a  time  they  all  submitted  to  the  influence 
of  a  strong  chieftain  who  gave  direction  and  body  to  the  move- 
ment. 

This  leader  was  Leconte  de  Lisle  (1818-94) ,  who  ranks  as  the 
foremost  poet  of  his  epoch  both  in  thought  and  in  expression. 
Leconte  de  He  was  of  exotic  birth,  coming  from  the  Ile-de- 
Lisle  Bourbon,  near  Madagascar.    Tropical  scenery  and 

emotions  appear  in  the  few  poems  that  conamemorate  his  youth, 

*  The  name  evidently  proceeds  from  Mount  Farnaasus,  the  home  of  the  Muses. 


.'. 


606  THE    REACTION    IN    POETRY 

during  which  period  he  took  a  long  voyage  in  the  East.  He 
was  brought  up  severely,  presently  sent  to  France,  and  compelled 
to  study  law  at  Rennes.  Finally  he  settled  in  Paris,  where  he 
supported  himself  by  teaching  and  by  translations.  He  was 
poor  and  proud,  leading  a  life  in  which  the  chief  events  were 
extensive  studies,  volumes  of  poetry  and  intercourse  with  a 
few  friends.  After  the  publication  of  the  first  Parnasse  con- 
temporain,  Leconte  de  Lisle  became  the  head  of  the  group,  but 
before  that  he  had  published  several  of  his  most  distinctive 
volumes:  Poemes  antiques  (1852),  Poemes  barbares  (1862). 
He  also  made  excellent  translations  from  Homer,  Theocritus  and 
the  Greek  dramatists,  an  activity  which  helped  his  art  rather 
than  his  financial  status.  OfiBcial  recognition  came  with  his 
appointment  as  assistant  librarian  at  the  Luxembourg  and  with 
his  election  to  the  Academy  in  1886.  He  was  never  widely 
popular.  His  last  collections  were  the  Poemes  tragiques  (1884) 
and  the  Dernier s  poemes  (1895). 

All  of  these  volumes  are  written  in  much  the  same  manner 
and  are  to  be  distinguished  chiefly  by  the  range  of  periods 
which  they  illustrate.  Victor  Hugo  also  was  reflecting  the  trend 
of  the  times  by  subduing  emotion  and  seeking  historical  sub- 
jects. Leconte  de  Lisle's  conception  is  similar  to  that  of  the 
Legende  des  siecles  (which  his  first  volume  antedates),  in  that 
he  records  the  creeds  and  destinies  of  various  races  and  eras, 
taken  in  their  most  expressive  types  or  at  their  culminating 
point.  But  he  emphasizes  more  the  element  of  religious  thought, 
and  he  often  uses  the  Greek  material  and  manner,  which  Hugo 
rarely  employs.  In  his  version  of  the  epic  of  humanity,  the  Par- 
nassian poet  shows  a  historical  rather  than  an  imaginative 
approach,  and  he  manifests  a  scientific  approach  in  the  wideness 
and  exactness  of  his  knowledge.  In  fact,  he  is  opposed  to  the 
general  looseness  of  the  Romanticists,  to  their  exploitation  of  self, 
to  their  sentiment  and  rose-color,  as  well  as  to  their  interpre- 
tation of  nature  and  their  ignorance  of  the  sciences.  His  quali- 
ties are  the  direct  contrary  of  these;  and  among  them  we  may 
consider  first  his  objectivity. 

His  Leconte  de  Lisle  puts  the  least  possible  of  himself 

Qualities        ij^^Q  jjjg  ^^j.^^    jjg  strives  to  minimize  the  expression 
of  personal  sentiment,  which  he  regards  as  a  changeable  and 


LECONTE    DE    LISLE  607 

exaggerated  thing.  He  is  after  more  endiiring  material.  His 
sonnet,  Les  Montrewrs,  is  a  bitter  diatribe  against  those  who 
complacently  display  their  hearts  to  others.  He  tells  the 
public: 

Je  ne  te  vendrai  pas  mon  ivresse  ou  mon  mal, 

Je  ne  livrerai  pas  ma  vie  a  tes  huees, 

Je  ne  danserai  pas  sur  ton  treteau  banal 

Avec  tes  histrions  et  tes  prostituees. 

Yet  one  may  say  that  there  is  a  note  of  passion  in  this  very 
vehemence.  But  it  is  true  that  there  are  only  a  few  allusions 
to  the  poet's  own  sentiments  and  then  mainly  in  connection  with 
childhood  scenes.  This  objectivity  does  not  make  him  impas- 
sive about  everything.  He  feels  social  wrongs  as  well  as  the 
general  pains  and  afflictions  of  men  {Qdin) ;  and  especially  he 
feels  and  answers  the  call  of  imperious  beauty,  whether  in 
humanity  or  nature: 

Et  les  mondes  encor  roulent  sous  ses  pieds  blancs. 

(Hypatie) 

His  attitude  towards  science,  in  the  large  sense,  is  also  char- 
acteristic and  anti-romantic.  He  dislikes  the  Romanticists  on 
account  of  their  ignorance.  He  held  that  profound  knowledge 
of  the  past  is  necessary  in  order  to  write  about  it,  and  he  says 
that  "  art  and  science,  too  long  separated,  should  now  become 
closely  united."  But  Leconte  de  Lisle  cannot  stand  modem 
inventions  —  the  telegraph,  the  railroads  and  industrialism.  These 
blight  the  vision, 

Et  nous  avons  perdu  le  chemin  de  Paros. 

He  seeks  only  the  spirit  of  the  cosmos,  as  studied  and  revealed 
in  the  larger,  more  imaginative  sciences:  ethnography,  ancient 
and  oriental  history,  archeology  and  geography ;  and  the  natural 
sciences  too,  which  he  follows  in  his  depiction  of  animals.  In 
the  use  of  his  sources,  especially  of  Greek,  Indian  and  Scandi- 
navian monuments,  he  shows,  together  with  some  poetic  license, 
an  admirable  imderstanding  and  treatment  of  historical  truth. 
He  arranges  this  to  emphasize  types,  racial  traits,  general  or 
controlling  ideas.    Bvit  in  his  revamping  of  old  legends  he  does 


608  THE    REACTION    IN    POETRY 

not  often  indulge  in  the  fanciful  reconstruction  of  the  Roman- 
ticists. Leconte  de  Lisle  also  follows  the  great  natural  laws 
of  science, '  which  agree  with  his  demand  for  exactness,  order 
and  objectivity.  Yet  his  scientific  thought  is  illmninated  by  the 
proper  imagery,  the  harmony  of  the  verse  and  the  poet's  sense 
of  beauty. 

Connected  with  this  tendency  would  be  his  attitude  towards 
Nature,  which  is  also  scientific,  following  Humboldt  and  Darwin. 
He  does  not  view  man  at  all  as  the  center  of  the  imiverse,  and 
Nature  is  not  really  in  sympathy  with  humanity.  Thus  the  poet 
discards  anthropomorphism  and  the  pathetic  fallacy.  But  he 
admires  great  nattiral  manifestations,  such  as  storms,  jimgles 
and  large  animals.  His  animals,  indeed,  are  represented  on 
their  own  basis,  often  independently  of  man,  a  significant 
departure  from  the  tradition  of  the  fable.  These  wolves  and 
elephants  and  condors  are  carved  in  bold  relief,  like  the 
sculpture  of  Barye.  In  lonely  grandeur  they  roam  the  desert 
or  the  jungle.  Whether  he  is  dealing  with  animals  or  with 
natural  scenery,  this  poet  has  great  descriptive  power.  His  de- 
piction is  full,  vivid  and  accurate.  Leconte  de  Lisle  views 
nature  as  unified  in  essence  and  origin,  under  a  diversity  of 
forms.  But  sometimes  the  flux  of  forms  impresses  him  most 
and  gives  rise  to  his  pessimism: 

La  Vie  antique  est  faite  inepuisablement 
Du  tourbillon  sans  fin  des  apparences  vaines. 

(La  Maya) 

This  metaphysical  pessimism  is  largely  Indian  in  its  expres- 
sion. In  presenting  religion  as  the  culminating  experience  of 
each  race  and  in  giving  us  symbols  of  many  religions,  the  poet 
realizes  that  there  has  been  no  single  stable  belief  and  he  asks 
to  be  whirled  away  towards  new  gods.  After  making  his  appeal 
to  Maya,  the  "  mirage  immortel  "  of  Illusion,  he  feels  so  strongly 
the  constant  flux  of  all  beliefs  that  finally  he  seeks  a  negative 
Nirvana.  With  this  Oriental  pessimism  is  mixed  something  of 
the  Schopenhauer  brand,  concerning  the  misery  of  being  bom; 
and  Leconte  de  Lisle  is  also  utterly  out  of  sympathy  with 
democracy  and  modern  life.  His  thought,  then,  is  often  sad 
and  austere. 


HEREDIA  609 

Equally  austere,  but  of  an  austere  perfection,  is  his  style,  and 
so  his  final  characteristic  is  formal  beauty.  For  this  he  goes 
His  Form  ^^^^  ^  *^®  Greeks,  but  his  ideal  goddess  is  a  severe 
Athene  rather  than  a  smiling  Aphrodite.  He  is 
the  last  link  in  the  Gallo-Greek  chain:  Ronsard,  Racine,  Chenier, 
Leconte  de  Lisle.  His  religion  of  art  has  produced  some  of  the 
loftiest  of  modern  poems,  of  which  Midi  may  be  especially  cited; 
sculptured  verses  in  the  manner  of  Gautier,  though  with  more 
gravity  and  consistency;  marble  as  opposed  to  intaglio  work. 
Leconte  de  Lisle's  structure  is  clear  and  logical.  He  chooses 
his  words  and  balances  his  rhythms  to  make  the  picture  and  the 
idea  salient.  The  words  are  notable  for  their  precision,  yet  they 
often  have  also  an  appropriate  metallic  sonority  and  even  at 
times  a  romantic  suggestiveness.  This  style  combines  majesty 
and  sadness;  it  is  a  march  of  the  dying  gods.  The  poet  is  not 
inventive  as  regards  meter,  approving  the  restraint  of  the  crys- 
tallized forms.  His  verse  has  a  durable  solidity  and  splendor, 
together  with  a  certain  coldness.  All  in  all,  with  his  devotion 
to  ideals  of  beauty,  by  the  new  values  that  he  gave  to  descriptive 
poetry,  and  through  his  piercing  natural  philosophy,  this  poet 
ranks  as  the  leader  of  his  generation.  ^ 

Leconte  de  Lisle's  most  distinguished  pupil  was  Jose-Maria 
de  Heredia  (1842-1905).  He  too  was  half  a  foreigner,  born  in 
Her  d'a  Cuba  of  an  aristocratic  family.    His  people  were  de- 

scended, on  one  side,  from  the  original  Spanish  con- 
querors, whom  Heredia  has  often  celebrated  in  his  verse.  He  pur- 
sued advanced  historical  studies  in  Havana  and  at  the  Ecole  de 
Chartes,  but  soon  left  pure  scholarship  and  became  a  member 
of  the  Parnassian  group.  He  had  the  manner  and  breeding  of  a 
conqueror,  and  a  brother-poet  said  that  "  his  neckties  were  as 
splendid  as  his  sonnets." 

Heredia's  single  volume,  Les  Trophees  (1893),  contains  about 
one  hundred  pieces,  many  of  which  had  already  appeared  else- 
where. The  great  majority  of  these  poems  are  sonnets.  The 
title  was  chosen  to  indicate  the  "  trophies  "  or  the  "  spoils  "  of 

'  As  a  contemporary  phenomenon,  we  may  note  the  Provencal  poetry  of  Frfidferio 
Mistral  (1831-1914)  and  that  of  his  brother-Faibriges  —  a  society  for  the  en- 
couragement of  the  Provencal  muse.  The  masterpiece  of  this  school  is  Mistral's 
MireSle  (1859),  a  glowing  tale  of  the  South,  with  an  epic  flow  and  a  Doric  back- 
ground. 


610  THE    REACTION    IN    POETRY 

humanity  throughout  the  ages.  Here  we  have  again  the  con- 
ception of  Hugo  or  of  Leconte  de  Lisle;  Heredia  shows  the 

"Les  learning  of  the  latter  rather  than  the  riotous  imagi- 

Trophees"  nation  of  the  former.  The  presentation,  of  course, 
is  much  condensed;  the  sonnet  form  calls  for  the  essential 
characteristics  of  each  type  considered.  The  races  and  epochs 
included  in  Heredia's  survey  are  Greece,  Rome,  the  Middle  Ages 
and  the  Renaissance,  his  favorite  period  of  "  Les  Conquerants," 
and  Old  Japan;  there  is  also  a  final,  more  personal  section  on 
Nature  and  Dreams.  The  poet's  sympathies  are  selected  rather 
than  widespread.  He  gives  us  "  historical  impressions,"  with  a 
good  deal  of  externality.  He  is  metallic,  sumptuous  and  strenuous, 
and  is  to  be  viewed  almost  entirely  from  the  standpoint  of  form. 

The  Trophees  were  dedicated  to  Leconte  de  Lisle,  whom  Here- 
dia follows  precisely  for  the  cult  of  form  and  impersonality. 
He  aims  at  a  high,  lasting  perfection,  and  he  attains  effects  of 
mingled  exactness  and  splendor,  pressing  the  full  value  from  each 
word  or  image.  His  muse  is  subtle  and  complicated,  with  unex- 
pected revelations.  Hence  he  enjoys  the  diflBculty  of  the 
sonnet,  which  with  him  is  a  condensed  but  a  developed  organism, 
varied  in  its  functioning,  much  enlarged  in  its  scope.  Each  of 
his  sonnets,  it  has  been  said,  is  "  as  large  as  an  epic."  Heredia 
generally  employs  the  regular  French  form,  both  in  octave  and 
Artistic  sestet,  but  he  introduces  a  striking  feature  in  his 

Effects  ig^g^  Ijjjg^  which  frequently  opens  up  fresh  horizons. 

Observe  the  final  touch  in  Les  Conquerants  or  in  Antoine  et 
Cleopdtre.  New  stars  dawn  in  the  visions  of  poet  or  conqueror, 
Antony  sees  the  flight  of  galleys  in  Cleopatra's  eyes,  the  Greek 
runner  seems  to  fly  from  his  pedestal  into  the  arena,  and  Pegasus 

Bat  le  ciel  ebloui  de  ses  ailes  de  flanune. 

Heredia  has  many  resources,  both  of  eloquence  and  of  erudition. 
He  sees  things  across  their  historical,  mythological  or  heraldic 
trappings,  and  he  is  especially  strong  and  suggestive  in  his  dic- 
tion. The  conqueror's  dream  is  called  a  "  reve  heroique  et 
brutal"  —  heroic,  because  of  the  knightly  adventure  involved; 
brutal,  because  gold  was  the  object  of  his  search.  Moreover,  the 
poet  perfectly  fuses  idea  and  form:  he  forwards  the  unity  of  the 
total  effect  not  only  through  epithet,  but  through  image  and 


HEREDIA  611 

aientiment,  through  sound  and  syllables.  Like  Gautier's,  his 
imagination  was  essentially  plastic,  he  often  uses  the  terms  of 
the  painter,  the  sculptor  or  the  goldsmith.  He  celebrates  these 
arts,  and  his  own  work  could  be  reproduced  by  them.  Thus 
among  his  chief  formal  characteristics  are  the  sonorous  and  the 
pictorial  values. 

As  regards  sonority,  one  critic  introduces  an  article  on  Heredia 
by  exclaiming,  "  Fanfares,  cymbals,  trumpets  and  Roman  horns!" 
Heredia,  whom  Gautier  congratulated  on  the  sonority  of  his 
very  name,  brings  over  something  of  the  verbal  sumptuousness 
of  his  native  Spanish  tongue.  He  is  a  master  of  rhythm, 
cadence,  consonance.  Witness  the  hard  distinctness  of  Les  Con- 
qidrants,  which  is  full  of  tone-color  and  metallic  luster,  set  off 
against  tiie  softer  connotations  of  Le  vieiX  Orfevre.  There  is  also 
the  pictorial  quality,  especially  vivid  in  Le  Recif  de  corail  or 
La  Dogaresse,  which  revives  a  painting  by  Veronese.  In  both 
poems,  we  have  an  exceedingly  brilliant  coloring,  arranged  in  a 
progression  of  values  or  planes.  Many  sonnets  are  pictorially  de- 
scriptive of  nature:  for  instance,  those  on  Japan,  the  New  World 
or  Brittany;  and  Heredia  might  seem  intoxicated  with  sounds 
and  colors,  were  it  not  that  he  always  gives  us  the  feeling  of 
choioe  and  mastery. 

One  may  ask  then,  Does  this  poet  deal  mainly  in  sounding 
brass  and  tinkling  cymbals?  By  no  means.  The  idea  or  sen- 
timent is  there,  though  preferably  veiled  or  viewed  through 
external  adornment.  But  it  is  true  that  Heredia  has  not  very 
many  ideas.  They  are  few  but  sttong,  and  individualized  by 
the  language  in  which  they  are  expressed.  Heredia  speaks 
largely  from  the  standpoint  of  a  Renaissance  humanist  who 
believes  in  beauty  plus  force,  in  the  splendor  of  high  moments, 
in  a  "  spectacular  universe,"  and  in  man  as  a  fine  active  animal. 
This  standpoint  may  be  illustrated  by  the  superb  cycle  on 
Antovm  et  Gleopatre.  "  Impassive  "  and  serene,  Heredia  is  not 
troubled  by  the  Romantic  malady  nor  tortured  by- metaphysics. 
Yet  he  can  express  discreetly,  as  in  his  Roman  Epitaphs,  the 
epicurean  melancholy  of  passing  splendors,  the  "  lachrymae 
rerum  "  and  the  sense  of  ruin.  This  tenderer  note  might  have 
been  more  frequently  sounded,  for  Heredia  omits  many  of  our 
more  familiar  feelings  and  yearnings. 


CHAPTER  IV 

REALISTIC    FICTION: 
FLAUBERT   AND   MAUPASSANT 

In   1848  there  had  occurred  an  event  whose  consequences 
deeply  influenced  fiction  and  the  drama.    The  "  Revolution  of 
February "   resulted   in   the   establishment   of  the 
History  ghort-lived  Second  Republic  and  finally  in  the  Sec- 

ond Empire  (1852-70),  with  Napoleon  III,  nephew  of  the  great 
Napoleon,  as  Emperor.  Those  who  looked  forward  to  a  restora- 
tion of  the  imperial  glories  of  France  could  for  a  time  believe 
their  hopes  fulfilled.  The  new  government,  though  highly  cen- 
tralized, showed  constructive  tendencies  in  education,  industry 
and  the  arts.  Paris  was  splendidly  rebuilt  as  a  modem  capital, 
railroads  and  public  works  were  developed  throughout  the  coun- 
try, and  towards  the  end  of  his  reign  Napoleon  showed  a  willing- 
ness to  meet  certain  liberal  and  democratic  desires.  Prestige 
abroad  and  the  glory  of  French  arms  were  enhanced  by  the  victo- 
ries in  the  Crimea  (1854-56)  and  the  rescue  of  Italy  from  Austria 
(1859).  Yet  the  swift  "debacle"  of  the  Franco-Prussian  war 
indicated  something  very  wrong  in  the  State.  Within  a  few 
months,  France  had  lost  her  European  prestige,  her  armies  and. 
Alsace-Lorraine.  The  disaster  of  Sedan  (Sept.  2,  1870)  in  which 
Napoleon  surrendered  with  eighty  thousand  men,  was  followed 
by  the  fall  of  Strassburg  and  Metz.  During  the  siege  of  Paris, 
which  lasted  four  months,  a  Provisional  Government  was  in  con- 
trol. In  February,  1871,  after  Paris  had  capitulated,  the 
-National  Assembly  appointed  Thiers,  the  historian,  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  French  Republic.  Thiers  concluded  peace  with 
Germany. 

Several  causes  for  decay,  during  the  Second  Empire,  were 
prominent  in  the  minds  of  contemporary  writers.  The  chief 
cause  was  the  presence  of  too  much  luxury,  tending  to  material- 
ism in  living  and  to  personal  and  political  corruption  (treated 

612 


REALISM  613 

by  Augier,  the  Goncourts  and  especially  by  Zola).  Another, 
cause  was  that  the  idealism  which  Lamartine  and  G.  Sand  had 
brought  to  the  movement  of  1848  was  replaced  by  the  cynicism 
and  doubt  which  naturally  accompany  a  political  reversion 
(cf.  Flaubert's  UEducation  sentimentale) .  Connected  with 
this  was  a  deterioration  in  moral  tone  and  in  artistic  taste,  found 
both  in  biireaucratic  ofi&cials  and  in  the  "  little  bourgeoisie,"  ever 
bent  on  declaring  itself.  The  reaction  of  1848  found  the  reading 
public  in  a  transition  phase,  weary  of  Romanticism,  assenting 
to  the  abolishment  of  the  roman-feuilleton,  and  prepared  by 
Balzac  as  well  as  by  social  conditions  for  the  definite  advent 
of  Realism.  The  tendency  towards  objective  description  which 
declared  itself  (see  preceding  chapters)  in  drama,  poetry  and 
painting  (for  example  in  Courbet)  would  naturally  find  its 
greatest  scope  in  fiction. 

By  1855,  we  find  the  term  le  realisme  taking  hold,  and  critics 
generally  begin  to  employ  it  in  a  depreciatory  sense.  The  word 
_  ^.  connoted  for  them  the  immoral,  the  brutal  or  the 

trivial,  and  few  there  were  who  perceived  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  literary  method.  Almost  alone  Sainte-Beuve  saw 
its  possibilities  and  favored,  though  with  due  reserves,  its  ex- 
pansion. But  as  the  movement  gained  force,  through  the  efforts 
of  Flaubert  and  his  colleagues,  conservative  critics  slowly  yield 
the  stronghold  of  "  taste  "  and  admit  elements  of  power  and  truth 
in  Realism.  For  a  time,  however,  its  productions  were  not  glori- 
ous and  were  easily  demolished.  A  certain  Champfleury,  an 
ardent  admirer  of  Balzac,  wrote  some  insipid  stories,  Chien- 
Caillou  and  Les  Bourgeois  de  Molinchart  (1855),  which  contain 
petty  observations  and  small-town  talk.  More  talent  appears 
in  the  work  of  Ernest  Feydeau,  who  caused  good  critics  to 
esteem  him  the  rival  of  Flaubert.  Feydeau's  brilliant  and  sen- 
suous Fanny  (1857)  presents  the  psychological  case  of  a  lover 
who  is  jealous  of  a  husband;  the  novel  evinces  strength  in  the 
delineation  of  passion  and  of  material  background.  But  Fey- 
deau's other  work  is  inferior,  his  name  has  not  endured,  and 
it  is  time  to  come  to  the  true  banner-leader  of  the  movement. 

Gustave  Flaubert  offers  in  his  method  the  concentrated  es- 
sence of  Realism,   and  in  his  life    (1821-80)    a   concentrated 


614  REALISTIC    FICTION 

devotion  to  literature.  He  called  himself  a  "  Benedictine  of  let- 
ters," and  in  his  elimination  and  scorn  of  everything  else,  he  ap- 
pears  not  only  as  a  zealot  of  art  for  art's  sake,  but 
also  as  a  victim  of  that  separation  of  author  and 
public  which  is  one  of  the  more  lasting  and  less  fortunate  legacies 
of  Romanticism.  He  was  born  at  Rouen,  where  he  spent  his  child- 
hood and  adolescence.  His  father  was  a  surgeon  of  repute,  and  a 
medical  environment  left  its  effect  on  Flaubert's  work.  His 
mother  was  of  Norman  blood,  which  was  apparent  also  in  her 
son's  physique ;  Gustave  had  a  "  viking  "  exterior,  a  large  frame 
and  a  certain  exuberance,  especially  in  his  attractive  youth. 
Among  his  friends  were  Louis  Bouilhet,  the  poet;  Alfred  Le 
Poittevin,  the  uncle  of  Guy  de  Maupassant;  and  Maxime  Du 
Camp,  who  was  scarcely  of  a  caliber  to  imderstand  the  novelist. 
Flaubert  was  sent  to  Paris  to  study  law  and  already  showed  his 
indifference  to  everything  but  literature.  In  his  twenties  he 
wrote  various  Romantic  effusions  {(Euvres  de  jeunesse) ,  had  two 
love-affairs  not  fortunate  in  their  issue,  and  became  subject 
to  the  intermittent  attacks  (neurasthenic  or  epileptic)  which 
later  accentuated  his  melancholy  and  pessimism.  At  twenty- 
five  he  gave  up  all  thought  of  a  large  full  life  and  settled  near 
Rouen,  on  the  family  estate  of  Croisset,  to  become  a  laborious 
galley-slave  of  letters.  This  existence  was  interrupted  only 
by  a  long  journey  to  the  Orient,  undertaken  with  Maxime  Du 
Camp  (1849) ;  and  by  later  flights  to  Paris,  where  he  associated 
with  the  Naturalistic  group  (see  next  chapter).  The  gradual 
loss  of  his  family  and  friends,  increasing  ill-health  and  the  effect 
of  the  Franco-Prussian  war,  further  darkened  his  middle  years; 
his  declining  days  were  somewhat  brightened  by  the  discipleship 
of  Maupassant  and  by  the  generous  interest  of  George  Sand, 
with  whom  he  maintained  a  most  revealing  correspondence. 
Otherwise,  Flaubert  developed  a  proud,  solitary  and  suspicious 
nature,  exasperated  by  ordinary  contacts  and  obsessed  by  that 
hatred  of  everything  "  bom-geois,"  which  finally  ruled  him  as 
a  mania.  This  was  in  part  an  acquired  misanthropy,  for  he 
started  with  a  fund  of  geniality  and  kindness,  which  indeed  he 
always  manifested  towards  his  friends  and  relatives.  He  had 
really  a  simple  soul,  thwarted  and  twisted  by  excessive  theories; 
his  mind  contained  only  a  few  ideas,  but  these  dominated  him 


FLAUBERT  615 

absolutely.  Chief  among  them  were  the  devotion  to  beauty  in 
style  and  the  cult  of  objective  and  often  ugly  truth.  So  the 
clash  of  Romanticist  and  Realist,  with  their  partial  fusion  in 
his  work,  will  explain  much  of  Flaubert. 

By  temperament  and  taste  he  was  undoubtedly  a  Romantic, 
of  a  violent  and  exuberant  sort:  a  worshiper  of  exotic  splendor, 
of  the  sumptuous  past  and  of  lovely  phrases  and 
coloring.  Hence  the  voyage  to  Egypt  and  the  East, 
with  its  profoimd  effect  upon  his  imagination;  hence  his  early 
fondness  for  Chateaubriand  and  his  sympathies  with  Gautier; 
hence  his  more  morbid  taste  for  "  le  mysterieux,  le  lugubre,  le 
macabre  " ;  and  hence  his  dislike  of  mediocrity  and  his  predilec- 
tion for  the  ivory  tower.  But  as  a  late-comer,  Flaubert  had  the  ■ 
sensation  of  a  creed  outworn,  and  he  evolved  the  conscience  of 
a  Realist.    He  incessantly  preaches  and  exemplifies  two  princi- 

a  „  iu  :i    pies:   accurate  observation  or  documentation,  im- 
and  Method  •%. 

personality  in  style  and  treatment.     The  love  of  ^, 

truth  actuated  his  search  for  the  real  thing,  but  the  love  of  / 
beauty  still  demanded  the  perfect  phrase.  So  his  famous  theory 
of  le  mot  juste,  the  indefatigable  hunt  for  the  most  exact  and 
expressive  word,  was  paralleled  by  a  more  naive  conviction  that 
there  was  a  "  pre-established  harmony "  between  beauty  and 
truth  in  style,  that  the  truest  phrase  would  also  be  most  pleasing 
to  the  ear.  As  regards  his  methods,  Flaubert  was  a  fairly  con- 
sistent Realist,  offering  an  "  arsenal "  of  technical  devices  for 
his  followers;  but  in  his  subjects,  though  preferring  the  Ro- 
mantic, he  alternates  regularly  between  the  two  extremes.  Thus, 
before  undertaking  Madame  Bovary,  he  wrote  his  first  extrava- 
gant and  dithyrambic  version  of  the  Tentation  de  Saint-Antoine 
(1847).  He  read  this  manuscript  to  his  friends,  who  advised 
him  to  destroy  it  and  take  a  more  "  earthly  "  subject.  For  seven 
years  then,  he  toiled  patiently  on  the  Realism  of  Madame  Bo- 
vary, whose  appearance,  just  when  conditions  were  most  favor- 
able (1857) ,  soon  established  Flaubert  as  the  most  accomplished 
and  audacious  artist  of  the  movement.  The  publication  of  the 
novel  also  led  to  a  lawsuit  in  which  the  author  was  acquitted  of 
any  attempt  to  scandalize.  Severity  and  truth,  indeed,  mark 
the  handling  of  the  rather  diflScult  subject  —  to  wit,  the  dangers 
of  Romanticism  for  a  provincial  bottrgeoise.   The  stages  of  Emma 


616  REALISTIC    FICTION 

Bovary's  decline  are  clearly  marked:  her  early  Romantic  read- 
ings and  dreams;  her  torpid  marriage;  the  longings  aroused  by 
a  ball  and  her  sharp  judgment  of  her  husband;  her  Platonic 
love  for  Leon,  the  young  clerk;  the  more  criminal  affair  with 
Rodolphe,  her  full  flowering,  his  abandonment,  and  her  long  ill- 
ness; the  second  affair  with  Leon,  her  wasteful  expenditures  and 
neglect  of  home  duties;  the  harrying  by  creditors  and  the  de- 
termination to  end  it  all  by  suicide.  Emma  is  a  living  charac- 
ter, completely  depicted  in  enduring  colors;  and  the  other  per- 
sonages also  live,  within  their  narrow  range;  the  "  soft"  stupid 
husband  and  the  talkative  apothecary,  Homais,  represent  two 
ironic  aspects  of  the  bourgeois.  There  is  scarcely  a  sympathetic 
character  in  the  book;  these  people  are  prevailingly  foolish  or 
feebfe.  Although  Emma  Bovary  must  incorporate  many  of 
his  own  dreams,  the  author  does  not  abandon  his  attitude  of 
severely  impersonal  detachment.  He  never  shows  feeling  and 
scarcely  allows  himself  to  have  an  opinion.  This  •  impassive 
I  projection  of  the  story  and  nothing  but  the  story  gives  to  Ma- 
\dame  Bovary  a  great  Realistic  strength  —  an  objectivity  and 
a"  concentration  that  Balzac  did  not  usually  evince.  Other 
Realistic  features  are  the  careful  study  of  the  country-town 
environment;  the  justesse  of  observation,  delineation  and  diction; 
the  prominence  of  money  diflBculties,  of  physiology  and  disease; 
the  use  of  characteristic  detail,  like  the  nondescript  cap  of 
Charles  Bovary;  the  presentation  of  the  mediocre  in  character 
and  circumstance.  But  all  of  this  is  lifted  and  made  artistic 
by  Flaubert's  perfect'  sense  of  style,  which  will  be  considered 
later.  Madame  Bovary  is  not  only  a  technical  marvel,  it  is 
also  thronged  with  provincial  life  and  truth.  It  has  been  called 
the  French  Middlemarch,  and  it  remains  the  greatest  novel  of 
the  century. 

Even  during  the  composition  of  this  masterpiece,  Flaubert 
was  haunted  by  his  deeper  desire  for  remote  and  Romantic 
"  Salammb" "  ™9'g°ificence.  He  turned  Eastwards,  to  realize  his 
dream,  and  after  six  years  of  assiduous  labor  and 
documentation,  including  a  visit  to  the  site  of  Carthage,  he  pub- 
lished his  gorgeous  Salammbo  (1862).  Throughout  the  packed 
chapters  of  this  semi-epic,  description  and  archeology  run  riot, 
in  a  festival  of  color.    The  historical  setting,  which  lacks  in- 


FLAUBERT  617 

ter^st,  is  that  of  the  war  of  the  mercenaries  against  Carthage 
in  the  third  century  before  Christ.  The  story  is  nominally 
that  of  the  princess  and  priestess,  Salammbo,  the  men  who 
loved  her,  and  her  mystical  consecration  to  the  goddess  Tanit. 
But  the  thread  of  action  is  submerged  in  archeological  details 
and  confusing  envmierations ;  as  Flaubert,  admitted,  "the 
pedestal  is  too  large  for  the  statue  ",  and  the  characters  seem 
effaced  and  dull.  What  remains  is  the  evocation  of  a  ruthless 
period,  elaborately  revived  and  described  with  an  amount  of 
painstaking  care  that  shows  Flaubert's  Realistic  conscience  still 
dominant.  The  author  remains  hard  and  cold,  but  the  reader 
ends  by  believing  that  this  Carthage  thus  lived  in  its  cruelty, 
horror  and  pomp,  with  all  the  complications  of  its  material 
life  —  costumes  and  ceremonies,  sieges  and  superstitions  — 
made  plausible  and  distinct.  The  glowing  reality  of  the  im- 
pression is  enhanced  by  the  bare  tension  of  a  style  whose  crisp 
energy  wholly  accords  with  the  subject.  Salammbo  is  a  choice 
tapestry  where  a  thousand  details  crush  and  crowd  together; 
it  is  a  mosaic  floor  paved  with  pebbles  and  precious  stones;  it 
is  at  once  a  tour  de  force  and  a  unique  and  barbarous  monument. 
But  it  is  a  monument  of  erudition  rather  than  of  humanity. 

Yet  once  more  Flaubert  turned  to  a  modern  Realistic  subject. 
Seven  years  were  needed  for  the  composition  of  L'Education 
sentimentale  (1869).  This  novel  is  laid  around 
the  Revolution  of  1848  —  again  requiring  inordi- 
nate documentation  —  and  it  deals  with  the  loves  of  a  certain 
Frederic  Moreau.  He  is  supposed  to  be  the  masculine  counter- 
part of  Emma  Bovary.  Flaubert  acknowledges  that  the  hero 
is  a  poor  creature  and  that  the  structure  of  the  novel  is  lax  and 
amorphous ;  but  these  features  are  deliberate  and  anticipate  the 
Naturalistic  doctrines  of  no  hero  and  no  plot.  Whatever  their 
warrant  in  the  stupider  side  of  life,  such  characteristics  do  not 
make  for  interest  or  art.  But  the  ironic  and  careful  presenta- 
tion of  the  epoch  considered  lends  weight  to  L'Education  senti- 
mentale. The  author's  pendulum  swings  back  to  Romanticism 
in  the  Qnal' Tentation  de  Saint-Antaine  (1874),  in  which  the 
vision  of  the  saint's  more  metaphysical  temptations  gives  rise 
to  some  superb  writing.  The  alternating  currents  are  found  side 
by  side  in  the  volume  of  Trois  contes  (1877),  of  which  the  best 


618  REALISTIC    FICTION 

and  most  Realistic  story  —  Un  Cceur  simple  —  shows  more 
human  sympathy  than  Flaubert  usually  allowed  himself.  His 
hatred  of  the  bourgeois  reaches  to  the  point  of  monomania 
in  the  unfinished  Bouvard  et  Pecwhet.  This  work  treats  the 
efforts  of  two  retired  merchants  to  find  interest  in  a  series  of 
avocations  for  which  they  are  not  suited.  Their  ventures  are 
described  in  an  extremely  technical  manner,  and  again  there 
is  no  plot. 

Except  in  Madame  Bovary,  Flaubert's  composition  is  not  uni- 
formly successful.  Elsewhere  long  passages  could  be  deleted 
without  hurting  the  composition  and  to  the  benefit 
of  the  interest.  But  at  his  best  he  illustrates  two 
structural  principles  which  became  a  part  of  the  heritage  of 
fiction.  He  condenses  and  concentrates  his  data  towards  a 
unity  of  tone  and  a  totality  of  effect.  And  he  scatters  and 
interweaves  the  various  elements  in  his  narrative  (analysis,  de- 
scription, dialogue,  story)  so  as  to  make  them  march  all  to- 
gether, driving  foiu--in-hand  where  Balzac  had  driven  tandem. 
Flaubert  called  these  long  complex  passages  his  "  tableaux "; 
striking  examples  are  the  scene  of  the  agricultural  fair  in  Bovary 
and  the  first  chapter  of  Salammbo.  The  presentation  from  one 
.  g.  .  standpoint,  that  of  the  heroine,  again  helps  sustain 
the  unity  of  the  former  novel.  In  both  works,  Flau- 
bert's style  is  masterly.  Accurate  observation  leads  to  appro- 
priate expression.  The  concrete  phrasing  tends  to  a  certain 
"  materialization  "  of  sentiment  or  idea  (red  cheeks  as  a  sign  of 
love) ;  the  figures  are  suitable  to  the  setting  ("  ses  reves  tombant 
dans  la  boue  comme  des  hirondelles  blessees").  But  beyond 
such  Realistic  devices,  this  style  has  usually  a  full  richness  and 
beauty  that  sweep  us  at  once  into  the  presence  of  a  classic. 
Superb  passages,  like  the  sunrise  in  Salammbo  or  the  end  of  the 
Tentation  de  Saint- Antoine,  reveal  Flaubert  as  the  legitimate 
successor  of  Chateaubriand  in  rhetorical  perfection.  It  may  be 
that  he  lacked  the  large  creative  flow,  succeeding  rather  by  dint 
of  will  and  patience.  But  we  cannot  forget  that  Flaubert 
furnished  the  best  model  of  Realism  to  his  generation  and 
became  the  "  novelists'  novelist."  We  cannot  forget  the  pre- 
eminence of  Madame  Bovary  nor  the  heavy  purple  splendor  of 
Salammhd. 


MAUPASSANT  619 

Like  Flaubert,  Guy  de  Maupassant  (1850-93)  was  a  Norman 
Realist.  He  spent  his  childhood  at  Etretat,  his  youth  at  Rouen, 
Maupassant  ^^^^^  ^^  preferred  fishing  and  boating  to  study. 
He  served  in  the  war  of  1870,  then  took  a  small 
post  at  Paris,  in  the  ministry  of  marine.  In  1873,  he  came 
imder  Flaubert's  influence  and  showed  himself  a  docile  pupil 
in  this  relationship,  which  lasted  seven  years.  During  that 
period  Maupassant  was  gay,  strong,  fond  of  practical  jokes 
(farces);  he  lived  an  easy-going  life;  in  vacations  he  returned 
to  his  beloved  boating.  Two  things  indicate  his  later  develop- 
ment: he  prefers  savage  nature  to  the  crowded  waterside 
resorts;  and  he  publishes  a  volume  of  poems  (Des  vers)  in 
which  several  pieces  are  strongly  Naturalistic.  The  same  tend- 
ency appears  in  Boule  de  suif,  which  began  his  career  as  a  story- 
teller. This  tale  was  published  in  the  collection  known  as  Les 
soirees  de  Medan  (1880),  to  which  Zola,  Huysmans  and  others 
contributed  (see  next  chapter).  After  the  success  of  Boule  de 
suif,  Maupassant  decided  to  devote  himself  wholly  to  author- 
ship. A  series  of  stories,  novels  and  journalistic  contributions 
gave  him  fame  and  financial  ease.  Practically  all  of  his  work 
was  done  during  the  next  decade,  which  period  witnessed  a 
change  in  the  temperament  of  the  writer.  Ambition  and  hard 
work  made  him  preoccupied,  dissipation  made  him  morose; 
formerly  a  robust  sportsman,  he  became  a  "  taureau  triste  " ; 
morbid  analysis  drove  him  into  pessimism;  he  dipped  into  high 
life  with  doubtful  results;  he  traveled  in  Corsica,  Algeria  and 
Italy;  increasing  ill-health  sent  him  to  the  Riviera,  and  there, 
in  1892,  he  was  stricken  with  madness.  He  died,  probably  by 
his  own  hand,  eighteen  months  later. 

Maupassant's  theory  of  literature  owed  much  to  Flaubert, 
especially  as  regards  the  necessity  of  accurate  individualizing 
observation  and  the  search  for  the  7not  juste.  Flaubert  taught 
him  a  long  patience  and  how  to  choose  the  characteristic  aspect 
of  every  object  —  to  consider  a  tree  or  stone  until  it  became  un- 
like every  other  tree  or  stone.  With  this  impersonal  observation 
a  certain  individualism  was  bound  up,  for  Flaubert  told  his  pupil 
that  he  must  possess  originality,  native  or  acquired.  So  we  find 
Maupassant  declaring  for  the  "  whole  truth,"  but  the  truth  as 
Been  across  an  individual  temperament,  which  introduces  some 


620  REALISTIC    FICTION 

logic  and  illusion  into  the  chaos  of  appearances.  Although 
his  artistic  attitude  seems  cold  and  impartial,  Maupassant's 
fiction  is  permeated  with  a  definite  personal  philosophy  and  de- 
rives from  the  successive  phases  of  his  own  life.  "  C'est  toujours 
a  des  anecdotes  ou  a  des  episodes  personnels  qu'il  demande  la 
matiere  de  ses  recits  "  (Maynial) .  But  while  aided  by  recollec- 
tion or  gossip,  Maupassant  recorded  the  deeds  of  actual  people, 
and  while  he  angered  certain  Normans  through  the  faithfulness 
of  his  observation,  his  manner  is  highly  impersonal  and  detached. 
Let  us  consider  the  six  divisions  of  his  short-story  subjects. 
These  number  nearly  three  hundred  titles,  and  their  external 
range  is  exactly  as  wide  as  the  author's  experience. 

The  first  division  and  the  largest,  including  one-fourth  of  the 
tales,  deals  with  Normandy,  the  province  which  the  author 
„  .  knew  best  as  a  youth  and  to  which  he  often  returned 
on  vacations.  He  knew  the  peasant  life,  with  its 
meanness,  shrewdness  and  occasional  pathos  (Le  Petit  Fut, 
Hautot  pere  et  fils) ;  the  open  air  life  of  himting  and  boating 
{Les  Becasses,  Mouche) ;  cynical  aspects  of  small-town  narrow- 
ness {La  Ficelle) .  Again,  Maupassant's  experience  of  1870  was 
from  the  angle  of  the  countryman  who  sees  his  province  invaded 
by  the  Prussians.  A  smaller  but  excellent  division  of  stories 
contains  half-a-dozen  masterpieces  on  that  subject  {Boule  de 
suif,  Les  Prisonniers,  L'Aventure  de  Walter  Schnajfs),  together 
with  a  few  tales  of  military  life  in  general.  Next  came  the 
result  of  Maupassant's  contacts  with  oflScial  ministries  and 
with  the  existence  of  petty  bureaucrats  and  bourgeois  {En 
Famille,  L'Heritage).  Then  Parisian  high  life  {L'Inidile 
Beaute)  and  fast  life,  particularly  the  nises  of  women  {Les 
Epingles,  Le  Rendezvous,  Decore!).  Travel,  especially  on  the 
Riviera,  furnished  some  excellent  backgrounds  {Champ 
d'Oliviers,  Jules  Romain) ;  Africa  and  Italy  supplied  various 
light  loves  {AUouma,  Les  Sceurs  Rondoli).  Finally,  there  are 
about  forty  stories  connected  with  the  author's  malady;  they 
range  from  the  fantastic  and  morbid  to  the  insane;  the  fear  of 
death,  Maupassant's  chief  obsession,  becomes  complicated  with 
ideas  of  crime  and  other  hallucinations  {La  Peur,  Le  Horla,  Un 
Fou,  Qui  saitf,  Suicides,  La  Morte).  A  similar  progression 
may  be  traced  in  Maupassant's  novels,  of  which  the  most 


MAUPASSANT  621 

conspicuous  are  Une  Vie  (1883),  presenting  the  sad  existence 
of  a  crushed  wife  in  Normandy;  Bel-Ami  (1885),  the  Parisian 
climber  in  a  world  of  journalism  and  corruption;  Pierre  et  Jean 
(1888)  and  Fort  comme  la  mort,  which  are  less  cynical  than  pre- 
vious novels  but  no  less  pessimistic  in  their  treatment  of  the  woes 
of  the  heart.  In  Maupassant's  work  as  a  whole,  the  point  of 
view  is  generally  somber  or  sardonic.  He  was  not  a  lover  of 
mankind  and  wore  the  dark  glasses  of  the  professed  Naturalist. 

It  is  primarily  as  a  short-story  writer  that  Maupassant  excels, 
and  since  he  is  often  considered  the  best  modern  representative 
.  of  this   genre,   his  technique   should   be   carefully 

examined.  In  actual  length,  his  stories  vary  a  great 
deal.  The  nouvelle  which  usually  heads  the  volume  {Monsieur 
Parent,  Yvette),  may  run  from  fifty  pages  to  twice  that  length. 
But  the  more  characteristic  form  is  the  conte  which  is  extremely 
brief  and  laconic.  Maupassant's  point  of  departure  is  usually 
an  episode,  a  "  slice  of  life  "  chosen  to  illustrate  character  or 
manners.  Many  of  these  "  facts  "  were  related  to  him  by  his 
mother  or  his  friends.  Sometimes  he  merely  tells  an  anecdote 
{Le  Verrou)  or  outlines  a  situation  (L'lnfirme) ;  or  he  draws  a 
sketch  {Un  Portrait)  or  writes  a  letter  {La  Moustache,  Mots 
d'amour).  The  conte  proper  readily  becomes  improper  {Les 
Epingles,  La  Patronne) .  At  its  best,  the  structure  of  his  fiction 
is  marked  by  two  thin^:  an  economy  which  gives  only  the 
essential  elements  of  character,  situation  and  development;  and 
an  onward  movement  which  combines  logic  with  the  maximum 
of  simplicity.  Hence  a  dramatic  swiftness  which  is  Maupas- 
sant's especial  gift.  Naturalness  and  simplicity  also  mark  his 
use  of  language,  which  is  straightforward  and  not  unusual  in 
vocabulary.  Even  the  titles  of  his  stories  are  unpretentious 
and  easily  forgotten.  He  disliked  the  impressionistic  over- 
refined  style  favored  by  the  Goncourts.  His  sentences  are  clear 
and  rapid.  His  language  is  sober,  often  sardonic,  with  an  effect 
of  dry  precision.  This  results  from  his  use  of  the  mot  juste  ■ 
(noun,  verb  or  adjective) ,  which  because  it  is  the  characteristic 
or  salient  word  lends  to  the  style  an  accent  of  bold  relief  in 
detail  or  description.  To  characterize,  he  chooses  the  essential 
trait  of  costume  or  setting ;  and  the  trait  final  has  also  its  perfect 
precision  and  fitness.    He  is  an  exponent  of  the  direct  denoue- 


622  REALISTIC    FICTION 

inent,  in  which  the  last  paragraph  furnishes  a  dramatic  close 
to  the  narrative.  However,  the  "  surprise  ending "  is  less 
common  in  Maupassant  than  is  often  believed;  it  can  certainly 
be  found  (La  Parure,  Le  Pain  maudit,  L'Ami  Joseph) ,  but  more 
frequent  is  the  rounded  ending  which  fulfils  our  expectations. 
Some  of  his  stories  (for  example,  Le  Pere  Milon) ,  announce  the 
denouement  at  the  beginning.  For  the  sake  of  vividness,  he 
leans  to  the  first-person  form  of  narration  and  often  uses 
as  a  prelude  a  men's  dinner  or  some  casual  meeting.  The 
kernel  of  the  story  may  be  some  small  object,  aroimd  which  the 
train  of  events  is  organized ;  witness  Le  Para-plvie,  La  Ficelle  or 
La  Parure,  which  last  has  been  voted  the  best  short-story  in  ex- 
istence. Dealing  with  rudimentary  types,  Maupassant's  psychol- 
ogy is  limited,  though  not  insufficient.  He  appreciates  outdoor 
nature  and  shows  considerable  power  in  describing  it.  As  a 
Realist,  of  course,  he  thoroughly  places  his  tales  in  terms  of 
material  setting,  exterior  or  interior,  costumes,  habits,  and  so  on. 
Otherwise,  in  the  type  of  stories  and  in  the  supple  dexterity  with 
which  he  tells  them,  he  resembles  La  Fontaine  and  is  considered, 
in  fact,  the  legitimate  continuator  of  the  old  conte  gaulois. 
His  Classical  qualities  are  sobriety,  balance,  sureness  of  eye 
and  simplicity. 

Apparent  naturalness,  then,  is  the  hall-mark  of  Maupassant's 
technique,  just  as  "  Naturalism "  (see  next  chapter)  stamps 
his  outlook  and  philosophy.  The  latter  undergoes  a  progression 
from  a  robust  sensualism,  in  which  the  forces  of  Nature  are 
accepted,  to  the  pessimistic  effect  of  this  materialism  on  a 
man  who  develops  mind  and  heart  and  who  perceives  that 
the  joys  of  this  earth  are  fleeting.  Although  he  over-stresses 
the  depiction  of  the  distasteful  and  the  ignoble,  we  recognize, 
towards  the  end,  the  presence  of  a  soul  in  revolt.  This  may 
account  for  the  philosophic  digressions,  which  seem  to  increase 
in  his  later  work,  somewhat'  to  the  detriment  of  narrative  unity. 
Misanthropy,  the  mental  fatigue  of  his  generation,  the  lack  of 
spiritual  comfort  or  belief,  warred  against  love  and  the  life- 
force  which  were  "  apaises  soudain  par  I'Eternel  Oubli "  {Fort 
comme  la  mort).  Death  was  finally  the  stronger,  and  before 
death  came  philosophic  nihilism  and  madness. 


CHAPTER  V 

FICTION    (CONTINUED): 
ZOLA,    THE    GONCOURTS,    DAUDET 

It  seems  best  to  make  between  "  Realism  "  and  "  Naturalism," 

in  their  literary  significance,  a  distinction  both  of  time  and  of 

„  ^     ,.         degree.    The  best  work  of  Balzac  and  of  Flaubert 
Naturalism 

stands   for   the   earlier   development   of   Realism; 

while  Zola  and  his  school  pushed  that  doctrine  to  an  extreme 
and  dubbed  it  le  Naturcdisme.  Maupassant  belongs  rather  to 
this  later  phase  of  the  movement.  Naturalism  then  is  an  ex- 
cessive form  of  Realism  and  is  usually  considered  as  possessing 
the  following  characteristics.  First,  it  allows  a  still  largerl 
variety  of  subjects,  emphasizing  the  lower  and  coarser  forms 
of  life;  it  presents  this  material  in  a  fashion  which  is  often 
revolting;  it  rejects  ideality,  it  minimizes  heart-interest  and 
plot-interest  in  favor  of  "  facts  "  and  notations ;  it  magnifies  the 
study  of  the  industries  and  seeks  to  apply  to  fiction  the  processes 
of  the  natural  sciences;  from  these,  taken  in  their  application 
to  heredity  and  environment,  it  draws  its  conception  of  life  — 
deterministic,  fatalistic,  essentially  pessimistic.  The  laws  of 
brute  Nature  are  viewed  as  grimly  controlling  the  destinies  of 
helpless  and  hopeless  man.  Pessimism  is,  in  fact,  widely  char- 
acteristic of  this  generation  of  writers  (cf.  Flaubert,  Leeonte 
de  Lisle,  Taine) ,  who  seem,  for  the-Hiost  part,  to  have  exhausted 
the  springs  of  enthusiasm  and  sentiment.  This  "maladie 
morale,"  according  to  Bourget  (see  Bk.  IX,  Ch.  IV),  results 
especially  from  the  general  depression  produced  by  the  Franco- 
Prussian  war.  The  former  French  gaiety  seems  to  be  much  ob- 
scured, and  certainly  it  is  least  conspicuous  in  the  powerful  but 
gloomy  work  of  the  Naturalists. 

The  head  and  front  of  the  Naturalistic  school,  though  he 
preferred  to  call  it  a  method  rather  than  a  school,  was  Emile 
Zola  (1840-1902) .    His  father  was  an  Italian  engineer  who  had 

623 


624  ZOLA,    THE    GONCOURTS,    DAUDET 

settled  in  France;   his   mother   was   French.     The   boy   grew 
up  at  Aix-en-Provence,  then  moved  with  his  mother  to  Paris, 
where  his  brief  education  was  of  a  scientific  rather 
^"'^  than  of   a  literary  character.     He  knew  poverty 

and  the  working-classes,  from  which  he  presently  chose  a  wife 
(1870) .  He  did  not  figure  in  the  war  nor  in  any  external  events 
until  much  latter.  He  led  an  imeventful,  virtuous  and  sedentary 
life.  For  a  time  he  was  clerk  in  the  publishing  house  of 
Hachette,  then  went  in  for  journalism  and  (c.  1880)  wrote  his 
critical  articles  which  contain  the  theory  of  Naturalism.  He 
acquired   a   suburban   property    at   Medan,   where    ori^nated 

^the  Soirees  de  Medan,  of  1880.  This  collection  contained 
rather  grim  stories  of  the  Franco-Prussian  war  and  is  regarded 
as  a  manifesto  of  one  Naturalistic  group  (Zola,  Maupassant, 
Huysmans,  Paul  Alexis,  Ceard,  Hennique).    The  year  1880  is 

» thus  the  central  year  of  Naturalism,  as  1857  is  that  of  Realism. 
Zola  had  already  become  known  through  the  early  volimies  of 
the  Rougon-Macquart  series.  The  severe  labor  and  documen- 
tation demanded  by  this  series  occupied  him  for  twenty-two  years 
(1871-93).  He  emerged  from  his  semi-obscurity  to  champion 
Dreyfus  (see  Bk.  IX,  Ch.  I)  in  1898.  His  indictment  of  the 
military  powers  {J'Accuse)  caused  Zola  to  be  sentenced  to 
imprisonment,  and  he  sought  temporary  refuge  in  England.  He 
had  already  (1894-97)  embarked  on  the  series  of  the  Trois  Villes, 
now  followed  by  the  Quatre  Evangiles,  which  he  did  not  live  to 
complete.  His  accidental  death  (1902)  was  caused  by  asphyxi- 
ation. He  was  distinguished  for  his  tenacity,  his  polemic  spirit, 
his  interest  in  the  proletariat  and  his  lack  of  taste. 

Zola  lived  largely  as  a  recluse,  and  he  was  not  an  artist;  his 

fiction  suffers  from  these  handicaps.    He  was  formidable  mainly 

by  his  method,  which  he  developed  as  early  as 

f  Therese   Raqvm    (1867).    Its   principles    are   laid 

down  in  his  critical  work,  especially  Le  Roman  experimental 

.^1880)   and  Les  Romanciers  naturalistes    (1881).    He  defines 

art  as  "  un  coin  de  la  nature  vu  a  travers  un  temperament." 

The   personality    of   the    writer    admits    variety    and    clothes 

the  work  in  individual  form  —  for  instance,  the  Goncourts  are 

allowed  their  more  refined  and  aristocratic  reactions.    But  the 

substance  is  immutable  Nature  (reality)  which  provides  "  human 


o 


a. 


C3 
P3 


LES    ROUGON-MACQUART  625 

documents."  These  were  studied  physiologically  and  socially 
by  Balzac,  and  psychologically  by  Stendhal,^  who  are  claimed  as 
the  two  pedestals  of  Naturalism.  In  either  case,  observation 
rather  than  imagination  is  the  novelist's  requisite.  To  this  the 
Naturalist  should  now  add  the  experimental  method  of  science 
(derived  from  Claude  Bernard's  Introduction  a  la  Medecine 
experimentale,  1865) :  that  is,  he  should  expose  his  sensibility  to 
life  and  he  should  work,  as  in  a  laboratory,  upon  the  events 
and  characters  provided  by  experience.  Zola  did  not  perceive 
that  the  writer  cannot  really  produce  and  manipulate  his  ma- 
terial, as  the  scientist  can ;  the  term  "  experimental "  is  then  a 
misnomer,  while  another  distortion  of  true  science  is  the  extent  to 
which  Zola  relied  on  the  doctrine  of  heredity  throughout  the 
Rougon-Macqvart. 

This  huge  cycle,  consisting  of  twenty  volumes,  records  the 
"  histoire  naturelle  et  sociale  d'une  f amille  sous  le  second  ero- 
"Les  Rougon-  pire."  The  family,  originating  from  &  fieurasthenic 
Macquart"  and  a  drimkard  {La  Fortune  des  Rougon),  prolongs 
that  double  taint  through  its  many  members  and  diverse  milieux. 
The  Comedie  humaine  evidently  inspired  this  social  history, 
which  deals  with  reappearing  names  in  various  "  conditions  " 
or  ranks  in  life.  But  Zola  emphasizes  the  trade  or  profession  less 
than  the  hereditary  taint,  and  he  adds  a  strong  element  of  patho- 
logical and  clinical  research.  He  even  composed  a  genealogical 
tree,  with  medico-legal  data  on  each  descendant.  Also  his  chief 
figures  are  not  so  much  characters  as  grandiose  and  symbolic 
types.  Thus  "  Nana  "  is  the  Coiuliesan,  Saccard  is  the  Specu- 
lator, Dr.  Pascal  is  the  Savant,  etc.  Among  the  milieux  repre- 
sented are  Aix-en-Provence  {La  Conquete  de  Plassans),  the 
fashionable  society  of  the  Empire  {La  Curie) ,  the  central  markets 
{Le  Ventre  de  Paris),  the  department-store  {Au  Bonheur  des 
Dames)  and  the  railroads  {La  Bete  humaine).  L'Assommoir 
(1877),  which  made  Zola's  reputation,  exhibits  the  drunkard 
and  the  saloon ;  La  Terre  (1887) ,  his  most  scandalous  production, 
is  a  degraded  treatment  of  the  peasantry.  His  best  and  mosf* 
powerful  novels  are  Germinal  (1885),  that  great  study  of  the 
mines,  and  La  Debacle  (1892),  a  most  vivid  and  truthful  fresco  , 
of  the  Franco-Prussian  war. 

'  It  is  questionable  whether  any  of  the  Naturalists  proceeded  from  Stendhal. 
Certainly  Zola  was  independent  of  him. 


626  ZOLA,    THE    GONCOURTS,   DAUDET 

In  all  of  these  works,  as  in  the  later  series  of  the  Cities  and 
the  Evangels,  the  system  is  much  the  same.  Zola  admits  that  in- 
vention was  his  weak  side.  He  started  not  from  incidents  or 
personages,  but  from  the  desire  to  depict  a  certain  cross-section 
of  life.  This  he  would  study  as  a  specialty,  partly  through 
first-hand  observation  but  mainly  through  monographs.  The 
subjects  of  which  he  had  personal  knowledge,  for  example,  the 
life  of  the  working  classes,  are  naturally  much  better  handled 
than  such  monstrous  exaggerations  as  La  Terre  or  such  a  guide- 
book as  Borne.  Having  determined  his  field,  he  would  select  his 
main  characters  —  usually  some  of  the  Rougon-Macquart  —  and 
compose  actual  dossiers  for  them,  as  well  as  for  the  subsidiary 
personages.  He  would  fix  them  in  their  main  traits  and  choose 
for  them  a  certain  type  of  dialogue,  preferably  coarse ;  and  it  is  a 
featiu"e  of  his  style  that  the  same  kind  of  language  is  usual  in  the 
indirect  dialogue  and  even  in  the  psychological  analyses  of  his 
characters  (cf.  L'Assommoir) .  The  psychology,  however,  is  of 
the  most  elementary  kind.  It  has  been  said  that  Zola  gave 
a  soul  to  things  and  withdrew  the  soul  from  man.  Criminals 
and  morons  abound  in  his  pages.  "  La  bete  humaine "  is 
his  favorite  phrase,  and  the  physiological  presentation  of  the 
Realists  is  pushed  to  a  frequent  and  deliberate  bestiality.  This 
is  occasionally  relieved,  to  be  sure,  by  the  idyllic  note  (Le  Reve, 
Le  Docteur  Pascal) .  But  Zola's  strength  is  found  either  in  the 
depiction  of  grandiose  types  (see  above)  or  in  the  equally  "  epic  " 
vivification  of  certain  huge  symbols:  the  Locomotive,  the  Mine, 
the  Market,  the  wounded  Forest  in  La  Debacle.  These  Franken- 
steins  live,  agonize  and  die  before  our  eyes.  However  Romantic 
they  may  be,  such  creations  are  wonderfully  effective  and  well- 
sustained.  Zola  is  strong  also  in  the  cumulative  treatment  "  des 
vastes  ensembles  materiels  et  des  infinis  details  exterieurs  "  (cf. 
Balzac) .  Among  these  "  vastes  ensembles  "  should  be  empha- 
sized his  unsurpassed  handling  of  crowds,  whether  the  morning 
procession  of  laborers,  a  riotous  mob  of  miners,  or  the  array 
and  confusion  of  the  battle-field.  Certain  descriptive  "  tableaux  " 
are  equally  impressive :  the  parade  of  carriages  and  the  conserva- 
tory in  La  Curee ;  the  intricacies  of  the  vegetable  market ;  even 
homely  domestic  interiors  (a  laundry,  a  living-room) ;  or  the 
swarming  credulity  of  Lourdes,  which  is  the  best  of  the  Trois 
Villes. 


THE    NOVELS    OF    THE    GONCOURTS         627 

Zola  also  deserves  credit  for  the  humanitarian  faith  of  his  latest 
trilogy  —  the  attack  on  race-suicide  in  FeconditS  and  the  apotheo- 
sis of  labor  in  Le  Travail.  But  these  works  add  nothing  of  note 
to  his  method,  which  remains  the  crude  presentation  of  the 
"  masses  "  as  an  tindigested  whole.  Zola's  style  harmonizes  with 
his  point  of  view,  in  its  lack  of  distinction  and  its  heavy  lum- 
bering tread  which  can  become,  on  occasions,  a  powerful  stride. 
For  good  or  for  evil,  the  man  and  his  method  live  in  his  works; 
but  French  life  could  scarcely  have  existed  in  all  the  darkness 
with  which  he  has  svurounded  it.  His  outlook  and  his  rigid  a 
"priori  system  keep  him  from  rendering  Nature  in  the  fullest 
sense. 

Edmond  de  Goncourt  (1822-96)  and  his  brother  Jules  (1830- 
70)  offer  an  interesting  case  of  literary  collaboration.  "  United 
The  by  art  and  blood,"  they  thought  and  felt  in  common; 

Goncourts  ^nd  they  lived,  suffered  and  died  for  literature  alone. 
Of  a  good  family  and  well  educated,  they  were  intensely  Parisian 
and  modern.  After  the  death  of  their  mother  (1848) ,  the  brothers 
were  practically  inseparable.  Like  Gautier,  they  expected  to 
become  painters  and  therefore  undertook  picturesque  excursions 
in  France  and  Algeria.  But  they  turned  to  writing  instead  and 
after  several  false  starts,  they  published  Charles  Demailly 
(1860) ;  this  novel  and  Manette  Salomon  (1867)  furnished  keen 
studies  of  artistic  careers  thwarted  by  women.  Most  of  the 
Goncourts'  work  was  based  on  personal  experiences  or  those  of 
their  acquaintances.  They  also  showed  a  preference  for  a  refined 
treatment  and  for  subjects  that  offered  exceptional  or  path- 
ological interest.  Such  was  the  case  with  ScEwr  P/ii7omene  (1861), 
a  "  study  in  ivory  "  of  hospital  scenes  and  of  a  nun's  mysticism; 
while  Renee  Mauperin  (1864) ,  the  Goncourts'  best  book,  is  a  sub- 
tle and  pathetic  delineation  of  a  peculiar  "  jeune  fille  moderne." 
None  of  these  novels  were  immediately  successful;  indeed,  the 
work  of  the  brothers  was  scarcely  known  to  the  public  under  the 
Empire  and  has  never  been  popular.  They  were  compensated 
for  this  general  neglect  by  the  formation  of  an  inner  circle  — 
that  of  the  "  diners  Magny,"  a  restaurant  where  the  Goncourts 
foregathered  with  Sainte-Beuve,  Gautier,  Renan,  Daudet  and 
occasionally  with  Flaubert  or  Taine.  This  was  not  a  cenacle, 
because  of  the  separatist  and  carping  tendencies  of  the  group. 


628  ZOLA,    THE    GONCOURTS,    DAUDET 

as  manifest  in  the  later  Journal  des  Goncourt  (9  vols.,  1887-95) . 

In  the  meantime,  the  brothers  had  founded  Naturalism,  of  the 
'low-life  kind,  in  Germinie  Lacertevx.    This  book  was  published 
As  in  1865,  before  any  important  work  of  Zola's,  and 

Naturalists  deals  with  the  pitiful  life  and  loves  of  a  servant-girl. 
The  clinical  sort  of  Naturalism  is  demonstrated  in  Madame  Ger- 
vaisais  (1869),  which  is  mainly  an  analysis  of  religious  hysteria. 
Madame  Gervwisais  and  Manette  Salomon  also  exhibit  the  ex- 
treme type  of  the  plotless  novel,  with  its  deliberate  lack  of  con- 
struction and  a  preference  for  detached  scenes.  Jules  de  Gon- 
court died  of  intellectual  over-work  in  1870,  and  for  some  time 
his  aflSiicted  brother  wrote  nothing.  In  1877,  Edmond  published 
La  Fille  Elisa,  a'  bare  and  severe  monograph  on  prostitution  and 
the  penitentiary.  Of  his  other  novels,  La  Faustin  depicts  the  life 
of  the  theater  and  Les  Freres  Zemganno  that  of  the  circus.  This 
last  is  probably  Edmond's  best  novel,  since  it  presents,  with 
genuine  sentiment,  a  pair  of  brothers  who  were  united  like  the 
Goncourts  themselves.  Feeling  is  not  absent  from  these  novels, 
several  of  which  (for  example,  Renee  Mauperin)  have  very 
poignant  endings. 

The  Goncourt  brothers  were  a  complicated  pair,  and  accord- 
ingly their  work  is  composed  of  strangely  mixed  materials.  On 
the  one  hand,  it  seems  clear  that  they  were  the  earliest  theoreti- 
cians (cf.  Idees  et  Sensations,  1866)  and  practitioners  of  an  ad- 
vanced Naturalism.  This  is  evidenced  in  their  blank  fatalistic 
pessimism,  in  their  materialistic  rendering  of  the  external  world, 
in  their  low-life  subjects  and  their  predilection  for  pathology, 
and  especially  in  their  emphasis  on  note-taking  coupled  with 
direct  observation.  Germinie  Lacertevx  was  the  biography  of 
their  own  servant;  hospitals  were  studied  at  first-hand,  Edmond 
de  Goncourt  recorded  the  phases  of  his  brother's  last  illness  and 
urged  feminine  readers  to  send  him  their  intimate  observations, 
in  order  to  perfect  the  psychology  of  Cherie.  '  On  the  other 
hand,  these  brothers  were  essentially  artists,  and  they  modified 
their  Realistic  attitude  by  two  individual  novelties:  impres- 
sionism and  the  "ecriture  artiste."  Thus  they  do  not  represent 
Naturalism  with  Zola's  force  and  single-mindedness. 
^^  'UmprfiRsinniga?/'  oi  the  Goncourt  variety,  is  the  endeavor  to 
render  the  sensations  produced  by  external  objects;  it  largely 


IMPRESSIONISM  629 

proceeds  from  and  appeals  to  the  nerves.  Like  their  compeers 
Aa  Artists      (^^Izac,   Flaubert,   Daudet),   the   Goncourts   were 

"  slaves  of  the  lamp."  After  each  protracted 
effort,  their  delicate  organizations  suffered  a  collapse  and  they 
fostered  their  hyperaesthetic  acuteness  of  sensation.  "II  n'y  a 
de  bon  que  les  choses  exquises,"  said  Edmond.  Not  only,  then, 
were  they  preoccupied  with  nervous  maladies  {Charles  Demailly, 
Soeur  Philomene),  but  they  sought  to  convey,  impression- 
istically,  all  the  vibrant  sensations  to  which  they  were  exposed. 
Their  vehicle  was  the  "  ecriture  artiste,"  a  new  kind  of 
preciosity,  an  intensely  nervous,  jerky  style,  "  qui  s'applique 
surtout  ...  a  la  sensation  realisee  par  la  phrase,  I'epithete  rare, 
I'adjectif  substantif  et  le  verbe  substantif,  la  repetition,  le  pleo- 
nasme  et  le  neologisme."  Their  rhetoric,  which  too  often  dis- 
regards syntax,  clearness  and  harmony,  tends  to  become  an 
"  orgy  of  virtuosity  "  and  aims  particularly  at  picturesque  and 
colorful  descriptions.  So  their  novels  became  a  disorganized 
series  of  tableautins,  while  their  point  of  view  is  that  of  the 
painter  who  is  most  sensitive  to  the  visible  world  (cf.  Gautier). 
The  art-sense  of  the  brothers  was  increased  by  their  very  Parisian 
modernity  and  their  love  of  bibelots,  of  which  they  left  a  con- 
siderable collection;  also  by  their  revival  of  the  eighteenth 
century  in  a  series  of  volumes '  which  display  particularly  the 
paintings,  costumes  and  furniture  of  the  old  regime.  Together 
with  this  revival,  they  should  be  credited  with  the  introduction 
of  Japanese  art  into  France.  In  spite  of  aesthetic  excesses,  their 
"  plastic  psychology "  and  their  pictorial  style  have  distinct 
values,  and  the  Goncourts  remain  the  best  equipped  artists  of 
the  Naturalistic  movement.  Edmond  founded  the  "Academie 
Goncourt,"  as  a  rallying  point  for  literary  rebels.  This  Academy 
has  crowned  some  of  the  most  notable  books  of  recent  years. 
Less  forceful  and  original  than  the  other  Naturalists,  but 
endowed  with  more  charm  and  humanity,  Alphonse  Daudet 
jj    .  .  (1840-97)  owes  much  of  his  reputation  to  the  fact 

that  he  was  a  thorough  "Meridional."  He  was 
born  at  Nimes,  and  even  in  his  boyhood  his  ardent  temperament 
was  touched  by  the  Provengal  sun.    Neither  a  Catholic  up- 

•  La  Femme  au  dix-huiUhne  si^cle  (1862),  L'Art  au  dix-huitUme  siMe,  etc. 


630  ZOLA,   THE    GONCOURTS,   DAUDET 

bringing  nor  a  stricter  education  later  at  Lyons  could  restrain 
this  turbulent  youth,  fond  of  reading,  but  fonder  of  playing 
truant,  and  reaching  the  depth  of  despair  when  family  em- 
barrassments forced  him  to  take  a  post  as  usher  in  a  small  school 
(Le  Petit  Chose).  Fortunately,  his  devoted  brother  Ernest 
summoned  him  to  Paris,  where  Alphonse  was  soon  leading  a 
bohemian  life  and  publishing  his  early  verses.  He  joined  the 
staff  of  the  Figaro  and  became  private  secretary  to  the  Due  de 
Morny,  who  acted  as  prime  minister  imder  Napoleon  III.  A 
favorite  with  Morny,  Daudet  was  allowed  restorative  excursions 
to  the  Midi  and  Algeria  (see  Tartarin).  From  near  Aries,  in 
the  winter  of  1864,  he  brought  back  the  Lettres  de  mon  Moulin 
(publ.  1869),  his  first  real  success.  His  frail  health  often  sent 
him  back  to  the  South,  where  he  was  on  excellent  terms  with 
Mistral  and  the  Provengal  group  of  poets.  In  1867,  Daudet 
married  Julie  Allard,'^ho  made  him  an  excellent  wife  and  helped 
his  literary  development.  The  writer  now  bade  farewell  to 
Bohemia.  His  new  seriousness  was  further  confirmed  by  the 
events  of  1870-71.  Daudet  served  in  the  home-guard  and  de- 
clared that  the  war  made  a  man  of  him.  He  wrote  certain 
recollections  of  this  period  (C antes  du  lundi),  then  passed  on 
to  his  great  novels  and  knew  "  I'ivresse  du  travail."  Like 
Flaubert  and  Balzac,  he  would  often  work  fifteen  hours  a  day, 
a  regime  that  seriously  impaired  his  health.  After  1877  he 
suffered  with  violent  rheumatism  and  had  to  give  up  the 
physical  exercises  that  he  formerly  loved.  But  he  still  kept  his 
country  home,  in  the  valley  of  Champrosay  near  Paris,  and  in 
the  capital  itself  Daudet  had  an  interior  noted  for  its  delightful 
family  life  and  wide  hospitality.  Frequent  visitors  were 
Flaubert,  E.  de  Goncourt  and  Turgenev  —  whom  the  small  boy 
of  the  house  called  "  les  geants."  Daudet  was  exemplary  in 
family  relations;  he  was  noted  for  his  kindliness  and  constant 
good  humor.  He  was  simple  in  his  tastes,  distrusting  riches,  de- 
voted to  books  (especially  Montaigne) ,  yet  sociable  and  well  ac- 
quainted with  many  classes  of  people.  He  never  separated  life 
from  literature.  He  defined  talent  as  an  "  intensity  de  vie," 
and  his  own  talent  surely  has  this  quality.  His  powers  of  per- 
ception and  expression  were  unusually  keen.  His  career  was 
helped  by  good-fortune  and  by  his  seductive  personality,  but 


DAUDET'S    FICTION  631 

his  books  were  written  "  avec  le  sue  meme  de  I'arbre  humain." 

An  interlocking  but  useful  classification  of  Daudet's  fiction"^ 
would  distinguish:   (1)  stories  and  characters  of  the  Midi;  ,(2) 
Three  novels   of  Parisian  manners;    (3)    partly  included 

Divisions        in  the  above,  the  depiction  of  the  humbler  classesj 
°      ^  His  fiction  throughout  is  either  autobiographical  or 

closely  based  on  known  people  and  events.  On  this  account, 
some  of  his  friends  avoided  him,  and  it  is  said  that  he  did  not 
dare  return  to  Tarascon.  "  To  invent  for  him  was  to  remem- 
ber." Memories  of  his  impressionable  Provengal  youth  are  em- 
bedded in  the  exquisite  Lettres  de  mon  Moulin,  which  contain* 
such  gems  as  Le  Cure  de  Cucugnan  and  La  Mule  du  Pape^ 
Fancy  is  wedded  to  fact  in  these  brilliant  joyous  stories,  and 
this  note  is  prolonged  in  the  famous  Tartarin  series.  Tartarin 
de  Tarascon  (1872)  creates  the  type  of  the  boastful  and  self- 
deluded  Southerner,  still  the  source  of  inextinguishable  laughter. 
For  once,  a  sequel  was  not  inferior  to  its  predecessor,  and  Tar- 
tarin sur  les  Alpes  (1885)  was  for  long  the  most  popular  of 
Daudet's  novels.  Finally,  Port-Tarascon  (1890)  takes  the  hero 
to  his  far  colony,  but  shows  a  decline  of  the  novelist's  powers. 
Tartarin  thus  remains  with  Daudet  during  his  whole  career.  The 
Southern  strain  is  continued  in  the  main  characters  —  though 
not  in  the  setting —  of  Le  Nabab  (1877)  and  of  Numa  Roumes- 
tan  (1881),  which  exhibits,  more  somberly  than  Tartarin,  the 
clash  between  a  meridional  temperament  and  a  Parisian  environ- 
ment. But  these  two  titles  properly  belong  to  Daudet's  second 
division,  the  "  grand  roman  de  mceurs."  In  both  of  them,  certain 
characters  have  been  identified  with  actual  personages:  in  the 
former  appears  a  real  "  nabob,"  together  with  the  Due  de  Morny, 
Sarah  Bernhardt  and  others,  very  thinly  disguised;  whereas  in 
Numa  Roumestan  we  have  an  ironic  depiction  of  the  Provengal 
deputy  who  stakes  his  fortunes  against  the  "  homicidal  North," 
and  who  wins  out  through  native  force  and  buoyancy.  This  is 
written  in  Daudet's  final  manner  and  is  consequently  a  more 
intense  and  closely  knit  narrative  than  Le  Nabab,  which  remains, 
however,  one  of  the  largest  and  most  interesting  canvases  de- 
picting the  Second  Empire.  No  one  excels  Daudet  in  conveying 
the  Parisian  atmosphere,  and  his  ornate  "  views  "  of  the  capital 
are  memorable.    Between  these  two  novels  he  wrote  Les  Bats 


632  ZOLA,    THE    GONCOURTS,    DAUDET 

en  exil  (again  with  a  Parisian  background),  a  title  which  needs 
no  explanation  today.  Again,  L'Immortel  (1888)  is  a  satire  on 
the  Academy,  too  bitter  for  Daudet's  kindly  nature.  The  great- 
est of  this  group  of  novels  and  the  best  known  is  Sapho  (1884), 
a  thorough  study  of  the  courtesan,  her  evil  power  and  her  en- 
vironment, but  treated  with  a  decent  restraint  not  usually  mani- 
fested by  the  Naturalists. 

Several  other  novels  also  reflect  "les  moeurs  parisiennes," 
but  they  seem  more  particularly  to  store  the  vibrations  of  the 
author's  own  heart  attuned  to  the  misfortimes  of  humble  folk. 
His  son  tells  us  that  he  preferred  this  class  to  any  other,  though 
he  was  compassionate  towards  all  suffering  and  mischance. 
There  is  much  of  both  in  Fromont  jeune  et  Risler  aine  (1874), 
nominally  the  tale  of  an  industrial  partnership,  but  really  con- 
cerned with  the  drama  of  the  wicked  Sidonie  and  her  deceived 
husband;  the  household  of  the  poverty-stricken  Delobelles  also 
comes  in  for  a  good  share  of  the  interest  and  offers  a  parallel 
with  Dickens  in  the  alternation  of  humor  and  pathos.  Jack 
(1876)  deals  with  other  failures  and  presents  particularly  the 
story  of  an  unhappy  child  (cf.  David  Copper  field).  L'Evan- 
geliste  indignantly  attacks  the  effects  of  religious  proselytizing 
and  mania. 

Though  influenced  by  the  currents  of  his  time,  especially  by 

Naturalism  and  impressionism,  Daudet  is  not  a  severe  and  im- 

„.  „  ,  .  partial  recorder  of  the  world's  woes.  He  is  too 
His  Talent      ^  .  •        ,        ,    ,, 

sympathetic    and    emotional    wholly    to    represent 

scientific  Naturalism.  He  comes  nearest  it  in  Sapho,  and  even 
there  his  personality  shines  through  the  somber  picture.  Again, 
Daudet  is  primarily  a  raconteur  who  loves  to  tell  a  story,  and  his 
novels  are  more  fully  novels  than  the  so-called  fiction  of  Zola. 
Daudet  knows  how  to  choose  and  make  salient  "  les  domin- 
antes  "  of  character  and  incident.  By  interweaving  moral  and 
physical  qualities  he  makes  his  chief  characters  from  the  begin- 
ning stand  out  clearly ;  yet  he  is  rather  too  fond  of  the  "  gag," 
as  when  the  lazy  Delobelle  perpetually  asserts,  "  je  n'ai  pas  le 
droit  de  renoncer  a  I'Art."  Like  Dickens,  Daudet  overworks 
pathos,  and  occasionally  the  Southern  "  charm  "  seems  to  wear  a 
little  thin.  But  behind  all  these  traits  there  stand  (1)  the 
method  of  the  Realist  and  (2)  the  style  of  the  impressionist. 


DAUDET'S    METHOD  633 

The  method  appears  in  his  choice  of  specialized  subjects,  of 
ample  background  and  sharply  etched  foreground;  also  in  his 
habit  of  persistent  note-taking,  a  habit  which  resulted  in 
thousands  of  perfectly  rendered  scenes  and  objects;  also  in  his 
knowledge  of  and  respect  for  "  la  vie  "  rather  than  in  the  bookish 
kind  of  documentation;  finally,  in  that  very  sympathy  with  the 
humble  which,  as  Brunetiere  claims,  has  been  found  in  Russia 
and  England  to  be  compatible  with  the  best  Realism.  Nor 
does  this  novelist  slight  the  depiction  of  the  more  interesting 
and  attractive  aspects  of  life.  The  artistic  side  of  Daudet  and 
probably  his  friendship  with  E.  de  Goncourt  inclined  him 
towards  a  modified  type  of  impressionism  in  writing.  Just  as 
sensitive  as  the  Goncourts  to  external  objects,  he  contrives  to 
present  them  adequately  without  making  them  dominate;  a 
favorite  device  is  to  make  things  symbolize  a  soul-state,  as 
where  Desiree  Delobelle's  thwarted  aspirations  are  typified  by 
the  stuffed  birds  with  which  she  decorates  bonnets.  Daudet 's 
winged  style  gives  the  thrill  of  an  individual  reaction  to  reality, 
but  he  was  able  to  accomplish  this  without  the  elaborate  manner 
and  vocabulary  of  the  Goncourts.  His  language,  for  all  its 
variety  and  picturesqueness,  is  clear  and  not  recherche;  its 
movement  is  more  easy  and  conversational  than  that  of  other 
French  Realists.  Of  them  all,  Daudet  is  on  many  accounts  the 
most  acceptable  to  an  Anglo-Saxon  public. 


BOOK  VIII 
THE  AGE  OF   SCIENCE  AND  DOUBT 

CHAPTER  I 

THE    CRITICS:    SAINTE-BEUVE 

All  the  movements  of  the  nineteenth  century  are  mirrored  in 
criticism,  a  genre  which  greatly  increases  in  productiveness, 
The  Course  influence  and  complexity  during  this  period.  A 
of  Criticism  history  of  French  Criticism  would  find  at  least  one- 
half  of  its  material  in  the  last  century  alone.  Like  other 
fields  of  thought,  the  genre  became  definitely  historical  in  ap- 
proach; later  it  endeavored  to  borrow  its  method  from  the 
natural  sciences  as  well.  These  and  other  varieties  will  emerge 
from  a  brief  sketch  of  the  form.  Accepting  the  formula  of 
"  literature  as  the  expression  of  society,"  modern  criticism  was 
born  at  the  beginning  of  the  century.  As  already  seen,  cosmo- 
politan comparison  waxed  great  with  Mme  de  Stael  and  was 
continued  by  Villemain.  The  latter  placed  the  individual  writer 
in  his  historical  setting,  where  Sainte-Beuve  more  firmly  fixes 
him.  This  high  priest  of  criticism  is  Protean  in  his  viewpoints; 
judicial  because  of  his  taste,  yet  biographical,  historical  and 
finally  approximating  a  scientific  method.  The  deterministic 
philosophy  is  appropriated  by  Taine,  the  evolutionary  by 
Brunetiere.  Personal  impressionism  was  added  by  Anatole 
France  and  Jules  Lemaitre.  The  chief  defenders  of  the  Classical 
standard  were  Nisard,  Scherer  and  Brimetiere;  we  shall  now 
consider  the  first  of  these  three.^ 
The  most  characteristic  work  of  Desire  Nisard  (1806-88), 
professor  and  publicist,  is  comprised  in  his  Essais 
sur  I'ecole  romantique  and  in  his  monvimental  His- 
toire  de  la  litterature  frangaise   (1844-61).    The  former  book, 

•  For  Brunetiere,  France  and  Lemattre,  see  Bk.  IX,  Ch.  IV.  Edmond  Soberer 
(1815-89)  was  a  Genevan  divine  who  lost  his  faith  in  Calvinism  and  settled  in  Parii. 
He  stood  apart  from  the  main  literary  movements,  but  his  Etudes  crMgues  nir 
la  literature  contemporaine  (1863-95)  contain  some  excellent  criticism. 

634 


HIS    CAREER  635 

in  spite  of  Nisard's  efforts  towards  fairness,  is  virtually  an  in- 
dictment of  Romanticism,  and  the  latter  remained  for  long  the 
best  exposition  and  eulogy  of  the  French  Classical  period. 
Nisard  maintains  that  this  "  epoque  unique  "  saw  an  amalgama- 
tion of  the  French  and  of  the  (general)  human  spirit  that  can 
hardly  occur  again.  He  tends  to  make  humanity  equivalent  to 
France,  and  France  equivalent  to  the  Age  of  Louis  XIV.  Adopt- 
ing the  "  point  of  perfection  "  theory ,=  he  views  everything  before 
the  seventeenth  century  as  a  preparation,  everything  after  it  as  a 
decline.  Then  only  did  the  French  genius  reach  its  full  powers  of 
clearness  and  precision:  "I'expression  des  verites  generales  dans 
un  langage  parfait."  Then  only  did  the  "two  antiquities," 
Christian  and  pagan,  move  harmoniously  together.  Nisard  holds 
by  tradition,  both  because  of  its  disciplinary  value  and  because 
tradition  alone  is  the  guarantee  of  lasting  literary  excellence. 
So  "for  sixty  years,"  says  Dowden,  "Nisard  was  a  guardian 
of  the  dignity  of  French  letters." 

We  must  go  back  to  the  days  of  Romanticism  to  understand 
Charles-Augustin  Sainte-Beuve  (1804-69),  the  greatest  and  most 
Career  of  universal  of  French  critics.  The  successive  phases 
Sainte-Beuve  of  jjjg  jjfg  contributed  to  form  his  supple  talent  and 
to  provide  his  manifold  interests.  Born  at  Boulogne-sur-Mer, 
he  was  carefully  reared  by  women ;  as  a  youth  he  showed  a  studi- 
ous disposition  and  some  religious  propensities.  These  were 
promptly  submerged  in  the  skeptical  air  of  Paris,  whither  he  went 
in  1818.  He  declared  that  his  intellectual  fond  was  derived  from 
such  materialists  and  free-thinkers  as  Destutt  de  Tracy,  Lamarck 
and  Daunou.  This  tendency  was  increased  by  an  intermittent 
study  of  medicine,  which  left  in  him  a  leaning  towards  physiol- 
ogy and  positivism.  In  1824  he  joined  the  editors  of  the  Globe 
(see  Bk.  VI,  Ch.  I),  and  for  this  journal  he  wrote  many  of  the 
articles  subsequently  collected  in  the  Premiers  lundis.  After 
1827  he  became  intimate  with  Hugo  and  identified  himself  with 
Romanticism  —  the  only  cause,  he  tells  us,  to  which  he  fully  sur- 
rendered himself  and  that  "  by  the  effect  of  a  charm."  The  spell 
was  wrought  partly  by  Victor  Hugo,  partly  by  Hugo's  wife,  and 
thus  inspired  Sainte-Beuve  composed  his  poetry  and  fiction.  He 
also  gave  ancestors  to  Romanticism  in  the  Tableau  de  la  poesie 

'  See  above,  pp.  343  and  416. 


636  THE    CRITICS:    SAINTE-BEUVE 

frangaise  au  XVIe  siecle  (1828) ,  and  he  ranked  as  one  of  the  most 
influential  members  of  the  school.  But  after  1830  he  gradually 
detached  himself,  breaking  with  Hugo  and  passing  on  to  other 
"  conversions."  None  of  these  was  whole-souled,  but  for  a  time 
he  showed  an  interest  in  Saint-Simonism,  then  in  the  liberal 
Catholicism  of  Lamennais  and  his  group.  An  opposing  tendency 
was  encouraged  by  Sainte-Beuve's  connection  with  Swiss  Calvin- 
ism; this  connection  was  formed  through  his  friendship  with  the 
Oliviers,  a  young  couple  whom  he  visited  at  Lausanne  (1837). 
Throughout  his  youth,  Sainte-Beuve  was  subject  to  moods  of 
religious  speculation  and  feeling,  manifest  particularly  in  his 
letters  to  the  Abbe  Bar  be;  but  this  influence  resulted  in  no  trans- 
formation of  his  life  and  thought;  its  most  important  consequence 
was  the  masterly  study  of  the  Jansenists  in  his  Port-Royal 
(1840-60). 

In  the  meantime,  Sainte-Beuve  had  become  well  established  as 
a  Parisian  and  as  a  critic.  He  frequented  the  aristocratic  salons 
of  Mme  Recamier  and  others,  but  he  scarcely  shone  as  a  man  of 
the  world.  Although  epicurean  in  his  tastes  for  pleasure,  he 
lived  frugally  and  worked  hard.  During  the  two  decades  of  the 
bourgeois  monarchy  he  was  writing  for  the  Revue  de  Paris  and 
the  Revue  des  deux  mondes  most  of  the  articles  later  collected 
in  the  Portraits  contemporains  (1869-71)  and  the  Portraits  Ut- 
teraires  (1862-64).  His  reputation  was  steadily  growing,  and 
he  was  made  a  member  of  the  Academy  in  1844.  But  when  the 
Revolution  of  1848  occurred,  Sainte-Beuve  foimd  himself  ill  at 
ease  in  Paris  and  accepted  an  invitation  from  Liege,  where  he 
delivered  lectures  on  Chateaubriand.  The  resulting  volumes 
{Chateaubriand  et  son  groupe  litteraire)  mark  his  final  break 
with  Romanticism  and  his  inauguration  of  a  bolder  and  more 
judicial  critical  standard.  Returning  to  Paris,  he  was  soon  en- 
gaged in  writing  for  periodicals  his  famous  Causeries  du  lundi 
(1851-62),  followed  by  the  Nouveaux  lundis  (publ.  1863-70). 
These  weekly  articles  practically  filled  the  remainder  of  his  life, 
for  Sainte-Beuve  too  became  an  "  anchorite  of  labor,"  scarcely 
leaving  his  task  except  for  participation  in  the  Magny  dinners 
(see  p.  627)  and  for  duties  connected  with  two  lectureships.  He 
became  more  political  in  his  outlook,  wrote  a  volume  defending 
the  socialist  Proudhon,  and  was  made  a  senator  of  the  Empire 


HIS    VERSE    AND    FICTION  637 

(1864).  But  he  sat  in  the  liberal  wing  and  delivered  towards  the 
end  of  his  life  the  boldest  speeches  of  a  rather  cautious  career. 
Sainte-Beuve  was  intellectually  honest  and  never  sold  his  pen; 
but  in  human  relations  he  was  sly  and  variable,  not  trustworthy 
as  a  friend  and  not  notable  for  high  qualities  of  heart  or  soul. 
He  was  a  mental  giant,  well-nigh  complete  in  his  critical  equip- 
ment, and  his  most  marked  trait  was  the  mobility  or  curiosity 
which  drew  him  from  one  field  of  inquiry  to  another.  The  crea- 
tive efforts  of  his  youth  were  also  fruitful  for  his  critical  career ; 
they  gave  him  unusual  insight  into  the  processes  of  poetry  and 
fiction.  But  they  were  not  beneficial  either  to  his  character  or 
to  his  reputation. 

The  fact  is  that  these  volumes,  whether  connected  with  the 
author's  late  adolescence  or  with  the  amorous  experiences  of 
Poetry  and  his  early  manhood,  are  noted  for  their  morbid  tone. 
Fiction  Tjjg   Yig^  Poesies   et  Pensees  de  Joseph  Delorme 

(1829)  presents  a  descendant  of  Rene  and  of  Adolphe,  who  is 
also  the  alter  ego  and  the  weaker  ego  of  Sainte-Beuve.  The 
poems  constitute  a  moral  autobiography,  in  their  display  of 
self-analysis  and  of  epicurean  desires.  Certain  lyrics  develop 
another  strain,  an  attempted  rendering  of  common  life,  in  the 
manner  of  Wordsworth;  the  volimie  is  the  most  interesting  ex- 
ample of  this  influence  in  France.  Again,  a  critical  and  intellec- 
tual note  is  prominent,  especially  when  the  author  characterizes 
his  contemporaries  (for  example.  Promenade,  Mes  Uvres).  So 
the  poems  have  been  well  summarized  as  "  individualistes  et 
romantiques,  originales  par  le  ton  democratique,  I'inspiration 
intime,  la  tendance  critique."  Joseph  Delorme,  which  at  least 
widened  the  scope  of  the  lyric,  is  Sainte-Beuve's  most  important 
volume  of  verse  and  gives  the  key  to  the  others.  Similar  strains 
are  foimd  in  the  Consolations  (1830)  and  the  Pensees  d'Aout 
(1837).  His  novel,  Volupte  (1834),  is  according  to  Sainte- 
Beuve's  own  avowal  "  tres  peu  un  roman  "  and  again  reflects 
the  experience  of  a  self-indulgent,  analytical  and  weak-willed 
person.  There  is  much  religiosity  in  this  novel;  it  ends  in 
a  conversion  in  which  the  writer  himself  hardly  participated. 

Sainte-Beuve's  critical  work  is  very  extensive,  amounting  to 
forty-eight  volumes.  Three  main  periods  of  his  activity,  though 
with  some  overlapping,  may  be  indicated.    The  first   (1824- 


638  THE    CRITICS:    SAINTE-BEUVE 

1840)   is  his  youthful  Romantic  period  and  includes,  together 

with  the  Tableau  (see  above)  and  the  Premiers  lundis,  many  of 

^  .4..  •  „  the  earlier  articles  in  the  Portraits  titteraires.  The 
Criticism : 

Divisions  and  second  (c.  1835-1848)  represents  a  more  neutral 
Campaigns  ^^^j  conservative  type  of  criticism,  but  remains 
appreciative  rather  than  judicial.  This  period  includes  the 
various  volumes  of  Portraits,  written  for  the  two  principal  re- 
views and  addressed  largely  to  feminine  readers.  The  third 
period  (1848-69)  finds  Sainte-Beuve  in  his  matiu'ity  alike  as 
jxidicial  critic  and  as  historian  of  literature.  Its  point  of  de- 
parture is  the  attack  on  Chateaubriand,  and  it  embraces  the  two 
great  series  of  the  Lundis. 

The  term  "  Romantic  critic  "  implies  both  that  Sainte-Beuve 
was  romantically  disposed  and  that  he  became  the  best  critical 
.  ,  expositor  of  the  movement.  His  close  association 
with  the  Hugos  and  his  own  creative  efforts  made 
his  expression  more  personal,  passionate  and  rhetorical  than 
was  later  the  case.  But  the  rupture  of  these  ties  presently 
caused  him  to  break  with  the  school,  and  he  admits  many 
variations  in  judgment  due  to  the  rise  and  fall  of  his 
Romantic  sympathies.  This  then  is  his  least  impartial  period. 
Yet  his  keen  understanding  of  the  movement  will  appear  from 
certain  examples.  Of  his  four  articles  on  Victor  Hugo,  the 
first  (1827)  established  Sainte-Beuve  as  the  critical  master  of 
the  new  school.  He  points  out  exactly  those  merits  and  defects 
that  posterity  has  accepted  in  the  case  of  Hugo.  Later  the 
critic  congratulates  the  poet  on  freeing,  himself  from  the 
preciosity  of  the  early  cenacle  and  on  attaining  wider  effects. 
The  novels  of  Hugo  are  not  impartially  considered,  nor  is  Sainte- 
Beuve  fair  to  Vigny.  On  the  other  hand,  he  excellently  sums  up 
Lamartine,  admiring  his  spirituality  and  limpidity.  As  late 
as  1857,  Sainte-Beuve  wrote  a  finely  reminiscent  article  on 
Musset,  which  carries  critic  and  reader  back  into  the  old 
Romantic  atmosphere.  The  poet's  endearing  qualities  and  his 
tragic  fate  are  dwelt  upon  almost  with  a  sense  of  personal  loss. 
This  note  of  personal  friendly  interest  recurs  in  articles  on  Hugo, 
George  Sand  and  others.  It  is  true  that  Sainte-Beuve  was  sub- 
ject to  feelings  of  envy  and  malice  where  the  Romantic  leaders 
were  concerned;  but  when  these  feelings  were  not  aroused,  he 


PERIODS    OF    CRITICISM  639 

was  capable  of  the  greatest  insight  and  sympathy.  M.  Michaut 
esteems  him  the  panegyrist  and  interpreter  of  Romanticism, 
enthusiastic,  but  with  a  taste  and  a  sense  of  proportion  which 
caused  him  to  make  certain  reserves.  He  gave  currency  to  the 
lyrical  ideas  and  theories  of  the  group,  for  whom,  says  the  same 
authority,  he  served  both  as  a  Du  Bellay  and  a  Boileau;  it  was 
his  task  to  "  introduire,  legitimer  et  formuler  le  romantisme  "  — 
and  he  tried  to  moderate  its  excesses  as  well. 

In  1840,  Sainte-Beuve  published  two  articles  that  definitely 
indicate  his  abandonment  of  the  Romantic  cause.  He  declares 
that  the  essay  on  La  Rochefoucauld  "  marks  the  end  of  this 
crisis  and  the  return  of  sounder  views."  The  other  article,  Dix 
ans  apres  en  litter ature,  amounts  to  a  journalistic  suromary  of 
what  Romanticism  had  accomplished  in  the  previous  decade. 
A  certain  bias  and  impatience  appear  in  his  colder  reckoning 
with  his  former  admiration.  These  "  illustrious  incurables  "  lack 
stability  —  or  else  they  have  simply  marked  time.  Sainte-Beuve 
further  announces  that  he  himself  has  finally  turned  from  poetry 
to  criticism.  This  resolution  was  taken  after  the  failure  of  the 
Pensees  d'Aout.    As  Sainte-Beuve  profoundly  said: 

II  se  trouve,  dans  les  trois  quarts  des  hoimnes,  un  poete  qui 
meurt  jeune,  tandis  que  rhomme  survit. 

The  "  man  "  and  his  intelligence  are  thus  chiefly  conspicuous 
in  the  second  phase  of  Sainte-Beuve's  critical  productiveness. 
Second  Here  he  lays  a  broad  foundation  for  his  biographical 

Period  method.    Indeed,  as  a  Romantic  critic  he  had  sought 

the  writer's  moi  in  his  biography  and  intimate  psychology  and 
was  disposed  to  judge  a  work  according  to  the  individuality  of 
its  talent  and  expression.  Now  the  three  series  of  "  Portraits  " 
{Portraits  litteraires,  Portraits  de  Femmes,  Portraits  contempo- 
rains)  exemplify  the  author's  lasting  interest  in  the  individual, 
as  well  as  the  constant  ripening  of  his  ever-curious  mind.  Even 
the  Port-Royal  has  been  styled  a  Collection  of  portraits.  Sainte- 
Beuve's  curiosity  recalls  that  of  Bayle,  who  was  treated  in  an 
early  article  (1835)  as  a  leading  representative  of  the  critical 
spirit.  The  two  men  were  also  alike  in  their  fondness  for  gossip, 
their  insinuative  tactics,  their  tolerant  sense  of  relativity  in 
human    and    literary    affairs.    Sainte-Beuve's    manner    during 


640  THE    CRITICS:    SAINTE-BEUVE 

this  period  combines  ease  and  finish,  and  has  an  engaging  "  libra 
allure."  His  attitude  is  more  disinterested.  After  traversing 
his  intermediary  "  campaigns,"  in  behalf  of  Lamennais  and  Saint- 
Simon,  the  critic  ceases,  to  be  a  propagandist  and  becomes  a  free 
and  impartial  voice  (1833-37) .  His  essays  are  concerned  some- 
what less  with  aesthetic  and  more  with  moral  and  philosophical 
questions.  Gradually  he  conceives  of  a  "  genie  critique,"  which 
though  remaining  primarily  portraiture  can  include  philosoph- 
ical and  psychological  considerations;  which  through  its  uni- 
versal curiosity  and  its  finished  form  can  itself  become  "  cre- 
ative," a  work  of  art.  The  best  essays  of  the  forties  show  Sainte- 
Beuve  established  in  his  own  field.  At  the  end  of  this  period 
he  was  ready  for  a  new  campaign. 

A  whole  book  might  be  written  on  the  relations  of  Sainte- 
Beuve  and  Chateaubriand,  and  indeed  Sainte-Beuve  himself  has 
The  written  it.    CHateavbriand  et  son  groups  litteraire, 

Transition  composed  in  voluntary  exile,  is  mainly  an  indictment 
of  Romanticism  and  of  its  illustrious  godfather.  Sainte-Beuve 
now  formally  assumes  the  role  of  a  judge.  He  points  out  why  he 
need  no  longer  listen  to  the  oracle  with  bated  breath.  "  II  est 
temps  que  pour  lui  la  vie  critique  commence."  Sainte-Beuve 
still  considers  Chateaubriand  an  incomparable  artist,  possessed 
of  an  "  extraordinary  elevation."  But  the  critic  assails  the  pagan 
passion,  the  mal  de  Rene,  and  a  certain  insincere  rhetoric  which 
strives  after  glory  rather  than  after  truth  or  virtue.  Of  this 
glory  the  idol  is  vigorously  stripped;  and  though  Sainte-Beuve 
shows  a  bourgeois  animosity  in  the  act,  yet  his  main  desire  is 
to  arrive  at  the  truth.  Such  a  desire  is  expressed  in  the  fol- 
lowing pronunciamento,  which  may  be  taken  as  a  prelude  to 
the  mature  excellence  of  the  1/undis: 

Degage  de  tout  role,  presque  de  tout  lien,  observant  de  pres 
.depuis  bientot  vingt-cinq  ans  les  choses  et  les  persoimages  lit- 
teraires,  n'ayant  aucun  interet  a  ne  pas  les  voir  tels  qu'ils  sont, 
je  puis  dire  que  je  regorge  de  verites. 

Certain  general  features  of  the  Causeries  du  lundi  and  of  the 
Nouveaux  lundis  may  at  once  be  predicated.  We  may  now  per- 
ceive, says  Mr.  Brownell  of  Sainte-Beuve,  "  how  thoroughly 
and  in  what  classic  spirit  he  rationalized  his  early  Romanticism." 


HIS    METHOD  641 

He  is  more  thoughtful  and  less  soulful.  The  eulogies  of  his 
early  period,  as  well  as  the  insinuations  of  his  middle  years,  are 
Third  Period  ^^^  conspicuous.  His  interpretation  deepens  and  be- 
comes more  widely  historical.  The  magisterial  hand 
is  always  there  and  usually  the  judicial  mind.  Everything  that, 
concerns  the  author  and  his  environment  is  now  taken  up,  but  the 
man  himself  is  still  made  the 'center  of  Sainte-Beuve's  analysis. 
To  this  principle  he  clings  throughout  his  career,  though  with 
increasing  system  and  science.  Both  are  visible  in  an  article 
of  1862  (again  on  Chateaubriand),  which  is  usually  esteemed 
the  most  important  of  Sainte-Beuve's  critical  manifestoes.  Here 
Method  ^^  ^'°^®  ^^®  statement  of  a  thorough  biographical 

and  psychological  method  together  with  a  Natm-al- 
istic  theory  regarding  "les  families  d'esprits."  These  families 
of  minds  consist  of  groups  who  show  the  same  mental  heredity 
(for  instance,  Horace^Boileau,  Pope).  The  day  will  come,  says 
the  critic,  when  these  species  will  be  determined  and  grouped, 
and  the  result  will  be  a  new  impetus  for  psychology  and  litera- 
ture. But  Sainte-Beuve  makes  only  a  limited  use  of  this  theory 
and  admits  that  he  is  chiefly  concerned  with  composing  separate 
monographs.  His  method  is  implicit  in  the  motto,  "  Tel  arbre,  tel 
fruit."  As  a  judge,  he  cannot  reckon  with  the  literary  product 
independently  of  the  producer.  Then  there  follows  an  inventory 
of  the  items  that  constitute  the  biographical  approach:  the  in- 
dividual's race,  his  family,  his  early  associates,  the  whole  story 
of  his  youth;  he  should  be  studied  in  the  first  flush  of  success 
and  the  first  symptoms  of  decay ;  his  attitude  towards  religion, 
nature,  women  and  money,  his  disciples  and  enemies,  his  health 
and  habits  should  be  closely  examined.  Every  writer  has  an 
"essential  vice,"  and  most  of  them  have  a  keynote  or  faaidte 
maitresse  which  can  be  summed  up  in  an  illuminating  phrase. 
Taine  and  the  Naturalists  did  much  to  develop  these  last  two 
points. 

Did  Sainte-Beuve  himself  apply  the  scheme  thus  outlined? 
Not  scientifically,  not  methodically,  and  not  with  an  effort  to 
use  all  the  above  categories  on  every  author  discussed.  He  was 
always  too  artistic  to  let  the  skeleton  show  through  the  flesh. 
But  it  has  recently  been  shown  that  Sainte-Beuve  does,  in  the 
majority  of  his  articles,  select  from  this  program  according 


642  THE    CRITICS:    SAINTE-BEUVE 

to  the  individual  case.  His  view  of  character-study  requires  a 
modified  adherence  to  a  system  which  must  have  been  in  his 
mind  long  before  the  article  of  1862. 

Yet  Sainte-Beuve  remains  an  artist  in  technique  and  stand- 
point. It  is  frequently  according  to  an  "  acte  de  gout "  rather 
Art  ana  than  by  any  elaborate  analysis  that  he  makes  or  sug- 
Truth  gests    his    judicial    decisions.    His    standards    are 

taste,  truth  to  life,  tradition,  and  artistic  logic  or  unity.  The 
greatest  of  these  are  taste  and  truth.  In  matters  of  poetry 
and  form  he  generally  cleaves  to  aesthetic  judgments.  By 
such  standards  he  seeks  to  tone  down  the  excesses  both  of 
the  Romantic  and  of  the  Naturalistic  schools;  from  the  same 
principle  derives  his  gentle  mockery  of  mere  erudition.  To 
acquire  a  taste,  he  proposes  no  formulas,  he  only  prescribes  a 
great  variety  of  reading.  He  has  scarcely  any  system  of  aes- 
thetics, but  he  has  an  infinite  discernment.  It  is  partly  this  side 
of  him  that  Matthew  Arnold  considers  when  he  calls  Sainte- 
Beuve  "  a  perfect  critic  —  a  critic  of  measure,  not  exuberant;  of 
the  center,  not  provincial;  of  keen  industry  and  curiosity,  with 
'  truth '  for  his  motto."  Truth  was  at  the  core  of  him,  thinks 
Arnold,  and  he  points  out  how  Sainte-Beuve  frankly  revised  his 
judgments.  This  is  borne  out  by  many  passages,  notably  by 
the  apostrophe  to  "  Reality  "  in  connection  with  the  Naturalistic 
school:  "Realite,  tu  es  le  fond  de  la  vie!"  Though  shorn  of 
sentiment  and  idealism,  "  je  t'accepterai  encore  . . .  pauvre  et 
mediocre . . .  mais  prise  sur  le  fait,  mais  sincere."  Not  always 
impartial,  Sainte-Beuve  is  careful  about  accvu-acy  in  matters  of 
detail ;  and  he  aims  more  and  more  at  candor  and  the  whole  truth. 

But  this  "  myriad-minded  "  critic  is  not  limited  to  biography, 
taste  or  scientific  truth.  His  vision  is  ever  widening,  his  insight 
Historical  ever  deepening.  Neither  does  he  remain  in  the 
Appioach  judicial  mood,  he  frequently  forbears  to  pronounce 
his  decision.  In  fact,  he  tends  in  the  later  Lundis  to  become 
more  historical  in  outlook,  and  this  is  the  last  of  his  main  char- 
acteristics. For  instance,  the  individual  writer  is  often  placed 
in  his  historical  period  and  setting.  Villemain  had  started  this 
practice,  but  Villemain's  figures  are  shaky  in  their  frame  as  com- 
pared with  the  dexterous  workmanship  of  Sainte-Beuve.  His 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth-century  studies  are  particularly  good 


SUMMARY  643 

examples  of  interweaving  history  and  portraiture.  His  knowl- 
edge aiid  sense  of  relativity  make  him  thoroughly  discriminate 
between  the  various  epochs.  Nor  is  the  environment  allowed 
to  subdue  the  individual,  as  in  the  deterministic  theoty  of  Taine. 
Also  Sainte-Beuve,  in  his  later  work,  leans  more  towards  the 
depiction  of  historical  personages  —  generals,  statesmen,  gre&t 
ladies  —  instead  of  simply  criticizing  authors.  Finally,  he  is 
historical  in  his  growing  self-effacement  and  in  his  indifference 
to  absolute  verdicts. 

Many  other  sides  might  be  taken  up:  his  thorough  humanism, 
emphasized  by  most  of  his  critical  compeers  (cf .  Qu'est-ce  qu'un 
Conclusion  classiquef  and  De  la  tradition  en  litter atwre) ;  his 
humanity  which  glows  through  his  humanism  and 
allows  tradition  to  include  everything  worth  while;  his  dualism 
of  mind  and  body,  his  epicurean  sympathies,  his  irony  and  his 
light  touch;  his  devotion  to  literature,  which  he  never  deserted 
for  another  call;  the  richness,  the  delightful  diversity  and  the 
charm  of  his  treatment.  Let  us  glance  at  his  cosmopolitan 
range.  A  collection  of  one  thousand  articles  will  evidently  deal 
with  many  things  besides  French  literature,  though  that  pre- 
dominates. Sainte-Beuve  welcomed  the  study  of  Greek  and 
Latin  antiquity,  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Orient,  England  and  Italy. 
In  any  or  all  of  these  periods  he  is  occasionally  silent  regarding 
the  greatest  figures,  apparently  because  they  are  less  representa- 
tive. He  is  not  concerned  with  elaborate  methods  of  compara- 
tive literature,  but  he  throws  an  impartial  light  on  many  writers 
from  Firdusi  to  Wordsworth.  His  versatile  talent  likewise  takes 
toll  from  religion  and  science,  politics  and  history.  A  manifold 
mind,  he  has  also  a  manifold  style.  He  held  that  the  critic  should 
not  commit  himself  to  any  style,  but  should  let  it  vafy  with  the 
subject.  This  subordination  and  suppleness  he  practices  par- 
ticularly in  the  Lundis,  eschewing  the  rhetoric  of  earlier  essays, 
though  still  effectively  using  figures  and  the  picturesque.  He 
is  fond  of  quotations,  by  way  of  illustrating  the  author. 
Occasionally  he  is  too  journalistic  and  diffuse.  But  his  style 
is  generally  clear  and  fresh,  without  obvious  mannerisms,  and 
carrying  conviction.  Sainte-Beuve's  morality  and  spirituality 
may  be  questioned,  but  rarely  his  intellectual  probity.  He  was 
variable,  not  venal.    He  holds  to  the  rights  of  reason  and 


644  THE    CRITICS:    SAINTE-BEUVE 

neutrality  (not  indifference)  and  advocates  for  purposes  of 
critical  divination  an  "  energetic  self-surrender."  It  is  true  that 
he  had  more  ideas  than  Voltaire,  more  knowledge  and  pene- 
tration than  Arnold.  When  we  add  his  habitual  urbanity  and 
truth-seeking,  the  orchestration  of  his  coinposite  method,  his 
taste  and  influence,  we  must  recognize  in  Sainte-Beuve  the 
greatest  of  modem  critics. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE    PHILOSOPHERS:   COMTE,   TAINE,   RENAN 

The  struggle  between  religious  faith  on  the  one  hand  and 
science  or  skepticism  on  the  other  became  a  leading  issue  in 
Science  and  the  last  half  of  the  century.  This  struggle  has 
Doubt  been  traced  in  the  development  of  Sainte-Beuve 

and  suggested  in  the  criticism  of  Scherer.  The  latter,  like 
certain  English  agnostics,  preserved  a  high  standard  of  morality- 
after  the  loss  of  his  Calvinistic  beliefs.  In  philosophy,  a  deep 
influence  upon  French  thought  was  exerted  by  the  discoveries 
of  Darwin  (Origin  of  Species,  French  translation,  1862)  and,  to 
a  lesser  extent,  by  the  speculations  of  Mill  and  Spencer.  There 
appeared  a  formidable  array  of  scientists,  typified  by  Claude 
Bernard  and  his  contacts  with  Realism.^  New  interpretations 
of  natural  phenomena  prevented,  for  many  minds,  belief  in 
Catholicism.  As  in  England  (George  Eliot,  Matthew  Arnold), 
many  thinkers  could  find  faith  only  in  "  honest  doubt."  Others 
sought  for  various  "  reconciliations  "  between  the  scientific  and 
the  religious  principle;  of  these  the  most  remarkable  example 
was  Auguste  Comte,  whose  master  was  Saint-Simon. 

Henri  de  Saint-Simon,  a  descendant  of  the  memoir-writer  and 
an  original  social  theorist,  had  two  main  ideas:  that  of  making 
a  "  science  generale  "  or  a  synthesis  of  useful  knowledge ;  and 
that  of  governing  industrial  society  by  a  hierarchy  of  savants, 
the  priests  of  his  new  Christianity.  Both  of  these  ideas  were 
incorporated  into  the  system  of  Auguste  Comte 
(1798-1857).  Comte  began  as  a  obscure  teacher 
of  mathematics,  passed  through  Saint-Simonism  and  a  severe 
nervous  illness,  was  given  a  position  at  the  Ecole  Polytechnique, 
from  which  he  was  removed  in  1844,  and  published  his  notable 
Coiars  de  philosophie  positive  (6  vols.,  1839-42).  This  earlier 
part  of  his  life  and  thought  was  marked  by  great  diligence,  in- 

1  See  above,  Bk.  VII,  Ch.  V. 
645 


64.6      PHILOSOPHERS:    COMTE,    TAINE,    RENAN 

tellectual  power  and  a  predilection  for  "  positive "  facts  and 
ideas.  But  about  1845  he  suffered  a  change  of  heart.  He  had 
already  been  separated  from  his  wife,  and  now  he  met  a  Mme  de 
Vaux,  whose  influence,  especially  after  her  death,  had  a  pro- 
nounced spiritual  effect  upon  Comte.  His  mind  was  turned 
into  channels  of  mysticism  and  singularity.  His  character  be- 
came more  and  more  diflBcult.  Staunch  supporters,  such  as 
J,  S.  Mill  and  Littre,  fell  away  from  him.  Both  of  these  men 
had  been  active  in  obtaining  subsidies  for  Comte,  who  lived 
largely  upon  private  benefactions  during  his  last  years.  He 
published  additions  to  his  philosophic  theory  ("  System  of  Poli- 
tics," "  Catechism,"  etc.)  and  became  active  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  College  of  Positivism  and  the  Religion  of  Humanity, 
with  himself  as  high  priest.  But  it  is  in  the  earlier  Cows  de 
philosophie  positive  that  we  must  look  for  his  most  substantial 
contributions  to  thought. 

Comte  participated  in  the  reconstructive  and  humanitarian 
movement  that  characterized  the  decade  before  1848.  Such 
The  Positive  writers  as  George  Sand,  Fourier,  P.  Leroux, 
Philosophy  Proudhon  and  even  Michelet  were  then  noted  for 
their  ardor  in  the  cause  of  social  regeneration.  Comte  differs 
from  this  group  in  that  he  is  less  Utopian  and  more  cautious  in 
his  approach  to  social  and  political  reform.  Such  reform  de- 
pends, he  held,  upon  society's  beliefs,  and  therefore  a  thorough 
philosophic  grounding  is  the  first  essential.  But  this  in  turn 
must  reckon  with  all  the  accretions  of  modem  science,  and  so 
the  leading  idea  of  Comte's  first  period  was  to  "  transformer  la 
science  en  philosophie."  Positivism,  in  the  earlier  sense,  means 
the  study  of  phenomena  and  their  laws;  as  regards  this  philos- 
ophy, says  Mill,  Comte  is  the  first  who  attempted  its  complete 
systematization  and  the  scientific  extension  of  it  to  all  objects 
of  human  knowledge.  But  it  will  occur  to  the  reader  that  we 
have  already  had  occasion  to  use  such  terms  as  "  positive  "  and 
"  positivist,"  especially  in  connection  with  eighteenth-century 
thought.  In  fact,  Comte  is  a  more  modern  philosophe,  depend- 
ent upon  such  predecessors  as  Voltaire  and  Diderot,  Descartes 
and  Leibnitz.  He  has  the  great  advantage,  however,  of  deeper 
and  more  systematic  knowledge.  ,The  Cours  de  philosophie  em- 
braces and  synthesizes  the  exact  and  the  natiu-al  sciences  as  well 


POSITIVISM  647 

as  history  and  sociology.  Comte's  most  fertile  generalizations 
are  along  four  main  lines.  First,  the  "  scale  qf  subordination  " 
of  the  sciences  not  only  distinguishes  between  the  abstract  and 
the  concrete  but  arranges  the  former  "  in  an  ascending  series 
according  to  the  degree  of  complexity  of  their  phenomena " 
(Mill).  Secondly,  he  holds  that  Sociology  tops  the  scale  and 
requires  the  use  of  all  the  other  fields  of  knowledge.  It  may 
be  said,  then,  that  Comte  was  the  first  to  found  a  sociological 
method  and  to  emphasize  the  importance  of  the  nascent  science. 
To  this  end  he  made  a  thorough  survey  of  history,  and  his  third 
contribution  is  a  philosophy  of  history  which  is  most  enlight- 
ening in  its  consideration  of  causes  and  leaders.  Finally,  he 
distinguishes  between  the  three  phases  of  humanity's  develop- 
ment: the  first  was  Theological  with  its  successive  divisions 
of  Fetichism,  Polytheism  and  Monotheism;  the  second  was 
Metaphysical,  where  abstract  ideas  ("  the  gradual  disembodi- 
ment of  a  Fetish  ")  were  still  considered  as  powerful  entities ; 
the  third  is  the  Positive  stage,  which,  though  it  does  not 
deny  the  supernatural,  insists  on  attainable  i&cts  and  the 
scientific  interpretation  thereof.)  Similarly,  each  science  has  at 
different  times  gone  through  the  three  phases:  for  example,  the 
passage  from  alchemy  and  astrology  to  their  modern  counterparts. 
Comte  thus  naturally  believes  in  Progress  and  in  the  consensus 
of  human  efforts  towards  a  bfetter  civilization.  In  his  sociology, 
Comte  follows  Saint-Simon  in  declaring  for  the  rule  of  the  Posi- 
tive savants  curiously  linked  with  the  captains  of  industry;  his 
insistence  on  this  hierarchy  is  rather  dogmatic.  This  tendency, 
as  well  as  self-conceit  and  a  hieratic  attitude,  becomes  conspic- 
uous in  his  later  writings  when  he  turned  Positivism  into  the 
Religion  of  Humanity.  His  point  of  departure  is  perfectly  just 
—  that  it  is  the  service  of  humanity,  the  "grand  Etre,"  that 
chiefly  counts.  But  when  he  tries  to  convert  this  rule  of  life  into 
a  creed,  with  worship  of  great  men  and  inspiring  women,  with 
set  observances,  a  calendar  of  saints'  days,  ritual  for  private 
and  public  prayer,  excessive  systematizing,  and  much  dealing 
with  mystical  numbers,  the  effort  fails  and  becomes  partially 
ridiculous.  This  is  probably  the  reason  why  Positivism,  which 
still  exists  as  a  church,  has  only  a  limited  number  of  adherents 
in  France.    Yet  it  deeply  influenced  men  like  Littre  and  Taine. 


648      PHILOSOPHERS:    COMTE,   TAINE,   RENAN 

In  Brazil,  a  iubstantial  body  of  ComtistB  eaa  still  be  fotind. 
In  England,  where  the  movement  took  root  early,  its  best  prin- 
ciples were  made  known  by  Mill  and  G.  H.  Lewes.  Frederic 
Harrison  was  its  ardent  disciple,  and  its  highest  endeavor  was 
expressed  in  George  Eliot's  beautiful  poem  of  the  "Choir 
Invisible." 

Comte  was  not  a  good  writer  and  did  not  have  the  literary 
power  and  interest  of  Taine,  who  is  likewise  primarily  a  philoso- 
_,  .  pher.     Hippolyte   Taine    (1828-93)    was   bom   at 

Vouziers  in  the  Ardennes;  the  severity  of  this  coun- 
try left  its  mark  upon  his  spirit.  His  life  is  mainly  a  "  bio- 
graphic intellectuelle,"  and  even  his  correspondence  contains 
little  personal  detail.  He  was  reared  in  simple  and  industrious 
surroundings,  then  taken  to  Paris,  where  for  seven  years  he  was  a 
day  pupil  at  the  College  Bourbon.  His  reflective  disposition  de- 
clared itself  early,  together  with  a  tendency  towards  delicate 
health.  Realizing  that  his  vocation  was  the  study  of  philosophy, 
he  entered  the  Ecole  Normale  (1845)  with  a  brilliant  group  of 
fellow-students  —  Prevost-Paradol,  E.  About,  F.  Sarcey.  Here 
Taine  amassed  much  knowledge  of  metaphysics,  history,  litera- 
ture, and  later  of  science.  He  was  refused  his  diploma  {agrega- 
tion)  because  of  the  theological  leanings  of  his  judges  and  was 
sent  to  teach  in  the  provinces.  As  an  "  intellectual,"  he  reacted 
against  this  environment,  resigned  his  position  and  came  back  to 
Paris  to  take  his  doctorate  and  write  critical  articles.  These  and 
his  monographs  gradually  gave  him  fame,  and  he  was  made  pro- 
fessor at  the  Ecole  des  Beaux-Arts  (1864).  In  the  same  year 
appeared  his  notable  Histoire  de  la  litterature  anglaise.  For  a 
time  he  was  able  to  turn  to  his  favorite  philosophical  studies,  then 
the  war  of  1870  precipitated  him  into  another  path.  As  a  patri- 
otic monument,  a  contribution  to  the  recovery  of  his  country, 
Taine  wrote  Les  Origines  de  la  France  contemporaine,  which 
occupied  him  for  twenty  years.  At  his  death  he  ranked  as.one  of 
the  foremost  critical  authorities  in  France.  In  character  lie  was 
gentle  and  reserved,  but  his  intellect  was  bold,  hard  and 
encyclopedic. 

A  record  of  Taine's  mental  development  could  be  written  only 
by  establishing  his  relations  with  many  thinkers  of  his  own  and 
the  preceding  period.    For  example,  he  drew  from  Hegel  his  phi- 


TAINE'S    POINT    OF    VIEW  649 

losophy  of  history,  from  Comte  the  formula  of  the  milieu  (see 
HU  Mind  ^^°^)  >  ^.nd  in  the  English  positivists  and  utilitarians 
Taine  foimd  material  to  substa^atiate  his  scientific 
dogmatism  and  his  philosophic  determinism.  Receptive  of  many 
elements,  his  mind  yet  remains  original  in  its  assimilative  and 
organizing  power.  There  are  two  distinct  sides  to  his  intelligence, 
so  Lemaitre  calls  him  a  "  poete-logicien."  On  the  one  hand,  as 
Taine  himself  said,  "  ma  forme  d'esprit  est  frangaise  et  latine." 
That  is,  he  had  the  Classical  habit  of  orderly  analysis  and  clear 
expression ;  this  was  modernized  by  the  scientific  passion  for  note- 
taking  and  for  the  "petit  fait  vrai."  On  the  other  hand,  he 
had  a  Teutonic  imagination  and  some  remains  of  Romantic 
sensibility.  His  "  genie  poetique  "  appears  in  his  faculty  for 
large  creative  constructions,  in  his  metaphysical  melancholy 
and  especially  in  his  style,  which  offers  a  succession  of  brilliant 
images  and  metaphors.  This  double  gift  allows  Taine  to  ap- 
preciate such  opposites  as  German  idealism  and  English  common 
sense,  as  well  as  a  poet  like  Musset  and  a  psychologist  like 
Stendhal.  But  it  left  him  with  a  divided  mind  and  a  troubled 
soul. 

In  fact,  Taine  well  exemplifies  the  conflict  between  the  scien- 
tific temper  and  the  demands  of  our  spiritual  natvu-e.  The  former 
tendency  apparently  won  the  victory,  for  Taine 
could  not  rest  in  skepticism.  His  attitude  towards 
"  la  science "  (which  he  rather  confuses  with  philosophy)  is 
significant  of  his  whole  generation.  About  1848,  Taine,  like 
Kenan,  set  up  absolute  science  as  an  ideal  and  a  faith.  This 
was  confirmed  by  his  career  at  the  Ecole  Normale  and  later  by 
his  specialistic  studies  in  physiology,  anatomy,  chemistry,  so- 
ciology, etc.  His  style,  in  the  sixties,  abounds  in  scientific  com- 
parisons and  metaphors  (cf.  George  Eliot  and  Sainte-Beuve) . 
Finally,  he  held  to  the  Hegelian  idea  of  the  unity  of  all  science, 
and  thus  he  came  to  his  great  generalization  that  moral  or 
human  phenomena,  like  those  of  the  physical  world,  obey  in- 
variable laws.  This  is  the  doctrine  of  determinism.  Taine  even 
declared  that  "vice  and  virtue  are  products  like  sugar  and 
vitriol "  —  and  are  just  as  susceptible  of  a  qualitative  analysis. 
He  saw  the  history  of  literature  and  literature  itself  as  fields 
for  psychological  investigation.    In  short,  he  applied  a  uni- 


650      PHILOSOPHERS:    COMTE,    TAINE,    RENAN 

versal  determinism,  and  his  favorite  book  De  I'lntelligence 
(1870)  gives  the  doctrine  of  which  his  other  books  are  illus- 
trations: he  makes  all  knowledge  proceed  from  the  sensations, 
and  he  conceives  of  nature  as  the  reign  of  law,  which  should  be 
extended  ta  the  operations  of  the  mind.  But  as  early  as  1867 
Taine  had  written  De  I'Ideal  dans  I'art  (third  volume  of  La 
Phitosophie  de  I'art,  1865-69),  admitting  a  hierarchy  in  moral 
and  artistic  values;  and  now  the  effects  of  the  Franco-Prussian 
war  turned  him  towards  a  more  moralistic  conception  of  history. 
Regrets  for  a  changed  Germany,  doubts  and  prayers  for  a 
stricken  France  combined  with  an  inbred  pessimism  to  leave 
him  without  confidence  in  modern  historical  institutions  (Les 
Origines).  Also  science  seemed  no  longer  the  sole  panacea,  and 
in  his  old  age  Taine  reverted  to  the  social  and  individual  neces- 
sity of  some  form  of  the  Christian  belief. 

As  a  whole,  however,  his  work  represents  rather  the  deter- 
ministic and  positive  strain.  In  literary  criticism,  he  applied  too 
„  .  .  .  rigidly  a  set  of  formulas.    Chief  among  these  are  the 

doctrine  of  the  "  f aculte  maitresse  "  and  the  famous 
theory  of  "  race,  milieu  et  moment."  As  early  as  his  Essai  sur 
Tite-Live  (1856),  Taine  is  seeking  for  the  master-faculty  or  the 
"trait  caracteristique  et  dominant  duquel  tout  peut  se  deduire 
geometriquement."  In  Livy,  this  dominant  trait  is  found  in 
the  fact  that  he  was  an  orator  who  became  a  historian.  Taine 
thus  explains  many  things  in  Livy's  career  —  but  he  does  not 
explain  Livy.  Still  more  categorical  is  the  application  of  "  race, 
r-  milieu  et  moment "  in  the  Histoire  de  la  litterature  anglaise 
(1864  f.).  These  three  forces  are  viewed  as  precedent  conditions, 
operating  on  a  writer  or  a  school.  Race  signifies  the  innate,  the 
hereditary  or  racial  disposition  of  the  man ;  milieu  means  environ- 
ment in  the  broadest  sense,  including  climate  and  the  atmospheric 
pressure  of  the  political  or  religious  creed;  moment  indicates  not 
only  the  time  of  an  author's  appearance  but  also  the  momentum 
or  "  Vitesse  acquise  "  in  a  given  direction  before  he  appeared. 
The  system  is  evidently  too  rigid  to  be  applied  to  English  litera- 
ture, in  which  tradition  counts  less  than  the  free  play  of  indi- 
vidual characteristics.  Taine  is  eternally  recurring  to  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  of  the  Norman  Conquest,  of  the 
English  soil.     Furthermore,  he  is  hampered  by  his  obsession  of  the 


TAINE    AS    HISTORIAN  651 

Ideal  Englishman,  who  is  supposed  to  take  on  successive  incarna- 
tions in  Chaucer,  Shakespeare,  Shelley  and  others.  Taine  usually- 
preferred  English  to  French  institutions.  With  all  its  faults, 
this  monument  of  criticism  has  justly  been  called  the  historjr-' 
of  English  literature  which  comes  nearest  to  being  literature 
itself;  it  is  written  with  a  massive  brilliance  and  with  a 
cumulative  power  in  the  descriptive  and  analytical  passages; 
and  it  contains  many  interesting  ideas  and  contributions  — 
for  example,  the  studies  of  milieu  in  connection  with  the 
Restoration  Drama  and  with  Dickens.^  Similar  qualities  are 
found  in  the  various  Essais  de  critique  et  d'histoire,  in  the  second 
volume  of  which  {Nouveavx  essais,  1865)  appeared  the  epoch- 
making  article  on  Balzac.  It  would  be  evident  from  this  article 
that  Taine  is  by  no  means  lacking  in  a  sense  of  literary  beauties. 
But  he  preferred  to  consider  masterpieces  as  documents  or  as 
"  signs  "  of  the  times.  He  made  his  taste  and  his  imagina- 
tion subserve  science.  His  criticism  remains  philosophic  history, 
with  the  qualities  and  defects  of  such.  The  danger  is  that 
his  philosophic  "  poise  settles  into  immobility  "  (Brownell) . 
Therefore  Taine  is  more  dogmatic  and  more  ridden  by  his 
theories  than  Sainte-Beuve,  from  whom  many  of  his  principles 
derive. 

Taine's  method  appears  at  its  height  in  the  treatment  of 
history.  Conspicuous  here  are  his  constructive  ability,  the 
„.  power  of  piling  fact  upon  fact,  and  also,  unfor- 

tunately, the  predominance  of  fixed  ideas.  The 
Origines  de  la  France  contemporaine  (1875-94)  are  composed 
of  successive  Parts,  on  the  old  monarchy^  on  th6  Revolution, 
on  the  Regim.e__modeme  (including  Napoleon),  Reacting  from 
his  experiences  of  the  Commune  (1871),  the  writer  pens  a  strong 
indictment  of  the  French  RevolutiDOr  which  he  considers  as  a 
compound'  of  anarchy  and  Jacobinism  from  the  very  start.  He 
writes  like  a  "  pessimist  in  a  passion,"  losing  his  impartiality 
and  judgment.  Here,  as  in  his  treatment  of  Napoleon,  Taine 
allows  himself  a  tone  of  moral  indignation  which  scarcely-agress 
with  his  deterministic  theories.   Too  often  he  has  a  case  to 

•  M.  J.-J.  Jusserand  was  in  his  youth  an  admirer  and  a  disciple  of  Taine's.  His 
BiiMre  litUraire  du  peuple  anglais  (1894-1904)  phows  certain  of  Taine's  princi- 
ples more  cautiously  applied  and  is  more  nearly  the  work  of  a  specialist. 


652      PHILOSOPHERS:    COMTE,    TAINE,    RENAN 

prove,  he  leaves  the  straight  path  of  historic  induction,  and  he 
simplifies  toomuch  in  applying  set  formulas  to  men  like  Danton, 
Robespierre  and  Napoleon  himself  —  that  "  condottiere  of  the 
Italian  Renaissance."  The  Regime  moderne  is  better  in  its  ap- 
proximation to  historical  truth  and  its  analysis  of  modern  insti- 
tutions. But  the  Anden  Regime,  often  cited  in  these  pages,  is 
Taine's  masterpiece  as  regards  both  penetration  of  the  past  and 
philosophic  insight.  Even  here  he  makes  too  much  of  the 
Classical  spirit  and  its  influence  upon  the  Revolution.  Yet  the 
author's  two  main  qualities,  his  faculty  of  generalizing  thought 
and  the  sweep  and  power  of  his  objective,  metallic,  image-laden 
style,  are  most  visible  in  this  volume.  He  uses  history,  as  he 
had  used  criticism,  for  philosophic  ends.  Thus  in  three  fields 
Taine  is  par  excellence  "  the  philosopher  and  historian  of  the 
realistic  and  scientific  movement."  His  methods  were  closely 
associated  with  those  of  the  Naturalistic  novel.  Taine  and  Renan 
seem  to  have  been  the  paramoimt  influences  upon  the  last 
generation  of  French  writers. 

Ernest  Renan  (1823-92)  was  less  of  a  logician  than  Taine  and 
more  of  a  critical  historian.  His  imaginative  feeling  for  the  past 
was  encouraged  by  his  Breton  upbringing;  he  was 
always  sensitive  to  Celtic  poetry  and  melancholy. 
Reared  in  poverty  and  in  a  clerical  environment,  he  became  a 
model  boy  and  student.  Attracting  the  attention  of  Monseigneur 
Dupanloup,  Renan  passed  through  three  seminaries,  ending  at 
Saint-Sulpice.  The  raw  youth  was  inducted  successively  into  a 
classical  education,  contemporary  literature  "and  German  philos- 
ophy. The  last  subject  shook  his  faith,  which  was  completely 
overthrown  by  the  study  of  Semitic  philology.  This  became  his 
own  special  field.  His  honesty  soon  compelled  him  to  leave  the 
priesthood,  a  calling  to  which  he  was  temperamentally  well 
adapted.  In  this  crisis  of  his  fortunes,  Renan  was  sustained 
by  the  devotion  of  his  sister,  Henriette,  who  was  in  turn  his 
practical  guide  and  his  spiritual  adviser.  He  taught  in  small 
schools,  worked  towards  his  university  degrees  and  formed  a 
fruitful  association  with  Berthelot,  the  scientist.  The  young 
scholar  wrote  L'Avenir  de  la  Science  (1849,  publ.  1890^.  This 
chaotic  and  enthusiastic  book  is  Renan's  earliest  profession  of 
the  scientific  faith  and  contains  several  of  his  pet  ideas,  es- 


KENAN'S    CAREER  6S8 

pecially  that  the  world  must  be  regenerated  from  the  top  and 
that  the  people  should  be  jjuided  by  the  savants  (ef.  Saint- 
Simon  and  Comte) . 

Kenan  was  made  an  agrege  of  the  University  and  finally  a  doc- 
tor. His  thesis  on  Averroes  et  I'Averrdisme  (1852),  dealing 
ffis  Career  ^^*^  Aristotelian  doctrines  among  the  Arabs,  already 
reveals  his  interest  in  the  origin  and  evolution  of 
beliefs.  He  also  published  his  Histoire  generale  des  langues 
simitiques,  and  in  the  following  year  (1856)  he  married  the  niece 
of  Ary  Scheffer,  the  painter.  Soon  he  became  known  as  the  writer 
of  charming  critical  articles  —  on  Marcus  Aurelius,  on  Turgenev 
and  especially  the  famous  Essai  sur  la  poesie  des  races  celtiques. 
The  most  notable  of  these  articles  were  collected  in  the  Essais 
de  morale  et  de  critique  (1859).  They  show  Kenan  not  only  as 
concerned  with  questions  of  race  —  one  of  his  chief  preoccupa- 
tions—  but  also  as  passing  into  his  second  phase,  that  of  the 
aesthete,  interested  alike  in  moral  and  in  artistic  beauty.'  This 
Second  side  of  him  was  further  stimulated  by  the  voyage  to 

Phase  Syria  and  Palestine  undertaken  in  company  with 

his  sister,  who  died  abroad.  It  has  been  said  that  Henriette  died 
in  order  that  the  Vie  de  Jesus  might  live.  Much  of  this  celebrated 
book  (1863)  was  written  spontaneously  in  Palestine,  away  from 
sources  and  authorities,  and  it  is  not  strictly  accurate  in  matters 
of  exegesis  and  historical  fact.  But  it  is  a  work  of  genius  in  its 
poignancy,  its  sincerity  and  in  the  freshness  of  its  romantic  and 
human  charm.  Kenan  reconstructs  and  rationalizes  the  past, 
but  he  feels  "  la  douceur  de  cette  idylle  sans  pareille."  For  the 
first  time  the  life  of  Christ  was  written  from  a  layman's  stand- 
point, so  that  all  might  read  —  and  all  did.  The  treatment, 
skeptical  yet  sympathetic,  appealed  to  a  wide  circle  of  former 
believers  and  cultured  folk.  The  book  popularized  the  "  higher 
criticism  "  of  the  Bible  and  gave  its  author  a  European  celebrity. 
He  was  made  a  Professor  in  the  College  de  France,  but  noisy 
manifestations  in  the  lecture-room  and  on  the  streets  led  to  his 
removal.  The  Vie  de  Jesus  was  the  first  volume  in  the  epic  series 
Third  Phase:  called  Histoire  des  Origines  du  Christianisme.  The 
the  Scholar  ggj-ies  also  comprises  Les  Apotres,  St.  Paul,  L'Ante- 
christ,  etc.  (1866-81).  For  each  of  these  volumes,  Kenan 
visited  the  appropriate  historic  site  (Asia  Minor  or  Rome)  and 


654      PHILOSOPHERS:    COMTE,    TAINE,    RENAN 

according  to  the  method  initiated  in  the  Vie  de  Jesus,  he  linked 
with  the  religious  story  such  consideration  of  geography,  arche- 
ology, politics  and  the  general  milieu  as  would  give  solidity  to 
the  treatment.  He  carefully  used  original  sources,  with  a  full 
sense  of  their  uncertainty,  and  with  much  historical  tact  or  power 
of  divination.  This  critical  penetration  is  coupled  with  a  gift  for 
resurrecting  ancient  civilizations  and  religions.  Renan  "  gave 
a  voice  to  dead  races."  He  and  Comte  made  men  realize  that  the 
predominance  of  past  generations  over  the  present  is  in  the  ratio 
of  a  hundred  to  one.  Kenan's  vast  knowledge  of  Oriental  lan- 
guages, races  and  customs  allowed  him  to  introduce  many  com- 
parisons—  perhaps  too  many  —  with  other  religions  and  with 
modern  Eastern  life.  Similar  methods  were  employed  in  his  ex- 
tensive Histoire  du  peuple  d'Israel  (1887  f.),  which  connects  with 
the  previous  series  in  that  Israel  paved  the  way  for  the  coming 
of  Christ.  Renan  again  satisfies  his  passion  for  origins  by  show- 
ing how  the  nomadic  tribes  of  Judea,  their  warrior-kings  and 
especially  their  prophets,  prepared  the  "  royaume  'de  Dieu."  This 
phrase  for  him  meant  a  devotion  to  the  ideas  and  ideals  which 
Christ  best  represents.  Rejecting  the  divinity  of  the  Messiah, 
as  well  as  revelation  and  miracles,  Renan's  attitude  towards 
Christianity  remains  sympathetic,  as  opposed  to  the  scoflSng 
of  Voltaire,  and  is  of  course  based  on  a  much  wider  historical 
knowledge.  He  valued  scholarship  chiefly  for  the  light  that  it 
throws  on  the  human  spirit.  His  career  was  crowned  by  his  elec- 
tion to  the  French  Academy,  by  his  reappointment  to  t^ie  College 
de  France,  where  he  was  presently  made  administrator,  and  by 
the  editing  of  the  learned  Corpus  Inscriptionum  Semiticamm, 
which  he  preferred  to  any  other  of  his  works. 

But  in  the  meantime  Renan  had  entered  on  his  last  phase  — 
which  some  have  called  his  "  dilettanteism."  To  understand  this 
Fourth  development,  we  must  retrace  our  steps.    Even  be- 

^^^^^  fore  the  war  of  1870,  Renan  as  a  liberal  had  become 

interested  in  politics  and  was  induced  to  stand  for  election  as 
deputy.  He  was  not  elected,  however,  since  his  views  were  too 
theoretical  for  his  constituents.  The  war  disillusioned  him  con- 
cerning German  idealism,  nor  was  he  satisfied  with  French 
democracy;  his  opinions,  expressed  in  the  Reforme  intellectueUe 
et  morale  de  la  France,  were  not  well  received.    Henceforth  he 


KENAN'S    REMINISCENCES  655 

felt  himself  powerless  in  the  realm  of  action,  and  his  general  dis- 
enchantment finds  expression  in  the  exquisite  but  bitter  Dialogues 
philosopMques  (1876).  This  form  (as  in  the  later  Drames  phi- 
losophiques)  is  well  suited  to  the  supple  variety  and  shading  of 
Renan's  thought.  Certain  of  his  philosophical  principles  may 
at  this  point  be  summarized.  He  believes  that  there  is  no  special 
Providence  but  rather  an  ideal  principle  in  the  imiverse, 
which  may  finally  evolve  into  the  royaume  de  Dieu.  To  this 
end  all  disinterested  forms  of  effort  should  collaborate,  whether 
in  science,  morality  or  art.  Anything  else  is  material  and 
ephemeral.  Renan  still  holds  to  the  idea  of  an  intellectual  elite, 
which  shall  govern  the  stupid  masses.  Machinery,  vulgarity 
and  material  luxury  are  among  the  modern  deadly  sins ;  he  prefers 
cloistered  study  and  even  pagan  art,  as  is  visible  in  L'Antechrist. 
More  and  more  he  takes  the  spectacular  view  of  the  universe. 
Thus  his  final  manner  is  marked  by  a  growing  skepticism,  an 
indifference  to  many  issues,  and  a  bewildering  habit  of  self-con- 
tradiction. Also  his  moral  tone  relaxes  and  he  becomes  very 
indulgent  to  human  weaknesses.  All  this  may  be  considered 
dilettanteism,  if  we  remember  that  Renan  himself  remained  a 
hard  and  honest  worker  and  that  the  dilettante  habit  of  mind 
became  much  more  pronounced  in  his  disciples. 

In  his  later  years,  Renan  was  something  of  a  social  oracle 
and  entertainer.  He  carried  into  the  world  the  priestly  unction 
Renan  in  which  he  never  lost,  his  "  fleeting  "  epicureanism  and 
Retrospect  jjjg  gmiiing  disenchantment.  Part  of  his  moral 
biography  is  conveyed  in  the  Souvenirs  d'enfance  et  de  jeunesse 
(1883) ,  in  which  the  author  is  once  more  concerned  with  origins  — 
the  origins  of  Renan.  These  delightful  pages  contain  not  only 
reminiscences  but  childhood  tales  narrated  by  his  mother;  they 
emphasize  the  Breton  influences  on  his  youth,  the  value  of  his 
clerical  education,  and  the  story  of  why  he  left  the  priesthood. 
The  sentimental  side  of  Renan  appears  in  the  Souvenirs, -the 
thoughtful  side  in  the  undramatic  Drames  philosopMques  (1888). 
Of  these  the  most  significant  are  L'Abbesse  de  Jouarre  and  Le 
Pritre  de  Nemi;  the  latter  concerns  a  priest  of  Diana  and  the 
evolution  of  a  religious  belief.  Shakespeare's  figures  are  also 
revived  symbolically,  and  Prospero  the  thinker  becomes  recon- 
ciled with  Caliban,  who  is  democracy.    Towards  the  end,  Renan 


656      PHILOSOPHERS:    COMTE,    TAINE,    RENAN 

shows  more  optimistic  tendencies  as  regards  both  this  world  and 
the  next.  He  comes  to  define  life  as  a  "  charmante  promenade  a 
travers  la  realite."  His  style  was  graceful,  languorous,  insinuat- 
ing, romantic  in  its  subjectivism  and  sentiment.  His  origi- 
nality has  been  described  as  a  compound  of  "  sincerity  and  irony, 
of  skepticism  mixed  with  the  habit  of  religious  speech."  He  was 
one  of  the  leaders  of  his  time,  he  profoundly  affected  the  modem 
conception  of  religious  history,  and  influenced,  through  his 
writings  and  personal  magnetism,  such  men  as  Bourget  and 
Barres,  Vogiie  and  Anatole  France. 


CHAPTER  III 
MISCELLANEOUS   WRITERS 

We  shall  consider  here  certain  historians,  moralists  and  poly- 
graphs who  wrote  mainly  in  the  second  half  of  the  century. 

.  Edgar  Quinet  (1803-75)  was  primarily  a  historian. 

The  life-long  friend  of  Michelet,  whom  he  resembled 
in  ardent  imagination  and  idealism,  Quinet  was  by  birth-right 
a  Romanticist;  but  his  work  extended  into  the  Second  Empire 
and  imderwent  the  influences  of  that  period.  Through  residence 
and  marriage,  Quinet  became  well  acquainted  with  Germany  and 
was  among  the  earlier  profound  students  of  German  thought 
(Herder  and  Niebuhr) .  He  was  essentially  a  mystic,  as  well  as 
a  Republican  and  a  Protestant.  His  mystical  tendencies  were 
first  revealed  in  the  prose  poem  of  Ahasverxis  (1833),  a  prolonged 
vision  of  the  divine  principle  pervading  the  history  of  the  race. 
Quinet's  constant  tendency  was  to  confuse  religious  and  secular 
history  and  to  view  the  former  as  always  dominant.  His  great 
work.  La  Revolution  (1865),  maintains  that  the  French  Revolu- 
tion failed  because  it  was  not  animated  by  a  religious  principle 
and  did  not  establish  a  new  religion.  Quinet's  violent  attacks  on 
Catholicism,  particularly  on  the  Jesuits,  had  caused  him  to  lose 
his  chair  at  the  College  de  France  and  after  the  Coup  d'Etat  of 
1851,  he  went  into  exile  and  wrote  his  Revolution.  He  is  also 
to  be  credited  with  smaller  historical  studies  on  Roumania  and 
Italy,  with  another  formidable  vision  of  the  universe  called 
La  Creation  and  with  a  final  philosophical  testament,  L'Esprit 
nouveau  (1874).  The  last  two  works  reveal  the  influence  of 
English  science,  particularly  of  Darwin,  Quinet's  main  idea  was 
that  of  a  divine  unity  —  the  Absolute  —  in  every  field,  whether 
moral,  social  or  scientific.  He  confused  natural  law  with  the 
spiritual  world.  He  was  less  of  a  reasoner  than  a  seer;  he  fore- 
told the  Great  War  and  the  role  of  Germany  therein.  He  was 
endowed  with  an  exuberant  imagination;  he  was  "God-intoxi- 

657 


658  MISCELLANEOUS    WRITERS 

cated,"  like  Spinoza;  he  was  eloquent,  romantic  and  versatile, 
even  too  versatile.  "  L'immense  M.  Quinet,"  as  Veuillot  calls 
him,  wrote  "  immense  "  prose-poems,  but  his  intellect,  though 
serious  and  lofty,  was  not  vast  enough  for  the  task  he  assumed. 

More  rational  and  convincing  is  the  work  of  another  historian, 
Coimt  Alexis  de  Tocqueville  (1805-59).  Like  Montesquieu,  who 
greatly  influenced  his  thought,  Tocqueville  came  of 
a  family  connected  with  the  magistracy  and  had  a 
legal  education.  For  a  time  he  was  judge  at  Versailles,  then  he 
was  sent  to  the  United  States  on  an  oflacial  mission.  The  result 
of  his  visit  was  the  famous  Democratie  en  Amerique  (1835-39), 
the  first  thoroughgoing  and  impartial  study  of  our  institutions. 
After  this  success,  Tocqueville  embarked  on  a  political  career; 
he  became  a  deputy  and,  for  a  brief  interval,  minister  under 
Louis  Napoleon.  But  he  was  not  a  practical  politician  and  he 
retired  after  the  Coup  d'Etat.  Failing  health  did  not  allow  him 
to  complete  L'Ancien  Regime  et  la  Revolution,  of  which  the  first 
part  was  published  in  1856. 

Tocqueville's  two  books  derive  from  his  vision  of  the  necessity 
of  democracies  and  his  desire  to  check  their  less  fortunate  con- 
His  Works  sequences.  As  a  liberal,  an  aristocrat  and  a  his- 
torian of  institutions,  Tocqueville  seems  enlightened  and  im- 
partial in  his  approach  to  the  democratic  question.  "Sa 
methode  etait  loyale  et  scrupuleuse  comme  son  ame  ...  II 
avait  I'intuition  du  monde  moderne "  (Faguet) .  Unlike  his 
brother-historians,  he  is  a  cautious  generalizer,  has  no  set 
philosophy  of  history,  and  deals  even  too  sparsely  with  con- 
siderations of  climate,  civilizations  and  race.  Behind  these 
forces  he  sees  Democracy  as  a  still  greater  force  in  itself;  this 
he  studies  in  its  characteristics,  its  causes  and  its  results.  La 
Democratie  en  Amerique  was  also  valuable  and  novel  because 
it  displaced  the  French  Revolution  as  the  main  preoccupation 
of  historians  and  showed  how  the  rule  of  the  people  was  effected 
in  another  country.  American  democracy  was  different,  was 
more  stable,  more  conservative  and  bourgeois  than  the  first 
French  Republic.  But  Tocqueville  did  not  fail  to  point  out 
the  dangers  of  democracy,  its  leveling  tendencies,  its  mass- 
despotism,  the  lowering  treatment  to  which  it  subjects  intellect 
and  superiority.  His  work  is  a  useful  counterbalance  against 
"  the  blaze  and  whirlwind  of  Rousseau  "  (Acton) . 


POLITICS  669 

L'Ancien  Regime  is  the  suitable  complement  to  the  preceding 
volume;  it  shows,  a  generation  before  Taine,  how  the  French 
passed  from  the  monarchical  to  the  democratic  State.  Again, 
Tocqueville's  chief  contention  is  a  conservative  one:  that  the 
Revolution  did  not  overthrow  everything,  that  on  the  contrary  it 
kept  and  developed  one  of  the  notable  features  of  the  old  regime; 
to  wit,  administrative  centralization.  The  Revolution  further 
standardized  and  regularized  government  and  ruled  by  a  central 
control  which  Napoleon  carried  on.  One  of  Tocqueville's  for- 
ward-looking ideas  is  a  federation  of  European  democracies, 
along  American  lines.  He  would  impose  certain  "  checks  "  upon 
Republics  and  maintain  an  aristocratic  infusion  through  the  rep- 
resentative corps  (cf.  Montesquieu),  the  separation  of  adminis- 
trative and  legislative  functions  and  the  independence  of  the 
judiciary.  Tocqueville  wrote  in  a  clear  well-ordered  manner, 
though  his  pages  are  sometimes  too  thickly  strewn  with  ob- 
servations and  digressions;  his  type  of  mind  was  logical,  lucid 
and  conservative. 

The  predominance  of  the  historicarl  genre  throughout  the 
century  was  forwarded  by  various  governments  and  ministries. 
Growth  of  Under  the  bourgeois  monarchy  (Guizot  and  Thiers) , 
Historical       historical  study,  considered  as  a  "  national  institu- 

"  ^  tion,"  was  thoroughly  reorganized.    This  movement 

was  aided  by  the  foundation  of  special  schools  and  chairs,  by  the 
establishment  of  learned  journals  and  of  great  collections.  To 
this  day,  the  section  devoted  to  the  "  Histoire  de  France  "  looms 
largest  in  the  national  libraries.  Knowledge  of  medieval  France 
was  particularly  encouraged  by  the  Ecole  des  Chartes  (revived 
in  1829) ;  this  school  also  developed  the  study  of  Old  French  and 
Celtic  philology.  Under  Napoleon  III,  much  historical  research 
was  accomplished  through  the  favor  of  the  Emperor  and  through 
the  influence  of  Duruy's  ministry  (1863-69).  The  Ecole  des 
Hautes  Etudes,  founded  in  1868,  has  developed  scholarly  special- 
ization in  many  fields,  and  specialization  is  the  mark  of  latter- 
day  history.  With  the  exception  of  Taine  and  of  Renan,  great 
names  of  assured  literary  standing  are  scarcely  to  be  found,  but 
there  are  several  minor  historians  who  deserve  consideration. 

Fustel  de  Coulanges  may  almost  be  classed  among  the  major 
prophets.     He  led  the  calm  life   (1830-89)   of  a  scholar  and 


660  MISCELLANEOUS    WRITERS 

teacher.  Influenced  chiefly  by  Montesquieu  and  by  Tocqueville, 
his  works  exhibit  the  importance  of  institutions  and  forms  of 
Fnstel  de  government  as  well  as  the  continuity  of  national  tra- 
Coulanges  ditions.  La  Cite  antique  (1864)  had  an  unusual 
success  as  a  reconstitution  of  Roman  life  under  the  Repubhc 
and  as  an  excellent  study  of  the  ancient  city  in  general.  Artist- 
ically and  historically  considered,  the  book  is  a  masterpiece. 
In  proportion,  penetration  and  judgment,  it  leaves  little  to  be  de- 
sired. Precise  and  realistic  in  his  style,  Fustel  gives  life  and 
substance  to  his  theme.  Yet  much  of  his  reconstruction  is  con- 
jectural, while  his  criticism  of  texts  and  sources  is  not  sufficiently 
severe.  The  writer  views  religion  as  the  main  principle  of  fam- 
ily life  and  of  the  State.  He  rivals  Michelet  in  his  "  tableaux 
d'ensemble  "  and  in  his  emphasis  on  the  soul  of  a  nation.  Fustel's 
Histoire  des  Institutions  politiques  de  I'ancienne  France  (1875- 
92)  gave  him  rank  as  a  notable  medievalist.  He  discounted  the 
effect  of  the  Frankish  invasions  and  insisted  on  the  continued 
power  of  Roman  institutions.  He  studied  the  origins  of  feudal- 
ism, since  he  wished  the  new  France  to  conserve  the  best  of  its 
past.  In  both  books,  Fustel  writes  in  a  sober  scientific  manner; 
he  has  a  broad  vision  and  a  sure  touch ;  his  influence  on  histori- 
cal research  has  been  considerable. 

Henri  Martin's  useful  and  monumental  Histoire  de  France 
(3rd  ed.,  19  vols.,  1837-54),  belongs  to  an  earlier  generation. 
Minor  The  work  long  held  its  own  as  a  standard  national 

Historians  history.  A  good  short  history  of  France,  still  current 
in  our  own  time,  is  that  of  Victor  Duruy,  whose  role  as  Minister 
of  Public  Instruction  has  been  mentioned.  Diu-uy  wrote  several 
popular  schoolbooks  and  was  considered  something  of  an  author- 
ity on  the  Roman  Empire  {Histoire  Romaine,  1843-74).  Of 
another  caliber  is  the  imposing  work  of  Albert  Sorel  (1842-1906) 
on  L'Europe  et  la  Revolution  frangaise  (1885-1904) .  Sorel  shows 
how  the  Revolutionists  became  heirs  to  the  foreign  policy 
of  the  old  regime;  he  recognizes  the  interplay  of  foreign  opinion 
and  domestic  events;  and  he  traces  completely  the  course  of 
the  ensuing  wars.  Judicial,  learned  and  a  master  of  composition, 
Sorel  has  won  a  unique  place  among  the  historians  of  diplomacy. 
"  His  book,"  says  Gooch,  "  is  at  once  the  first  adequate  study  of 
the  Revolution  as  an  international  event  and  the  fairest  judgment 


ETHICS  661 

of  it  as  an  episode  in  French  history."  Finally,  Ernest  Lavisse 
(1842-1922)  has  written  the  history  of  Prussia,  but  is  best  known 
through  the  Histoire  de  France  (18  vols.,  1900-1911)  due  to  him 
and  his  collaborators.  Written  in  accordance  with  present  special- 
istic  tendencies,  this  cooperative  work  has  superseded  the  single- 
handed  histories  and  is  now  considered  the  standard  authority. 
Lavisse  himself  wrote  for  this  History  a  masterly  treatment 
of  Louis  XIV}  As  professor  and  publicist,  he  has  been  active 
in  remodeling  the  Sorbonne  and  in  enforcing  the  ideal  that  the 
proper  function  of  University  men  is  to  "  creer  la  science  "  — 
that  is,  to  increase  and  organize  knowledge. 

French  Catholicism  was  on  the  defensive  until  the  end  of  the 
century  and  was  usually  associated  with  extreme  reactionary 
Moralists:  principles.  Among  the  staunchest  defenders  of  the 
VeuiUot  faith  was  Louis  Veuillot  (1813-83),  a  virulent 
journalist  whose  portrait  appears  in  Augier's  Fils  de  Giboyer. 
Veuillot's  reputation  as  a  writer  has  grown  in  recent  years.  He 
came  of  the  people,  received  a  scanty  popular  education  and 
through  a  visit  to  Rome  was  converted  at  the  age  of  twenty-five. 
He  went  in  for  Catholic  journalism  (L'Univers),  and  for  many 
years  he  spent  himself  in  this  profession.  Upholding  the  Church 
against  her  various  enemies,  he  was  k  bitter  fighter  and  a  satirist 
of  contemporary  life.  He  had  wit,  originality,  unequal  talent 
and  poor  taste.  He  became  known  for  his  short  articles  and 
melanges,  of  which  the  best-known  have  been  collected  in  Les 
Libre-penseurs  (1848),  Les  Parjums  de  Rome  and  Les  Odeurs  de 
Paris  (1866) ,  Veuillot's  masterpiece.  This  volume  proceeds  from 
the  thesis  that  while  Rome  is  the  spiritual  head  of  the  world, 
Paris  is  only  its  "  tete  charnelle  "  and  a  center  of  corruption. 
The  city  abounds  in  the  morbid  and  mortuary  odors  of  decom- 
position. Veuillot  saw  materialism  as  rampant  in  social  life,  in 
science  and  philosophy.  So  he  attacks  journalism,  the  drama, 
the  salons,  democracy  and  literature,  whether  Romantic  or  Real- 
istic. Though  Classical  in  standards,  he  knew  neither  restraint 
nor  good  manners,  and  his  style  is  violent,  energetic  and  often 
coarse.  He  is  by  turns  racy  and  amusing  or  sarcastic  and  in- 
tolerant.   "He  had  a  marvelous  gift  of  righteous  indignation 

'  Cf .  also  (preceding  the  above)  the  Histoire  gSnirale  du  IVe  si^e  i  not  jours,  ed. 
Lavisse  and  Rambaud,   1892-1899. 


662  MISCELLANEOUS    WRITERS 

and  vitriolic  expression"   (Guerard).    He  also  had  undoubted 

sincerity  and  power.    His  function  was  to  display  his  partial 

view  of  truth  and  to  manifest  his  scorn  for  the  Second  Empire 

and  the  "  persecutors  "  of  the  Church.    He  believed  that  human 

nature  was  thoroughly  corrupt  and,  like  De  Maistre,  he  held 

sourly  to  the  principle  of  dogmatic  religious  authority. 

A  more  artistic  and  agreeable  writer  was  Eugene  Fromentin 

(1820-76),  painter,  traveler  and  novelist.    Fromentin  lived  his 

_  ^.  books  and  one  may  almost  say  he  painted  them. 
Fromentin       „.      .  ,  .  /•  •  ,  •  ,     T 

His  pictures  of  Aincan  countries,  whether  on  canvas 

or  on  the  printed  page,  are  imsurpassed  for  colorful  and  exact 
detail  (cf.  Un  Ete  dans  le  Sahara).  As  a  novelist,  he  shines 
rather  in  description  than  in  composition  or  action.  His  best- 
known  work  is  Dominique  (1863) ,  which  is  a  "  roman  d'analyse  " 
of  the  personal  sort,  in  the  tradition  of  Adolphe.  It  is  a  psycho- 
logical study  of  the  artistic  temperament  and  of  self-sacrifice. 
The  hero  falls  in  love  with  an  old  acquaintance  but  has  the 
strength  to  renounce  his  love  since  she  is  now  a  married  woman. 
In  its  idealism,  the  novel  is  reactionary,  yet  many  Realistic 
devices  are  used  in  the  technique  of  description  and  in  the 
sensory  approach  to  nature.  But  Fromentin  had  a  pure  and 
classical  taste  which  led  hun  back  more  and  more  to  the  "  na- 
ture "  of  the  ancients.  This  may  be  seen  in  his  art-criticism,  for 
instance,  in  Les  Maitres  d' autrefois  (1876). 

During  the  last  two  decades  of  the  century,  on  both  sides  of 
the  Atlantic,  the  book  known  as  "  Amiel's  Journal "  had  a  con- 
.    .  ,  siderable  vogue.    Its  appearance  coincided  with  the 

prevailing  mood  of  religious  doubt  and  self-an- 
alysis.^ Henri-Frederic  Amiel  (1821-1881)  was  a  disillusioned 
professor,  an  introspective  thinker,  a  sensitive  and  conscientious 
spirit.  He  was  a  Genevan  by  birth  and  residence,  but  Euro- 
pean in  his  outlook.  This  Journal  intime  (1883-84)  offers  in 
many  ways  an  epitome  of  the  century's  thought  and  feeling.  It 
is  a  diary  of  the  inner  life,  subtly  explaining  the  writer's  sterility 
and  melancholy.  It  also  evidences  much  penetra'^ion  into  phi- 
losophy and  literature,  and  it  contains  many  excellent  critical 
judgments.  Other  moralists  will  be  treated  in  connection  with 
the  reaction  against  Realism   (see  next  chapter). 

'  Compare  Matthew  Arnold,  Mra.  Ward's  Robert  Bltmere,  •to. 


BOOK  IX 
THE  END  OF  THE  CENTURY 

CHAPTER  I 

IN    FICTION:    NATURALISM,    PSYCHOLOGY 
AND    OTHER    CURRENTS 

The  disaster  of  1870-71  meant  the  dethronement  of  France 
as  the  first  power  in  continental  Europe.  The  war  left  a  deep 
The  Third  mark  upon  many  writers  as  well  as  upon  the  French 
Republic  populace.  The  civil  strife  of  the  Commime  aug- 
mented the  feeling  of  uncertainty  and  depression.  After  making 
peace  with  Prussia,  Thiers  conducted  his  government  from  Ver- 
sailles and  in  the  Spring  of  '71  sent  troops  against  the  Com- 
mimists.  There  followed  a  brief  and  bitter  civil  war  before  a 
stable  government  was  restored.  Thiers,  as  the  first  President 
of  the  Third  Republic,  was  supported  by  Gambetta,  orator  and 
statesman ;  and  for  some  time  the  policy  of  "  la  revanche  "  against 
Germany  was  in  vogue.  This  included  the  inauguration  of  uni- 
versal service  and  the  maintenance  of  a  large  military  organiza- 
tion. The  French  had  promptly  paid  the  war-indemnity  of  five 
billion  francs.  Under  the  Presidency  of  Marshal  MacMahon 
(1873-79)  the  constitution  of  1875  was  promulgated.  This 
divided  the  National  Assembly  into  two  governing  bodies,  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  and  the  Senate.  MacMahon  did  not  agree 
well  with  Jules  Simon,  his  minister.  Simon  and  Gambetta  were 
the  real  powers  in  France,  and  the  former  began  the  dissensions 
with  the  Pope  which  continued  for  some  time.  Grevy  was  the 
next  President  (1879-87),  whose  chief  minister,  Jules  Ferry,  was 
marked  for  his  anti-clericalism  and  his  efforts  in  behalf  of 
secular  education.  The  colonial  expansion  of  France  in  Indo- 
China  (Tonkin) ,  the  protectorate  of  Tunis  and  the  beginnings  of 
the  advance  into  Northern  Africa  date  from  1881.  A  little  later 
came  the  popular  craze  for  General  Boulanger.    The  "  Boulan- 

663 


664      FICTION:    NATURALISM,    PSYCHOLOGY 

giste  "  movement,  which  continued  under  the  Presidency  of  Sadi 
Carnot  (1887-1904),  was  finally  arrested  by  the  suicide  of  its 
leader.  The  movement  was  accompanied  by  much  political 
acrimony,  charges  of  corruption  and  the  exaggerations  of  shrill 
partisan  journalism  —  three  of  the  worst  features  of  the  Third 
Republic.  They  were  again  manifest  in  the  Panama  scandal, 
which  ended  in  the  condemnation  of  De  Lesseps,  the  chief 
engineer  of  the  undertaking.  A  more  peaceful  attitude  towards 
the  Church  having  been  adopted,  the  Republic  was  recognized 
by  Leo  XIII  in  1892.  The  brief  Presidency  of  Casimir-Perier 
was  followed  by  that  of  Felix  Faure  (1895-1899),  who,  like  his 
successor,  M.  Loubet,  was  a  man  of  the  people.  In  1896,  the 
Dual  Alliance  with  Russia  was  officially  annoimced.  Under 
Faure  and  the  Waldeck-Rousseau  ministry  occurred  the  famous 
Dreyfus  affair.  Captain  Dreyfus  was  condemned  to  life-imprison- 
ment, in  1895,  on  charges  of  betraying  military  secrets  to  Ger- 
many. Many  felt  that  Dreyfus,  as  a  Jew,  had  been  made  a 
scapegoat,  in  order  to  avoid  an  army  scandal.  Disinterested  ef- 
forts were  made,  notably  by  Emile  Zola  and  Col.  Picquart,  to 
secure  a  new  trial,  and  many  "  intellectuals,"  such  as  Anatole 
France,  came  to  the  defence  of  Dreyfus.  His  second  trial  (August, 
1899)  resulted  in  a  milder  condemnation,  attended  by  a  specific 
pardon  and  a  general  amnesty.  Nothing  was  ever  proved  against 
Dreyfus,  but  the  case  was  used  to  foment  every  kind  of  political 
and  racial  passion.  Under  Loubet  (1899-1906) ,  the  Paris  Exposi- 
tion of  1900  took  place.  In  matters  of  education,  M.  Combes,  as 
minister,  accomplished  the  separation  of  Church  and  State.  The 
clerical  orders  and  powers,  encouraging  aristocratic  education 
and  royalist  sympathies,  had  not  helped  the  Republic.  Combes 
broke  up  and  expelled  many  religious  associations,  and  the  law 
of  1905  made  the  separation  complete.  From  1904-07  dates  the 
formation  of  the  Entente  Cordiale  with  England,  destined  to  have 
such  important  consequences;  by  the  treaty  of  1904  there  was 
achieved  an  amicable  division  of  spheres  of  influence  in  Egypt 
and  Morocco.  M.  Fallikes  was  made  President  in  1906,  and  M. 
Poincarfi  in  1913.  At  the  turn  of  the  century,  France,  in  spite 
of  her  stationary  birth-rate,  was  fairly  prosperous.  The  con- 
dition of  the  working-classes  had  improved,  while  the  intellectual 
life  of  the  country  had  been  forwarded  by  the  establishment 


HUYSMANS  665 

of  compulsory  free  education.  In  1880-90  secular  education 
came  to  emphasize  the  importance  of  modern  subjects,  and 
latterly  more  place  has  been  given  to  the  proper  instruction  of 
women.  Young  people  have  taken  an  increasing  interest  in 
athletics.  Colonial  expansion,  especially  in  Africa  and  the 
Orient,  revived  a  taste  for  adventure  and  was  associated  with 
the  literature  of  exoticism  (cf.  Loti).  The  Expositions  of  1889 
and  1900  showed  that  while  France  was  participating  in  the 
results,  good  and  evil,  of  modern  industrialism,  her  products  still 
kept  a  distinction  of  their  own.  This  interest  in  articles  de  vertu 
is  reflected  in  the  fiction  of  Bourget.  Connected  with  the  in- 
dustrial situation  was  the  growth  of  Socialism,  which  introduced 
another  strong  element  into  the  confusion  of  political  parties 
and  the  rapid  changes  of  ministries  in  France. 

Let  us  now  see  what  was  happening  in  literature,  particularly 
in  fiction. 

The  school  of  Zola,  attacked  by  Brunetiere  and  others,  had 
lost  part  of  its  dominion  during  the  eighties.  Five  of  the  master's 
jj  ..  former  adherents,  including  Paul  Margueritte  and 
"  J.-H.  Rosny,"  had  on  the  appearance  of  La  Terre 
(1887)  signed  a  protest  against  Zolaism.  The  advent  of  the 
psychological  novel,  the  passing  of  scientific  positivism  and  the 
pressure  of  a  more  idealistic  current  (see  below)  did  not  favor 
Naturalism;  about  1900  an  "  enquete "  among  a  number  of 
writers  seemed  to  establish  that  the  movement  was  dead.  Yet 
there  remains  the  heritage  of  Naturalism,  particularly  as  regards 
the  notation  of  fact  and  the  careful  descriptions  of  milieux.  Thus 
the  movement  did  not  pass  away  with  Zola  but  became  blended 
with  other  movements,  especially  with  the  development  of  the 
symbolistic  and  the  historical  novel. 

For  example,  the  sinister  figure  of  Joris-Karl  Huysmans  (1848- 
1907)  is  regarded  by  some  as  the  most  advanced  Naturalist,  by 
„  others  as  an  arch-symbolist  and  a  decadent  mystic. 

Huysmans,  who  came  of  Dutch  ancestry,  was  a 
government  employee,  a  slow  but  careful  writer  and  a  person  of 
unattractive  character.  He  passed  through  a  gradual  evolution 
from  materialism  to  an  aesthetic  Catholicism  which  led  him  to 
make  a  retreat  among  the  Trappists  and  finally  to  profess  con- 


666      FICTION:    NATURALISM,    PSYCHOLOGY 

version.  Beginning  with  a  displeasing  contribution  to  the  Soirees 
de  Medan  and  with  a  short  grimy  study  of  prostitution  (Marthe, 
1876),  Huysmans  then  became  introspective  and  entered  on  his 
psychic  pilgrimage  with  A  Rehours  (1884).  The  very  title  of 
this  novel  indicates  a  perversity  which  the  hero,  Des  Esseintes, 
exemplifies  in  his  search  for  rare  sensations.  He  finds  them  in 
jewels,  perfumes,  music,  weird  paintings  and  medieval  Latin 
literature.  A  Rehours  applies  the  processes  of  external  Natural- 
ism to  a  morbid  inner  life.  The  book  influenced  Oscar  Wilde 
and  the  hyperaesthetes.  It  well  illustrates  the  restless  neuras- 
thenia of  its  author,  who  goes  a  step  further  in  La-has  (1891),  a 
"  disagreeable  medley  of  modern  and  medieval  nastiness " 
(Wells).  The  occult  and  the  sacrilegious,  particularly  in  the 
form  of  Satanism,  here  grip  the  ailing  souls  of  Durtal  and  of  his 
creator,  Huysmans.  En  route  (1895)  shows  a  straighter  pro- 
gression in  its  penitential  tears  and  its  desire  for  holiness. 
Finally,  La  Cathedrale  and  L'Oblat  carry  the  writer,  if  not  into 
true  religion,  at  least  towards  contemplative  peace  and  aesthetic 
bliss.  Like  others,  Huysmans  seems  to  have  sought  for  faith 
as  a  final  sensation.  His  treatment  of  these  mingled  themes  is 
repellent,  but  his  soul-states  are  apparently  sincere  and  exhaus- 
tively studied ;  he  thus  offers  a  typical  case  of  decadence  blended 
with  Neo-Catholicism;  and  his  literary  talent,  shown  in  a 
nervous  impressionistic  style  with  forceful  epithet  and  metaphor, 
is  very  considerable.  His  novels  are  weak  in  composition,  he  can 
depict  only  himself,  his  taste  is  contaminated,  but  his  power  of 
picturesque  description  is  almost  faultless. 

Another  student  of  Catholicism,  though  from  a  different  stand- 
point, was  Ferdinand  Fabre  (1827-98).  Born  and  bred  in  the 
Fabre  ™^®  mountains  of  the  Cevennes,  trained  as  a  youth 

for  the  priesthood,  Fabre  combines  these  antecedents 
in  a  succession  of  novels  by  turns  autobiographical,  clerical  and 
rustic.  As  a  Realistic  delineator  of  peasantry  and  clergy,  he  is  a 
disciple  of  Balzac,  and  his  masterpiece,  L'Ahbe  Tigrane  (1873), 
offers  parallels  with  the  CurS  de  Tours.  Les  Courbezon  and  Mon 
Oncle  Celestin  are  also  notable  novels.  This  writer  studies  the 
passions  of  the  clergy,  their  benevolence,  ambition  and  pride. 
But  as  a  whole  Fabre's  methods  are  more  blunt  than  artistic,  and 
he  never  freed  himself  from  a  certain  provincialism.    The  brutal 


OTHER    NOVELISTS  667 

Natiiralism  of  Octave  Mirbeau  likewise  depicts  the  priesthood 
(L'Abbe  Jules,  etc.),  as  well  as  other  subjects. 

There  were  several  writers  who  began  as  imitators  or  comrades 
of  Zola  and  who  ended  in  quite  a  different  manner.  Paul  Adam 
P  ul  Adam  (1862-1920)  accomplished  an  interesting  evolution 
from  a  crude  materialism  {Chair  molle)  to  a  sort  of 
symbolism  which  implied  a  new  conception  of  the  historical 
novel.  This  is  called  by  M.  Doumic  the  "  roman  collectif,"  since 
the  effort  is  towards  group-psychology,  towards  depicting  the 
collective  soul  of  an  epoch,  a  crowd,  a  race.  In  the  series  called 
Le  Temps  et  la  Vie  (1899  f.)  Paul  Adam  vividly  portrays  the 
Napoleonic  era,  and  less  vividly  that  of  the  Restoration  and 
Romanticism.  The  series  consists  of  four  novels:  La  Force, 
L'Enjant  d'Avsterlitz,  La  Ruse  and  Au  Soleil  de  Juillet.  It  is  in 
moments  of  national  danger  that  the  soul  of  a  people  is  truly 
unified;  consequently  La  Force  is  a  fine  and  stirring  novel,  show- 
ing France  as  exalted  first  by  self-defensive  patriotism  and  then 
by  the  intoxication  of  Napoleonic  glory.  The  cult  of  energy  and 
of  appetites  is  well-rendered.  L'Enjant  d'Austerlitz,  on  the 
contrary,  represents  a  period  (the  Restoration)  of  reaction  and 
confusion,  and  the  novel,  which  is  too  involved  and  compre- 
hensive, suffers  from  the  defects  of  its  subject.  The  Soleil  de 
Juillet  gives  a  massive  handling  of  the  Romantic  era.  The 
author  excels  in  large  frescoes,  in  descriptive  sweep,  rather  than 
in  psychological  penetration  or  in  artistic  style.  He  combines 
features  from  Balzac  and  from  Zola,  and  it  is  a  curious  tribute  to 
the  former  master  that  Balzacian  heroes  —  Rastignac  or  De 
Marsay  —  appear  in  the  background  of  Adam's  fiction  as 
historical  personages. 

It  was  natural  that  Paul  Margueritte  (1860-1918)  and  his 
brother  Victor,  sons  of  a  distinguished  general  in  the  Franco- 
Xhe  Prussian  war,  should  turn  to  that  period  for  the 

Margueritte  cycle  of  novels  called  Une  Epoque  (1898-1904) .  This 
^°  ^"  also  includes  four  titles:  Le  Desastre,  Les  Trongons 
du  Glaive,  Les  Braves  Gens,  La  Commune.  Like  Adam,  the 
Margueritte  brothers  found  that  the  national  soul  is  stronger  in 
wartime  than  in  reaction:  Le  Desastre  lent  itself  to  a  more  in- 
tensive portrayal  than  did  the  Prussian  occupation  (Le4  Trongons 
du  Glaive)  or  La  Commune.   The  first  novel  is  evidently  modeled 


668      FICTION:    NATURALISM,    PSYCHOLOGY 

on  Zola's  Debacle,  and  though  Zola's  gloomy  depiction  of  war 
remains  unrivaled,  the  morale  of  Le  Desastre  is  of  a  healthier  and 
more  tonic  quality.  Indeed,  this  quality  is  characteristic  of  the 
best  work  of  Paul  Margueritte,  who  turned  from  the  vulgar  Natu- 
ralism of  Pascal  Gefosse  (1887),  through  the  psychological  deli- 
cacy of  La  Tourmente  (1893),  to  the  collaborative  cycle  above- 
mentioned.  Even  here  the  influence  of  Zola  is  seen,  in  the  impor- 
tance given  to  humble  people  and  particularly  in  the  treatment  of 
crowds  —  the  mob  which  is  alternately  childish,  curious,  crim- 
inal or  heroic.  The  scenes  of  collective  life  in  La  Commune  are 
very  impressive.  But  as  in  other  historical  novels  (cf.  Flaubert 
and  Adam) ,  the  strictly  fictional  elements  of  incident  and  charac- 
ter are  unduly  minimized  by  the  multitude  of  historical  data. 
Further  examples  of  the  "  roman  collectif "  in  cycles  will  be 
treated  in  connection  with  Barres  and  Anatole  France  (see  below) . 
Another  pair  of  brothers,  J.  H.  and  S.  J.  Boex,  signed  with 
the  joint  pseudonym  of  "  J.-H.  Rosny."  They  may  also  be  classed 
J.-H.  among  the  "  neo-realists,"  in  that  they  approved 

Rosny  ^jjg  protests  against  Zola  and  stood,  theoretically, 

for  a  broader  and  more  idealistic  view  of  humanity.  Their  work, 
however,  is  extremely  eclectic  and  peculiar.  It  is  Naturalistic 
in  Nell  Horn  (1886) ,  a  study  of  London  low  life  and  the  Salvation 
Army ;  it  is  prehistoric  in  such  weird  imaginings  as  Vamireh  and 
Les  Xipehuz,  in  which  we  approach,  conjecturally,  not  only  the 
mammoths  but  the  manners  of  the  antediluvians ;  it  deals  with  the 
artistic  temperament  in  Le  Termite,  and  with  sociology  in  the  two 
important  novels,  Le  Bilateral  (1887)  and  Marc  Fane  (1888). 
These  two  studies  emphasize  the  faith  of  "  J.-H.  Rosny  "  alike 
in  science  and  in  humanity  as  well  as  in  the  evolution  of  both 
forces  towards  a  moral  ideal.  In  praise  of  goodness,  the  brothers 
also  wrote  a  trilogy  —  Daniel  Valgraive  (1891),  L'Imperieuse 
Bonte  and  L^Indomptee.  Their  message  tends  to  forward  an 
altruism  which  implies  not  self-sacrifice  but  true  self-develop- 
ment. The  work  of  "  J.-H.  Rosny  "  is  better  in  moral  and 
symbolistic  intention  than  in  artistic  execution ;  action  and  drama 
are  neglected,  the  characters  are  often  pedantic,  and  the  style  is 
full  of  technical  and  obscure  terms.  Poetic  and  dithyrambic 
flights  of  style  hardly  atone  for  these  deficiencies.  Yet  the 
Rosny  brothers  are  important  representatives  of  the  "  roman 
social,"  so  conspicuous  in  our  times. 


IDEALISM  669 

Most  of  the  above  writers  represent  either  the  symbolistic 
or  the  historical  wing  of  Naturalism.  In  accordance  with  modern 
Other  complexity,  the  novel  took  on  many  other  forms 

Varieties  of  during  the  past  generation.  It  was  by  turns  ideal- 
istic, psychological,  impressionistic,  as  regards  direc- 
tion ;  as  regards  material,  it  was  fashionable  or  idyllic,  "  region- 
alist "  or  exotic,  military  or  ecclesiastical.  Idealism  as  a  method 
is  either  a  Romantic  survival  or  a  reaction  against  too  much 
Realism.  It  is  mainly  a  siu'vival  in  the  work  of  Octave  Feuillet 
(1821-90),  who  began  as  the  inheritor  of  George  Sand's  rose- 
colored  mantle.  The  too-celebrated  Roman  d'un  Jeune  homme 
pauvre  (1858)  exhibits  this  side  of  him;  a  more  serious  and 
Realistic  vein  is  found  in  the  tragic  Julia  de  Trecoeur  (1872)  and 
in  the  grim  passions  of  Monsieur  de  Camors.  The  title-hero  of 
the  latter  story  is  Feuillet's  best-drawn  masculine  character. 
Feuillet  excelled  in  the  portrayal  of  women's  hearts  and  nerves. 
Idyllic  idealism  is  the  specialty  of  Andre  Theuriet  (1833-1907), 
who  has  written  considerably  of  field  and  forest  in  the  Eastern 
provinces  of  France.  Theuriet  and  Frangois  Coppee  (see  Chap- 
ter III,  below)  have  a  rather  bourgeois  inspiration  and  a  mildly 
agreeable  talent,  which  is  exercised  chiefly  in  the  short-story. 

Although  the  Realistic  method,  as  a  whole,  had  not  yet  spent 
its  force,  the  last  decades  of  the  century  were  marked  by  a 
Idealistic  partial  reaction  against  Naturalism.  The  leaders 
Reaction  jjj  ^{jjg  reaction  were  such  writers  as  Brunetiere, 
Bourget,  Barres  —  "the  three  B's,"  all  of  whom  became  Catho- 
lics or  Conservatives.  The  Swiss,  Edouard  Rod,  and  the  aris- 
tocrat, Melchior  de  Vogiie,  may  also  be  classed  as  sharing  in 
this  movement.  Edouard  Rod  (1857-1910)  passed  his  youth 
in  Paris  and  there  he  attempted  to  write  Naturalistic  fiction ;  but 
his  true  bent  was  rather  towards  psychological  analysis  and  the 
literature  of  ideas.  This  "  intuitivism  "  (subjective  observation) 
was  encouraged  by  Rod's  appointment  to  a  chair  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Geneva.  Among  his  important  novels  are:  La  Course 
a  la  mort  (1885),  which  is  introspective  and  pessimistic;  Le  Sens 
de  la  Vie  (1899),  which  is  moral  and  idealistic;  La  Vie  privee 
de  Michel  Teissier  and  L'Ombre  s'etend  sur  la  montagne.  A 
number  of  Rod's  later  novels  are  laid  in  Switzerland  and  have 
a  thorough  savor  of  the  soil.    A  volume  of  criticism,  Les  I  dees 


670      FICTION:    NATURALISM,    PSYCHOLOGY 

morales  du  tempa  present  (1891),  ftirnishes  an  excellent  iurvey 
of  the  period  and  it«  chief  writers.  The  Vicomte  Melchior  de 
Vogiie  (1850-1910),  called  "the  Chateaubriand  of  the  Third 
Republic,"  was  a  traditionalist  in  taste,  religion  and  politics. 
The  work  of  Zola  and  his  group  could  not  please  such  a  man; 
and  Vogiie  wrote  Le  Roman  nisse  (1886)  partly  to  forward  the 
"bankruptcy"  of  French  Naturalism,  partly  to  exhibit  the 
virtues  of  Russian  fiction,  from  Pushkin  to  Tolstoy.  Like 
Brunetiere  (see  Ch.  IV,  below),  Vogiie  held  that  the  Russian 
novelists  had  a  better  morality  and  more  hmnanity  than  the 
French.  He  was  unusually  well  qualified,  by  long  residence 
and  intimate  association,  to  speak  for  the  Russian  novel,  and 
his  book  is  at  once  a  psychological  study  and  a  critical  rev- 
elation. It  is  also  exceedingly  well  written.  Among  Vogiie's 
own  novels,  the  most  notable  is  Les  Morts  qui  parlent  (1899). 
There  is  a  certain  kinship  between  the  idealistic  and  the 
psychological  novel,  also  called  the  roman  d'analyse.  This  kind, 
from  the  Princesse  de  Cleves  through  Dominique, 
is  clearly  in  the  French  tradition.  It  is  not  surpris- 
ing, then,  that  in  the  early  eighties  the  public  should  turn  from 
the  externalities  of  Realism  to  the  work  of  a  man  whose  prime 
concern  was  with  what  he  called  "  so\iI-states."  Paul  Bourget 
(b.  1852)  has  accomplished  the  evolution  described  by  Descartes 
from  a  bookish  education  to  the  "  grand  livre  du  monde,"  thence 
to  varied  travels  and  finally  to  the  world  of  inner  contemplation. 
He  speaks  of  his  many  volumes  as  "  les  etapes  d'une  conscience 
toujours  en  marche."  Be^nning  with  poetry  and  criticism 
(see  Ch.  IV,  below) ,  Bourget  soon  won  a  reputation  as  a  society 
novelist:  the  success  inaugurated  by  Cruelle  enigme^  (1885) 
was  continued  in  the  next  few  years  by  Un  crime  d'amour  and 
Andre  Comelis,  by  Men^onges  and  Un  cmur  de  femme.  These 
half-dozen  novels  express  the  earlier  Bourget,  who  combines  a 
taste  for  high  life  —  clubmen,  salons,  elegance,  bibelots  —  with 
a  delicate  analytical  art.  Primarily  a  psychologist  and  moralist, 
he  chooses  the  upper  strata  of  society  in  order  best  to  study  the 
more  leisurely  developments  of  modern  love.  His  charming 
women  —  Th&ese  de  Sauve  or  Suzanne  Moraines  —  are  of  a 

'  Vlrriparahle  (1883)  first  revived  the  psychological  novel,  but  was  not  so 
cuocessful. 


BOURGET  671 

romantic  type,  sentimental  or  sensual,  complicated  descendants 
of  Emma  Bovary.  The  men  subjected  to  this  feminine  influence 
are  either  weak  youths,  like  Andre  Cornelis,  or  worldly  and 
corrupt  roues.  Bourget  himself  is  not  romantic  in  his  treatment 
of  passion,  whose  consequences  he  usually  deplores;  but  the 
atmosphere  of  these  stories  is  insidiously  relaxing  and  the 
author's  sensibility  is  "  maladive  et  souffrante." 

A  change  came  over  his  spirit  with  the  publication  of  Le 
Disciple,  in  1889.    Boiirget  mentally  resembles  Taine,  to  whom  1 
His  Second     he  owed  much  in  his  conception  of  the  multiple  ego 
Stage  and  in  his  dissection  of  emotion  and  passion.     Le    [ 

Disciple  tells  the  story  of  a  youth  who  likewise  fell  under  the  in- 
fluence of  a  great  deterministic  psychologist,  whose  principles 
he  applied  disastrously  in  his  emotional  life.  The  novel  created 
a  storm  among  the  critics  and  had  a  pronounced  effect  upon 
French  youth;  it  displays  all  of  Bourget's  qualities,  but  it  is 
written  in  a  sterner  tone  and  has  more  of  a  moral  glow  than 
heretofore.  Tha^ai^thor.  however,  was  nnt  vet  through  with 
rlilptiapfpism  f^nrl  p.Q^mnpnlitnninm  —  two  dangers  against  which 
he  frequently  warned  others.  As  for  cosmopolitanism,  there 
followed  the  artistically  fruitful  journeys  to  Italy  and  England 
{Sensations  d'ltalie,  1891).  Such  novels  as  Cosmopolis  (1893) 
and  Une  Idylle  tragique  (1896)  deal  with  the  "  floating  Laputa," 
the  super-city  of  world-citizens  who  take  no  stable  root  any- 
where. As  for  dilettanteism,  Bourget,  with  a  finger  on  his  own 
pulse,  thus  defines  the  disease: 

C'est  une  disposition  de  I'esprit,  tres  intelligente  a  la  fois  et 
tres  voluptueuse,  qui  nous  incline  tour  a  tour  vers  les  formes 
diverses  de  la  vie  et  nous  conduit  a  nous  preter  a  toutes  sans 
nous  donner  a  aucune. 

After  the  Dreyfus  affair,  Bourget  swung  into  line  with  the  tra- 
ditionalists, political  and  religious.  In  L'Etape  (1902),  he  urges 
a  slower  social  development  of  the  family,  which  should  not 
hasten  through  its  stages  in  the  American  manner.  A  growing 
sympathy  with  Catholicism  is  found  in  Un  Divorce  (1904)  and 
in  Le  Demon  de  Midi  (1915) .  Bourget  has  also  written  numerous 
volumes  of  nouvelles  (Un  Saint,  Le  Luxe  des  autres,  etc.).  In 
spite  of  a  heavy  style,  all  of  this  fiction  shows  a  genuine 


672      FICTION:    NATURALISM,    PSYCHOLOGY 

capacity  for  the  imaginative  embodiment  of  abstract  ideas 
and  a  gift  for  the  minute  dissection  of  modern  types.  More- 
over, Bourget's  construction  is  fundamentally  excellent,  and 
the  average  reader  feels  impatient  when  a  good  plot  is  ham- 
pered by  long-drawn-out  descriptions  and  analyses,  often  unes- 
sential to  the  story.  Yet  it  is  in  these  analyses  that  the  author's 
peculiar  power  resides;  he  ranks  as  a  moralistic  philosopher 
who  "  adds  another  chapter  to  the  science  of  the  soul." 

Bourget  brought  psychology  into  fashion  and  influenced  the 
work  of  Edouard  Rod  (see  above) ;  of  Marcel  Prevost,  the  popular 
novelist  (L'Automne  d'une  fe;mme,  Les  Demi-vierges, 
^^"^*  etc.) ;  and  of  Mam-ice  Barres,  during  his  first  period. 

The  last-named  has  by  his  intense  patriotism  doubled  his  fame 
within  recent  years.  He  was  born  (1862)  in  the  Vosges  mountains 
and  brought  up  in  Lorraine  while  that  province  was  undergoing- 
its  painful  Germanization.  The  strife  of  the  two  races  made  a 
strong  impression  on  the  sensibility  of  yoimg  Barres;  but  first  he 
turned  to  another  field  of  literary  expression,  namely,  the  "  Cult 
of  the  Ego."  The  trilogy  published  under  this  general  title 
includes  Sous  I'aeil  des  barbares  (1888),  which  describes  a  young 
man's  struggle  for  self-assertion  against  the  Philistines;  Vn 
homme  libre  (1889)  also  develops  a  theory  of  egotistical  gym- 
nastics; and  Le  Jardin  de  Berenice  (1891),  less  obscurely  written, 
repeats  a  similar  theme,  with  somewhat  more  regard  for  the 
outer  world.  At  this  stage  Barres  believed  that  humanity  could 
become  a  "  beautiful  forest  "  only  through  the  intensive  cultiva- 
tion of  each  individual  tree;  therefore  let  us  keep  our  egos  in  , 
a  state  of.  ardent  and  extreme  exaltation.  Dilettanteism  and 
affectation  are  conspicuous  in  these  works,  which  "owe  most  to 
the  influence  of  Renan.  Against  this  master  Barres  presently 
turned  violently,  became  an  apostle  of  action  and  wrote  another 
trilogy  or  cycle  called  Le  Roman  de  I'energie  nationale.  The 
first  in  the  series,  Les  Deracines  (1897) ,  urges  that  it  is  dangerous 
to  uproot  men  from  their  province  (Lorraine) .  L'Appel  au  soldat 
(1900)  stands  for  military  patriotism.  As  early  as  1889,  Barrls 
had  been  elected  deputy  to  the  Chamber,  whose  members  he  now 
satirizes  in  Lews  figures  (1902).  Finally,  such  works  as  Au 
service  de  I'Allemagne  and  Colette  Baudoche  (1909)  plead  for 
the  defense  of  the  "  Eastern  bastions"   (like  Metz) ,  because 


LOTI  673 

France  is  the  chief  representative  of  modern  civilization.  The 
development  of  the  author  has  thus  been  from  egotism,  through 
"  regionalism,"  to  nationalism  and  ultimately  to  a  view  of  civil- 
ization as  a  whole.  Whether  in  Lorraine  or  Paris,  for  the  race 
or  for  the  nation,  he  has  become  a  stalwart  traditionalist,  a 
leader  in  the  "  Ligue  des  patriotes."  From  complexity  and  ob- 
scurity he  has  developed  a  passion  for  simplicity,  whether  in 
character,  plot  or  ideas  (cf.  Colette  Bavdoche).  Without  de- 
preciating the  value  of  his  service  or  of  his  message,  it  should 
be  said  that  many  people  find  the  literary  temperament  of  M. 
Barres  perverse,  dogmatic,  imduly  critical  and  overbearing.  But 
his  style  has  marked  qualities  of  subtlety  or  eloquence;  he  has 
a  gift  for  description  and  much  ironic  power. 

M.  Julien  Viaud  (b.  1850)  took  the  pseudonym  of  "  Pierre 
Loti "  and  has  served  most  of  his  life  as  an  ofiicer  of  the  French 
Pierre  Loti  ^^^-  Born  at  Rochefort  on  the  Charente,  of  Hugue- 
not ancestry  (cf.  Le  Roman  d'un  enfant,  1890),  he 
passed  an  vmhappy  sensitive  childhood,  and  at  the  age  of  seven- 
teen embarked  on  the  series  of  voyages  which  made  his  fame. 
Loti  offers  the  most  complete  modern  example  of  literary 
exoticism;  his  talent  is  essentially  subjective  and  impressionistic; 
his  power  of  describing  foreign  lands,  their  scenery  and  total 
effect,  is  very  remarkable.  We  may  see  his  gift  expand  from 
Oceania  to  Iceland  and  from  China  almost  to  Peru.  First  came 
the  anonymous  Aziyade  (1879),  followed  by  Barahu  (1880), 
otherwise  known  as  Le  Manage  de  Loti,  which  started  his  vogue. 
These  two  novels  were  laid  respectively  in  Turkey  and  in  Tahiti, 
while  in  "  I'etonnant  et  brulant"  Roman  d'un  Spahi  (1881), 
Loti  passes  on  to  Senegambia.  He  first  treats  of  Brittany  and 
the  surrounding  seas  in  Mon  frere  Yves  (1883).  These  earlier 
novels  recount  mainly  his  personal  adventures  under  various 
disguises;  they  are  filled  with  sensuous  glamour  and  with 
primitive  sweethearts,  "femmes  de  reve,  creatures  a  peine 
ebauchees." 

With  Pechewr  d'Islande  (1886),  Loti  returns  to  Brittany  and 
gives  us  his  most  profoundly  human  book  as  well  as  a  compen- 
dium of  his  various  gifts.  Greater  and  more  unpersonal  emotions 
find  expression  in  this  idyll  of  the  betrothal  and  parting  of  two 
Breton  lovers,  the  fisherman  Yann  and  "  la  grave  et  tendre  Gaud." 


67'4      FICTION:    NATURALISM,    PSYCHOLOGY 

The  fisherman  never  returns  from  his  voyage  to  Iceland,  and 
the  last  part  of  the  book  describes  the  waiting  and  the  mourning 
of  the  women  left  behind.  Two  of  Loti's  chiief  obsessions,  the 
changeable  devouring  sea  and  the  all-pervasive  thought  of  death, 
are  rendered  with  power  and  melancholy.  Madame  Chrysarv- 
theme  (1887)  deals  with  Japan  and  again  with  exotic  love.  Later 
stories,  such  as  Matelot  and  Fantome  d'Orient,  show  a  partial 
repetition  of  old  themes.  There  is  also  Le  Ldvre  de  la  pitie  et  de 
la  mart  (1891),  a  significant  title,  imder  which  most  of  this 
author's  works  might  be  assembled.  With  few  exceptions,  they 
are  not  really  novels;  they  constitute  rather  a  succession  of 
pictures  and  of  moods  within  the  experience  of  the  writer.  For 
example,  a  trip  to  Palestine  was  recorded  in  La  Galilee  (1895) 
and  was  connected  with  Loti's  unsuccessful  endeavor  to  revive 
his  youthful  faith;  yet  there  is  religious  feeling  in  Bamuntcho 
(1897) ,  the  story  of  two  Basque  lovers  separated  by  their  different 
creeds.  Near  this  beautiful  Basque  coimtry,  where  the  Pyrenees 
slope  to  the  sea,  Loti  has  established  himself  in  his  declining 
years.  Of  his  later  writings,  Les  Desenchantees  (1908),  con- 
cerning the  advance  of  feminism  in  Turkey,  has  been  the  most 
notable. 

Like  Chateaubriand,  Loti  possesses  a  great  and  melancholy 
charm.  Like  the  elder  enchanter,  the  fin  de  siecle  wanderer  makes 
us  participate  in  the  sense  of  fleeting  joys,  of  ruins,  of  inevitable 
death  and  endings,  the  lure  and  failure  of  exotic  love.  Like 
Rene,  Loti's  civilized  heroes  cannot  long  abide  with  the  simple 
savage  maidens.  With  a  remnant  of  religious  feeling,  Loti  also 
wrote  an  "  Itinerary  "  from  Paris  to  Jerusalem.  He  is  Romantic 
in  his  acute  sensibility,  his  absorption  in  nature  and  his  absorp- 
tion of  nature  into  himself.  His  style,  with  all  its  simplicity, 
has  the  penetrating  and  suggestive  power  of  music.  Heis-modern 
chieflyja32:..virtue  of  his  impressionism,  in  description  and-  sensa- 
tion, ajid  by  the  wi3e'range  nf  Wb-^1  a H.or.A ay..£XQtiicism.  Emo- 
tional rather  than  thoughtful,  not  elaborate  in  characterization 
or  plot,  his  fiction  moves  us  by  his  capacity  for  sincerely  realiz- 
ing alien  landscapes  and  alien  souls. 

Jacques-Anatole  Thibault  (b.  1844) ,  known  to  the  world  as 
Anatole  France,  is  the  foremost  living  French  writer.  For  half 
a  century  his  piercing  mind  and  fascinating  style  have  reflected 


ANATOLE    FRANCE  675 

the  chief  movements  of  his  age.  Reared  in  the  Latin  quarter, 
his  imaginative  boyhood  turned  naturally  to  books  and  dreams. 
Anatole  He    was    educated    at    the    ecclesiastical    College 

France  Stanislas;     later    he    knew     Greek    beauty     and 

became  associated  with  the  Parnassians.  Strongly  Pagan  are 
the  Poemes  dores  (1873)  and  the  Parnassian  drama  of  Les  Noces 
Corinthiennes.  France  then  passed  through  the  usual  stages  of 
devotion  to  science  and  dabbling  in  Realism;  but  he  soon  re- 
turned to  the  more  characteristic  dreaming  and  beauty-loving 
which  reappear  in  Le  Crime  de  Sylvestre  Bonnard  (1881) .  This 
masterpiece  recounts  delightfully  the  self-sacrifice  of  an  old 
scholar,  who  protects  the  granddaughter  of  his  former  sweet- 
heart. In  the  charming  Livre  de  mon  ami  (1885),  the  author 
definitely  renounces  science  in  behalf  of  imagination  and  the 
pensive  fancies  of  his  youth. 

Anatole  France  is  an  intellectual  Epicurean,  particularly  so 
in  his  first  period  (until  1897).  This  tendency  exists  in  the 
The  works  mentioned  above  and  increases  through  his 

Epicurean  revival  of  fairy  tales  {L'Abeille),  of  the  legendary 
past  {Baltasar)  and  of  the  historical  clash  between  Christianity 
and  Paganism  in  Thais  (1890).  The  beauty-lover  is  also  a 
scholarly  dilettante,  and  Renan  influences  him  during  these  years. 
Thais,  so  rich  in  background  and  in  philosophical  reflection, 
likewise  owes  something  to  Flaubert's  Tentation  de  Saint  Antoine. 
Dilettanteism  is  prominent  in  France's  literary  criticism,  which 
occupied  him  (see  Ch.  IV,  below)  from  1885-92.  He  returns 
to  tales  and  legends  in  L'Etui  de  nacre  (1892),  where  we  find' 
one  of  his  most  striking  short  stories,  Le  Procuraieur  de  Judee. 
Half  of  this  volimie  deals  with  the  eighteenth  century,  which 
from  a  double  standpoint  (see  above,  p.  372)  was  peculiarly 
fitted  to  attract  Anatole  France.  Irony  and  skepticism  are  more 
conspicuous  and  Voltaire  becomes  permanently  his  master  in  La 
Rdtisserie  de  la  Beine  Pedauque  with  its  companion-volume,  Les 
Opinions  de  M.  Jerome  Coignard  (both  of  1893).  The  former, 
resembling  Candida,  is  an  agreeably  rambling  tale  of  alchemy, 
gallantry,  anti-clericalism  and  a  genial  eighteenth-century  abbe. 
Two  studies  of  Italy  show  still  another  side  of  A.  France:  in  Le 
Lys  rouge  (1894),  he  wrote  almost  his  first  modem  novel;  the 
Florentine  background  is  beautifully  described,  and  it  is  evident 


676      FICTION:    NATURALISM,    PSYCHOLOGY 

that  the  author  approves  the  stark  passion  of  the  lovers  depicted 
therein.  The  sensual  foundations  for  his  dilettanteism  are  re- 
vealed again  in  Le  Puits  de  Sainte-Claire,  in  which  are  related 
more  or  less  churchly  legends  of  the  Italian  Renaissance.  In 
Le  Jar  din  d'Epicure  (1894),  considered  by  many  his  most 
thoughtful  book,  France  gives  us  the  flower  of  his  epicurean 
meditations  up  to  date.  Currents  of  pessimism  and  mordant 
irony  are  discernible,  but  the  author  stoutly  maintains  his  thesis 
that  wisdom  lies  in  the  search  for  intellectual  and  sensual 
pleasures. 

Nothing  very  radical  had  yet  been  heard  from  Anatole  France; 
he  was  even  elected  to  the  Academy  through  the  efforts  of  con- 
Satirist  and  servatives  in  1896.  But  a  new  Anatole  arises  from 
Radical  ^^jje  pages  of  the  Histoire  contemporadne  and  from  his 

participation  in  the  Dreyfus  affair.  In  the  latter  he  came  out 
strongly  for  Dreyfus;  in  the  former  he  satirized  the  tradi- 
tionalists who  opposed  that  cause ;  in  both,  people  were  surprised 
to  see  the  scholar  and  the  dweller  in  the  past  descend  to  the 
strife  of  the  market-place.  The  Histoire  contemporaine  is  an- 
other modern  cycle  (see  p.  668),  including  L'Orme  du  mail 
and  Le  Mannequin  d'osier  (both  of  1897) ,  L'Anneau  d'amethyste 
(1899)  and  M.  Bergeret  a  Paris  (1901).  The  last  two  of  these 
works  are  particularly  concerned  with  the  Dreyfus  affair,  but 
they  all  deal  with  intrigue,  political  or  amorous,  provincial  and 
Parisian;  the  thin  plot  revolves  around  the  infidelity  of  Mme 
Bergeret  or  the  promotion  of  a  priest;  clerics,  royalists,  militarists 
and  society  women  are  bitterly  satirized;  there  are  recurring 
characters  among  whom  Professor  Bergeret  is  the  most  notable; 
he  is  the  mouthpiece  for  Anatole  France,  and  these  mouthpieces 
(cf.  Bonnard  and  Coignard)  are  always  important  for  the  quality 
of  their  thought  and  style.  That  the  "  Affair  "  practically  con- 
verted our  author  to  socialism  is  apparent  from  a  number  of 
orations  and  special  pleas  (collected  in  Vers  les  temps  meilleurs, 
1906).  But  in  literature  proper  this  conversion  is  less  visible. 
Apart  from  minor  works,  his  remaining  years  have  been  spent 
in  composing  imaginative  interpretations  of  history,  treated  either 
as  fiction  or  as  biography.  To  the  latter  class  belongs  the  Vie 
de  Jeanne  d'Arc  (1908,  but  begun  twenty  years  before).  Written 
in  the  manner  of  Renan,  beautifully  unified  in  tone,  this  is  a 


ANATOLE    FRANCE  677 

reconstruction,  half-sympathetic,  half-skeptical,  of  the  heroine's 
environment  and  personality.  Not  thoroughly  accurate  histori- 
cally, the  work  explains  the  atmosphere  and  birth  of  a  legend. 
L'lle  des  Pinffouins  (1908)  is  a  satirical  allegory,  a  sketch  of 
humanity's  development;  it  is  at  times  as  coarse  as  Rabelais  and 
as  bitter  as  Swift;  often  obscm-e  in  its  references,  the  book  yet 
contains  many  flashes  of  genius.  Les  Dievx  ont  soif  (1912), 
displaying  the  excesses  of  the  Terror,  seems  a  paradoxical  per- 
formance on  the  part  of  a  believer  in  the  Revolution;  several 
of  the  characters  are  strongly  etched,  and  private  history  is  well 
interwoven  with  that  of  the  nation.  La  Revolte  des  anges 
(1914)  is  anti-Christian,  and  Sur  la  voie  glorieuse  (1915)  is 
anti-German. 

The  message  of  Anatole  France  is  too  complex  to  be  clear. 
We  doubt  whether  the  dilettante  has  wholly  given  way  to  the 
reformer;  he  is  still  too  fond  of  contradiction  and  too  readily 
disillusioned.  Retaining  his  sjrmpathy  for  the  proletariat,  he 
*'  passed  the  sponge  of  universal  raillery "  over  Church  and 
State.  He  who  loved  legends,  historical  or  religious,  for  their 
romantic  savor,  has  also  mocked  at  them  for  their  lack  of  truth. 
He  who  decorated  the  shrine  of  love  has  become  preoccupied  with 
its  biological  function.  Only  two  things  has  he  left  standing: 
his  own  intellect  and  his  artistic  competence.  These  two  gifts, 
in  the  form  of  esprit  and  devotion  to  beauty,  are  interwoven  with 
his  incomparable  personal  style.^  The  esprit  appears  as  compact 
wit,  as  delicate  or  bitter  irony,  and  as  the  humor  that  arises 
from  a  paradoxical  situation.  When  the  female  Penguin  is 
seized  and  inducted  into  her  first  garment,  she  inquires:  "  Tombe- 
t-elle  bien?"  When  M.  Bergeret  grows  philosophical,  he  never 
addresses  his  wife  but  makes  brilliant  observations  to  his  dog. 
Paradox  is  involved  in  the  humor  of  Crmnquebille,  in  the  comedy 
of  Celui  qui  epousa  une  femme  muette,  and  in  the  situation  of 
La  Revolte  des  anges,  where  the  angels  become  men  of  the  world 
and  the  devils  become  angels.  Every  situation  is  enhanced  by 
the  esprit  so  characteristic  of  this  author.  As  for  his  beauty-wor- 
ship, that  is  the  trait  with  which  we  began  and  with  which  we 
must  end.  It  is  in  honor  of  beauty  that  he  finds  his  most  perfect 
phrases  and  that  he  cherishes  the  fairest  images:  the  image  of 

»  Which  he  defined  as  a  compound  of  "infinite  shades  of  thought." 


678      FICTION:    NATURALISM,    PSYCHOLOGY 

Dido  wandering  in  the  myrtles  with  her  immortal  wound;  the 
image  of  Thais,  actress  and  courtesan  — 

Immobile,  semblable  a  une  statue,  mais  promenant  autour 
d'elle  le  paisible  regard  de  ses  yeux  de  violette,  douce  et  fiere,  elle 
domiait  a  tous  le  frisson  tragique  de  la  beaute. 

This  ideal  beauty  lives  again  in  Le  Jardin  d'Epicure  and  haunts 
the  dreams  of  Bergeret.  It  is  found  in  superb  Pagan  flights  of 
fancy,  like  the  vision  of  Nectaire  (Pan)  in  La  Revolte  des  anges. 
It  quickens  many  exquisite  descriptions  of  nature,  whether  in  the 
French  provinces,  in  Italy  or  in  the  Orient.  It  is  crystallized 
in  short  perfect  sentences:  "  Et  sur  son  beau  rire  \m  faune  presse 
une  grappe  de  raisin  vermeil."  It  is  the  most  sincere  and  the  most 
enduring  quality  of  Anatole  France,  who  in  matters  of  thought 
is  a  myriad-minded  and  skeptical  Voltairian,  but  in  matters  of 
art  remains  a  faithful  Epicurean. 


CHAPTER  II 

IN    DRAMA:    THE    THREE    MOVEMENTS 

The  three  chief  dramatic  currents  towards  the  end  of  the 
century  are  Naturalistic,  psychological  and  Romantic.  But  first 
we  should  reckon  with  the  destinies  of  la  piece  bien 
faite,  which  descended  from  Scribe  to  Sardou.  The 
well-made  play  may  be  defined  as  a  product  of  artifice  rather 
than  art,  dependent  on  incident  and  formulas  rather  than  on  char- 
acter-study and  truth  to  life.  Victorien  Sardou  (1831-1908), 
essentially  a  theatrical  expert,  used  formulas  in  the  manner  of 
Victor  Hugo,  stage-tricks  in  the  manner  of  Mr.  Belasco,  and 
stage-setting  in  an  original  elaborate  manner  which  has  since 
nearly  overpowered  the  modern  theater.  Sardou  wrote  about 
sixty  plays,  covering  an  extremely  wide  range.  Some  of  his 
His  Two  dramas  are  serious,  but  he  shines  particularly  in  light 
Specialties  comedy  and  in  the  big  historical  "  machine."  He 
began  by  amusing  the  Second  Empire,  whose  luxury  he  loved, 
with  such  airy  trifles  as  Pattes  de  mouche  (1860)  and  Nos  bons 
Yillageois  (1866) .  His  masterpiece  in  vaudeville  is  the  sparkling 
Divorgons  (1880) ,  which  extracts  merriment  from  the  possibili- 
ties of  impending  divorce  laws  (see  p.  598).  These  comedies 
are  marked  by  fertility  of  invention  and  by  skill  in  maintaining 
the  interest  of  the  audience.  Sardou  is  at  any  rate  less  super- 
ficial than  Scribe,  and  a  more  serious  kind  of  domestic  comedy, 
as  exemplified  in  Femande,  is  within  his  scope.  Also,  Rabagas 
(1872) ,  usually  considered  his  greatest  play,  exhibits  the  political 
demagogue  (probably  Gambetta)  with  humor,  power  and  a  large 
background.  In  the  seventies,  the  versatile  writer  began  the 
series  of  semi-historical  melodramas  with  which  his  name  is 
most  frequently  associated.  The  outstanding  ones  are  Patrie 
(1869),  La  Haine  (1874),  and  the  three  "  Doras,"  {Dora,  Fedora, 
and  Theodora)  of  which  Fedora  (1882)  saw  the  triumphal  advent 
of  Sarah  Bernhardt  and  Theodora  (1884)  marks  the  introduction 

679 


IN  DRAMA:  THE  THREE  MOVEMENTS 

of  elaborate  stage-settings  and  costiunes.  In  this  new  departure 
Sir  Henry  Irving  followed  Sardou.  The  story  of  La  Tosca  (1887) 
and,  in  lighter  vein,  that  of  Madame  Sans-Oene  (1893),  are 
well  known;  in  the  latter  play,  Rejane  gave  a  great  characteriza- 
tion of  Napoleon's  reckless  washerwoman.  Sardou  continued  to 
use  historical  dramas,  dealing  with  the  France  of  the  Revolution, 
the  Italy  of  Dante  and  the  Spain  of  the  Inquisition  (La  Sorciere, 
1903).  These  plays  are  full  of  sensational  and  spectacular 
effects  and  show  much  cleverness  in  construction;  but  within 
they  are  rather  hollow.  The  dramatist  sometimes  mingled  his 
two  specialties  of  vaudeville  and  melo,  as  in  La  Famille  Benoiton 
(1865) .  He  is  a  skilled  tactician  of  the  stage,  a  "  master-builder 
of  attractive  edifices  that  are  not  enduring." 

A  gentlemanly  playwright,  Edouard  Pailleron  (1834-99),  also 
began  activities  under  the  Second  Empire;  but  his  most  notable 
_  .,  dramas  were  produced  later.     In  his  graceful  well- 

written  comedies,  Pailleron  depicts  the  upper  social 
strata  with  worldly  knowledge  and  a  light  touch.  As  regards 
structure  and  devices,  Pailleron's  plots  are  "  well-made,"  but  he 
has  more  elegance  than  Scribe  and  seems  rather  in  the  literary 
tradition  of  Beaumarchais  and  Musset.  L'Etincelle  (1879) 
shows  how  the  "  spark  "  of  love  may  be  kindled  in  a  woman's 
heart.  La  Sowris  (1887)  stages  a  ladies'  battle  for  a  lover  —  an 
amiable  middle-aged  Don  Juan  who  succumbs  to  the  charm  of 
the  ingenue.  Le  Monde  ou  Von  s'ennuie  (1881)  delicately  derides 
a  coterie  of  blue-stockings  and  agreeably  demonstrates  how  love 
may  be  superior  to  learning.  This  is  Pailleron's  most  famous 
play  and  is  often  considered  the  best  light  comedy  of  the  century. 
It  recalls  Moliere's  Femmes  Savantes. 


1.    Naturalism  and  the  Social  Drama. 

Naturalistic  drama  is  closely  connected  with  the  so-called 
theatre  social,  which  like  the  roman  social  aims  at  the  portrayal 
The  of  sociological  problems  and  conditions  in  all  their 

"Theatre        diversity.      Balzac,    Augier    and    Dumas    ills   had 
pointed  the  way ;  the  road  was  clear,  in  the  last  dec- 
ades of  the  century,  for  a  succession  of  plnys  which  should  deal 
with  love  in  its  social  aspects  (the  family,  adultery,  divorce); 


THE    THEATRE-LIBRE  681 

with  the  confusion  of  castes  and  with  such  groups  as  the  magis- 
tracy, doctors  and  writers,  politicians,  teachers,  business  men; 
with  such  problems  as  heredity,  the  social  evil,  race-suicide  and 
political  corruption.  Dozens  of  people  wrote  plays  along  these 
lines,  for  this  is  the  most  important  type  of  modern  drama; 
Eugene  Brieux  is  its  chief  representative.  But  neither  Brieux 
nor  Becque  could  have  obtained  full  recognition  save  for  the 
exertions  of  M.  Antoine,  who  as  producer  and  stage- 
manager  founded  the  Theatre-Libre  (1887-96)  and 
later  the  Theatre-Antoine  (1897-1906).  The  effort  of  the 
Theatre-Libre  was  four-fold:  (1)  The  suppression  of  the  well- 
made  play;  (2)  realistic  stage-settings,  natm-alness  in  elocution 
and  pantomime;  (3)  attacks  on  the  "  commercial  "  theater,  the 
emphasis  on  a  good  ensemble  rather  than  "  stars,"  and  the 
endeavor  to  present  new  playwrights  not  favored  by  the  sub- 
ventioned  theaters;  (4)  hence  the  launching  of  novelties  and  of 
such  foreign  writers  as  Ibsen,  Hauptmann  and  Tolstoy.  In 
1890-95  most  of  Ibsen  was  presented  at  Paris  (Theatre-Libre, 
Theatre  de  I'CEuvre,  etc.)  and  his  influence,  whether  in  the 
direction  of  Realism  or  of  Symbolism,  was  considerable.  Other 
Scandinavians,  Russians  and  Germans  counted  in  similar  direc- 
tions. As  a  Naturalistic  movement,  the  Theatre-Libre  over-em- 
phasized pathology  and  crime,  grossness  and  pessimism.  It 
preferred  sordidness  to  Sardou.  It  produced  dramas  ranging  from 
poetic  symbolism  to  the  piece  rosse  or  "  tough  "  play  (Becque  and 
Oscar  Metenier) .  It  staged  a  good  deal  of  Zola's  fiction  and  that 
of  the  Goncourts.  It  was  illumined  by  various  lesser  lights 
(Ceard,  Hennique,  Rosny,  J.  Jullien).  And  it  discovered  the 
majority  of  contemporary  dramatists,  including  Lavedan,  Porto- 
Riche,  Curel  and  Brieux.  The  regular  stage  presently  claimed 
most  of  Antoine's  neophytes. 

Eugene  Brieux  (b.  1858)  is  a  man  of  the  people,  acquainted 
with  the  seamy  side  of  life  and  a  journalist  of  experience.  A 
"  robust  paladin,"  he  evinces  a  complete  sincerity, 
a  good  sense  of  fact,  a  wide  and  fair  handling  of 
social  questions.  He  is  the  godson  of  Dumas  fils,  in  his  blending 
of  reformatory  intentions  with  dramatic  technique,  to  which 
he  sometimes  adds  the  strong  "  sliced  "  scenes  of  Becque.  Critics 
usually  make  three  divisions  in  the  work  of  Brieux: 


682      IN    DRAMA:    THE    THREE    MOVEMENTS 

I.  From  Menages  d'artistes  (1890)  through  L'Evasion  (1896), 
a  group  containing  mostly  comedy  and  satire.  La  Couvee  is 
concerned  with  the  training  of  children,  L'Engrenage  with  po- 
litical corruption,  and  Les  Bienfaiteurs  is  unfavorable  to  organ- 
ized charity.  Blanchette  (1892)  made  Brieux'  reputation  (via 
Antoine)  and  is  the  best  play  of  this  period.  It  presents  strong 
characters  and  well-knit  scenes.  The  problem  revolves  around 
a  heroine  who  has  been  too  well  educated  for  her  destiny.  The 
daughter  of  a  village  inn-keeper  (le  Pere  Rousset),  Blanchette 
has  obtained  her  teaching  diploma,  but  cannot  find  a  position. 
She  remains  at  home,  waiting,  and  the  conflict  of  the  village 
milieu  with  her  ambitions  is  excellently  set  forth.  She  quarrels 
with  Pere  Rousset,  who  sends  her  forth  to  her  disaster;  unable 
to  find  suitable  work,  she  descends  to  the  depths  in  one  version 
of  the  play,  but  a  more  moderate  "  happy  ending  "  installs  her, 
after  many  tribulations,  as  th«  wife  of  an  inferior.  The  fault 
of  the  situation  is  attributed  to  the  State,  which  should  provide 
for  its  trained  educators. 

II.  'f  he  second  division  rims  from  Les  Trois  files  de  M.  Du- 
pont  (1897)  through  Materniie  (1903).  Brieux  here  waxes  mili- 
tant and  more  pessimistic,  while  his  dramas  become  definite 
studies  of  various  environments  and  professions  (cf.  Balzac). 
For  example,  Resultat  des  courses  is  a  good  presentation  of 
lower-class  gambling,  Les  Remplagantes  shows  the  perils  of 
nurses,  Maternite  is  a  defence  of  motherhood.  In  several  of  these 
plays,  as  in  the  too-famous  Avaries,  it  is  evident  that  discussion 
and  reform  are  occupying  Brieux  more  than  straight  dramatics. 
Les  Trois  filles  de  M.  Dupont  is  better,  in  its  presentation  of 
"  chained "  women  and  their  limited  destinies.  But  Brieux' 
masterpiece  is  La  Robe  rouge  (1900),  whose  title  is  indicative 
of  the  legal  profession.  Many  varieties  of  judicial  rank  and 
character  are  here  developed.  The  author  depicts  the  magis- 
tracy as  over-crowded,  poorly  paid  and  open  to  political 
manipulations.  The  plot  is  truly  dramatic:  a  murder  has 
been  committed,  and  since  a  culprit  must  be  found  (for  the 
benefit  of  the  examining  magistrate)  a  false  accusation  weighs 
against  a  peasant,  whose  wife  is  put  through  the  "  third  degree." 
These  inquisitional  scenes  are  common  and  extremely  forceful 
in  Brieux.    The  peasant's  wife,  Yanetta,  is  compelled  to  ac- 


BRIEUX  683 

knowledge  a  former  indiscretion,  and  the  husband,  though 
cleared  of  the  charge  of  murder,  loses  his  domestic  happiness 
and  condemns  Yanetta.  She  obtains  poetic  justice  by  killing 
Mouzon,  the  instigator  of  the  charge  and  the  villain  of  the 
plot.  Around  this  central  action,  other  destinies,  especially 
those  of  the  Vagret  family,  are  developed  within  the  main 
theme  of  the  hard  condition  of  the  magistracy.  The  play, 
then,  happily  combines  dramatic  interest  with  the  study  of  a 
particiilar  class. 

III.  Beginning  approximately  with  La  Deserteuse  (1904)  and 
not  yet  ended,  Brieux'  third  period  is  difficult  to  characterize. 
The  problem  too  often  overrides  the  play  in  this  last  division; 
yet  a  calmer  and  more  optimistic  note  is  heard  and  somewhat 
wider  social  questions  are  treated.  La  Frangaise  (1907)  sup- 
ports by  discussion  rather  than  by  drama  the  thesis  that  the 
French  woman  is  better  behaved  than  is  usually  supposed  by  for- 
eigners. Simone  is  interesting  technically,  as  also  in  its  centering 
of  family  solidarity  around  the  child  ;^  the  same  moral  is  found 
in  Suzette  and  La  Deserteuse.  La  Femme  seule  (1913)  is  good 
drama  and  equally  good  feminism.  The  heroine  tries  to  gain  her 
own  bread  and  is  several  times  defeated  by  the  rivalry  or  the 
gallantry  of  man  (cf.  Blanchette).  Le  Bourgeois  aux  champs 
(1914)  is  an  amusing  variation  on  Flaubert's  Bouvard  et 
'  Peauchet;  the  townsman  comes  to  grief  on  his  farm  and  the  clash 
of  classes  is  well  portrayed. 

Brieux'  conscientious  sincerity,  his  moral  intentions  and  the 
comprehensiveness  of  his  social  survey  are  all  to  his  credit.  He 
is  broad-minded  and  earnest,  yet  with  sufficient  humor  and  un- 
derstanding of  human  complexities.  It  is  less  certain  that  he 
makes  the  most  of  his  dramatic  opportunities.  Too  often  he 
yields  to  the  impulse  to  talk  or  to  preach;  thus  the  action  lags, 
and  the  characters  fall  heavily  into  the  roles  of  puppets  or  mouth- 
pieces. His  language  is  sometimes  rough  or  ungrammatical,  but 
remains  as  democratic  as  his  subjects  and  his  sympathies.  The 
atmosphere  of  ugliness  or  depression  which  marks  certain  plays 
is  inherent  in  the  Naturalistic  drama.  It  is  still  more  conspic- 
uous in  the  brutal  though  intense  work  of  Octave  Mirbeau  (1848- 

'  This  may  be  considered  Brieux'  chief  "message,"  since  no  less  than  eight  plays 
emphasize  the  importance  of  the  child. 


684)  IN  DRAMA:  THE  THREE  MOVEMENTS 

1917),  novelist  and  dramatist,  who  wrote  Les  mauvais  Bergers 
(presenting  workmen  on  a  strike)  and  notably  Les  Ajfaires  sont 
les  affaires  (1903).  This  play  is  in  the  straight  tradition  of  the 
money-drama  from  Turcaret  to  Becque.  In  Isidore  Lechat,  Mir- 
beau  fully  depicts  that  peculiarly  nineteenth-century  type  of  the 
predatory  millionaire  whom  Balzac  created  and  whom  Dumas 
fils  developed  {La  Question  d'argent).  This  type  has  become 
worse  morally  and  the  presentation  is  more  acrid  in  Mirbeau. 
The  characters  and  the  financial  intrigues  are  life-like,  so  that 
the  play  is  a  masterpiece  of  grim  power.  With  the  exception  of 
Mirbeau,  undiluted  Naturalism  was  on  the  decline  before  the 
end  of  the  century;  the  early  proteges  of  Antoine  have  mostly 
scattered  in  other  directions,  though  the  technical  innovations  of 
the  Theatre-Libre  are  not  forgotten. 

2.    Psychology  and   the  "  Triangle." 

The  second  movement  in  the  contemporary  drama  may  be 
considered  as  including  whatever  emphasizes  the  analysis  of 
character  and  the  psychology  of  love.  The  most 
distinguished  of  these  psychological  dramatists  was 
Paul  Hervieu  (1857-1915) ;  he  was  also  foremost  in  the  domain 
of  high  tragedy.  He  is  an  artist  in  sentiment  and  expression, 
a  rigorous  logician  in  technique,  and  better  than  any  other  mod-' 
ern  he  recalls  the  tragic  elevation  of  Racine.  These  qualities 
became  evident  in  Les  Tenailles  (1895),  which  worthily  opened 
the  series  of  his  problem-plays.  The  title  ("The  Pincers,"  of. 
Le  Dedale  or  "  The  Labyrinth  ")  indicates  a  predicament,  and 
Hervieu  is  fond  of  showing  characters  in  the  clutch  of  circum- 
stance or  individuals  conflicting  with  the  law.  In  this  tense 
tragedy,  the  "  pincers  "  of  matrimony  are  applied  by  a  hard  hus- 
band to  grip  his  wife,  when  she  wishes  to  divorce  him  and  remarry; 
they  are  applied  by  the  wife  to  grip  the  husband  when,  ten  years 
later,  she  forces  him  to  sustain  the  burden  of  herself  and  of  her 
child  by  a  former  lover.  In  each  case,  the  too  moderate  divorce 
laws,  as  Hervieu  considers  them,  operate  not  for  freedom  but 
to  compel  the  bearing  of  the  yoke.  He  and  Brieux  differ  widely 
in  their  views  on  divorce. 
The  dramatic  swing  of  the  pendulum  and  the  injustice  of  the 


HERVIEU  685 

code  are  again  features  of  La  Loi  de  I'homme  (1897),  in  which 
Hervieu  shows  himself  a  convinced  feminist.  As  a  dramatist,  he 
Chief  Plays  ^^^^P^^y^  *°o  much  esprit  de  geometrie,  and  L'Enigme 
(1901)  has  almost  the  rigor  of  a  mathematical 
puzzle.  This  tendency  is  less  apparent  in  La  Course  du  flambeau 
(1901),  probably  Hervieu 's  finest  play;  the  main  characters  are 
profoundly  depicted,  the  struggles  of  maternal  love  are  universal- 
ized in  the  high  Classic  manner,  and  there  is  dramatic  economy 
or  exact  measuring  of  the  means  to  the  end.  The  title  suggests 
the  theme:  that  the  torch  of  love  goes  down  the  ages,  just  as  the 
doom  of  sacrifice  descends  through  the  generations.  Of  the  three 
women  concerned,  the  grandmother  is  devoted  to  her  daughter, 
Sabine  Revel,  who  in  turn  gives  up  everything  for  her  own 
daughter:  an  opportunity  for  remarriage,  her  honesty  in  a  money 
transaction,  her  mother  and  finally  the  daughter  herself.  It  is  a 
poignant,  cumulative  drama.  In  Le  Dedale  (1903),  Hervieu 
returns  to  the  triangle  and  to  the  difiicult  situation  of  French 
women  in  the  matter  of  divorce.  A  woman,  divorcee  for  ade- 
quate reasons,  remarries  and  is  then  attracted  back  to  her  forroer 
husband  (cf.  Le  Berceau  by  Brieux).  The  child  appears  again 
as  a  great  influence  and  ultimately  a^s  the  solution  of  the  heroine's 
entanglement;  as  for  the  men,  they  end  by  killing  each  other  and 
disappearing  over  a  cliff  —  a  denouement  which  has  been  much 
criticized.  Of  Hervieu's  subsequent  plays,  Le  Beveil  (1905)  and 
Connais-toi  (1909)  offer  the  most  psychological  interest;  they 
both  deal  with  the  subconscious  or  with  the  dormant  depths 
of  character  revealed  under  stress.  Hervieu's  logical  rigor  finally 
yields  place  to  a  more  philosophic  charity  and  a  mellower  dra- 
matic touch.  His  style  becomes  progressively  clearer,  though  still 
at  times  over-literary;  but  his  best  pages  maintain  a  Classic 
elegance,  precision  and  harmony.  His  principal  idea  is  that  the 
law  is  often  unjust  to  individuals,  particularly  to  women.  Hervieu 
is  a  convinced  feminist  and  seems  to  commiserate  the  plight 
of  his  tempest-driven  heroines.  Like  the  other  amorists,  he  is 
mainly  concerned  with  the  eternal  "triangle"  and  with  its 
possible  geometrical  variations.  But  his  treatment  is  refined  and 
skilful. 

Georges  de  Porto-Riche  (b.  1849)  is  also  an  analyst  of  love  and 
like  Hervieu  is  more  interested  in  the  development  of  individual 


686      IN    DRAMA:    THE    THREE    MOVEMENTS 

temperaments  than  in  general  social  laws.    He  is  essentially  an 

artist,  who  has  attained  an  elegant  and  harmonious  naanner. 

.        Beginning  with  poetic  plays,  he  was  soon  adopted  by 

Antoine  {La  Chance  de  Frangoise,  produced  1888) 
and  won  his  reputation  through  his  most  characteristic  play, 
Amour euse  (1891).  The  theme  of  this  is  the  clash  between 
an  over-fond  wife  and  a  too-busy  husband;  the  latter  finally  al- 
lows a  lover  to  profit  from  his  wife's  devotion;  yet  the  marital 
bond  remains  too  strong  to  be  broken.  As  in  Hervieu,  the 
Nietzschean  doctrine  of  the  individual's  "  right  to  live  "  appears 
in  this  play.  The  treatment  is  in  the  very  personal  manner  of 
Porto-Riche,  combining  subtle  psychology,  graceful  style,  witty 
and  characteristic  dialogue.  Similar  qualities  appear  in  Le 
Passe  (1897),  in  which  the  heroine  forgives  a  Don  Juan  his 
infidelities  for  the  sake  of  his  charm.  The  above  are  drawing- 
room  plays,  whereas  Le  vieil  Homme  (1911)  is  more  romantic 
and  unusual.  In  the  majority  of  his  dramas  Porto-Riche  depicts 
men  who  are  light-o'love,  fascinating  to  women  and  deliberate 
liars. 

Frangois  de  Curel  (b.  1854) ,  an  aristocrat  by  birth  and  ideas, 
is  interested  in  morbid  psychology,  in  strong  and  strange  situa- 
„     J  tions.    He  is  a  poet  and  a  Symbolist  and  betrays 

the  influence  of  Ibsen.  The  majority  of  his  plays 
were  produced  by  Antoine,  beginning  with  L'Envers  d'une  sainte 
and  Les  Fossiles  (both  of  1892).  The  latter  play  is  a  master- 
piece, though  of  a  somber  and  painful  kind.  A  father  and  his 
son  have  loved  the  same  woman,  who  gives  birth  to  a  child,  the 
last  of  the  Chantemelles.  The  rest  of  this  noble  family,  in  one 
way  or  another,  sacrifice  their  lives  in  order  that  this  child 
may  carry  on  the  name.  Aristocrats  may  b'fe  immoral  and  use- 
less "  fossils,"  but  —  noblesse  oblige.  The  love  of  nature,  partic- 
ularly of  ancestral  and  immemorial  forests,  is  conspicuous  in 
this  play,  and  the  author's  general  message  seems  to  be  that 
long-rooted  natural  characteristics  will  ultimately  win  out.  So 
in  La  Fille  sauvage  (1902),  the  barbarous  heroine  is  civilized 
only  to  break  out  with  a  more  deadly  ferocity  in  the  end.  In 
Le  Repas  du  lion  (1897),  an  aristocrat  who  has  killed  a  work- 
man tries  to  make  expiation  by  a  life  of  hmnanitarian  service; 
but  his  natural  ego  is  too  strong  and  leads  to  his  undoing.    La 


MINOR    PLAYWRIGHTS  687 

Nouvelle  idole  (produced  1899)  presents  a  doctor  whose  devotion 
to  science  leads  to  disastrous  results.  In  most  of  these  plays 
Curel  has  chosen  repellent  subjects;  he  is  too  contemptuous  of 
dramatic  laws  and  technique ;  but  he  has  an  "  imaginative 
strangeness  "  all  his  own,  and  if  he  often  leaves  reality  he  thereby 
comes  the  nearer  to  romance. 

Closer  to  his  own  period  is  Maurice  Donnay  (b.  1860),  who 
began  as  a  cabaret-artist  at  the  Chat-Noir.  His  first  impor- 
tant  play  was  Amants  (1895),  concerning  the  forma- 
tion and  the  rupture  of  an  "  affair  "  between  two 
typical  Parisians.  In  the  majority  of  his  plays,  light  or  serious, 
Donnay  appears  as  an  "  apologist  for  free  love  "  (Chandler) , 
an  anti-feminist  and  a  dramatist  of  considerable  ability,  ecpe- 
cially  in  the  depiction  of  character.  La  Dovloureuse,  L'autre 
Danger  and  L'AjJranchie  are  specimens  in  this  manner.  He  con- 
siders wider  social  questions  in  Oiseaux  de  passage  (1904),  and 
especially  in  Le  Retour  de  Jerusalem  (1903),  one  of  his  strongest 
plays.  Here  it  is  a  question  of  a  liaison  between  a  Jewess  who 
has  renounced  her  faith  and  an  aristocratic  Gentile;  latent  dif- 
ferences make  the  union  unhappy.  As  a  dramatist,  Donnay  has 
humor  and  skill,  but  he  lacks  profundity.  Unlike  the  chief 
A  a  oth  psychologists,  Henri  Lavedan  (b.  1859)  and  Jules 
Lemaitre  (1853-1914)  do  not  sound  a  suffi- 
ciently clear  individual  note  to  make  a  lasting  impression. 
Lemaitre  is  a  critic  of  charm  and  penetration  (see  Ch.  IV, 
below).  In  the  drama,  he  has,  to  be  sure,  won  notable 
successes:  Le  Depute  Leveau  (1890),  on  the  corruption  of 
politics;  Le  Pardon  (1895),  on  reciprocal  forgiveness  be- 
tween unfaithful  spouses;  Le  Massiere  (1905),  on  the  studio- 
world  and  middle-aged  loves.  But  on  the  whole  Lemaitre 
has  been  too  versatile  to  be  a  great  artist.  The  same  is  true  of 
Lavedan,  who  ranges  from  the  easy  cynicism  of  Le  vieux  Mar- 
cheur  (1899),  through  the  depravity  of  the  Marquis  de  Priola 
(1902),  to  the  somewhat  deliberate  idealism  of  Le  Duel  (1905). 
The  intense  patriotism  of  Servir  (1913),  is  conceived  in  quite 
a  different  tone  from  the  satire  of  Le  Prince  d'Aurec.  Lavedan 
has  a  tolerant  breadth  and  has  won  popularity  at  the  expense 
of  concentration  and  individuality. 


688      IN    DRAMA:    THE    THREE    MOVEMENTS 

3.    Romance. 

It  has  been  seen  that  there  were  romantic  elements  in  the 
early  work  of  Porto-Riche  and  throughout  the  peculiar  dramas 
Neo-  of  Curel.    The  graceful  fancy  of  Theodore  de  Ban- 

Romanticism  yjiig  found  expression  in  Gringoire  (historical)  and 
in  Riquet  a  la  Houppe  {comedie-jeerique) ;  both  plays  develop 
the  Hugonian  antithesis  between  an  ugly  body  and  a  beautiful 
soul.  The  more  heroic  strain  of  Hugo  was  revived  in  La  Fille  de 
Roland  (1875)  by  Henri  de  Bornier,  a  drama  containing  both 
poetic  and  patrioitic  fire.  Bornier,  Sardou,  Catulle  Mendes  and 
Frangois  Coppee  wrote  numerous  historical  plays,  many  of  which 
suggest  the  spirit  of  romance.  Coppee  (see  next  chapter)  is  at  his 
best  in  Pour  la  Couronne  (1895).  A  faithless  Balkan  Prince  be- 
trays his  country  and  is  slain  by  his  own  son;  the  latter  shoulders 
the  blame  of  the  treachery  rather  than  accuse  his  dead  father. 
The  character  of  Militza,  the  gipsy  girl  who  loves  the  hero, 
is  very  winning,  and  some  of  her  speeches  are  in  excellent  verse. 
Romantic  also  are  the  majority  of  the  plays  of  Jean  Richepin 
(b.  1849) ,  whose  bohemian  soul  finds  expression  in  Le  Flibiostier 
(Breton  characters),  in  Le  Chemineau  (1897)  where  the  hero  is 
a  cheerful  follower  of  the  open  road,  and  in  Les  Truands  (1899), 
which  resuscitates  the  medieval  vagabonds  of  Notre-Dame. 
Thus  Neo-Romanticism  has  many  interesting  plays  to  its  credit, 
and  Rostand's  Cyrano  de  Bergerac  is  not  an  isolated  phenom- 
enon. 

We  must  turn  aside  for  a  moment  to  consider  the  work  of 
the  Belgian  mystic,  Maurice  Maeterlinck  (b.  1862).  For  him 
Maeterlinck  ^^^  ^P^"*  °^  romance  "  dwelt  in  a  Northern  land." 
Born  and  educated  at  Ghent  he  has  passed  most  of 
his  life  on  his  Flemish  estate;  but  as  a  youth  he  brought  to 
Paris  a  taste  for  dreamy  legends  and  fairy-tales.  Then  he  came 
under  the  influence  of  the  Symbolists  and  of  Shakespeare;  his 
early  dramas  are  all  symbolic  and  his  first  play,  La  Princesse 
Maleine  (1889),  caused  him  to  be  hailed  as  the  "  Belgian  Shakes- 
peare." What  we  find  rather  in  this  work  is  a  brooding  sense 
of  mystery,  of  fatality  and  of  "  inexorable  death."  The  feminine 
villain  strangles  Maleine  and  is  in  turn  killed  by  Prince  Hjahnar, 
who  then  commits  suicide.    But  the  bald  plot  is  never  the  thing 


MAETERLINCK  689 

with  Maeterlinck,  who  makes  us  drink  deep  of  symbolism,  mood- 
mess  and  atmosphere.      The  whole  somber  castle  gives  an  en- 
vironment of  terror  and  suspense.    The  characters  are  "  strange  " 
obsessed,  dominated  by  the  powers  of  Nature,  who  vouchsafes 
only  smister  symbols  and  presentiments.    Maeterlinck's  pathetic 
puppets  are  usually  a  prey  to  inconsecutive  movements  and  de- 
sires  (hence  the  inconsecutive  scenes)   and  wait  passively  for 
the  Intruder,  Death   (cf.  La  Mort,  1913).    A  number  of  one- 
act  plays  emphasize  this  attitude.    In  L'Intruse  (1890),  a  family 
expects  the  death  of  one  of  their  number.    They  do  not  mention 
their  fear,  which  is  entirely  atmospheric,  expressed  by  monoto- 
nous question  and  answer  about  apparently  irrelevant  things. 
But  the  "frisson  de  invisible  "  mounts  through  the  increasing 
uneasmess  of  the  blind  grandfather,  until  the  fated  end.    Les 
Aveugles  (1890)  further  stresses  the  terrors  of  the  unseen,  and 
Les  Sept  Princesses  (1891)  is  equally  "  Maeterlinckian  "  in  its 
fairy-tale  background.    This  vein  recurs  in  Ariane  et  Barbe- 
bleue,  in  the  tower-scene  of  Aglavaine  et  Selysette,  and  of  course 
in  L'Oiseau  bleu.    Such  allegorical  and  fanciful  episodes  are 
quite  in  line  with  Maeterlinck's  Symbolism,  which  should  now 
be  definitely  characterized.    Let  us  choose  Pelleas  et  Melisande 
'(1893),  the  best-known  of  the  dramas  which  deal  with  misty 
events  and  people  in  some  uncharted  land.    This  play  has  quite 
a  distinctive  plot,  namely  the  Paolo  and  Francesca  situation. 
Golaud  is  the  old  husband,  Pelleas  the  youthfvd  lover   and 
brother,  Melisande  the  "  strange  "  young  bride.    But  never  did 
a  play  sound  less  "  triangular."    Passion  is  only  vaguely  sug- 
gested, and  the  three  love  scenes  emphasize  symbolic  values: 
Melisande  loses  her  marriage  ring  in  a  fountain;  she  lets  down 
her  wonderful  hair  which  envelops  and  delights  Pelleas;  apd 
reality  takes  on  the  spaciousness  and  poetry  of  a  dream.    Sim- 
ilarly, in  Aglavaine  et  Selysette  (1896),  where  it  is  a  question 
of  outgoing  and  incoming  sweetheart,  the  mild  Selysette  will 
throw  herself  from  a  tower  to  make  way  for  her  rival.    The 
symbol  is  found  in  the  slow  sinking  of  the  sun  indicating  the 
approach  of  death;  and  the  dialogue,  as  elsewhere  in  Maeter- 
linck, keeps  rhythm  with  the  action.    In  all  these  early  plays, 
as  also  in  Interieur,  Lq,  Mort  de  Tintagiles,  and  so  on,  the  em- 
phasis is  on  subconscious  intuition,  on  silence,  terror,  death  and 


690      IN    DRAMA:    THE    THREE    MOVEMENTS 

what  the  author  called  the  "  static  drama."  It  is  to  his  credit 
that  he  has  drawn,  psychologically  speaking,  more  progression 
and  action  from  this  method  than  might  be  anticipated.  The 
style  of  his  prose  is  indubitably  poetic,  but  the  dialogue,  in  its 
wilful  simplicity  and  repetition,  sounds  too  often  like  an  Ollen- 
dorff grammar  and  has  lent  itself  readily  to  parody.  Also,  a 
certain  obscurity  of  intention  and  effort  must  be  recognized. 
But  the  author  always  keeps  our  imaginations  quivering. 

It  may  be  that  Maeterlinck  grew  tired  of  contending  with  the 
difficulties  of  his  peculiar  fown.  At  any  rate,  in  1902,  he  made 
His  Second  a  distinct  shift.  Monna  Vanna  marks  an  attempt  at 
Phase  "  legitimate  "  and  fairly  plain  historical  drama.    The 

enveloping  action  is  that  of  the  fifteenth-century  feud  between 
Florence  and  Pisa.  Guido  Colonna  commands  the  Pisans  and 
the  Florentine  general,  Prinzivalle,  insists  that  Guido's  wife  shall 
give  herself  to  him  in  order  to  deliver  her  fellow-countrymen. 
When  Vanna  comes  alone  to  his  tent,  he  suddenly  reveals  himself 
as  an  idealistic  and  respectful  lover.  Returning  to  her  hus- 
band's camp,  Vanna  cannot  convince  him  of  her  innocence,  finds 
him  too  jealous  and  egotistical  and  decides  to  escape  with 
Prinzivalle.  Barring  a  certain  lack  of  skill  in  "  preparations," 
the  drama  is  progressive  and  interesting.  But  more  interesting  to 
the  author  is  the  psychological  problem,  concerning  the  "  greater 
love  "  of  Prinzivalle.  The  total  effect  is  somewhat  bewildering. 
Marie  Magdeleine  (1910)  is  also  more  like  the  conventional 
drama  and  offers  a  similar  problem.  The  lovely  miracle-play  of 
ScBur  Beatrice,  a  medieval  legend,  is  again  more  characteristic 
of  the  earlier  Maeterlinck,  and  in  L'Oiseau  bleu,  the  poet- 
dramatist  returns  to  the  allegorical  field  which  he  has  made 
peculiarly  his  own.  Two  children,  Tyltyl  and  Mytyl  go  forth 
to  seek  the  bird  of  happiness,  which  they  ultimately  find  at 
home.  Their  adventures,  the  symbolic  persons  and  scenes  they 
meet  with  are  beautifully  rendered.  It  is  an  optimistic  allegory; 
the  author  is  no  longer  oppressed  by  "  nightmares  ";  and  since 
there  are  no  impassable  barriers  to  the  next  world,  "  il  n'y  a 
pas  de  morts."  The  dead  live  again  in  our  memories.  In  the 
sequel,  Les  Fiangailles  (1918),  the  children  have  grown  up  and 
are  able  to  cope  with  Destiny.  So  the  two  former  bugbears, 
Death  and  Fatality,   are   finally   conquered  in  Maeterlinck's 


ROSTAND  691 

widening  view.  He  has  also  given  expression  to  his  philosophy 
in  such  books  as  Le  Tresor  des  humbles,  La  Sagesse  et  la  Des- 
tinee,  La  Mort.  But  his  most  individual  contribution  to  latter- 
day  literature  is  in  the  misty  Romanticism  of  his  symbolic  plays. 

More  in  the  French  Romantic  tradition  is  the  work  of  Edmond 
Rostand  (1868-1918).  A  man  of  delicate  health  and  tempera- 
ment,  his  life  was  short  and  his  period  of  produc- 
tivity was  shorter  still.  After  winning  his  great  suc- 
cess, he  was  made  a  member  of  the  Academy  (1901)  and  soon 
retired  to  his  charming  home  in  the  Pyrenees,  where  he  spent 
practically  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  began  with  a  volume 
of  rather  trivial  verse  (Les  Musardises,  1890),  in  which  he 
displays  much  virtuosity  as  a  rhymester  of  Banville's  school.  Of 
his  half-dozen  plays,  the  first  three  are  comparatively  slight.  In 
the  manner  of  Musset  and  recalling  the  subject  of  A  qiuri  revent 
les  jeunes  filles,  Les  Romanesques  (1894)  has  yet  a  pretty  wit 
and  charm  of  its  own.  It  presents  two  yo\mg  people  who  long 
for  distant  loves  and  adventures.  The  play  is  a  gentle  satire 
on  romance  by  a  Romanticist.  A  higher  poetic  note  is  sounded 
in  La  Princesse  lointaine  (1895).  This  dramatizes  the  story  of 
Rudel  the  troubadour,  a  lover  of  the  Princess  of  Tripoli,  whom 
he  has  never  seen.  As  a  dying  man  he  sails  for  Tripoli,  where 
the  princess  will  soothe  his  last  hours.  Here  Rostand  adds  a 
complication  to  the  legend;  the  troubadour's  lady  and  his  best 
friend  fall  in  love  with  each  other;  but  they  are  saved  from 
treachery  and  the  princess  finally  goes  to  Rudel.  The  legend 
is  picturesquely  handled,  with  developments  that  recall  the 
Tristan  story.  The  play  has  movement  and  sentiment.  Very 
sentimental  is  La  Samaritaine  (1897),  in  its  mingling  of  earthly 
and  heavenly  love.  The  episode  of  the  Samaritan  woman  is 
retold,  largely  in  Biblical  language,  but  with  the  addition  of 
a  good  second  act,  in  which  Photine  proselytizes  for  Christ. 

None  of  these  plays  foretold  the  power  and  success  of  Cyrano 
de  Bergerac  —  comedie  herdique  —  whose  first  representation 
„  _  „  (December  28,  1897)  was  the  most  notable  premiere 
since  that  of  Hernani.  Again  it  seemed  that  Ro- 
mantic emotion  was  conquering  Paris.  Seasoned  critics  like  Faguet 
declared  that  Cyrano  portended  a  renaissance  of  the  poetic  drama, 
while  others  like  Lemaitre  saw  in  it  rather  an  aftermath  and 


692     IN    DRAMA:    THE    THREE    MOVEMENTS 

a  derivative  pseudo-revival,  which  could  not  set  back  the  clock 
of  time.  Historically,  the  latter  view  seems  correct;  it  is  also 
true  that  Rostand  was  not  greatly  original  and  that  he  owed 
a  great  deal  to  the  devices  and  inspiration  of  Hugo  and  even 
of  Diunas  pere.  Nevertheless,  Cyrano  in  itself  is  a  splendid 
Romantic  drama  and  one  of  the  great  plays  of  the  century.  It 
is  also  the  author's  masterpiece,  because  here  he  makes  the 
best  union  of  poetry  and  dramatics  in  a  subject  that  was 
peculiarly  well  suited  to  his  genius.  His  own  leaning  towards 
the  'precieux  and  towards  piu-ple  patches  is  here  justified  by 
the  character  of  his  hero  and  the  atmosphere  of  the  period 
treated.  Cyrano  is  a  high-flown  lover,  a  swaggerer  and  duellist, 
capable  of  everything  from  biu-lesque  to  rare  self-sacrifice.  The 
central  theme,  by  which  Cyrano  Quixotically  serves  the  love  of 
another  man  — 

Je  serai  ton  esprit,  tu  seras  ma  beaute  — 

is  boldly  and  successfully  handled.  The  high  moments,  such  as 
the  balcony-scene,  the  death  of  Christian  and  the  autiunnal 
melancholy  of  the  denouement,  show  a  happy  blending  of  sen- 
timent with  dramatic  power.  The  historical  coloring  (c.  1640) 
is  ample  and  excellent.  The  play  constitutes  a  harmony  within 
itself  and  with  its  author. 

L'Aiglon  (1900)  is  not  such  a  masterpiece;  it  shows  a  weaker 
and  more  confused  inspiration;  but  it  does  not  fail  to  gain 
0th  PI  admiration  in  many  respects.  The  story  of  the 
"  eaglet,"  Napoleon's  son  who  would  fain  be  a 
Napoleon,  offers  pathetic  and  psychological  opportunities,  which 
Rostand  has  certainly  seized.  On  the  other  hand,  the  dramatic 
movement,  the  swift  spontaneous  action  of  Cyrano,  is  lacking. 
Such  a  tendency  would  be  natural,  granted  the  hesitant  nature 
of  the  hero,  the  cumbering  atmosphere  of  the  Austrian  court, 
and  the  numerous  secondary  schemes  and  people.  The  play 
remains,  none  the  less,  too  long,  too  elaborate,  and  too  monoto- 
nous. Brilliant  scenes  and  tirades  almost  redeem  this  lack  of 
progression,  especially  the  epic  scene  on  the  plain  of  Wagram, 
in  which  the  dead  battalions  come  to  life  before  the  vision  of 
the  young  prince.  His  character,  the  opposition  of  dream  and 
action  in  his  nature,  remains  the  best  feature  of  the  play. 


ROSTAND  693 

These  two  dramas,  sponsored  and  personified  respectively  by 
the  great  Coquelin  and  by  Sarah  Bernhardt,  had  swept  Europe 
and  America.  People  waited  eagerly  to  see  what  Rostand  would 
do  next.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  ten  years  of  silence  intervened  — 
and  then  Chantecler  appeared  (1910). 

A  plaintive  and  hectic  note  had  already  been  audible  in 
L'Aiglon  and  (probably  for  reasons  of  health)  is  exaggerated  to 
the  point  of  peevishness  in  Chantecler.  This  drama  lacks  moral 
and  dramatic  balance.  It  symbolizes  the  pathos  of  an  inner 
struggle  towards  beauty  and  nobility,  but  this  excellent  feature 
is  partially  marred  by  the  author's  failings  and  conspicuous 
mannerisms.  The  donnees  include  the  idea  of  a  cock  who  not 
only  rules  his  barnyard  but,  as  poet  and  prophet,  causes  the 
Sim  to  rise  with  his  crowing.  He  falls  in  love  with  a  hen- 
pheasant  (the  Eternal  Feminine) ,  who  leads  him  to  the  Guinea- 
hen's  "  five-o'clock  "  tea.  A  blackbird  typifies  worldly  wit,  a 
nightingale  the  power  of  song,  owls  and  toads  the  ugly  side  of 
life.  Thus  the  play  is  a  symbolic  allegory  and  has  links  with 
Aristophanes,  the  Roman  du  Benard  and  La  Fontaine.  But  un- 
like the  last-named,  Rostand  has  not  kept  the  balance  between 
the  animal  and  the  human  side ;  his  figures  are  too  palpably  and 
too  highly  human,  parading  under  skins  and  feathers.  Uncon- 
vincing on  the  stage,  the  play  well  bears  reading  and  has  many 
fine  passages ;  yet  the  esprit  and  the  tendency  to  puns  which  the 
cock  berates  in  the  blackbird,  are  too  conspicuous  in  the  language 
throughout.  Chantecler  is  a  mixture  of  too  many  different 
things  (allegory,  satire,  extravaganza) ,  and  "  nous  sommes  loin 
de  la  verve  eclatante  et  primesautiere  de  Cyrano." 

Rostand's  influence  is  visible  in  certain  drames  by  Catulle 
Mendes  {Scarron,  etc.)  and  in  such  graceful  fairy-comedies  as 
H"  Tal  t  "^^  Pleur  merveilleuse  (1910)  by  Zamacois.  But 
^Rostand's  imitators  chiefly  serve  to  show  his  own 
superiority.  The  more  obvious  elements  in  his  power  and  appeal 
are  the  following:  First,  a  clean  and  brilliant  wit,  at  its  best 
capable  of  satiric  pungency  or  of  delicious  turns  of  speech; 
at  the  worst  descending  to  puns  and  verbal  pyrotechnics. 
Second,  a  capacity,  largely  Hugonian  in  its  origin,  for  dramatic 
situations,  suspensions  and  well-combined  coups  de  theatre  —  ex- 
amples are  the  duel  in  Act  I  of  Cyrano,  the  dramatic  shifts 


694      IN    DRAMA:    THE    THREE    MOVEMENTS 

between  loyalty  and  love  in  Act  III  of  La  Princesse  lointaine. 
Third,  Rostand's  personal  response  to  the  quality  of  idealistic 
love  and  of  chivalrous  deeds;  this  underlies  the  panache  or 
"  swagger  "  of  Cyrano  and  appears  in  the  author's  panegyric  on 
Don  Quixote.  Finally,  a  poetic  power  compact  of  imagery, 
sentiment,  admirable  phrasing;  a  power  that  ranges  from  a 
winning  and  tender  pathos,  as  in  the  finales  of  his  best  plays,  to 
the  superb  vision  of  Wagram  in  L'Aiglon  and  the  lyric  sweep  of 
his  balcony  scene  in  Cyrano.  This  talent  has  left  its  mark  on 
many  notable  single  lines  as  well  as  on  the  longer  speeches  of 
Cyrano  and  the  Eaglet  —  passages  that  are  likely  to  endure 
when  the  voices  of  carping  critics  have  ceased  forever. 


CHAPTER  III 
IN   POETRY:    SENTIMENT   AND    SYMBOLISM 

In  the  last  decades  of  the  century,  the  most  notable  Parnas- 
sian poet  was  Heredia,  whose  work  has  already  been  treated  (Bk. 
VII,  Ch.  Ill) .  Nearly  every  writer  of  verse,  men  as  various  as 
Anatole  France,  Coppee  and  Verlaine,  began  by  a  volume  in  the 
Parnassian  manner,  which  shows  the  profound  influence  of  this 
school ;  yet  the  revolt  against  Realism  included  a  revolt  against 
the  cold  marmoreal  perfection  of  Leconte  de  Lisle.  The  chief 
dissidents  among  the  younger  generation  were  either  sentimental 
poets  like  Sully  Prudhomme  and  Coppee  or  the  founders  of  the 
new  school  who  were  known  as  les  Decadents  or  les  Symbolistes. 

Sully  Prudhomme  (1839-1907)  was  a  youth  of  delicate  health 
and  a  meditative  disposition.  He  passed  through  Parnassus  and 
Sully  through  an  unfortunate  love-affair  which  gave  him 

Prudhomme  the  better  part  of  his  lyrical  inspiration.  Both  in- 
fluences are  found  in  such  early  poems  as  Les  Solitudes  (1869). 
His  best  volume  is  Les  vaines  TendreSses  (1875).  His  growing 
reputation  caused  him  to  be  elected  to  the  Academy  in  1881. 
From  now  on  his  life  was  filled  with  conscientious  thought  and 
effort.  He  published  two  long  semi-didactic  poems.  La  Justice 
(1878)  and  Le  Bonheur  (1888).  He  received,  in  1901,  the  Nobel 
prize  for  literary  excellence. 

Not  greatly  original,  Sully  Prudhomme  is  the  most  representa- 
tive poet  of  his  period.  He  reflects  the  chief  lyrical  tendencies  of 
the  century:  sentiment  like  that  of  Lamartine,  philosophic  poems 
somewhat  in  the  manner  of  Vigny,  statuesque  Parnassian  imi- 
tations and  hard  brilliant  sonnets.  He  reflects  particularly  and 
with  great  conscientiousness  the  "  age  of  science  and  doubt " ; 
the  struggle  between  an  ethical  spirituality  and  the  unresponsive 
universe  deeply  impregnated  his  thought.  His  primary  poetic 
qualities  are  sensibility,  tenderness,  melancholy;  and  the  philo- 
sophic "  meditation  "  tempered  with  sentiment  seems  to  be  his 

695 


696     IN    POETRY:    SENTIMENT    AND    SYMBOLISM 

forte.  Sensibility  is  the  most  conspicuous  element  in  his  earliest 
work  —  Stances  et  poemes  (1865)  and  Les  Epaves  (published 
posthumously  in  1908).  In  these  volumes  the  poet  sounds  the 
whole  gamut  of  disappointed  passion,  from  direct  jealousy  and 
baffled  desire,  through  the  mournfulness  of  memories,  down  to 
moving  suggestions  of  the  happiness  that  might  have  been. 
Some  preciosity  and  infelicities  of  expression  occur  in  his  first 
voliune,  which,  however,  already  gives  evidence  of  great  skill  in 
Le  Vase  brise,  his  most  famous  poem.  Les  vaines  Tendresses 
would  indicate  by  its  significant  title  that  the  poet  is  seeking 
a  wider  and  less  personal  expression  of  feeling.  He  philoso- 
phizes his  emotion  in  such  admirable  lyrics  as  La  Beaute  and 
Sur  la  mart;  but  the  philosophy  remains  pessimistic.  Sim- 
ilarly the  sonnets  of  Les  Epreuves  are  conceived  on  an  objec- 
tive plane  and  show  a  most  artistic  mingling'  of  thought  and 
sentiment.  As  "for  Les  vaines  Tendresses,  that  voliune  well 
illustrates  several  of  Sully  Prudhomme's  gifts;  for  example,  his 
artistic  use  of  the  refrain  in  the  poem  called  Ressemblance; 
he  cares  for  a  girl  or  he  finds  her  melancholy-minded  or  she 
passes  on  her  way,  all  because: 

Vous  ressemblez  a  ma  jeunesse. 

This  orderly  symmetrical  construction,  recalling  Gautier  and 
much  admired  by  Gautier,  is  very  frequent  with  Sully  Pnid- 
homme.  Again,  his  capacity  for  composing  striking  lines  and 
couplets  may  be  illustrated  from  the  same  volume: 

Je  t'aime  en  attendant  men  etemelle  epouse; 
or  witness  the  declaration  that  for  the  happiness  of  poets, 

II  leur  faut  una  solitude 
Ou  voltige  un  baiser. 

Sully  Prudhomme's  delicacy  of  treatment  is  marked  throughout 
his  work.  This  delicacy  is  often  like  the  brush  of  a  bee's  wing 
or  the  coloring  of  a  wild  flower,  as  where  he  demands: 

Comment  fais-tu  les  grands  amours. 
Petite  ligne  de  la  bouche? 

It  occasionally  runs  into  over-delicacy  or  preciosity,  for  in- 
stance, when  he  declares  that  he  honors  in  the  writer's  pen 
{la  plume)  a  recollection  of  the  bird's  soaring  wing.    But  he 


SULLY    PRUDHOMME  697 

naturally  strengthened  and  sobered  his  vocabulary  as  he  ma- 
tured, and  his  later  sonnets  show  a  fine  taste  in  diction  and  a 
masterly  impulsion  in  their  movement.  It  is  not  surprising  that 
the  sonnet-form  was  a  favorite  with  this  poet,  from  Les  Epreuves 
through  La  Justice  (which  is  entirely  written  in  sonnets).  As 
Lemaitre  early  pointed  out,  these  sonnets  are  usually  composed 
upon  sustained  metaphors  (or  symbols),  with  the  application 
splendidly  developed. 

As  with  the  sonnet,  so  with  Sully  Prudhomme's  entire  work: 
from  the  sentiment,  he  generalizes  the  idea  or  the  conflict,  then 
finds  the  concrete  embodiment.  Thus  his  best  work 
.  seems  to  lie  in  those  fields  where  his  pergonal  mel- 
ancholy is  swayed  to  a  larger  expression  and  where  his  spirit 
comes  into  grave  conscious  strife  with  the  ever-waiting  problems. 
For  most  of  us  this  tendency  is  best  voiced  in  his  lyrics.  His 
two  big  philosophic  poems,  or  allegories,  La  Justice  and  Le 
Bonheur  deal  respectively  with  the  idea  that  man's  moral  order 
may  be  imposed  upon  the  universe  and  with  the  ideal  of  service 
as  making  for  the  best  happiness.  The  narrative  value  of  these 
poems  is  not  great,  and  they  are  not  free  from  prosing  and  in- 
coherence ;  but  they  contain  thought,  faith  and  fine  lyrical  inter- 
ludes. The  poet's  chief  message  seems  to  lie  in  his  insistence  on 
the  necessity  for  idealism  combined  with  reverence  for  natural 
law.  His  versification  is  simple  and  conservative,  claiming  none 
of  the  later  licenses.  In  thought,  feeling  and  form  he  can  be 
readily  apprehended  by  Anglo-Saxon  readers. 

Sentimental  poetry  is  also  the  province  of  Frangois  Coppee 
(1842-^908) .  He  was  a  poor  boy  and  learned  in  the  Latin  Quar- 
„     ,  ter  that  s3Tnpathy  with  humble  life  which  is  his  out- 

standing trait.  His  lean  years  lasted  until  after  1870, 
when  a  series  of  dramatic  successes  made  his  fame.  Coppee  was 
an  assiduous  playwright  and  a  short-story  writer  of  some  note; 
but  his  real  contributions  to  literature  are  in  the  field  of  poetry. 
He  too  learned  technique  from  the  Parnassians,  dedicating  Le 
Reliqvmre  (1866)  to  Leconte  de  Lisle;  then  he  declared  himself 
in  favor  of  more  emotion  and  warmth  than  the  Parnassians 
possessed.  This  warmth  is  found  in  the  three  chief  aspects  of 
Coppee's  work:  love-poetry,  stories  in  verse,  and  records  of 
humble  life.    The  first  kind  is  illustrated  by  Les  Intimites,  which 


698     IN    POETRY:    SENTIMENT    AND    SYMBOLISM 

gives,  in  tableaux,  a  fairly  complete  lover's  progress,  and  by 
L'Exilee,  written  to  a  Norwegian  girl.  The  narrative  poem  of 
Olivier  is  a  kind  of  Rolla  brought  up  to  date,  and  indeed  Coppee 
has  much  of  Musset's  sentiment  and  grace.  His  love-lyrics 
show  sincerity,  charm  and  simplicity  in  the  midst  of  compli- 
cations. Many  of  his  well-known  chansons  (for  example,  the 
lines  beginning  "  Vous  aurez  beau  faire  et  beau  dire  ")  belong 
in  this  group.  His  versified  tales  {La  Tete  de  la  Sidtane,  or 
La  Greve  des  forger ons)  are  numerous  and  show  much  skill. 
But  most  characteristic  of  Coppee  is  the  collection  called  Les 
Humbles  (1872),  in  which  the  "  short  and  simple  annals  of  the 
poor  "  are  given  sympathetic  expression.  Coppee  here  follows 
the  Wordsworthian  theory  and  the  example  of  Sainte-Beuve;  but 
his  Parisian  scenes  are  more  effective  than  those  of  "  Joseph  De- 
lorme,"  and  his  technique  is  better.  It  is  in  line  with  the  Real- 
istic movement  that  Coppee  should  dwell  on  the  fortunes  of  the 
shabby-genteel,  of  nursemaids,  keepers  of  kiosques,  and  even  of 
grocers  — 

C'etait  un  tout  petit  epicier  de  Montrouge. 

The  bald  simplicity  of  this  line  suggests  Coppee's  limitations  as 
a  poet. 

Impassivity  and  Parnassian  technique  were  definitely  rejected 
by  the  "  Symbolistes  "  and  the  "  Decadents,"  who  constitute  the 
.J.  most  significant  school  of  the  fin  de  siede.  Symbolism 
in  the  wider  sense,  as  the  concrete  embodiment  of  an 
idea  or  emotion,  is  nothing  new  in  French  literature  and  may  be 
found  in  the  poetry  of  Vigny  and  Hugo  as  well  as  in  the  fiction  of 
Daudet.  The  ultra-modern  use  of  the  word  has  been  illustrated 
in  connection  with  Maeterlinck  (see  preceding  chapter) ;  recent 
poets  are  "  Symbolistic  "  in  so  far  as  they  prefer  vague  suggestion 
to  clear  statement  and  in  so  far  as  they  suggest  mystery  and 
magic  by  the  use  of  haunting  music  and  shadowy  images.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  the  Symbolists  are  mostly  of  exotic  origin 
(Belgian,  American  or  Greek)  and  that  their  effects  seem  more 
nearly  allied  to  the  spirit  of  English  poetry  than  to  the  clear 
ethos  of  the  French.  Wilful  impressionism  and  subjectivity  often 
make  their  work  obscure  and  artificial;  but  at  its  best  Sym- 


THE    SYMBOLISTS  699 

holism  added  new  and  rich  sensations  to  latter-day  poetry.  Pro- 
testing against  all  forms  of  Realism,  preferring  the  foreign 
influence  of  the  English  Pre-Raphaelites  and  of  Wagner,  the 
school  began  to  be  formed  shortly  after  1870  and  reached  its 
apogee  about  1885.  Its  members  were  then  styled  Decadents  by 
the  critics,  and  Verlaine  was  willing  to  adopt  the  term ;  but  Jean 
Moreas,  a  Greek,  suggested  the  nomenclature  of  "  Symbolists," 
which  is  more  widely  inclusive  and  which  has  prevailed.  Yet 
historically  it  seems  best  to  consider  the  followers  of  Verlaine  as 
les  Decadents  and  the  followers  of  Mallarme  as  more  narrowly 
les  Symbolistes.  (The  English  terms,  "  Symbolism  "  and  "  Sym- 
bolists," may  be  used  of  the  whole  movement.)  The  most 
important  members  of  the  (joint)  school  were  Paul  Verlaine  as 
their  chief  poet  and  St6phane  Mallarme  as  their  chief  law-giver; 
men  of  foreign  birth  like  Moreas,  Rodenbach  and  Verhaeren, 
Stuart  Merrill  and  Viele-Griffin ;  wild  men  like  Arthur  Rimbaud, 
Jules  Laforgue  and  other  "  poetes  maudits  " ;  Gustave  Kahn, 
Henri  de  Regnier  and  others  still  living.  Not  all  of  the  above 
poets  were  consistent  Symbolists,  and  many  lesser  names  could 
be  added  to  the  list.  The  boundaries  in  which  they  moved  were 
natiirally  elastic.  They  used  certain  new  journals  for  their 
propaganda  (La  Renaissance,  later  La  Plurrie,  still  later  the 
Mercure  de  France),  they  included  theoreticians  like  Mallarme 
or  Gustave  Kahn,  and  they  effected  a  considerable  revolution 
against  the  laws  of  French  versification.  We  can  consider  only 
a  few  of  the  most  prominent  poets. 

Paul  Verlaine  (1844-1896)  was  not  only  the  leader  among 
the  "  Decadents  " ;  he  was  also  the  greatest  poet  of  the  whole 
school,  and  stands  out  as  a  distinct  if  erratic  person- 
ality. He  was  an  inspired  singer  of  vagabond  emo- 
tions, in  character  an  "  enfant  de  Boheme,"  a  person  of  disorderly 
life  who  divided  his  time  between  cafes,  prisons,  and  hospitals. 
He  offers  strange  alternations  of  sensuality  and  mysticism.  The 
naive  and  winning  note  in  his  religious  poems  would  lead  us  to 
approve  his  conversions,  except  for  their  ephemeral  character. 
Totally  unfitted  for  domesticity,  Verlaine  deeply  loved  his  wife, 
who  inspired  his  best  poems  of  sentiment;  but  when  this  grande 
passion  reached  its  end  in  a  separation,  he  turned  to  lesser  and 
baser  loves,  frankly  sensual.    His  head  was  like  that  of  Socrates 


700     IN    POETRY:    SENTIMENT   AND    SYMBOLISM 

—  but  Socrates  turned  into  a  satyr,  worshiping  Venus  and 
Bacchus.  When  drunk,  the  poet  would  quarrel  with  his  friends, 
among  whom  was  the  grotesque  and  sinister  figure  of  Arthur 
Rimbaud.  This  ultra-Symbolist  had  a  warping  influence  upon 
Verlaine,  causing  the  final  rupture  with  his  wife  as  well  as  the 
longest  of  his  imprisonments. 

Verlaine,  like  many  others,  began  with  a  Parnassian  volume, 
Poemes  saturniens  (1866).  The  poetry  here  is  mostly  objec- 
„.   ^  tive  and  descriptive;  it  also  echoes  Baudelaire  in  an 

ironic  "  saturnine  "  note,  together  with  a  taste  for 
subtle  and  morbid  {macabre)  sensations.  The  distinct  chiseling 
of  outlines  is  in  contrast  to  Verlaine's  later  manner,  which  has 
the  deliberate  vagueness  of  Symbolism.  A  delightful  volimie  of 
Fetes  galantes  (1869),  after  Watteau,  incorporates  eighteenth- 
century  art  and  grace.  In  this  stanza  from  Clair  de  lune,  the 
poet  resuscitates  the  ghosts  of  the  old  regime  in  terms  that  fit 
his  own  vagabond  Muse: 

Your  soul  is  as  a  moonlit  landscape  fair, 
Peopled  with  maskers  delicate  and  dim, 
That  play  on  lutes  and  dance  and  have  an  air 
Of  being  sad  in  their  fantastic  trim. 

La  Bonne  Chanson  (1870) ,  written  in  honor  of  his  wife,  celebrates 
the  intoxication  of  their  engagement  and  honeymoon;  it  repre- 
sents the  transition  from  objective  poetry  to  personal  sentiment. 
This  was  Verlaine's  favorite  volume  and  has  gen;uine  lyric 
feeling.  His  Romances  sans  paroles  (1874)  mark  a  revolutionary 
date  in  the  history  of  Symbolism  and  reveal  a  new  musical 
manner  — 

De  la  musique  avant  toute  chose, 

and  the  power  of  suggestion  — 

Car  nous  voulons  la  Nuance  encor. 
Pas  la  Couleur,  rien  que  la  Nuance. 
(Art  poetique) 

The  Romances  are  full  of  Symbolistic  impressionism,  an  elusive 
mixture  of  sensations  and  moods.  Verlaine's  double  conversion, 
religious  and  poetical,  is  of  this  period.  He  became  a  fervent 
Catholic,  a  believer,  if  not  a  consistent  practitioner.  His  faith 
is  emotional  and  mystical  rather  than  intellectual  or  active; 


VERLAINE  701 

but  it  produced  some  ardent  religious  outbursts  which  figure  in 
the  "delicate  and  penetrating"  volume  called  Sagesse  (1881). 
His  poetry  has  now  become  completely  Symbolistic  (observe  the 
lines  beginning  "  Vous  voila,  vous  voila,  pauvres  bonnes  pen- 
sees  "),  and  the  theory  here  manifest  has  been  thus  summarized: 
this  "  versified  music  .  .  .  would  do  more  than  accompany  the 
idea ;  it  would  evoke  the  sensation,  the  memory  and  the  true  cor- 
respondence, as  a  perfume  represents  .  .  .  visions  and  images." 
Baudelaire  is  evidently  behind  this  doctrine  of  "  Correspondences." 
But  where  Baudelaire  and  Gautier  had  appealed  mainly  to  the 
eye,  the  Symbolists  (in  the  wider  sense)  appeal  primarily  to  the 
ear  and  add  the  element  of  haunting  melody  to  French  poetics. 
On  this  account  and  because  of  its  religious  values,  Sagesse  is 
Verlaine's  finest  voliune.  Jadis  et  naguere  (1884),  as  the  title 
indicates,  is  a  selection  from  his  various  phases  and  tendencies. 
It  is  his  last  important  volume.  Thereafter  his  work  becomes 
more  and  more  "  decadent,"  and  need  not  be  considered  here. 

Lacking  any  sustained  moral  sense,  Verlaine  vibrates  from 
indulgence  to  repentance  and  back  again;  he  reacts  to  real  emo- 
tion after  mere  sensation,  and  records  both  experiences  with  equal 
frankness.  His  naive  sincerity  ie  a  chief  trait;  also  Verlaine 
is  essentially  the  musical  impressionist  of  his  time.  Many  of 
his  verses  have  a  great  charm,  due  to  the  personal  wayward 
touch,  which  is  often  winning,  pure  and  delightful,  freely  and 
appropriately  expressed.  His  charm,  his  sincerity,  his  power  of 
harmonious  suggestion  make  Verlaine  a  true  poet.  Such  a 
lyric  as  L'Heure  exquise  conveys  all  his  best  qualities: 

La  lune  blanche 
Luit  dans  las  bois, 
De  chaque  branche 
Part  une  voix 
Sous  la  ramee  .  .  . 

0  bien-aimee! 

L'etang  reflete, 
Prof  end  miroir, 
La  silhouette 
Du  saule  noir 
Ou  le  vent  pleura. 

EevoDB,  c'est  I'heure. 


702     IN   POETRY:    SENTIMENT   AND   SYMBOLISM 

Un  vaste  et  tendre 
Apaisement 
Semble  descendre 
Du  firmament 
Que  I'astre  irise  .  .  . 

C'est  ITieure  exquise! 

Standing  for  a  spontaneous  and  most  personal  expression, 
Verlaine  derives  the  principle  of  originality  from  emotion  rather 

.  p  .  than  from  a  reasoned  art.  His  Art  poetique,  already 
quoted,  is  averse  to  declamation  ("  Prends  I'elo- 
quence  et  tords-lui  son  cou  ")  and  is  equally  averse  to  abstract 
thought  and  esprit;  these  qualities  are  merely  "  litterature "; 
Verlaine  prefers  dreamy  twilight  suggestion  to  logical  statement 
or  composition.  So  any  one  of  his  Romances  will  have  a  musical 
rather  than  a  logical  unity.  His  poetics,  then,  are  based  on  the 
belief  that  verse  should  be  rendered  extremely  supple,  in  order  to 
reflect  directly  the  soul  and  the  mood.  But  he  and  his  circle 
stop  short  of  le  vers  libre.  The  Alexandrine,  however,  acquires 
the  greatest  possible  liberty:  the  medial  and  the  final  caesuras 
can  fall  on  the  most  insignificant  syllables  (including  mute  e's) ; 
free  enjambement  and  weak  rimes  put  little  emphasis  on  the 
end  of  a  line;  masculine  and  feminine  lines  need  no  longer 
alternate,  and  Verlaine  affects  I'Impair  or  an  imeven  number  of 
syllables  in  his  verse  (cf.  Swinburne) ;  he  allows  assonances, 
tone-color,  onomatopeia  and  repetends  (cf.  Poe  and  the  last 
stanza  in  L'Heure  exquise) ;  finally,  three-fold  divisions  {ter- 
naires)  are  frequent  in  his  Alexandrines. 

Verlaine  was  elected  "  Prince  des  Poetes  "  at  the  death  of 
Leconte  de  Lisle  (1894) ;  Mallarme  was  Verlaine's  successor  in 
this  title.*  The  latter's  role  was  scarcely  that  of  a  chef  d'ecole, 
whereas  Mallarme  had  a  really  formative  influence  on  many 
poets.  For  convenience,  however,  and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
the  same  men  would  sometimes  frequent  Verlaine's  caf&  and 
Mallarme's  "Tuesdays,"  we  may  distinguish  between  the 
"  Verlainiens  "  and  the  "  Mallarmeens."  The  former  would  in- 
clude, according  to  A.  Barre,  both  the  "  Melancoliques  "  and  the 

«  At  the  death  of  Mallarmfe  (1898),  L6on  Dierx  was  elected  "prinoe,"  and  after 
him  Paul  Fort  (see  Epilogue).  The  system  was  usually  a  voting-oontest  conducted 
through  various  newspapers  and  magazines. 


RIMBAUD  703 

"Excentriques";  melancholy  were  Samain,  Rodenbach,  and 
Maeterlinck;  eccentric  or  "  Poetes  maudits "  were  Corbiere, 
Rimbaud,  Jammes  and  others.  All  of  them  were  "  Decadents," 
and  were  not  ashamed  of  the  fact. 

The  only  important  poet  of  Verlaine's  immediate  circle  was 
Arthur  Rimbaud  (1854 ?-9l),  the  evil  genius  of  the  Verlaine 
Bimbaud  household.  A  savage  and  singular  prodigy,  he  wrote 
all  his  poetry  in  his  teens,  inflicted  himself  upon 
Paris  for  a  few  years,  then  disappeared  adventurously  into  the 
wilds  of  Africa.  He  wrote  only  a  few  small  volumes  —  Une 
Saison  en  enjer  ("  psychological  autobiography ")  and  Les 
Illuminations  (prose-poems).  His  two  most  notable  poems 
{Poems  completes,  1895)  are.Le  Bateau  ivre,  a  sustained  meta- 
phor about  a  wandering  bark  which  svBered  from  Baudelairian 
nostalgia;  and  the  famous  Sonnet  des  voyelles,  which  states  the 
doctrine  of  color  in  sounds:'"  ~~ 

A  noir,  E  blanc,  I  rouge,  U  vert,  0  bleu,  voyelles  ... 

In  this  notion  of  tone-color,  in  his  deliberate  naivete  and  his 
fantastic  eccentricity,  Rimbaud  is  Decadent;  but  he  is  nearer 
the  school  of  Mallarme  (cf.  Rene  Ghil)  in  his  partial  use  of 
vers  libre,  in  his  compressed  syntax  and  wilful  obscurity,  as 
also  in  his  interesting  habit  of  coordinating  closely  images  and 
suggestions  around  one  main  metaphor. 

Francis  Jammes  (b.  1868),  a  Meridional  and  bucolic  poet,  is 
the  heir  of  Rimbaud  in  his  emphasis  on  naivete;  the  instinctive 
And  other  is  for  him  the  main  source  of  poetry  and  truth. 
"  Decadents  "  g^^  j^g  belongs  to  a  more  recent  and  contemporary 
school  in  his  use  of  vers  libre  and  in  his  externality.  He  leaves 
his  "  soul "  alone  to  write,  in  allegory  or  narrative,  of  objects, 
animals  and  people;  of  paving-stones,  donkeys  and  humble 
fanners  in  the  South  (cf.  De  VAngelus  de  I'aube  a  V Angelas  du 
soir,  1898).  After  his  conversion,  Jammes  writes  of  Nature  as 
the  manifestation  of  God  {Les  Georgiques  chretiennes,  1912). 
Much  of  his  work  is  realistic,  prosaic  and  dull.  More  truly 
poetic  is  the  form  of  the  "  Melancoliques,"  Albert  Samain '(1858- 
1900)  and  Georges  Rodenbach  (1855-98),  who  import  into  France 
reminiscences  of  their  Flemish  and  Belgian  origins.  Both  of 
these  poets  are  inspired  by  the  dead  past,  and  both  strive  to 


704     IN    POETRY:    SENTIMENT   AND    SYMBOLISM 

fuse  intimately  their  souls  with  past  beauty;  in  that  respect 
they  are  Symbolistic,  and  they  are  Decadents  in  the  mournful 
and  anemic  quality  of  their  utterances.  Samain  has  drawn 
charming  eighteenth-century  vignettes,  of  a  delicate  fantasy 
recalling  Verlaine's  Fetes  galantes.  Such  vignettes  are  found 
in  Au  Jardin  de  I'Injante  (1893),  which  also  contains  many 
scenes  from  the  faded  grandeur  of  Spain: 

Mon  ame  est  une  infante  en  robe  de  parade  .  .  .  ^ 

But  Samain's  form  is  regularly  Pam^sian  (cf.  Avx  Flancs  du 
vase,  1898),  and  he  fills  this  mold  with  his  plaintive  minor 
strains.  Georges  Rodenbach  lived  at  Brussels  and  wrote  haunt- 
ingly  of  Bruges-la-morte,  a  prose-work  of  1892.  Among  his 
poetic  volumes  are  Le  Foyer  et  les  Champs  and  Les  Tristesses. 
As  in  the  case  of  Samain,  Rodenbach's  delicate  health  left  its 
traces  on  his  "  art  indubitablement  mievre,  fluide  et  decadent " 
(Yiele-Griffin). 

The  leadership  which  Verlaine  rarely  asserted  was  wielded 
by  Stephane  Mallarme   (1842-98),  idealist,  theorist  and  pro- 
fessor.   Mallarme  taught  French  in  London  and 
Mallarme         _,.,._.  ,   ,,  __     ,     , 

English  m  Pans  and  the  provmces.    He  had  some 

contact  with  the  Pre-Raphaelites  and  with  the  Provencal  poets 
(see  p.  609).  His  conversation  and  his  personal  magnetism 
attracted  a  niunber  of  young  men  to  the  cause  of  Symbolism. 
Otherwise  he  led  an  extremely  retiring  and  self-centered  life. 
Highly  cultivated,  an  aesthete  even  to  the  point  of  publishing 
a  magazine  of  fashion,  his  ingrowing  talent  finally  turned  to 
great  obscurity  and  sterility.  He  published  little,  mostly  in 
scattered  form  (collected  Vers  et  prose,  1893).  L'Apres-Midi 
d'un  faune  was  printed  in  1876,  but  had  little  fame  until 
Debussy's  music  was  supported  by  Nijinski's  dancing.  The  well- 
named  prose  Divagations  are  of  1897. 

For  Verlaine  poetry  meant  emotion  and  spontaneity;  for 
Mallarme  it  was  a  conscious  art,  and  its  chief  substance  was 
intellectual.    The  Platonic  Idea  {la  Pensee)  of  an  emotion,  not 

'  This  is  the  kind  of  thing  derided  in  that  delightful  parody  on  Symbolism,  Let 
Diliguescences  d'Adori  Floupette  (1885): 

Je  voudraia  que  mon  ame  fflt 
Ausai  roide  qu'un  affftt, 
Aussi  remplie  qu'un  vieux  i(Xt. 


MALLARME  705 

the  thing  itself,  was  to  be  approached  and  adumbrated.  The 
approach  is  infinite,  the  Absolute  unattainable,  and  so  Mallarme, 
like  certain  heroes  of  Balzac's,  spoils  his  work  by  too  much  de- 
votion. Poe,  whom  he  translated  {Ulalume,  Le  Corbeau),  and 
Baudelaire,  whom  he  imitated,  encouraged  his  hyperaesthesia. 
Despairing  of  plain  words  as  an  adequate  mediimi,  Mallarme, 
like  Verlaine,  took  refuge  in  their  Symbolic  and  musical  allu- 
siveness.  This  is  the  chief  point  of  agreement  between  the  two 
schools.  But  Mallarme,  with  his  thoroughgoing  intellect,  held 
that  each  line  of  a  poem  must  contribute  to  the  whole  symphonic 
effect:  a  poem  must  be  an  enigma  for  the  vulgar,  chamber- 
music  for  the  initiated ;  further,  the  chief  Idea  or  metaphor  must 
be  attended  by  numerous  clustering  minor  images,  which  chime 
in  with  the  central  theme;  and  these  analogies  are,  in  his  later 
work,  crowded  together  with  such  compression  as  to  break  the 
molds  of  syntax  and  violate  every  principle  of  clearness.  An 
example  of[  this  last  point  may  be  found  in  the  first  line  of 
Le  Tombeau  d'Edgar  Poe: 

Tel  qu'en  Lui-meme  enfin  I'eternite  le  change, 
Le  Poete  suscite  avec  un  glaive  nu 
Son  siecle  epouvante  de  n'avoir  pas  connu 
Que  la  mort  triomphait  dans  cette  voix  etrange. 

(The  last  three  lines  may  partly  clarify  the  first) .  L'Apres-Midi 
d'un  ifaune  illustrates  the  process  of  adimibrating  the  Idea.  In 
a  manner  which  recalls  Browning's  Caliban  upon  Setebos,  a  faun 
mutters  his  postmeridial  longings ;  it  is  "  un  reve  de  desir  lon- 
guement  raconte,"  but  these  are  very  shadowy  desires,  the 
nymphs  are  not  real,  and  the  faun  ultimately  resolves  his  dream 
in  music  —  as  Mallarme  would  do.  Again,  the  clustered  and 
condensed  metaphor,  the  sustaining  symbol  of  the  poem  may  be 
illustrated  by  the  following  quotation:^ 

Un  cygne  d'autrefois  se  souvient  que  c'est  lui 
Magnifique,  mais  qui,  sans  espoir,  se  delivre 
Pour  n'avoir  pas  chante  la  region  ouvivre 

Quand  du  sterile  hiver  a  resplendi  I'ennui.  .    .   . 

In  short,  the  swan,  typifying  the  cold  and  sterile  poet,  now  re- 
grets his  sterility,  but  still  holds  high  his  head.    The  preference 

•  It  will  be  observed  that  this  poet's  versification  is  strictly  Pamaasian.   He 
takes  no  liberties  in  that  respect. 


706     IN    POETRY:    SENTIMENT    AND    SYMBOLISM 

for  white  and  glacial  images,  displayed  in  this  sonnet,  is  evident 
also  in  the  dramatic  fragment  called  Herodiade;  the  heroine  has 
a  chilly  charm  and  a  cold  elaboration  not  unlike  that  of 
Salammbo. 

All  this  abstruseness  may  seem  out  of  place,  but  such  is  the 
soul  of  Mallarme.  Like  each  of  his  poems,  Mallarme  himself 
offers  a  fascinating  problem.  How  far  will  the  future  justify 
his  belief  that  a  piece  of  verse  may  be  completely  orchestrated? 
How  far  can  suggestion  replace  direct  speech?  The  writer,  we 
know,  has  to  struggle  with  a  vulgarized  medium,  in  contrast  to 
the  musician.  How  far  is  it  possible  to  lift  everyday  language, 
Symbolically  — 

Donner  un  sens  plus  pur  aux  mots  de  la  tribu, 

and  by  apposition  and  ellipsis,  drown  ordinary  syntax  in  order 
that  the  ideal  Words  may  emerge? 

Mallarme's  theory  was  clearer  and  more  fertile  than  his  prac- 
tice. The  questions  just  enounced  attracted  a  whole  band  of 
young  disciples,  who  frequented  his  "  Tuesdays  " ;  among  these 
were  such  poets  as  Jules  Laforgue,  Jean  Moreas,  Gustave  Kahn, 
Henri  de  Regnier,  F.  Viele-GriflSn,  Paul  Claudel  and  others. 
Since  individualism  is  characteristic  of  the  movement,  it  nat- 
urally broke  up  into  smaller  movements:  an  "  Ecole  symbolique 
et  harmoniste  "  was  formed  with  Rene  Ghil  and  Stuart  Merrill 
as  leaders,  and  later  we  find  the  name  of  Emile  Verhaeren  in  a 
"  philosophico-instrumentist "  group ;  also  Moreas  broke  loose 
and  established  his  "Ecole  Romane "  (1891).  More  or  less 
connected  with  the  Symbolists  were  such  men  as  the  Comte 
Robert  de  Montesquiou(  the  original  of  Huysmans'  Des  Esseintes 
and,  it  is  said,  of  the  Peacock  in  Rostand's  Chantecler) ;  and 
Leon  Dierx  (1838-1912),  third  "  Prince  des  Poetes,"  whose  dis- 
tinguished and  dreamy  verses  —  Les  Levres  closes,  Les  Amants  — 
largely  antedate  Symbolism  and  are  of  a  Parnassian  cast. 

Let  us  consider  a  few  of  these  poets.  No  other  Parnassian 
Sjnnbolist  is  of  the  caliber  of  Mallarme.  But  with  Gustave  Kahn 
Free  Verse  ^^"  ^^^^^ '  ^^  reach  the  theory  and  practice  of  He 
vers  litre,  as  it  has  since  so  abundantly  flourished. 
Neither  the  theories  of  a  certain  Delia  Rocca  (a  Peruvian)  nor 
the  "  dislocations  "  of  Rimbaud  and  others  can  deprive  Kahn  of 


VERS-LIBRISTES  707 

his  proper  credit:  he  is  the  inventor  of  modern  free  verse,  al- 
though his  kind  of  free  verse  is  not  quite  what  Americans 
understand  by  the  term.  Kahn  was  an  enterprising  critic  and 
fighter,  who  founded  several  reviews  and  pushed  his  theories 
with  a  will.  His  point  of  departure  was  that  the  line  {le  vers) 
consists  not  of  measured  syllables,  but  of  metrical  units  —  that  is, 
single  words  or  clauses  of  varying  length.  Hence  definite  line- 
lengths  are  unessential.  The  same  principle  holds  good  for  the 
strophe,  which  should  be  "  ondoyante  et  libre."  Kahn  does  not 
wholly  abolish  mute  e's,  nor  does  he  abolish  rime  when  rime  is 
convenient;  he  allows  assonated  endings,  internal  rimes  and 
repetends.  The  symmetry  of  verse  is  gone,  but  Kahn  maintains 
that  its  distinctive  rhythm  and  cadence  remain;  he  admits  that 
hig  free  verse  borders  very  closely  on  prose  and  that  a  period 
of  anarchy  has  begun  —  because  the  "  rhythme  propre  "  for  Kahn 
may  be  improper  for  any  one  else.  His  chief  volumes  illustrate 
these  tendencies.  Les  Palais  nomades  (1887)  is  based  on  the 
charming  idea  of  open-air  dreaming,  and  the  volume  has  been 
called  "  aussi  idealement  vagabond  que  La  Maison  du  Berger  " 
(Mendes).  Original  and  abundant  metaphors  adorn  the  Chan- 
sons d'amant  (1891)  and  La  Pluie  et  le  beau  temps  (1895). 
Fresh  figures  and  quick-changing  colors  decorate  Le  Livre 
d'Images  (1897) .  This  and  subsequent  volumes  contain  much  of 
what  is  now  called  Imagism.  The  beginning  of  a  poem  entitled 
Provence  may  illustrate  Kahn's  Imagism  and  his  free  verse: 

C'est  une  face  fine  et  legere; 

pourtant  quelle  noblesse  vit  dans  ses  traits  menus, 

et  sa  chair  est  claire, 

non  qu'elle  evoque  aucun  aspect  floral; 

elle  est  chair,  et  elle  est  claire 

comme  de  la  lumiere  astrale. 

Others  now  followed  on  the  blazed  trail,  each  in  his  own 
peculiar  fashion.  We  may  pause  with  two  poets  of  American 
The  birth,  but  of  French  upbringing  and  culture:  Francis 

Americans  Viele-Griffin  (b.  Norfolk,  Va.,  1864)  and  Stuart 
Merrill  (1863-1915).  Viele-Griffin,  whose  free  form  is  clearer 
than  that  of  Kahn,  opposes  his  fluent  verse  to  the  rigidity  of  the 
Parnassians.  He  is  a  healthy  poet,  of  abundant  if  facile  inspi- 
ration and  production;  his  emotions  are  variously  and  harmo- 


708     IN    POETRY:    SENTIMENT    AND    SYMBOLISM 

niously  expressed.  He  is  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  later  Sym- 
bolistic or  "  ideo-realiste  "  movement  (cf .  Jammes,  Verhaeren, 
Paul  Fort).  His  idea  is  to  celebrate  "  la  Vie,"  all  the  way  from 
children's  dances,  through  the  oncoming  of  Spring  in  Touraine, 
to  the  revamping  of  mystical  legends.  Such  are  the  contents  of 
Cueille  d'avril  (1886) ,  of  Jcries  and  of  Clarte  de  Vie,  In  La  Che- 
vauchee  d'Yeldis  and  La  Legends  ailee  de  Wieland  le  forgeron 
(1900)  the  poet's  aim  has  been  to  embody  the  soul  of  ancient 
legends  in  an  artful  and  ultra-modern  Symbolism  (Mendes). 
Viele-GrifEn  has  also  a  very  personal  rhythm,  and  his  free  verse 
is  considered  too  free,  too  American,  by  certain  French  critics. 
The  same  strictures  are  passed  on  Stuart  Merrill,  who,  however, 
is  less  addicted  to  vers  libre  than  is  Viele-Griffin.  Both  of  these 
men  usually  keep  rime  or  assonance.  Merrill  tends  to  rough 
rhythms  and  unequal  lines.  He  began  as  a  complicated  melodist, 
d  la  Mallarme,  and  his  earlier  Les  Pastes  (1891)  are  sonorous 
and  obscure.  Les  Quatre  Saisons  (1900)  show  less  "  instrumen- 
tation "  and  more  breadth  of  treatment,  in  their  mingling  of 
Pantheism  and  sociology.  Merrill  was  known  both  in  New  York 
and  France  as  a  socialist  and  a  reformer.  So  he  too  left  the 
ivory  tower  of  Symbolism  for  the  broader  conflicts  of  life. 

The  greatest  modern  Symbolist,  the  most  distinguished  French 
poet  now  living,  is  Henri  de  Regnier  (b.  1864) .    But  he  is  really 
.  an  eclectic,  a  reconciler  of  the  several  schools.    He 

has  written  both  free  and  Parnassian  verse,  usually 
in  a  classical  spirit,  as  regards  both  inspiration  and  formal  beauty. 
The  final  flower  of  Symbolism,  he  is  also  a  more  gifted  and 
virile  Samain  in  the  complexity  of  the  influences  which  he  has 
undergone,  taking  form  in  numerous  measures  and  manners.  An 
aristocrat  by  birth  and  persuasion,  he  has  elaborately  revived 
French  history  and  traditions  in  La  Cite  des  Eaux  (Versailles) 
and  more  particularly  in  his  novels.*  He  began  as  an  adherent 
of  Mallarme,  whose  circle  he  frequented  for  ten  years.  The 
results  appear  in  such  early  volumes  as  Apaisement  (1886), 
Poemes  anciens  et  romanesques  (1890),  especially  Tel  qu'en 
songe  (1892),  where  we  find  "  une  ame  hautaine,  infiniment  me- 
lancolique,  eprise  de  reve,  de  myst^re  et  d'ideal  .  .  .  ob- 
sedee  des  secrHes  correspondances  des  choses."    These  are  the 

«  The  majority  of  these  belong  to  the  twentieth  century.    See  Epilogue. 


HENRI    DE    REGNIER  709 

familiar  hall-marks  of  Symbolism.  Here  we  find  such  titles  as 
Le  Songe  de  la  Foret  or  Motifs  de  Legende  et  de  Melancolie;  here 
we  meet  with  certain  "  personnages  emblematiques  "  and  cap- 
italized symbols,  Cavahers  and  Princesses,  the  Beast  and  the 
Sword.  In  those  days  Henri  de  Regnier  dwelt  in  a  golden  palace 
"  with  onyx  columns  "  ( Jean deGoumaont), but  he  showed  already 
a  preference  for  Greek  nudes  and  semi-mythological  subjects. 
His  cadenced  and  restrained  vers  litre  is  among  the  best  French 
examples  of  the  style;  its  rhythm  and  its  harmony  are  distinct 
throughout  his  career.  But  he  uses  it  less  in  his  second  period, 
which  is  a  return  to  the  Parnassian  standard.  A  "  free " 
versifier  has  the  freedom  even  to  revert  to  the  set  form  of  rime 
and  meter,  and  perhaps  Regnier  was  the  more  disposed  to  do 
this  after  he  became  (1896)  the  son-in-law  of  Heredia.  At  any 
rate,  Les  Jeux  rustiques  et  divins  (1897)  and  Les  Medailles 
.d'argile  (1900)  not  only  reveal  a  classical  (antique)  inspiration 
but  frequently  "  transpose  "  the  kind  of  subjects  and  "  triumphs  " 
that  Heredia  preferred.  Often,  too,  it  is  not  a  question  of  trans- 
position but  of  straight  Parnassian  technique,  particularly  in 
sonnets.  This  influence  continues  in  La  Sandale  ailee  (1906), 
but  here  and  subsequently  Regnier  tends  towards  a  third  develop- 
ment, the  return  to  Life,  the  "ideo-realiste  "  or  "  naturiste " 
standpoint.  So  he  bids  farewell  to  the  Forest  of  his  olden 
dreams,  the  Forest  which  he  apostrophizes  as: 

Foret,  toi,  Tinnombrable  et  pareille  a  la  mer, 
0  toi,  dent  le  parfum  est,  tour  a  tour,  amer, 
Delicieux,  farouche  et  fort,  comme  la  Vie  .   .   . 
Je  viens  a  toi,  Foret,  je  veux  vivre.    J'oublie 
Que  tu  fus  autrefois  fabuleuse  a  mes  yeux. 
Les  heros  de  mon  reve  en  ont  re  joint  les  dieux. 

Poetry  like  this,  with  its  elegance  and  serenity,  illustrates 
the  classical,  one  might  almost  say  the  conventional  side  of 
Regnier.  His  larger  task  was  "  d'academiser  le  Symbolisme  " 
—  and  he  was  made  an  Academician  in  1911.  Thus  together  with 
Symbolism,  le  vers  libre  of  the  best  type  was  oSicially  recognized. 
Free  verse  offers  even  more  dangers  in  French  than  in  English, 
because  of  the  slighter  tonic  accent  and  the  greater  peril  of 
dispensing  with  rime;  the  results  are  likely  to  be  quite  prosaic, 
especially  where  the  writer's  sense  of  beauty  has  become  im- 


710     IN    POETRY:    SENTIMENT   AND    SYMBOLISM 

paired;  but  the  best  French  vers-libristes  have  kept  both  rime 
and  their  sense  of  beauty.  All  the  more  credit  then  to  such 
poets  as  Regnier,  who  can  pour  old  wine  into  new  bottles  with 
skill  and  poetic  success.  That  great  metaphor  of  the  creative 
instinct  called  Le  Vase  (from  Les  Jeux  rustiques  et  divins)  is  a 
perfect  example  of  verse  so  free  that  it  soars  and  yet  remains 
bound  to  earth  by  the  lightest  of  traditional  fetters. 


CHAPTER  IV 
IN    CRITICISM 

NiNETEENTH-CENTXJBY  Criticism,  so  supple  and  Protean  in  its 
forms,  continues  to  offer  a  wide  variety  of  standpoints.  Among 
the  writers  may  be  distinguished:  first,  the  scientific  critics  and 
the  historians  of  literature;  secondly,  the  critiques  d'idees; 
thirdly,  the  critiques  de  genres  and  the  Impressionists. 

The  contact  of  modern  scientific  scholarship  with  criticism 

has  served  to  direct  the  latter  more  and  more  towards  the  careful 

„   ^     „    .    historical  study  of  literature.    As  examples  of  this 
Gaston  Pans  ,       ,  •'       ,         ,     ,  ,,  ,      ,  ^     ,       -,>     . 

tendency  we  cannot  neglect  the  work  of  Gaston  Pans 

and  of  M.  Gustave  Lanson.    Gaston  Paris  (1839-1903),  the  son 
of  Paulin  Paris,  was  the  leading  scholar  of  his  generation  in  the 
domain  of  Romance  Philology.    As  professor  at  the  College  de 
France  and  the  Ecole  des  hautes  Etudes,  as  editor,  investigator 
and  Academician,  he  embodied  the  spirit  of  disinterested  research ; 
he  had  a  thorough  knowledge  of  Old  French,  a  discriminating 
literary  taste  and  a  fine  personality.    These  qualities  appear  in 
the  Histoire  poetigu^   de  Charlemagne    (1865),  the   study  of 
Villon  for  the  Grands  Ecrivains  series   (1901),  and  especially 
in  the  Poemes  et  legendes  du  moyen  age  (1900),  a  subject  which 
the  author  has  done  so  much  to  clarify.    Paris  left  no  magnum 
opus;  his  incessant  industry  and  his  dispersive  intellectual  curi- 
osity resulted  in  many  monographs  and  in  establishing  him  as 
the  authority  in  all  that  appertains  to  Old  French.     Here  he 
preserved  excellently  the  proportion  between  the  linguistic  and 
the  literary  side  of  Romance  scholarship.    His  talent  was  well 
balanced,  well  rounded;  in  this  respect  he  was  a  modern  humanist, 
as  in  the  courtesy  and  charm  of  his  personal  power.    His  in- 
fluence is  still  felt  in  the  universities  of  France  and  of  America. 
With  Paris,  then,  literary  criticism  usually  concerns  itself  with 
philological  and  historical  issues  rather  than  with  fixed  aesthetic 
judgments. 

711 


712  IN    CRITICISM 

Criticism  more  narrowly  scientific  was  represented,  between 
Taine  and  Bruneti^re,  by  the  work  of  Emile  Hennequin  (1859- 
„  .        1888)  the  author  of  La  Critique  scientijique  (1888) 

a,nd  Les  Ecrivains  francises  (1889).  Hennequin  was 
a  determinist  and  an  evolutionist.  He  combated  the  rigidity  of 
Taine's  methods  and  endeavored  to  set  up  a  science  of  "  Estho- 
psychologie,"  defined  as  "  la  science  des  ceuvres  d'art  en  tant  que 
signes."  This  includes  three  kinds  of  analysis:  aesthetic,  of  the 
work;  psychological,  of  the  author;  and  sociological,  of  the  au- 
thor's admirers  or  afiinities.  It  is  in  the  last  division  that 
Hennequin  crosses  swords  with  Taine,  since  the  former  prefers 
to  study  an  author  as  a  cause  rather  than  as  an  effect,  and  since 
he  distrusts  Taine's  "  precedent  conditions."  But  Hennequin  is 
equally  rigid  in  the  application  of  his  elaborate  analysis  to 
Victor  Hugo. 

Hennequin  was  but  an  episode,  and  the  mantle  of  scientific 
criticism  really  fell  from  the  shoulders  of  Taine  to  those  of 
Bru  t"  e  Brunetiere.  Ferdinand  Brunetiere  (1849-1906), 
whose  name  has  been  so  often  cited  in  these  pages, 
might  be  taken  as  an  example  of  his  own  Law  of  the  Drama  — 
"the  spectacle  of  a  will,  striving  towards  a  goal  and  conscious 
of  the  means  which  it  employs."  Like  a  Cornelian  hero  he  fought 
obstinately  against  great  handicaps.  A  youth  of  delicate  phy- 
sique, he  failed  as  a  Lycee  teacher,  failed  to  receive  his  diploma 
at  the  Ecole  Normale  —  and  later  entered  the  same  Ecole  Nor- 
male  and  won  his  way  successfully  as  professor.  He  wrote 
articles  for  the  Revue  bleue  and  became  assistant  editor  of  the 
Revue  des  devx  mondes,  then  editor-in-chief  (1893) ,  and  finally 
a  member  of  the  Academy.  Then  occurred  his  visit  to  America 
and  his  conversion  to  Catholicism.  As  in  the  case  of  Matthew 
Arnold,  "  literature  and  dogma  "  henceforth  shared  Bruneti^re's 
energies.  During  his  whole  career,  he  wrote  at  least  one  volvime 
a  year,  in  spite  of  poor  health.  He  died,  worn  out  by  writing 
and  speaking,  and  exhausted  by  the  activities  consequent  upon 
his  "  dogmatisme  successif ." 

For  like  Sainte-Beuve,  Brunetiere  made  many  campaigns, 
and  his  battles  evolved  that  combination  of  learning,  conserva- 
tism and  courage  which  make  up  his  personality.  He  first 
became  known  for  his  fight  against  the  Naturalistic  school,  a 


BRUNETIERE  713 

series  of  articles  collected  in  Le  Roman  naturaliste  (1883) ;  much 
of  his  best  work  is  contained  in  the  Etudes  critiques  sur  la  lit- 
terature  franQaise  (1880-1907) ;  his  application  of  evolution  to 
literature  is  to  be  found  in  the  several  works  which  constitute  the 
Evolution  des  genres  (especially  as  regards  criticism,  drama, 
poetry,  1890-94) ;  then  followed  religious  polemics  and  apologia 
for  several  years  {Discours  de  combat,  1900) ;  finally  the  incom- 
plete Histoire  de  la  litterature  frangaise  classique  (1904  ff.)  is 
his  last  will  and  testament,  with  the  exception  of  an  interesting 
volume  on  Honore  de  Balzac  (1906). 

Brunetiere  is  both  Classicist  and  modern.  In  the  former  capac- 
ity, he  resembles  his  own  characterization  of  Boileau,  as  being 
As  essentially  a  "  bourgeois  de  Paris,"  brusque,  frank, 

Classicist  self-confident,  dogmatic.  The  two  critics  have  sim- 
ilar notions  of  literature  as  expressing  a  practical  ideal  of  human 
life,  of  the  race-genius  and  of  the  author's  thought.  Both  men 
urge  the  supremacy  of  reason,  both  are  good  fighters  and  are  ca- 
pable of  strong  prejudices.  Brunetiere  was  for  his  generation 
the  most  influential  judge  of  contemporary  literature,  just  as 
Boileau  was  for  the  age  of  Louis  XIV.  The  chief  ideals  of  the 
latter  age  were  those  of  Brunetiere:  not  only  the  standard  of 
la  raison,  but  the  appeal  to  imiversality  and  the  habit  of  judging 
as  a  moralist;  his  article  on  the  essential  qualities  of  French 
literature  (quoted  in  the  Introduction  to  this  History)  dwells 
on  the  Classical  qualities;  it  is  in  the  name  of  humanism  that 
he  combats  the  animal  side  of  Naturalism,  and  his  love  of 
Classical  balance  makes  him  the  opponent  of  all  exotic  or  French 
excess  —  Loti,  the  Pre-Raphaelites,  Baudelaire  and  most 
modem  poetry.  Brunetiere's  critical  field  is  practically  limited 
to  French  literature,  and  in  that  field  he  seems  to  escape  with  a 
sense  of  relief  from  the  nineteenth  century  and  gladly  returns 
to  the  simplicity,  order  and  clearness  of  his  favorite  period.  The 
Histoire  de  la  litterature  frangaise  classiqus  is  the  monument  to 
this  side  of  the  man. 

Yet  in  spite  of  himself  he  was  a  modernist  in  several  respects. 

,    J.  .  (1)   His  style,  though  to  some  extent  archaic  or 

pedantic,  shows  also  modern  preciosity,  occasional 

"  dislocations  "  in  the  manner  of  the  Goncourts,  and  notably  a 

scientific  vocabulary.    (2)  He  is  acceesible  to  the  nincteenth-cen- 


714  IN    CRITICISM 

tury  type  of  French  patriotism,  in  that  he  dislikes  Germany  and 
doubts  the  English  influence  on  French  literature;  he  prefers 
to  maintain  the  solidarity  of  national  thought  and  tradition. 
(3)  Although  he  combated  Naturalism  as  unideal  and  unsympa- 
thetic, he  appreciated  the  broader  kind  of  Realism,  when  com- 
pounded of  good  sense  and  observation.  He  admires  George 
Eliot,  Daudet  and  the  Russians.  It  is  significant  that  in  the 
voliraie  on  Balzac,  he  recants  to  the  extent  of  viewing  le  Na- 
twalisme  as  inevitable  and  as  sociologically  sound,  and  that  here 
he  places  Balzac  at  the  apex  of  the  genre.  (4)  He  is  concerned 
with  the  general  questions  of  his  time,  particularly  those  bearing 
on  moral  restlessness  and  metaphysical  struggles.  In  his  early 
colorless  pessimism  as  in  his  later  conversion,  his  development 
runs  parallel  to  that  of  other  thinkers  in  the  last  two  decades 
of  the  century.  (5)  He  adopts  evolutionary  criticism  —  that  is, 
the  theory  that  a  genre  is  hke  an  organism  which  develops.  He 
states  five  problems  with  regard  to  genres:  their  independent 
existence ;  their  differentiation ;  their  stability ;  the  influences  that 
modify  them;  and  their  transformation.  The  principle  of  (pro- 
gressive) differentiation  assumes  the  Spencerian  definition  of 
evolution  —  the  advance  towards  complexity  from  simplicity. 
The  modifying  influences  are  mainly  adapted  from  Taine.  By 
the  transformation  of  genres  Bnmetiere  means,  for  example, 
that  the  lyric  prose  of  Rousseau  may  develop  into  the  poetry  of 
the  Romantic  era.  This  transformation  proceeds  according  to 
the  struggle  for  life  and  natural  selection.  Thus,  in  applying 
the  principles  of  Darwin  to  criticism,  Brunetiere  forges  the  final 
link  between  nineteenth-century  science  and  literature.  In 
his  illustrations  of  the  process  {Evolution  de  la  poesie  lyrique, 
Evolution  de  la  critique) ,  he  is  concerned  mainly  with  the  new 
forms  in  each  field  and  omits  historical  transitions  and  con- 
siderations. The  value  of  his  theory  has  been  much  debated 
and  remains  debatable.  The  French  fondness  for  system-making 
caused  Brunetiere  to  turn  literary  genres  into  living  organisms  or 
"abstractions  v6getatives,  qui  ont  des  troncs  et  qui  poussent 
des  branches  "  (Lemaltre) .  It  is  evident  that  neither  a  sonnet 
nor  an  epic  has  any  such  organic  life.  Yet  it  is  true  that  such 
a  genre  as  Classic  tragedy  will  seem  to  accomplish  an  evolution 
(cf.  Bruneti^re's  Epoques  du  Theatre  Frangais,  1892),  because 


LANSON    AND    FAGUET  715 

of  the  perpetual  changes  operated  on  the  form  and  the  desire 
for  novelty  felt  alike  by  artists  and  public.  On  the  whole, 
however,  it  appears  that  Brunetiere  as  judicial  and  Classical 
critic  has  left  a  surer  record  than  Brunetiere  the  evolutionist. 
We  can  scarcely  doubt  the  excellent  contemporary  influence  of 
his  high  standards  both  of  ideality  and  of  form. 

Beginning  as  a  pupil  of  Brunetiere,  soon  appointed  as  head 
professor  of  French  literature  at  the  Sorbonne,  M.  Gustave 
Lanson  (b.  1857)  has  long  been  the  chief  living  au- 
thority in  his  chosen  field.  He  has  evolved  towards 
the  historical  and  scientific  treatment  of  literary  texts.  His  early 
volume  on  Bossuet  (1890)  revealed  a  taste  that  was  conserva- 
tive, Classical  and  certainly  not  anti-clerical.  His  most  im- 
portant work,  the  Histoire  de  ta  litterature  frangaise  (1894, 
and  many  subsequent  editions)  still  proposes  culture  and  the 
savoring  of  individual  authors  as  the  chief  aims  of  literary 
study.  But  the  historical  approach  necessarily  leads  a  critic 
into  the  development  of  chains  of  ideas  and  chains  of  influence; 
and  the  demonstration  of  these  things  is  perhaps,  for  the  advanced 
student,  the  main  value  of  M.  Lanson's  Histoire.  The  book 
abounds  in  thought,  psychological  insight,  judgment  and  infor- 
mation. M.  Lanson's  method  becomes  more  and  more  scientific 
in  his  critical  editions  of  Voltaire's  Lettres  philosbphiques  and  of 
Lamartine's  Premieres  Meditations,  in  which  the  object  is  to 
surround  the  author  exhaustively  with  possible  influences  per- 
taining to  his  literary  environment  or  background.  These  are 
technical  monmnents,^  but  M.  Lanson  can  also  please  and  in- 
form the  general  reader  with  his  studies  on  Corneille  and  Voltaire 
made  for  the  Grands  Ecrivains  series.  This  critic  does  abund- 
ant justice  to  the  eighteenth  century  and  shows  appreciation  of 
contemporary  currents  as  well  {Hommes  et  livres,  1895). 

As  Professeur  d'Eloquence  Frangaise  at  the  Sorbonne,  Emile 
Faguet  (1847-1916)  was  also  a  critique  universitaire,  but  his 
method  is  at  once  more  personal  and  less  advanced 
d'idees:  than  that  of  M.  Lanson.  He  has  defined  criticism 
Faguet  a,s  "  un  don  de  vivre  d'une  infinite  de  vies  etran- 

geres  "  (cf .  Sainte-Beuve  and  Lemaitre) ,  and  he  has  carried  into 

'  So  is  the  indispensable   Manuel  bibliographigue  de  la  litterature  frangaise 
noderne,  1909-14. 


716  IN    CRITICISM 

his  portraits  an  inexhaustible  curiosity  and  intellectual  vigor. 
His  productivity  was  very  large,  exceeding  forty  volumes; 
in  his  last  years  he  wrote  too  freely  and  too  loosely.  Apart 
from  his  feuilletons  {Propos  de  theatre,  5  vols.,  1903-10)  and 
from  his  volumes  on  Nietzsche  and  Flaubert,  the  most  valuable 
contributions  of  Faguet  are  his  four  volumes  of  Etudes 
litteraires  —  on  the  four  great  centuries,  from  the  sixteenth  to  the 
nineteenth  —  and  his  Politiques  et  moralistes  du  dix-neuvieme 
siecle  (3  vols.  1891-99).  His  studies  are  rather  monographs  on 
single  authors  than  vites  d'ensemble,  and  he  is  more  of  a  moralist 
than  a  scholar.  But  he  is  thoroughgoing,  independent,  and  very 
capable  in  the  manipulation  of  ideas.  He  prefers  to  deal  with 
thinkers  rather  than  with  artists;  he  sees  little  in  Gautier  as 
compared  with  Vigny,  and  he  judges  Voltaire  as  superficial  when 
compared  with  Montesquieu.  His  lively  attack  on  the  phUosophes 
(Dix-hwitieme  siecle:  Etudes  litteraires,  1890)  first  made  his 
fame,  and  throughout  he  prefers  the  Classical  Age  for  its  abiding 
qualities,  the  nineteenth  century  for  its  "  politicians  and  moral- 
ists." Like  Diderot,  Faguet  combines  a  shrewd  sense  of  reality 
with  his  penchant  for  ideas,  and  he  is  thereby  able  to  avoid 
excessive  "  isms  "  and  theories.  His  style  is  usually  vigorous, 
witty  and  lucid. 

M.  Paul  Bourget  evinces  in  criticism  the  same  complex  of 
forces  that  directed  his  fiction  before  1890.^  His  work  is  a 
g  mosaic  of  influences  and  yet  displays  an  individual 

pattern.  The  heir  to  Taine's  determinism,  to 
Renan's  dilettanteism,  to  Stendhal's  method  of  analysis, 
Bourget's  "  enquete  on  the  moral  maladies  of  the  age  "  marks 
the  complete  penetration  of  psychology  into  criticism.  The 
Essais  de  psychologie  tontemporaine  (1883)  and  the  Nouveaux 
essais  (1885)  reveal  first  the  desire  of  the  author,  overwhelmed 
by  his  bookish  upbringing,  to  "  degager  la  Vie  de  cet  amas  de 
livres  et  d'esquisser  un  portrait  moral  de  ma  generation;"  he 
therefore  accepts  Taine's  principle  that  literature  is  a  "  living 
psychology  "  and  he  seeks  to  determine  the  soul-state-  not  only 
of  each  writer  but  of  each  writer's  readers,  hence  of  a  whole 
epoch ;  he  passes  in  review  ten  modern  litterateurs,  all  of  whom 
suffer  from  some  form  of  pessimism:  Renan  and  the  Goncourts 
are  damaged  through  their  dilettanteism,  Stendhal  and  Turgenev 

»  See  above,  Ch.  I. 


BOURGET    AND    SARCEY  717 

through  their  cosmopolitanism,  Baudelaire  and  Dumas  fils  are 
affected  (variously)  by  the  perversities  of  modern  love,  while 
Flaubert,  Leconte  de  Lisle  and  Taine  show  the  corroding  effects 
of  science  on  the  imagination.  Other  causes  for  gloom  were  the 
result  of  the  Franco-Prussian  war,  the  general  taedium  vitae  and 
the  conflict  of  democracy  with  culture. 

Certain  of  these  points  may  be  pushed  too  far,  but  Bourget's 
main  conclusion  —  that  the  generation  of  the  eighties  was  af- 
flicted by  a  deep  pessimism  —  is  borne  out  by  the  facts  (see 
above,  especially  Bk.  VIII,  Ch.  V).  Yet  this  conclusion  is  not 
exactly  a  moral  indictment  on  the  part  of  Bourget.  It  is  rather 
his  habit  to  analyze  writers  "  autant  qu'ils  sont  des  signes  " 
(cf.  Taine  and  Hennequin)  of  current  states  of  sensibility.  It  is 
on  the  basis  of  his  latter-day  currency,  which  Bourget  started, 
that  Stendhal  is  included  among  the  fin-de-siecle  writers.  A 
similar  practice  of  applied  psychology  is  found  in  the  more 
scattered  but  excellently  written  collection  known  as  EtvAes  et 
portraits  (1888).  A  later  collection,  more  polemic  in  tone,  is  the 
Pages  de  doctrine  et  de  critique  (1912) . 

Bourget  has  pronounced  gifts  as  a  critic.  His  style,  of  which 
the  essay  on  Rivarol  is  a  capital  example,  still  marches  heavily, 
but  seems  more  "  direct  and  vibrant "  than  in  his  novels.  He 
is  both  a  sensitif  and  a  thinker,  able  to  penetrate  intimately 
into  his  favorite  writers.  He  has  a  great  deal  of  solid  knowledge 
in  several  fields,  and  he  shows  a  corresponding  profundity  which 
associates  historical  and  philosophical  ideas  with  literature.  He 
perceives,  like  Brunetiere,  the  "  bankruptcy "  of  Science  and 
takes  refuge  in  Spencer's  Unknowable,  which  later  became  for 
Bourget  the  domain  of  faith.  The  earlier  Essais  represented  a 
sort  of  "  critique  confessionelle  "  (Giraud) ,  because  Bourget  ex- 
hibited his  own  psychological  bias  together  with  that  of  his 
generation. 

Francisque  Sarcey,  (1827-99),  the  most  popular  and  influential 
dramatic  critic  of  his  time,  was  the  Aristotle  of  the  piece  bien 
faite.    His  Quarante  ans  de  theatre  (8  vols.  1900-02) 
*  ^^^  consist  of  critical  feuilletons,  written  mainly  for  Le 

Temps,  and  cover  dramatic  history  from  the  ancients  to  the 
Theatre-Libre.  Beginning  with  a  sound  knowledge  and  apprecia- 
tion of  the  French  Classics,  Sarcey  came  to  prefer  the  drama  of 


718  IN    CRITICISM 

Scribe,  of  Dumas  fils  and  of  Sardou.  This  change  was  due  partly 
to  his  subservience  to  contemporary  tastes  —  he  always  held  that 
a  play  existed  only  in  relation  to  its  public  —  and  partly  to  his 
overweening  interest  in  technique.  For  Sarcey,  technique  ("  du 
theatre  ")  was  much  more  important  than  literary  merit;  there- 
fore he  could  set  up  the  well-made  play  as  a  dramatic  absolute. 
He  insists  upon  the  "  art  of  preparations,"  the  unity  of  impression, 
much  action,  and  especially  the  scene  a  jaire  or  the  precept  that 
the  central  situation  of  the  plot  must  be  represented  on  the  stage. 
Apart  from  too  much  emphasis  on  modernity,  Sarcey's  good  sense, 
knowledge  and  insight  make  him  an  informing  and  often  a 
reliable  critic. 

Less  information  but  a  great  deal  of  charm  and  personality  is 
to  be  found  in  the  critical  writings  of  Anatole  France.    The  four 
volumes  of  La  Vie  litteraire  (written  for  Le  Temps, 
sionists:  1888-92)  reflect  th^  influences  that  characterize  his 

A.  France  £j.g^  period  (see  Ch.  I,  above).  Previously  and  in- 
deed throughout  his  career,  France  wrote  many  introductions  to 
French  Classics  and  the  like,  and  these  Notices  (now  collected  in 
Le  Genie  Latin,  1913)  are  more  of  the  orthodox  and  conventional 
kind.  But  his  fame  is  closely  connected  with  La  Vie  litteraire, 
which  represents  essentially  Impressionistic  criticism.  "  The 
good  critic  is  he  who  relates  the  adventures  of  his  own  soul  among 
masterpieces."  "  Objective  criticism  has  no  more  existence  than 
objective  art."  So  France  talks  of  himself  in  connection  with 
Gaston  Paris  or  Renan ;  we  learn  little  of  the  Middle  Ages  or  of 
the  Hebrews,  but  we  are  entertained  by  the  discursive,  wilful,  epi- 
curean charm  of  the  irresistible  Anatole.  Deliberate  relativity 
and  dilettanteism  are  ever-present;  yet  this  critic  has  underlying 
standards,  mainly  of  the  himianistic  and  classical  order.  A 
diatribe  against  Zola  is  followed  by  a  plea  for  the  cultural  study 
of  Latin.  Maupassant  is  praised  as  a  Classical  Realist,  and 
Florian  is  appreciated  for  his  reminiscential  values.  Appreciative 
criticism  is,  indeed,  chiefly  in  evidence,  and  the  writer's  skepti- 
cism is  here  not  bitter  but  tolerant  and  kindly.  Recognizing  the 
development  of  the  critical  spirit  in  these  latter  Alexandrian 
times,  France  approves  the  genre  of  criticism  as  all-inclusive 
and  as  affording  scope  for  "  the  rarest,  the  most  manifold  and 
varied   of   intellectual   faculties."     Certainly   his   own   facul- 


LEMAITRE  719 

ties,  enveloped  in  a  gracious  personal  style  and  an  atmosphere  of 

literary  vagabondage,  are  conspicuous  in  La  Vie  litteraire. 

"  Certaine  beaute,"  says  Jules  Lemaitre,  "  est  un  dissolvant." 

The  phrase  is  significant  as  denoting  a  difference  between  Lemaitre 

.,  and  his  brother-impressionist,  France.    The  former, 

Lemaitre  n  i  •        -i         i   •  .  , 

with  all  his  wit  and  irony,  shows  a  sturdiness  and 

an  intellectual  consistency  which  the  latter  did  not  have.  Jules 
Lemaitre  (1853-1914)  was  trained  as  a  scholar  and  began  as  a 
teacher;  but  he  soon  drifted  into  journalism  and  became  known 
through  his  amusing  feuUleton  on  Renan ;  he  wrote  many  "  Im- 
pressions "  and  was  made  an  Academician  in  1895 ;  then  he 
took  the  conservative  (Catholic  and  militarist)  side  in  the 
Dreyfus  affair  and  returned  to  the  usual  standards  in  his  lauding 
of  public  morality,  patriotism  and  Classicism.  In  his  last  years 
he  became  noted  as  a  graceful  lecturer,  an  activity  resulting  in 
the  popular  and  sympathetic  volumes  on  Rousseau,  Racine  and 
Chateaubriand. 

Lemaitre's  chief  productions  are  Les  Contemporains  (7  vols. 
1885-99)  and  Impressions  de  Theatre  (10  vols.,  1888  ff.).  His 
purpose  is  to  convey  appreciative  and  interpretative  criticism, 
proceeding  by  "  elective  affinities  "  rather  than  by  reasoning  or 
reference  to  general  ideas.  He  takes  as  his  motto  Sainte-Beuve's 
sentence  comparing  the  critical  spirit  to  a  river  which  winds 
through  a  varied  landscape  and  reflects  everything  in  turn. 
Fortunately,  Lemaitre's  taste  is  good,  and  thereby  he  is  saved 
from  the  extreme  of  dilettanteism.  He  can  accept  and  admire, 
temporarily  at  least,  writers  as  different  as  Racine  and  Verlaine, 
the  Realists  and  Rousseau.  Like  Taine,  he  frequently  sums  up 
a  writer  in  an  illuminating  phrase:  Banville  represents  the  tight- 
rope in  poetry;  the  Goncourts  are  the  Siamese  twins  of  literature; 
Heredia  puts  the  Spanish  point  of  honor  into  his  sonnets. 
Lemaitre  writes  with  verve,  naturalness  and  a  wit  which  is  even 
more  incisive  than  that  of  Anatole  France.  In  his  latter  days  he 
became  less  of  an  aesthete  and  more  of  a  moralist,  with  "  un 
grand  desir  de  comprendre  et  le  gout  de  regarder  dans  I'interieur 
des  ames."  The  sincerity  of  this  desire  appears  in  such  a  volume 
as  that  on  Jean-Jacques  Rousseau  (1907).  All  of  Lemaitre  is 
readable,  much  of  him  is  sound,  and  if  Impressionism  is  only  a 
"  refined  appetite,"  yet  in  this  case  we  may  usually  trust  to  the 
excellence  of  the  palate  concerned. 


EPILOGUE:    PRE-WAR   LITERATURE 


Much  of  the  literature  belonging  to  the  pre-war  period  has 
been  discussed  in  the  preceding  Book.  There  we  dealt  with  the 
The  elder  generation  of  authors  who  attained  fame  be- 

Field  fQj,g  ^jjg  giogg  Qf  ^jig  century.    Here  it  is  our  aim 

to  treat  only  the  talents  that  flowered  from  1900  to  1914;  and 
it  is  still  too  soon  to  place  the  majority  of  these  talents.  It 
seems  best,  then,  to  discuss  fully  three  illustrious  representatives 
of  the  age  and,  as  regards  the  remainder,  to  merely  indicate  the 
currents  and  ideals  with  which  they  were  associated. 

The  word  "  ideals  "  is  used  advisedly,  for  it  seems  clear  that 
a  certain  animating  force,  variously  directed,  has  usually  upheld 
The  this    generation.     To   the    confused    abimdance   of 

Tendencies  their  production,  the  terms  "  decadence  "  and  "  fin  de 
Steele  "  are  no  longer  appropriate.  Writers  are,  on  the  one  hand 
mystic  and  spiritual,  on  the  other  active  and  patriotic.  It  is 
not  easy  to  separate  the  tangled  threads  of  these  ideals,  but 
perhaps  three  chief  strands  may  be  discerned.  (1)  The  reaction 
against  Naturalism  and  Positivism  is  apparent.  An  idealistic 
fervor  finds  expression  in  the  Intuitive  philosophy  of  M.  Bergson 
and  his  followers,  in  the  cultivation  of  the  inner  life  by  RoUand 
and  others,  and  in  the  mystic  or  Neo-Catholic  revival  attempted 
by  Claudel  and  Peguy.  (2)  There  is  the  creed  of  energy  and 
force,  which  inspires  "  the  daring  apostles  of  Life,  those  who 
cultivate  movement  and  liberty  rather  than  art"  (Mme 
Duclaux).  This  movement  is  extremely  diverse  and  often  in- 
coherent. But  its  range  is  visible  from  the  very  names  of  such 
"  petites  ecoles  "  as  Vitalism,  Dynamism,  Vorticism,  Paroxysm, 
Futurism.  These  are  all  schools  of  force.  Their  tendencies 
are  summed  up  in  the  work;  of  Emile  Verhaeren.  (3)  The  native 
exponents  of  energy,  under  the  leadership  of  Barres  (see  Bk.  IX, 
Ch.   I),  turned  their   attention   to  the  upbuilding  of  France. 

720 


TENDENCIES  721 

This  patriotic  zeal  has  several  phases,  whether  as  applied  to 
a  depiction  of  the  provinces  (Regionalism),  to  a  renewed  in- 
terest in  colonial  expansion,  or  to  the  development  of  a  solid 
Nationalism.  In  its  extreme  form,  Nationalism  has  been  linked 
with  a  return  to  Royalist  and  Catholic  sympathies  (L'Action 
jrangaise).    This  movement  is  usually  active  and  practical. 

It  seems,  indeed,  that  the  general  tendency  of  "  les  jeunes  " 
has  been  towards  an  obstreperous  activity,  towards  "  violence 
Conflicts  ^^^  volume  "  rather  than  measure  and  taste.  Never 
and  has   there    been    an   epoch   of   greater    individual 

on  usions  liberty,  whether  in  thought  or  form.  Adventurous 
talents  have  sought  a  cohesion  or  solidarity  which  they  scarcely 
found ;  and  in  the  multitude  of  "  isms  "  it  would  appear  that 
every  individual  is  making  a  private  school  of  his  own.  For 
instance,  Marinetti  (an  Italian)  and  Verhaeren  (a  Fleming), 
with  their  interest  in  the  inventions .  of  a  mechanical  age,  are 
the  only  "  Futurists "  that  matter ;  Verhaeren,  again,  is  the 
chief  "  Paroxyst " ;  Jules  Romains  is  the  only  luminary  of 
"  Unanimism,"  held  important  because  of  its  application  of 
crowd-psychology  to  poetry;  Fernand  Gregh  is  the  apostle  of 
"  Humanism,"  which  reacts  against  the  Parnassians  and  the 
Symbolists ;  while  "  Naturism  "  or  "  I'ideo-realisme  "  has  a  more 
numerous  following,  whose  endeavor  is  to  "  faire  tressaillir 
leurs  strophes  du  grand  frisson  de  la  vie."  This  vehement 
struggle  for  individual  vitality  has  rarely  attained  final  or  con- 
summate form.  The  chief  organs  of  the  new  movements  have 
been  the  Mercure  de  France  and,  more  recently,  the  Nouvelle 
Revue  Frangaise.  But  rather  than  dwell  on  the  more  eccentric 
manifestations,  we  should  cope  with  the  underlying  philosophy 
of  the  age. 


II 

In  the  domain  of  thought,  the  transcendental  philosophy  of 
M.  Henri  Bergson  (b.  1859)  was  very  influential  as  it  was  quite 
characteristic   of  the  pre-war  period.    The  rising 
generation  approved  his  interest  in  the  forces  of 
life  (Vitalism)  and  his  advocacy  of  instinct  rather  than  intelli- 
gence  (Intuitionism) ;  especially  did  his  doctrine  of  Creative 


722         EPILOGUE:    PRE-WAR    LITERATURE 

Evolution  and  the  flux  harmonize  with  certain  aesthetic  tend- 
encies of  the  new  era.  Partly  deriving  from  Boutroux  and 
Renouvier,  offering  parallels  with  the  system  of  William  James, 
the  Bergsonian  philosophy  is  contained  in  three  works  of  pro- 
gressive importance.  In  his  doctoral  thesis,  Essai  sur  les  donnees 
immediates  de  la  conscience  (1889),  M.  Bergson  is  already  seek- 
ing the  depths  of  the  inner  life  and  the  foimdations  of  liberty. 
In  Matiere  et  memoir e  (1896)  the  author  discusses,  with  the 
latest  scientific  evidence,  the  rapports  between  consciousness  and 
the  outer  world.  The  work  is  definitely  idealistic  and  dualistic 
in  its  emphasis  on  the  inertia  of  matter  save  as  energized  by 
spirit.  Finally,^  L'Evolution  Creatrice  (1907)  is  the  fullest  and 
most  alluring  statement  of  M.  Bergson's  metaphysical  attitude. 
It  deals  with  evolution  in  general,  with  the  meaning  of  life,  the 
relations  of  body  and  spirit,  the  contrast  of  intellect  and  in- 
stinct; it  furnishes  a  criticism  of  modem  philosophical  systems 
and  it  garbs  the  whole  argument  in  a  style  of  infinite  suggestion, 
imagery  and  charm. 

Although,  according  to  his  disciples,  M.  Bergson's  work  is 
strongly  groimded  on  a  manifold  knowledge  of  the  sciences,  yet 
The  he  is  throughout  opposed  to  a  wholly  scientific  or 

Intuition  "  mechanistic  "  view  of  the  universe.  Thereby  he 
^^^^  continues  the  belief  in  the  "  bankruptcy  of  science  " 
which  was  symptomatic  of  the  century's  end.''  The  doctrine  of 
final  causes,  or  the  teleological  explanation  of  reality,  he  finds 
equally  man-made  and  unsatisfactory.  Again,  our  philosophical 
diflBculties  arise  partly  from  the  inadequacy  and  confusion  of 
terms,  partly  from  our  mental  need  to  "  juxtapose  phenomena 
in  space  "  even  when  ideas  do  not  occupy  space.  (This  parcelling 
habit  is  his  chief  objection  to  Spencerian  evolution).  So  the  true 
philosopher  must  go  beyond  science,  must  renounce  analytic 
processes  in  favor  of  spontaneous  perception,  and  "  accomplish 
an  effort  of  direct  intuition  which  may  put  him  into  immediate 
contact  with  the  real "  (Le  Roy) .  The  nature  and  fimctioning 
of  this  transcendental  intuition  are  nowhere  clearly  indicated 
in  L'Evolution  Creatrice.  Having  disposed  of  space,  M.  Bergson 
proceeds  to  dispose  of  time.    What  we  usually  call  facts  are  not 

'  His  latest  book,  L'Energie  spirituelle  ( 1919)  does  not  fall  within  our  scope. 
»  See  above,  pp.  665  and  717. 


BERGSON  723 

ultimate  reality,  but  reality  adapted  to  practical  interests;  our 
practical  understanding  (cf.  Kant)  tends  to  solidify  the  flux  of 
phenomena  and  to  represent  the  same  in  set  periods  of  duration; 
whereas  duration  likewise  flows  continously;  in  thought  and  in 
memory,  past  melts  imperceptibly  into  present  and  our  tomorrows 
will  soon  form  a  compact  whole  with  our  yesterdays.  M. 
Bergson's  illustrations  of  this  continuum  are  vivid  and  his  treat- 
ment of  true  duration,  as  being  infinitely  vaster  than  matter,  is 
most  impressive. 

By  spontaneous  and  immediate  intuition,  then,  the  philosopher 
can  apprehend  what  the  scientist  cannot:  the  real  nature  of  the 
Creative  soul,  of  the  vital  impulse  {I'elan  vital) ,  of  movement 

Evolution  a^jjjj  change.  Neo-Darwinism  is  acceptable  as  regards 
variation  and  adaptability.  The  next  step  is  to  maintain  that 
these  processes  are  not  passively  undergone,  but  reflected  in  our 
perception  and  action.  Hence  it  is  a  creative  evolution  in  which 
we  participate;  we  are  in  the  midst  of  an  "  unforeseeable  creation 
of  forms."  By  an  act  of  sympathy  the  observer  installs  himself 
in  the  bosom  of  reality,  in  order  to  "  sentir  sa  palpitation  pro- 
fonde  et  sa  richesse  interieure "  (Le  Roy) .  If  we  must  have 
concepts,  let  them  be  plastic,  fluid  and  living  like  the  living 
models.  So  only  may  philosophy  "  dilate  "  and  go  deeper  in  its 
endeavor  to  transcend  its  present  intellectual  status.  So  only 
may  it  reflect  reality's  double  and  correlative  movement  towards 
unification  and  plurification  (cf .  James) .  Life  proceeds  largely 
by  dissociation,  and  Evolution,  like  an  exploding  shell,  bursts 
into  ever-flying  fragments. 

The  best  reality  to  study  is  the  ego  — and  there  is  nothing 
new  about  that  statement.  But  his  disciples  hold  that  M.  Bergson 
The  Inner  has  enlarged  the  possibilities  of  "  know  thyself  "  by 
^°^^^  '  showing  to  what  extent  the  division-making  pro- 
cesses of  the  outer  world  have  crept  into  the  multiple  ego.  These 
processes,  as  obsessions,  should  be  discarded,  and  we  should,  as 
in  "  pure  memory,"  reach  to  the  inner  depths  of  the  individual. 
Already,  in  Matiere  et  memoire,  the  writer  had  maintained  that 
of  the  several  grades  or  layers  of  consciousness,  the  deepest  is 
independent  of  mechanistic  conceptions.  It  would  seem,  then, 
that  spirit  may  have  an  independent  life;  cerebral  convolutions 
and  records  will  not  explain  the  original  activities  of  perception 


724         EPILOGUE:    PRE-WAR   LITERATURE 

and  memory.  In  our  inner  life  —  for  example,  in  a  deep  passion 
—  it  is  more  a  question  of  intensity  than  of  any  quantitative 
analysis.  Spatial  and  numerical  measurements  must  go.  This 
is  the  doctrine  of  the  "  immanence  of  thought,"  closely  connected 
with  the  creative  and  poetic  instinct;  this  is  the  source  of  moral 
responsibility  and  of  life  itself.  And  in  the  joy  of  becoming  one 
with  pure  reality,  we  participate  in  its  essential  movement. 

This  movement  is  a  fundamental  principle  of  the  new  philos- 
ophy, for  which  its  founder  has  suggested  the  title  of  the  "  phi- 
A  Philo-  losophy  of  change."  Change  or  movement,  says  M. 
sophy  of  Bergson, "  is  original.  Things  are  derived  from  move- 
Change  ment."  Life  is  a  "  continuity  of  genetic  energy," 
and  our  part  in  it  is  to  furnish  a  certain  push  or  tendency.  So 
we  have  a  moving-picture  scenario  in  which,  however,  it  is  not  a 
question  of  adding  movement  to  the  fixed  pictures,  but  of  starting 
with  the  movement  and  directing  it  into  scenes  or  elements  of 
experience.  Thus  we  end  with  the  idea  of  a  reality  which  creates 
and  which  is  free.  The  destiny  of  human  beings  has  never  been 
foreordained : 

The  world  was  all  before  them  where  to  choose  .   .   . 

We  often  forgot  our  creative  role  and  lapsed  back  into  mechanism 
and  the  struggle  for  mere  maintenance.  Yet  man  has  triumphed; 
yet  our  gifts  and  heritage  declare  nature's  solitary  exceptional 
success.  Such  is  the  stirring  conclusion  of  M.  Bergson's 
idealistic  philosophy. 

It  is  scarcely  our  part  to  judge  this  doctrine,  but  even  a  layman 
may  observe  that  its  chief  assumptions  repose  on  nothing  but  our 
Tendencies  —  °^  ^-  Bergson's  —  intuitive  apprehension.  The 
and  same  may  be  said  as  regards  the  "  proof  "  of  the 

will's  freedom,  of  the  separate  existence  of  spirit 
and  its  possible  immortality.  Although  the  author  scarcely 
mentions  religion,  there  is  more  of  revelation  than  of  reasoning 
in  his  synthesis.  That  is  why  he  has  been  criticized  by  such 
men  as  J.  Benda,  who  find  Bergson's  anti-intellectualism  out 
of  the  French  tradition,  sentimental  and  romantic  with  a  German 
tinge.  Yet  the  majority  of  young  French  writers  in  this  period 
waged  war,  somewhat  indiscriminately,  on  rationalism,  ma- 
terialism and  positivism;  there  was,  as  we  have  stated,  a  reno- 


BERGSON  725 

vation  of  the  "  ideal "  in  various  forms;  and  the  popularity 
of  Bergson  was  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  his  speculations  are 
capable  of  many  interpretations  and  uses.  For  example,  Peguy 
and  Claudel  (see  below)  interpreted  Creative  Evolution  very 
differently,  the  one  being  nearer  to  Vitalism,  the  other  to  In- 
tuitionism.  Again,  "  Impulsionism,"  the  "  ideo-realiste  "  move- 
ment, the  divagations  of  the  later  Symbolists  and  vers-libristes, 
all  have  points  in  common  with  the  new  philosophy,  which  agrees 
with  the  modem  emphasis  on  force  as  well  as  on  formlessness 
(the  flux).  It  seems  probable  that  Bergsonism,  as  a  system, 
reached  its  peak  before  the  war  and  is  now  declining. 

Whatever  the  fate  of  its  message,  L'Evolution  Creatrice  will 
remain  a  literary  landmark  because  of  the  fascinating  and  poetic 
Literary  power  of  its  style.  It  is  curious  that  M.  Bergson 
Values  should    originally    have    renounced     and     finally 

adopted  the  use  of  images  as  symbols  of  the  unspeakable  and 
invisible;  for  his  style  is  vibrant  with  convergent  metaphors, 
evocative  of  a  varied  reality,  supple  and  flowing  in  accordance 
with  the  thought.  It  is  a  style  of  elaborate  harmonies,  but  of 
comparative  clearness,  containing  many  repetitions;  it  also  con- 
tains, like  that  of  Pascal,  the  frisson  metaphysique,  the  sense  of 
vastness  and  soul-yearning.  In  this  many-textured  fabric,  subtle 
psychological  analysis  alternates  with  technical  illustrations 
from  the  positive  sciences.  Frequent  cross-references  to  the 
creative  arts  are  found,  and  although  M.  Bergson  has  formulated 
no  system  of  aesthetics,  his  influence  upon  recent  aesthetic  cur- 
rents and  criticism  is  indisputable. 

Remy  de  Gourmont  (1858-1915)  is  also  a  sort  of  Intuitionist 
with  regard  to  aesthetic  theories.  Following  Bergson  in  the 
Other  "  dissociation  des  idees,"  he  is  led  by  this  analysis 

Thinkers  Jq^q  g,  corrosive  and  pernicious  immoralism,  es- 
pecially in  his  poetry  and  fiction.  His  criticism  (Promenades 
Ktteraires,  1904^13)  is  likewise  based  on  a  sensual  principle, 
but  shows  genuine  gifts  of  divination  and  taste.  E.  Seilliere  as 
a  critic  is  anti-romantic  and  represents  an  intellectual  imperial- 
ism in  his  speculative  thinking.  As  regards  religious  idealism, 
or  "  le  Spiritualisme,"  E.  Schure  (Les  Grands  Inities,  etc.)  and 
C.  de  Pomairols  have  been  considered  as  the  semi-official  heads 
respectively  of  the  Protestant  and  the  Catholic  wings  of  the 


726         EPILOGUE:    PRE-WAR    LITERATURE 

revival.  The  Modernist  movement,  in  the  Catholic  Church,  has 
mainly  a  theological  significance.  Neo-Catholicism,  in  its 
more  active  and  patriotic  affiliations,  was  forwarded  not 
only  by  Barres  and  the  other  "  B's  "  (see  above,  p.  669) ,  but  also 
by  the  directors  of  L' Action  frangaise,^  Leon  Daudet  and 
especially  Charles  Maurras.  Barres  and  Maurras  have 
been  the  two  most  effective  publicists  in  connection  with 
the  maintenance  of  Nationalist  traditions.  These  include,  not 
only  patriotism,  but  a  return  d  la  Chateaubriand,  to  the  principles 
of  "  throne  and  altar."  Royalism  and  Catholicism  are  considered 
as  safeguarding  the  nation  and  as  establishing  "  I'idee  de 
I'ordre."  Many  young  intellectuals  and  aristocrats  have  tried 
thus  to  reverse  the  wheel  of  time ;  Rolland  once  inquired  of  such 
a  juvenile  Tory  why  he  should  cling  to  the  skirts  of  his  great- 
grandmother. 


in 

Romain  Rolland  (b.  1868)  is  the  second  great  writer  of  this 

period.    A  native  of  Clamecy  in  Burgundy,  he  has  celebrated 

„  „    ,  his  province  in  the  attempted  Rabelaisianism  of  Colas 

Rolland  „    '^  ,^„^„,  ,   ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  .  ,    • 

Breugnon  (1919)   and  has  told  us  of  his  upbrmg- 

ing  in  an  episode  of  Jean-Christophe.  Rolland  was,  however, 
educated  in  Paris,  where  he  formed  a  friendship  with  Paul 
Claudel  and  an  early  passion  for  music,  especially  that  of 
Wagner.  Passing  through  the  Ecole  Normale  and  a  period  of 
adolescent  storm  and  stress,  he  soon  demonstrated  that  his  dom- 
inant interest  would  be  an  intellectual  internationalism  and  a 
desire  to  reach  a  synthesis,  a  world-philosophy  in  that  direction. 
The  powerful  influence  of  Tolstoy  alternated  with  cosmopolitan 
contacts  in  Rome;  a  visit  to  Bayreuth  was  presently  followed 
by  an  endeavor  to  reform  the  French  theater  towards  the  stand- 
ard of  Shakespeare  {Theatre  de  la  Revolution,  acted  1898-1902). 
Rolland  then  functioned  as  professor  of  the  History  of  Music 
at  the  Sorbonne  (1903-10) ;  he  wrote  a  Vie  de  Beethoven  to- 
gether with  numerous  studies  on  other  musicians,  past  and  pres- 
ent.   Around  1911  he  spent  some  time  in  Switzerland,  to  which 

'  This  journal  represented  the  continuation  of  the  anti-Dreyfus  agitation.    Sea 
above,  pp.  664,  676. 


HOLLAND  727 

country  he  retired  during  the  war.  Mme  Duclaux  finds  him  more 
Swiss  than  Latin  in  his  "  intense  individualism,  his  moral 
earnestness,  his  lyric  love  of  nature  and ...  a  scolding  tenderness 
in  his  voice." 

All  of  this  earnestness,  this  cosmopolitanism,  this  interest  in 
art  and  in  the  life  of  the  mind,  was  poured  into  Jean-Christophe, 
"Jean-  which  was  first  published  periodically  in  Peguy's 

Chriatophe"  Qahiers  de  la  Quinzaine,  1904r-12.  This  ten-volume 
work  is  in  several  respects  the  most  notable  French  novel  of 
our  generation.  First,  it  uses  the  form  as  a  "  rag-bag "  mis- 
cellany and  is  panoramic  in  its  view  of  civilization.  Secondly,  it 
centers  around  the  biography  of  a  musician  and  offers  the  most 
striking  recent  "  case "  of  the  artistic  temperament  doubling 
upon  itself.  In  one  or  the  other  of  these  respects,  Jean- 
Christophe  has  had  numerous  sequels  in  the  cycle-novels  of  the 
last  decade*  And  thirdly,  the  book  is  written  with  a  thorough- 
going idealism,  which  is  not  rose-colored,  which  faces  facts  and 
rings  true  by  all  standards  of  nobility  and  sincerity. 

The  three  divisions  in  the  life  of  Christophe  Krafft  are  his 
German  youth,  his  Parisian  struggles  and  the  epoch  of  final 
tempests  and  subsequent  serenity  (Switzerland,  Italy,  Paris). 
Rolland's  biographies  of  Beethoven,  of  Michelangelo  and  of 
Tolstoy,  together  with  certain  episodes  in  the  life  of  Wagner, 
furnish  some  material  in  the  three  chief  phases  of  the  hero- 
musician.  Cosmopolitanism  is  then  evident  as  regards  both 
places  and  people.  The  work  is  strongly  conceived  and  con- 
structed; but  it  could  scarcely  maintain  an  equal  inspiration 
throughout  its  whole  course.  Among  the  parts  that  seem  most 
valuable  are  the  following.'  The  heredity  of  Christopher  is 
significantly  set  forth,  and  his  childhood  is  described  with  charm 
iL'Avbe).  The  awakening  of  young  love  is  wonderfully  por- 
trayed in  the  affairs  with  Sabine  the  somnolent  and  Ada  the 
sensuous  {U Adolescent) .  Christopher  is  now  becoming  con- 
scious of  his  creative  power  and  generally  of  "  la  force  de  I'Etre." 
This  leads  (in  La  Revolte)'  to  his  battles  with  the  German  small- 
town atmosphere  and  with  the  sentimentalism  that  he  calls  the 
"mensonge  allemand."    He  breaks  with  his  early  associations 

*  For  example,  m  the  works  of  Bennett,  Mackenzie,  Dreiser,  Wassennann, 
Couperus,  and  Marcel  Proust. 

'  The  titles  of  the  individual  volumes  are  given  in  parentheses. 


728         EPILOGUE:    PRE-WAR    LITERATURE 

and  suddenly  flees  to  Paris.  There,  like  Wagner,  he  meets  with 
ill-luck  and  indifference  —  and  Rolland  writes  what  is  really  an 
indictment  of  the  boulevards  {La  Foire  sur  la  place).  The 
novelist  excoriates  the  market-place,  the  ignorant  coteries,  the 
corruptions  of  fast  life,  the  hyper-feminized  literature  and 
society.  He  appeals  from  this  moribund  generation  to  the  forces 
of  Life,  even  of  humble  life:  during  an  illness  he  is  nursed  by  a 
servant-girl  who  convinces  him  that  there  are  workers  even  in 
Paris.  Then  we  go  back  to  the  family  life  of  the  Jeannin 
{Antoinette) ,  the  pathetic  idyll  of  the  girl  who  loved  Christopher 
at  a  distance  and  who  in  dying  left  her  brother,  Olivier,  to  be  his 
great  friend.  These  two  friends  keep  house  together,  and  grad- 
ually {Dans  la  Maison  and  Les  Amies)  Christopher  comes  to 
know  a  circle  of  quiet  workers  and  passes  through  various  ex- 
periences, amorous  and  political.  The  latter  kind  bring  trouble, 
namely  a  riot,  the  death  of  Olivier  and  the  forced  flight  of 
Christopher  from  Paris.  Prositrated  in  a  Swiss  town  (Bale), 
he  recovers  only  to  fall  a  victim  to  the  most  violent  of  his  love- 
affairs,  with  the  enigmatic  and  passionate  Anna.  Finally,  he 
is  restored  to  serenity,  meets  again  his  Grazia  and  loves  her 
ideally  (La  Nouvelle  Joumee),  shows  benevolence  towards  the 
younger  generation  and  passes  away.  "  Saint  Christophe  a 
traverse  le  fleuve." 

His  whole  life-course,  indeed,  has  been  a  "  river,"  as  Rolland 
says  —  not  a  novel  but  a  huge  stream  journeying  epically  through 
p  .  .  .  a  varied  landscape,  panoramic  in  its  reflections  of 

many  scenes,  subjects  and  experiences.  The  work  also 
resembles  a  symphony  in  its  triple  division,  its  recurrent  motifs, 
its  anticipations  and  fulfillments.  So  diverse  is  the  story  that 
different  countries  have  shown  distinct  preferences  for  different 
volumes  —  France  for  La  Nouvelle  Joumee,  America  for  Le 
Buisson  ardent.  So  the  work  is  uniquely  European  in  its  scope 
and  influence.  People  of  many  races  and  types  move  across  the 
stage,  and  the  characterization  is  usually  excellent.  Christopher 
himself,  with  his  naivete  and  blundering,  his  increasing  spiritual 
force  and  his  growing  goodness,  is  wonderfully  handled.  He  is 
a  sort  of  Parsifal,  a  "  reiner  Thor  "  who  becomes  "  wise  through 
sympathy."  He  is  a  very  human  genius.  The  gentler  but  more 
subtle  Olivier  is  a  worthy  foil.    Olivier's  wife,  Jacqueline,  in  her 


HOLLAND  729 

strenuous  demands  upon  life  and  love,  is  one  kind  of  modern 
woman  —  and  many  kinds  are  represented.  The  heroines  are 
thoroughly  differentiated  and  analyzed.  We  remember  the  chief 
stages  in  the  story  by  the  names  of  the  women,  each  representing 
some  aspect  of  her  country:  Minne,  Sabine  and  Ada;  Antoinette 
at  the  opposite  pole  from  Colette  Stevens ;  Grazia,  the  Beatrice, 
who  inspires  an  autumnal  love.  Even  to  the  minor  characters, 
such  as  Christopher's  mother,  Rolland  gives  life  and  individuality. 
The  arlJ  of  Jean-Christophe  is  in  the  total  effect  rather  than  in 
details.  It  is  not  written  in  a  choice  style.  There  are  many 
passages  of  an  eloquent  earnestness,  but  the  river  runs  muddily 
at  times  and  the  language  becomes  diffuse  or  slack.  There  are 
also  slow-moving  pages  of  discussion  or  didacticism.  Part  of 
Christopher's  revolt  is  against  too  much  "  art,"  against  an  ever- 
refining  dilettanteism ;  he  trusts  more  to  the  strong  rough  currents 
of  an  abiding  inspiration;  he  trusts  above  all  to  the  consoling 
power  of  work  and  of  will: 

Je  ne  suis  pas  tout  ce  qui  est  (dit  la  voix  de  Dieu).  Je  suis  la 
Vie  qui  combat  le  Neant.  .  .  .  Je  suis  le  Feu  qui  brule  dans  la 
Nuit.  .  .  .  Je  suis  le  combat  etemel.  .  .  .  Je  suis  la  Volonte 
libre  qui  lutte  et  brule  eternellement.  Lutte  et  brule  avec  moi.  .  .  , 

This  greatly  resembles  Bergson.  The  book  preaches  a  creative 
energy  derived  from  several  soiu'ces  —  first,  from  the  natural, 
hereditary  and  intuitive  genius  of  the  artist;  secondly,  from  his 
"  long  espoir  "  in  spiritual  realities ;  thirdly,  from  Christopher's 
enduring  strength,  a  strength  of  the  people,  Tolstoyan,  embracing 
poverty,  confronting  hardship  —  and  triumphing  over  the  market- 
place. 

In  Holland's  view  an  artist  should  feel  and  express  the  "  re- 
ligious conscience  "  of  a  people.  So  a  "  grand  souffle  Pantheiste  " 
animates  this  work  —  a  religious  fervor  without  definite  religious 
dogma.  Hence,  for  all  its  social  satire,  Jean-Christophe 
is  constructive  through  its  final  faith  in  an  emergent  "true 
France "  and  in  the  stamina  of  civilization.  Lofty  and 
fine  issues,  simply  accepted,  dominate  the  book;  nothing 
could  be  farther  from  the  literature  of  the  boulevards.  Nor 
does  Rolland  have  recourse,  like  Barres  and  Bourget,  to 
the  traditional  supports  of  Church  and  State.   A  greater  "  wind  of 


730        EPILOGUE:    PRE-WAR    LITERATURE 

the  spirit  "  now  animates  humanity,  and  this  is  also  the  message 
of  Aurdessits  de  la  Melee  (1915),  the  war-book  which  has  been  so 
widely  misunderstood  and  which,  for  all  its  true  patriotism,  has 
cost  Rolland  his  popularity  in  France.  He  will  regain  it,  for  in 
the  long  run  the  judgment  of  France  is  just.  The  name  of  Rolland 
will  survive  this  troubled  epoch,  steadfastly  linked  with  the  cause 
of  truth-telling  and  of  international  idealism.  Whatever  the  fate 
of  his  after-work,  Jean-Christophe  remains  a  noble  task,  nobly 
accomplished. 

In  certain  other  novelists  we  find  likewise  an  idealistic  trend, 
but  it  has  been  less  strongly  articulate.  The  Regionalist  move- 
Other  ment  launched  by  Barres  is  exemplified  in  the  work 
Novelists  Qf  ]y[  Henry  Bordeaux  {La  Neige  sur  les  pas,  Les 
Yeux  qui  s'ouvrent) ,  who  deals  mainly  with  the  province  of  Le 
Dauphine;  and  by  M.  Rene  Bazin,  who  in  La  Terre  qui  meurt 
(1899)  and  Le  Ble  qui  leve  (1907)  presents  agricultural  or  social 
problems  in  central  France;  Les  Oberle  (1901)  especially  gives 
M.  Bazin's  contribution  to  the  literature  of  Alsace  (cf.  Barres, 
Lichtenberger,  etc.).  Bordeaux  and  Bazin  are  respectable  and 
highly  moral  writers,  who  emphasize  devotion  to  the  family  as 
well  as  to  the  state.  More  colorful  is  the  depiction  of  North 
Africa  in  the  work  of  M.  Louis  Bertrand:  Le  Sang  des  races, 
1899;  Pepete  le  bien-aime,  1904.  The  historical  past  of  France 
has  been  resuscitated  in  the  novels  of  Henri  de  Regnier  (Le  bon 
Plaisir,  1902;  Le  Passe  vivant,  1905)  and  in  those  of  Maurice 
Maindron,  especially  Saint-C'endre  (1902).  These  men  write 
with  a  sensual  bias,  but  with  considerable  knowledge  of  the  past 
and  much  artistic  skill  in  the  presentation.  The  psychological 
novel  is  continued  in  La  Vie  secrete  (1908)  of  E.  Estaunie  and 
the  roman  passionel  in  Mme  Marcelle  Tinayre's  Maison  du  peche 
(1902).  Yellow-back  fiction  has  also  abounded,  and  the  confusion 
of  the  epoch  is  manifest  in  the  heterogeneity  of  this  form.  For 
example,  the  Prix  Goncourt  has  been  awarded  yearly  to  a  series 
of  "  striking  "  or  eccentric  novels ;  yet  none  of  those  published 
before  1914  seem  likely  to  survive. 


POETRY  731 


IV 


Apart  from  the  later  manifestations  of  Symbolism,  French 
poetry  seems  to  have  been  at  a  loss  during  the  early  years  of  the 
Poetry  twentieth  century.    The  period  of  1900-1905  is  a 

period  of  poetic  anarchy  and  extravagance.  After 
that  date,  it  is  held,  the  various  "  isms  "  settled  down  to  a  sort 
of  reconciliation  based  on  their  common  distrust  of  the  intellect 
and  their  common  desire  for  a  poetic  renaissance  in  the  direc- 
tion of  idealism,  spontaneity,  creative  enthusiasm  (cf.  Berg^on). 
Their  intentions  were  better  than  their  achievement.  In  France 
proper,  previous  to  the  war,  no  commanding  presence  was  felt  in 
poetry.  Among  the  conservatives,  at  the  turn  of  the  century,  we 
find  the  classical  and  Petrarchan  Muse  of  Auguste  Angellier  (A 
I'amie  perdue,  1896;  Dans  la  lumiere  antique,  1905-11)  and  the 
emotional  Vitalism  of  the  Comtesse  Mathieu  de  Noailles  (Le 
Coeur  innombrable,  1901;  Les  Eblouissements,  1907).  Both  of 
these  writers  are  perfectly  regular  in  form.  As  regards  the  various 
new  "  isms,"  their  divisions  and  principles  have  been  sufficiently 
catalogued  above  (section  I).  One  might  mention  such  mani- 
festoes as  Marinetti's  "  Tuons  le  Clair  de  Lune  "  or  J.  Remains' 
poem,  La  Vie  Unamme  (1908).  In  form,  the  New  Poetry  (Paul 
Fort,  Peguy,  Claudel)  has  pushed  vers  libre  to  the  point  where 
it  is  polymorphic,  closer  to  rhythmic  prose  than  to  verse.  Like 
Verhaeren (see  below),  most  of  these  writers  are  Whitmanesque 
Paul  F  rt       ™  form,  content  or  both.     Paul  Fort   (b.   1872), 

"  prince  des  poetes  "  since  1912,  has  written  many 
volumes  of  Ballades  frangaises,  1897-1920.  These  deal  partly 
with  the  writer's  self,  but  more  with  historical  or  contemporary 
France,  in  Paris  or  in  the  provinces  (Le  Roman  de  Louis  XI, 
Paris  sentimental,  Ile-de-France) .  The  style  ranges  from  the 
familiar  language  of  the  streets  to  a  quaint  archaic  French ;  and 
Fort  uses  various  so-called  adaptations  of  the  Old  French 
popular  verse-forms.  Like  Jammes,  he  favors  a  naive  expres- 
sion—  naivete  has  been  a  frequent  pose  since  Verlaine.  There 
is  plenty  of  life  and  emotion  in  this  diluted  mixture  of  prose 
and  verse,  which  is  printed  like  prose,  but  allows  occasional 
rime  or  near-rime  together  with  repetends  and  refrains.    Paul 


732         EPILOGUE:    PRE-WAR    LITERATURE 

Fort  has  been  called  "  I'exemplaire  le  plus  curieux  du  pofete  k 
la  fois  spontane  et  subtil,  natural  et  pittoresque,  ingenieux  et 
savant,  opulent  et  neglige  "  (Florian-Parmentier) . 

Charles  Peguy  (1873-1914),  a  self-taught  mystic  and  man  of 
the  people,  was  the  founder  (1897)  of  the  enterprising  Cahiers 
de  la  Quinzaine,  which  published  Rolland,  A.  Suares 
and  others.  This  poet  wrote  long  Mysteries  or 
semi-epics  (Eve,  Le  Mystere  de  la  Charite  de  Jeanne  d'Arc) 
which  emphasize  his  orthodox  faith  and  his  belief  in  "  the 
grandeur  and  misery  of  man  and  his  need  of  salvation." 
Peguy's  talent  is  unequal,  verbose,  sensitive  and  himiane.  His 
rhythmical  prose  is  full  of  repetitions,  incoherencies  and  dilu- 
tions, alternating  with  passages  of  high  imagery  and  natural 
beauty.  Peguy  was  killed  early  in  the  Great  War  and  is  best 
known  by  his  stirring  and  prophetic  war-poem: 

Heureux  ceux  qui  sont  morts  pour  la  terra  chamalla, 
Mais  pourvu  que  ce  fut  dans  une  juste  guerra; 
Heureux  ceux  qui  sont  morts  pour  quatre  coins  da  terre, 
Heureux  ceux  qui  sont  morts  d'une  mort  solennalla. 

Heureux  ceux  qui  sont  morts  dans  las  grandes  batailles, 
Couches  dessus  le  sol  a  la  face  de  Dieu; 
Heureux  ceux  qui  sont  morts  sur  un  dernier  haut  lieu 
Parmi  tout  I'appareil  des  grandes  funerailles.  .   .   . 

-The  dominating  voice  in  poetry  during  this  period  was  that 
of  Emile  Verhaeren  (1855-1916).  But  Verhaeren's  muse  is 
Verhaeren  Belgian  rather  than  purely  French.  Bom  and  bred 
in  Flanders,  he  studied  at  Louvain  and  joined  a 
literary  group  at  Brussels;  he  published  his  first  volume,  Les 
Flamandes,  in  1883.  This  naturalistic  collection  is  aflame  with 
the  colors  of  Rubens  and  the  riot  of  the  senses.  A  more  mystic 
and  restrained  note  is  sounded  in  Les  Moines,  1886.  Some  main- 
tain that  it  is  in  the  Flemish  character  thus  to  alternate  the 
animal  and  the  spiritual.  At  any  rate,  having  celebrated  with 
a  good  deal  of  violence  the  attractions  of  his  native  soil, 
Verhaeren  passed  through  a  nervous  breakdown  which  found 
expression  in  such  records  of  the  inner  life  as  Les  Scdrs  and 
Les  Debacles.  He  presently  recovered  contact  with  the  outer 
world,  married,  became  interested  in  Socialism,  and  began  his 


VERHAEREN  733 

third  phase  with  the  publication  of  Lsi  Villei  tentaculair^s 
(1895). 

This  final  phase  contains  the  most  characteristic  poetry  of 
Verhaeren.  It  is  marked  by  objectivity,  expansive  power  and 
His  an  interest  in  the  manifold  aspects  of  modern  in- 

Master-  dustrial  life.    It  is  distinctly  a  new  "  Futuristic " 

P*®  ®®  poetry  that  appeared  under  such  well-chosen  titles 

as  Les  Forces  tumultueuses  (1902),  La  Multiple  Splendeur 
(1906)  and  Les  Rhythmes  souvemins  (1910) .  In  all  his  twenty- 
odd  volumes,  Verhaeren  has  not  surpassed  this  trilogy.  In  the 
first-named,  the  poet  sings  of  such  "  forces  "  as  art  and  love, 
such  heroes  or  types  as  the  warrior,  the  monk,  the  orator  and 
the  financier.  La  Multiple  Splendeur,  more  abstract  in  its  in- 
tention, bears  witness  to  the  power  of  ideas,  of  hmnan  speech 
(Le  Verbe),  of  aspiration  and  even  of  suffering;  but  above  all 
it  revels  in  the  vitality  and  violence  of  Nature,  whether  as 
triumphing  in  the  marts  of  the  world  or  as  inextricably  mingled, 
in  the  springtide,  with  one's  personal  life  and  with  the  beauty 
of  women.  Les  Rhythmes  souverains  fully  embodies  a  concep- 
tion of  rhythm  to  which  we  shall  return.  Les  Ailes  rouges  de 
la  guerre  (posthumous,  1917)  contains,  together  with  much 
powerful  invective  against  the  Germans,  a  large  vision  of  the 
mighty  machinery  of  war. 

The  chief  point  about  Verhaeren,  and  his  chief  difference 
from  nineteenth-century  poets,  is  that  he  accepts  modern  life  with 
The  New  its  grime  and  its  glory,  with  all  its  industrial  and 
Poetry  civic  manifestations.    His  muse  is  intensely  demo- 

cratic and  surrenders  herself  to  actuality.  Verhaeren  too  has 
his  Five  Towns,  overhung  with  smoke  and  vibrating  to  the  new 
music  of  factories  and  trades.  He  perceives  that  "  the  town  is 
the  future."  He  imagines  Paris  or  Hamburg  as  an  octopus 
that  drains  the  force  from  a  whole  region  {Les  Villes  tenta- 
culaires).  His  pages  throng  with  a  naturalistic  and  teeming 
life,  whether  viewed  in  a  metropolis  or  in  the  "beautes  fortes  et 
rudes  "  of  his  native  Flanders.  Verhaeren  was  a  man  of  much 
travel  and  experience.  His  talent  was  mainly  plastic  and  de- 
scriptive in  his  early  volumes,  but  his  range  went  ever  deeper 
and  wider  in  the  new  century.    He  declares  that 

Toute  la  vie  est  dans  ressor, 


734         EPILOGUE:    PRE-WAR    LITERATURE 

and  he  believes  in  the  elan  vital  as  creatively  as  Bergson.  That 
is,  he  projects  himself  and  his  imagination  into  the  heart  of  the 
riot,  and  through  this  "  immanence "  he  attains  a  kind  of 
spiritual  strength  in  the  midst  of  materialism.  Balzac  had  the 
same  gift,  and  like  Balzac  and  Hugo,  Verhaeren  vivifies,  through 
an  animistic  process,  everything  that  he  touches.  He  also  deals 
with  vast  and  huge  subjects  —  war  and  desolation,  the  sea  and 
great  cities  —  in  the  epic  manner  of  Hugo.  A  fervent  admirer 
of  "  la  vie  intense  et  rouge,"  he  believes  that  the  pride  of  life 
cannot  be  conquered  by  penitence  or  religion,  by  Magi  or 
Magdalens: 

lis  ne  changeront  rien  a  ce  qui  fut  tou jours: 
L'humanite  n'a  soif  que  de  son  propre  amour; 
EUe  est  rude,  complexe,  ardente;  elle  est  retorse; 
La  joie  et  la  bonte  sent  les  fleurs  de  sa  force. 

Verhaeren's  verse-forms  are  extremely  liberal,  without  being 
altogether  free.  Parnassian  in  his  first  volumes,  he  later  uses 
Technical  the  Romantic  Alexandrine,  then  he  tends  more  and 
Values  more  to  discard  the  Alexandrine  in  favor  of  varied 

line-lengths  within  the  strophe.  This  is  vers  libre  somewhat  as 
La  Fontaine  used  it;  its  supple  variety  is  not  diminished  by  the 
continued  use  of  rime.  The  rhythm,  however,  is  exceedingly 
free  and  unconventional;  here  is  his  idea  as  to  the  expression 
of  the  "  universal  rhythm:  " 

Tel  I'exprime  —  sait-il  comment?  — 

Qui  sent  en  lui  si  bellement 

Passer  les  vivantes  id^ies 

Avec  leur  pas  sonore,  avec  leur  geste  clair 

Qu'elles  reglent  d'elles-memes  I'elan  du  vers 

Et  les  jeux 

Onduleux 

De  la  rime  assouplie  ou  fermement  dardee. 

(Le  Verbe) 

Verhaeren  is  fond  of  very  short  lines,  alternating  with  longer 
ones,  and  thereby  he  gives  an  impression  of  speed  and  a  dramatic 
effect.  He  inherits  from  the  Symbolists  the  use  of  suggestion 
and  of  onomatopeia: 


VERHAEREN  736 

Mes  jours  toujours  plus  lourds  s'en  vont  roulant  leur  cours. 

The  clash  of  consonants  and  the  suggestion  of  vowels  play  a 
considerable  part  in  this  poetry  (see  La  Pluie  and  Le  Vent). 

As  poetry,  his  work  is  uniformly  violent  and  voracious.  Like 
some  huge  machine,  it  devours  and  gives  forth  again  indiscrimi- 
A  Criticism  °^*^^y  "  ^*  "^^*  ample  et  violente; "  it  does  so  with 
an  explosive  force  that  is  often  too  highly  charged. 
We  grow  weary  of  hearing  the  siren  shriek.  Verhaeren  not 
only  makes  love  violently;  he  even  takes  a  bath  with  a  loud 
emphasis.  The  flight  of  Pegasus  is  a  headlong  riotous  flight, 
and  even  Christian  sacrifice  appears  as  a  "  fevered  violence." 
Verhaeren  laps  up  voraciously  the  mixed  food-stuff  of  life  and 
therein  he  is  like  Whitman,  though  he  is  a  far  greater  artist 
than  Whitman.*  Allowing  for  his  coarser  intoxications,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  the  chief  trilogy  of  volumes  analyzed  above 
show  powers  of  poetic  expression  imrivaled  in  our  time.  A 
large,  supple  and  well-adapted  vocabulary ;  a  dramatic  terseness 
of  speech;  a  gift  of  imaginative  recreation  and  pantheistic 
fervor;  a  resounding  energy  which  often  reaches  poetic  ecstasy 
-^  these  things  make  Verhaeren  a  genuine  lyrist,  whatever  we 
may  think  of  his  message  and  whatever  doubts  we  may  have 
regarding  the  "  multiple  splendor  "  that  he  finds  in  industrialism. 
Verhaeren's  vogue  is  European  in  extent,  and  his  influence  has 
been  felt  on  such  movements  as  Futurism,  "  Paroxysm  "  and 
"  Unanimism."  He  is  thoroughly  representative  of  the  New 
Poetry,  in  whatever  country  that  may  be  taking  form  —  and 
even  where  it  does  not  take  form.  The  following  extracts  (from 
Un  Soir)  will  illustrate  his  creed;  may  a  future  reader  know, 
says  Verhaeren  — 

Qu'il  sache,  avec  quel  violent  elan,  ma  joie 

S'est,  a  travels  les  oris,  les  revoltes,  les  pleurs, 

Ruee  au  combat  fier  et  male  des  douleurs, 

Pour  en  tirer  I'amour,  comme  on  conquiert  sa  proie. 

'  The  subject  of  Whitman  in  France  awaits  thorough  investigation.  It  does 
not  appear  that  Verhaerai  was  consciously  influenced  by  the  American  poet. 
VidS-GriflSn,  Merrill  and  Claudel  probably  were.  In  all  of  these  writers,  as  in 
the  case  of  PSguy,  similarities  to  Whitman  can  be  found,  especially  as  regards 
rhythm,  force,  externality.  Modernism,  the  use  of  enumeration  and  repetition. 
The  Leaves  of  Grass  were  first  fully  translated  in  1909,  though  partial  transla- 
tions  had  appeared  from  1886  on. 


736        EPILOGUE:    PRE-WAR   LITERATURE 

J'aime  mes  yeux  fievreux,  ma  cervelle,  mes  nerfs, 

Le  sang  dont  vit  mon  coeur,  le  coeur  dont  vit  mon  torse; 

J'aime  I'homme  et  le  monde  et  j'adore  la  force 

Que  domie  et  prend  ma  force  a  I'homme  et  Tunivers. 


Une  tendresse  enorme  emplit  I'apre  savoir. 


Comprenez-voTis  pourquoi  mon  vers  vous  interpelle? 
C'est  qu'en  vos  temps  quelqu'un  d'ardent  aura  tire 
Du  coeur  de  la  necessite  meme,  le  vrai, 
Bloc  clair,  pour  y  dresser  I'entente  universelle. 


The  drama  is  best  represented  by  nineteenth-centiiry  writers 
(Bk.  IX,  Ch.  II) ,  most  of  whom  continue  into  the  period  under 
Drama:  discussion.     Brieux,   Hervieu,   Curel,   Maeterlinck, 

Bernstein  Donnay  and  Lavedan  still  dominate  the  theater. 
Secondary  to  these  are  the  twentieth-century  writers,  who 
express,  for  the  most  part,  the  tastes  of  the  boulevards  or  the 
"  litterature  du  serail  "  (Baldensperger) .  The  idealistic  current 
runs  thinnest  in  the  theater,  and  the  too-familiar  triangle  was  not 
displaced  even  by  the  war.  Probably  the  most  notable  new 
dramatist  is  M.  Henri  Bernstein  (b.  1876) ,  who  perpetuates  the 
tradition  of  the  play  that  is  ingenious,  "  well-made  "  and  rather 
unreal.  He  usually  presents  triangular  situations  (Le  Detour, 
1902;  Le  Bercail,  1904) ;  his  characterization  is  faulty,  since  his 
audience  prefers  the  effects  of  melodrama  and  of  long-suspended 
scenes  (Le  Voleur,  1906) ;  he  occasionally  runs  closer  to  the 
theatre  d'idees,  as  in  Israel  (1908).  Samson  (1907)  is  suitably 
"  strong  "  and  gives  a  good  portrait  of  the  financier  in  his  corrupt 
milieu.  More  is  made  of  spiritual  issues  in  L'Assaut  (1912)  and 
especially  in  L'Elevation  (1917),  one  of  the  best  plays  inspired 
by  the  war. 

Henri  Bataille  (1872-1922)  began  with  a  flare  of  poetry  which 
the  market-place  presently  extinguished.  He  has  been  called  a 
"specialist  in  the  pathology  of  love  "  (Chandler) ,  and  he  often 
presents  abnormal  women   {Maman  Colibri,  1903;  La  Vierge 


THE    DRAMA  737 

folle,  1910).    Like  Bernstein,  Bataille  gives  a  large  place  to 
action  that  proceeds  from  unbridled  instincts  and 
Rgttrea  desires.     A  romantic  inclination  is  visible  in  Ba- 

taille, while  Alfred  Capus  (1858-1922)  has  taken  life 
more  realistically,  but  easily  and  superficially  enough,  in  such 
comedies  as  La  Veine,  Notre  Jeunesse,  Les  Favorites,  and  nu- 
merous others.  The  amusing  and  rather  scandalous  vaudevilles 
of  the  collaborators,  R.  de  Flers  and  G.  de  Caillavet,  are  at  any 
rate  witty  and  well  wrought.  But  in  none  of  these  dramatists 
are  we  conscious  of  the  richness,  the  turmoil  and  the  profounder 
realities  of  life. 

The  idealistic  movement  is  to  be  found  elsewhere  and  particu- 
larly in  the  mystical  dramas  of  M.  Paul  Claudel  (b.  1868). 
CUndel  ^  devout  Catholic,  a  traveler  and  consul  of  France 

in  the  Orient,  M.  Claudel  has  written  plays  as  un- 
usual as  his  experiences.  In  his  first  collected  volume  {L'Arbre, 
1901,  containing  five  dramas),  he  endeavored  to  infuse  a  mystic 
note  into  modern  scenes  and  situations  (as  in  La  Jeune  Fille 
Violaine  and  in  L'Echange).  Conscious  of  this  discrepancy, 
Claudel  later  transposed  La  Jeune  Fille  Violaine  into  medieval 
terms  and  the  result  is  his  masterpiece,  L'Annonoe  faite  a  Marie 
(1912,  1914).  This  play  is  like  a  saint's  life  in  its  record  of 
spiritual  sweetness  and  martyrdom.  Violaine  herself,  like  the 
majority  of  Claudel's  heroines,  is  "  living  and  lovable."  But  the 
symbolism  of  all  these  dramas  and  the  language  in  which  they 
are  written  is  wilfully  strange  and  obscure.  Claudel's  medium 
is  again  rhythmic  prose,  often  beautiful  in  its  imagery  and 
melody.  For  all  his  depiction  of  violence  and  pain,  his  "  ame 
lumineuse  "  casts  a  singular  glow  upon  his  best  passages  and  the 
high  moments  of  his  rarefied  characters. 

Claudel  is  at  once  an  intuitive  mystic  and  a  man  of  action. 

Some  hold  that  Intuitivism,  as  a  philosophy  of  ideals,  demands 

a  practical  outlet.    The  younger  generation  now  had 

Conclusion      ^^^^  ^^  ^^^j^  qualities:  the  cataclysm  of  1914  was 

a  test  alike  of  their  faith  and  of  their  "  works."  We  all  know  how 
France  endured  the  test.  The  literature  of  the  Great  War  and 
of  the  reconstruction  period  lies  beyond  our  scope ;  it  is  too  soon 
to  classify  and  judge  the  confusion  of  material.  But  as  we  close 
this  long  survey,  we  are  impressed  anew  by  three  outstanding 


738        EPILOGUE:   PRE-WAR   LITERATURE 

and  abiding  features  of  French  Literature:  its  high  artistic 
standards;  the  continuity  of  its  course  or  the  fact  that  its  line 
of  march  has  been  almost  unbroken  since  the  beginning;  and  the 
cumulative  power  of  its  traditions,  effective  even  among  the 
iconoclasts.  These  things  have  been  part  of  the  French  record 
for  eight  hundred  years  and  they  promise  well  for  the  future. 


THE  END 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  following  bibliography  is  strictly  selective.  It  does  not  give 
critical  editions  of  works  except  where  they  include  valuable  literary 
treatment;  such  editions  can  usually  be  found  in  the  bibliographies  to 
which  we  refer.  As  far  as  possible,  we  have  been  guided  in  our  choice 
by  the  following  considerations: 

(1)  Preference  is  given  to  works  in  English  and  French;  our  aim 
being  to  include  the  most  modern  treatises  and  those  to  which  our 
text  is  directly  indebted;  (2)  in  many  cases  we  lighten  the  reader's 
task  by  mentioning  translations  of  works;  (3)  the  best  all-round 
book  or  article  on  a  subject  is  marked  with  an  asterisk;  (4)  a  dagger 
next  to  a  title  refers  the  reader  for  commentary  to  our  text;  (5)  in 
general,  we  list  books  and  articles  in  the  order  of  discussion  followed 
in  our  text;  (6)  where  the  place  of  publication  is  not  mentioned,  it 
is  either  London  or  Paris,  according  as  the  publication  is  in  English 
or  French;  (7)  we  use  certain  obvious  abbreviations  (Cans,  du  lundi, 
Port,  litt.,  etc.),  and  "  G.  E.  F."  indicates  the  Grands  Ecrivains  jrauQais 
series  {Etudes  biographiques  et  litteraires). 

Bibliographies  on  French  Literature: 

For  the  Middle  Ages:  *G.  Paris,  La  Litterature  fran^aise  au  may  en 
age,  5th  edition,  1913;  C.  Voretzsch,  Einfiihrung  in  das  Studium  der 
altfranzosischen  Literatur,  2nd  edition,  Halle,  1913. 

For  the  Renaissance:  H.  Morf,  Geschichte  der  franzosischen  Litera- 
tur im  Zeitalter  der  Renaissance,  2nd  edition,  Strassburg,  1914; 
*  G.  Lanson,  Manuel  bibliographique  de  la  litterature  frangaise  moderne : 
L    Seizieme  siecle,  2nd  ed.,  1911. 

For  ensuing  periods:  *G.  Lanson,  Manuel,  vols.  II,  III,  IV  and  V 
(supplement  and  index)  1910-1921;  H.  P.  Thieme,  Guide  biblio- 
graphique de  la  litterature  frangaise  de  1800  a  1906,  1907;  Jassy  et 
Lens,  Les  Ressources  du  travail  intellectuel  en  France,  1921. 

Lorenz  et  Jordell,  Catalogue  de  la  librairie  frangaise  gives  monthly 
subject-lists  of  new  French  books  and  an  annual  index. 

Histories  of  French  Literature: 

*  G.  Lanson,  f  Histoire  de  la  litterature  frangaise,  16th  edition,  1921 ; 
F.  Brunetiere,  Manuel  de  I'histoire  de  la  litterature  francaise,  2nd 
edition,  1899;  *  Suchier  und  Birch-Hirschf^ld,  Geschichte  der  franzosi- 
schen Literatur  von  den  altesten  Zeiten  bis  zur  Gigenwart,  2nd  edition, 
Leipzig  and  Vienna,  1913;  G.  Saintsbury,  A  Short  History  of  French 

739 


740  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Ldterature  7th  edition,  1917;  C.  H.  C.  Wright,  A  History  of  French 
Literature,  New  York,  1912;  L.  Petit  de  Julleville  (editor),  Histoire 
de  la  langue  et  de  la  litterature  jrangaise,  des  origines  a  1900,  8  vols., 
1896-1899  (chapters  by  different  authors) ;  *  Desire  Nisard,  t  Histoire 
de  la  litterature  jrangaise,  4  vols.,  1844-1861  (still  the  standard  ex- 
position from  the  Classical  point  of  veiw). 

Historic  and  Social  Background  or  French  Literature: 

*  Histoire  de  France,  depuis  les  origines  jusqu'a  la  Revolution,  18  vols. 
(9  Tomes),  edited  by  t  E.  Lavisse,  1900-1911;  F.  Schrader,  Atlas  de  geo- 
graphie  historique,  (Hachette) ;  L.  Hourticq,  Histoire  de  I'art  (Collec- 
tion Ars  Una:  La  France),  Hachette;  Kr.  Nyrop,  Grammaire  historique 
de  la  langue  jrangaise,  3rd  edition,  vol.  I,  Copenhagen,  1914;  F.  Brunot, 
Histoire  de  la  langue  frangaise  des  origines  a  1900,  5  vols.,  1905-1916; 
L.  E.  Kastner,  History  of  French  Versification,  Oxford,  1903;  M. 
Grammont,  *  Petit  traite  de  versification  frang.aise,  1908;  W.  C. 
Brownell,  French  Traits,  an  essay  in  Comparative  Criticism,  New 
York,  1902. 

Introductory  Chapter: 

*  F.  Brunetiere,  Le  Caractere  essentiel  d6  la  litterature  frangaise  in  his 
^;  Etudes  critiques,  5°  serie,  1893;  G.  Paris,  Preface  to  Petit  de  Julleville, 
vol.  I;  G.  Lanson,  Caracteres  generaux  de  la  litterature  frariQaise  in 
the  Revue  des  cours  et  conferences,  XXI  (1912),  5-17;  M.  Breal, 
Le  Langage  et  les  nationalites  in  the  Revue  des  deux  mondes,  CVIII 
(1891),  3»  per. 

PART  I,  BOOK  I 
Chapter  I: 

G.  Paris,  Introduction  to  La  Litterature  frangaise;  Petit  de  Julleville, 
vols,  I  and  II;  Lavisse,  Histoire,  vol.  I:  Ch.-V.  Langlois,  La  Vie  en 
France  au  moyen  age,  2nd  edition,  1911,  and  De  la  Connaissance  de  la 
nature  et  du  monde  au  moyen  age,  1911;  H.  0.  Taylor,  selected 
chapters  from  The  Mediaeval  Mind,  3rd  edition,  2  vols..  New  York,  1919. 

On  the  chansons  de  geste: 

*W.  P.  Ker,  Epic  and  Romance,  2nd  edition,  1908;  Pio  Rajna, 
Le  Origini  dell'epopea  francese,  Florence,  1884;  *J.  Bedier,  Les 
Ligendes  epiques,  4  vols.,  1908-1913;  W.  P.  Shepard,  Chansons  de 
geste  and  the  Homeric  Problem  in  the  American  Journal  of  Philology, 
XLII  (1921). 

The  Chanson  de  Roland  has  been  translated  into  English  by  C.  S. 
Moncrieff,  The  Song  of  Roland  done  into  English  in  the  original  measure, 
1919;  and  into  Modern  French  by  L.  Petit  de  Julleville,  La  Chanson 
de  Roland,  traduction  nouvelle  rhythmee  et  assonancee,  1878;  for 
analysis  of  the  poem  see  Bedier,  III. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  741 

On  the  Pelerinage  de  Charlemagne,  see  J.  Coulet,  Etudes  sur  I'ancien 
poeme  frariQais  du  Voyage  de  Charlemagne,  Montpellier,  1907. 

On  the  Southern  and  Feudal  Cycles,  see  Bedier  I  and  II;  for  transla- 
tion of  the  Girart  de  Roussillon,  P.  Meyer,  G.  de  R.,  chanson  de  geste 
traduite  pour  la  premiere  fois,  1884;  Huon  de  Bordeaux  can  be  read 
either  in  Lord  Berners'  English  rendering  {Tudor  Translations)  or  in 
G.  Paris,  Aventures  merve^euses  de  Huon  de  Bordeaux,  1899. 

Chapter  II: 

On  the  lyric,  in  general: 

*A.  Jeanroy,  Les  Origines  de  la  poesie  lyrique  en  France  au  moyen 
age,  2nd  edition,  1904;  G.  Paris  in  the  Melanges  de  litt.  fr.  1912, 
p.  539;  J.  Bedier  in  the  Revu^  des  deux  mondes,  CXXXV  (1896), 
4"  per.;  F.  Diez,  Die  Poesie  der  Troubadours,  2nd  edition,  Leipzig, 
1883;  E.  Faral,  Les  Jongleurs  en  France  au  moyen  age,  1910. 

On  the  background  of  the  esprit  courtois: 

E.  Lavisse,  III,  Part  I;  K.  Norgate,  England  under  the  Angevin 
Kings,  1887;  L.  F.  Mott,  The  System  of  Courtly  Love,  Boston,  1896; 
*A.  Luchaire,  Social  France  at  the  Time  of  Philip  Augustus  (Eng- 
lish transl.).  New  York,  1912. 

On  the  romance,  in  general: 

W.  P.  Ker,  op.  cit.;  M.  Wilmotte,  Evolution  du  roman  frangais 
aux  environs  de  1160  (Proceedings  of  the  Academie  royale  de  Belgique), 
Brussels,  1903;  W.  A.  Nitze  in  Romania,  XLIV. 

On  the  Matter  of  Rome: 

G.  Saintsbury,  The  Flourishing  of  Romance,  New  York,  1897;  E. 
Faral  Recherches  sur  les  sources  latines  des  contes  et  des  romans 
courtois,  1913;  P.  Meyer,  Alexandre  le  Grand,  2  vols.,  1886  (text  aad 
discussion) ;  K.  Young,  Origin  and  Development  of  the  Story  of  Troilus 
and  Criseyde,  Chaucer  Society,  1908. 

On  the  Matter  of  Britain: 

H.  Zimmer,  The  Irish  Element  in  Mediaeval  Culture,  transl.  by  J.  L. 
Edmands,  New  York  and  London,  1891;  G.  Paris,  Les  Romans  de  la 
Table  Ronde  in  the  Histoire  Litteraire  de  la  France,  vol.  XXX  (1888) ; 
W.  Foerster,  Kristian  von  Troyes,  Worterbuch  zu  seinen  sdmtlichen 
Werken,  Halle,  1914  (Introduction) ;  H.  Maynadier,  The  Arthur  of  the 
English  Poets,  Boston,  1907. 

On  the  Tristan: 

G  Paris  Tristan  et  Iseut  in  the  Revue  de  Paris,  1894;  J.  Bedier, 
Le  Roman  de  Tristan,  1900  (Modern  French  paraphrase  of  the  story); 


742  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

•W.  Golther,  Tristan  und  Isolde,  Leipzig,  1907;  G.  Schoepperle, 
Tristan  and  holt,  2  vols.  Frankfort  and  New  York,  1913. 

On  Crestien  de  Troyes: 

Introductions  to  Foerster's  editions  of  the  Erec,  Cliges,  Lancelot  and 
Yvain;  G.  Paris  in  the  Melanges  de  litt.  jr.,  p.  229;  M.  Borodine,  La 
femme  et  I'amour  au  XW  siecle  d'apres  les  poemes  de  Chretien  de 
Troyes,  1909.  The  four  romances  mentioned  have  been  translated 
into  Modern  Enghsh  by  W.  W.  Comfort,  Everyman's  Library,  and 
selected  translations  (including  the  Perceval)  will  be  found  in  W.  W. 
Newell,  King  Arthur  and  the  Table  Round,  2  vols.,  Boston  and  New 
York,  1898. 

On  the  Holy  Grail: 

A.  Nutt,  Studies  on  the  Legend  of  the  Holy  Grail,  1888;  W.  W. 
Newell,  The  Legend  of  the  Holy  Grail,  Cambridge,  U.  S.  A.,  1902; 
W.  A.  Nitze  in  the  Publications  of  the  Modern  Language  Association, 
XXIV;  *  Jessie  L.  Weston,  The  Quest  of  the  Holy  Grail,  1913. 

The  entire  Perceval  and  the  Perlesvaus  were  pubhshed  by  Ch.  Potvin, 

6  vols.,  Mons,  1866-1871;  the  Metrical  Joseph  by  F.  Michel,  Le  Roman 
du  St.  Graal,  Bordeaux,  1841;  the  Prose-Perceval  by  J.  L.  Weston, 
Legend  of  Sir  Perceval,  vol.  II,  1909,  and  the  entire  GraU-Lancelot 
Cycle  by  0.  Sommer,  The  Vulgate  Version  of  the  Arthurian  Romances, 

7  vols.,  Washington,  1909-1916.  On  the  last,  see  F.  Lot,  Etude  sur 
le  Lancelot  en  prose,  1918. 

Sebastian  Evans  has  translated  the  Perlesvaus  as  The  High  History 
of  the  Holy  Graal,  Temple  Classics,  2  vols. 

The  Welsh  versions  of  Arthurian  stories  have  been  translated  into 
Modern  French  by  J.  Loth,  Les  Mabinogion,  2nd  edition,  2  vols.,  1913 
(see  Introduction) . 

On  the  romans  d'aventure: 

*  G.  Grober,  Grundriss  der  romanischen  Philologie,  vol.  II : 
Franzosische  Litteratur,  Strassburg,  1902,  pp.  523  ff.;  Ch.-V. 
Langlois,  La  Societe  frangaise  au  XIIP  siecle,  d'apres  dix  romans 
d'aventure,  3rd  edition,  1911. 

On  the  Chatelaine  de  Vergi,  see  Alice  Kemp-Welch,  The  Chatelaine 
of  Vergi,  done  into  English  (including  an  edition  of  the  original  pre- 
pared by  L.  Brandin) ,  1903. 

The  Cycle  of  the  Wager  is  treated  by  G.  Paris  in  Romania  XXXIV. 

On  Marie  de  France: 

J.  C.  Fox  in  the  English  Historical  Review  XXV  and  XXVII;  J. 
Bedier  in  the  Revue  des  deux  mondes,  CVII  (1891),  3  per.;  K. 
Warnke,  ed.  Lais  der  Marie  de  France,  2nd  edition,  Halle,  1900 
(Introduction). 


r, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  743 

J.  L.  Weston,  Chief  Middle  English  Poets,  Boston,  1914,  gives  a 
Modern  English  rendering  of  Sir  Orfeo.  Andrew  Lang's  translation  of 
Aucassin  et  Nicolette  appeared  in  1887  (Nutt). 

Chapter  III: 

On  allegory,  in  general: 

G.  Saintsbury,  The  Flourishing  of  Romance  and  the  Rise  of  Allegory, 
1897;  W.  A.  Neilson,  Origin  and  Sources  of  the  Court  of  Love,  in  the 
Harvard  Studies  and  Notes,  Boston,  1899;  Ch.  Ouhnont,  Les  Debats 
du  clerc  et  du  chevalier  dans  la  litterature  poetique  du  moyen  age, 
1911;  E.  Faral  in  Romania  XLI.  For  Raoul  de  Houdenc,  see  M. 
Friedwagner,  Introduction  to  R.  von  Houdenc,  Sdmtliche  Werke,  2  vols., 
Halle,  1897-1909. 

On  the  Romance  of  the  Rose: 

Introduction  to  E.  Langlois,  ed.  Roman  de  la  Rose,  vol.  I,  1914, 
G.  Lanson,  Un  ecrivain  naturaliste  du  XIII^  siecle  (Jean  de  Meun)  in 
Revue  bleue,  1894.  For  Modern  English  verse-translation  of  the  poem, 
F.  S.  Ellis,  3  vols.,  1900. 

On  the  Roman  de  Renard: 

L.  Sudre,  Les  Sources  du  Roman  de  Renard,  1893,  and  G.  Paris  in 
the  Melanges  de  litt.  fr.,  p.  337;  *L.  Foulet,  Le  Roman  de  Renard 
(these),  1914,  and  W.  A.  Nitze  in  Modern  Language  Notes,  1915.  For 
Marie  de  France's  Fables,  see  Introduction  of  the  edition  of  Karl 
Wamke,  Halle,  1898,  and  his  Qudlen  des  Esope  der  Marie  de  France, 
Halle,  1900.    Also  J.  Jacobs,  History  of  the  Aesopic  Fable,  1889. 

On  the  medieval  drama: 

E.  K.  Chambers,  The  Mediaeval  Stage,  Oxford,  1903;  L.  Petit  de 
Julleville,  Les  Mysteres,  2  vols.,  1880;  G.  Cohen^  Histoire  de  la  mise 
en  scene  dansj^  theatre  religieux  frangais  au  moyen  age,  1886;  D.  C. 
Stuart,  The  Development  of  Stage  Decoration  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
(dissertation),  New  York,  1910;  W.  Creizenach,  Geschichte  des  neueren 
Dramas,  2nd  ed.,  vol.  I,  Halle,  1911. 

On  the  miracle  and  the  jew: 

G.  Paris  et  U.  Robert,  ed.  Les  Miracles  de  Notre  Dam£,  7  vols., 
1876-1883;  G.  R.  Coffman,  A  New  Theory  concerning  the  Origin  of  the 
Miracle  Play  (dissertation),  Menasha,  1914;  0.  Rohnstrom,  Etude 
sur  Jean  Bodel,  Upsala,  1900;  Henry  Guy,  Essai  sur  la  vie  et  les 
ceuvres  litteraires  du  trouvere  Adam  de  la  Hale  (these),  1898. 


744  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Chapter  IV: 

On  medieval  historians: 

*  Paris  et  Jeanroy,  Extraits  des  chroniqueurs  fran^ais,  8th  edition, 
1912  (Villehardouin,  Joinville,  Froissart,  Commines);  E.  Estienne,  La 
vie  de  St.  Thomas,  Etude  historique,  litteraire  et  philologique,  Nancy, 
1883;  W.  P.  Ker,  Froissart  in  Essays  on  Mediaeval  Literature,  1905; 
for  English  translation  of  Froissart,  see  Lord  Berners,  The  Chronicles 
of  Froissart,  ed.  by  W.  P.  Ker,  6  vols.,  1901-1903;  Modem  English 
translations  of  Villehardouin  and  Joinville  will  be  found  in  Everyman's 
Library. 

On  didactic  literature: 

Petit  de  Julleville,  vol.  II  (article  by  A.  Piaget) ;  *  Ch.-V.  Langlois, 
De  la  Connaissance  de  la  nature  (above) ;  Le  Bestiaire  de  Philippe  de 
ThaUn,  ed.  by  E.  Walberg,  1900;  T.  Sundby,  Delia  vita  et  delie  opere 
di  Brunetto  Latini,  Italian  translation  by  E.  Renier,  Florence,  1884; 
L.  J.  Paetow,  The  Battle  of  the  Seven  Arts  by  Henri  d'Andeli,  edited 
and  translated,  Berkeley,  1914. 

On  storiology: 

*J.  Bedier,  Les  Fabliaux,  2nd  edition,  1895;  G.  Paris,  Les  Contes 
orientaux  dans  la  litterature  franqaise  du  moyen  age  in  his  \Poesie 
du  moyen  age,  II,  3rd  edition,  1906.  Killis  CampbeU,  A  Study  of  the 
Romance  of  the  Seven  Sages  (dissertation),  Baltimore,  1898. 


BOOK  II 
Chapter  I 

General  aspects: 

E.  Lavisse,  Histoire  de  France,  vols.  Ill  and  IV;  Helen  L.  Cohen, 
The  Ballade,  New  York,  1895  (dissertation);  Otto  Ritter,  Die 
Geschichte  der  franzosischen  BaUadenformen  von  ihren  Anfdngen  bis 
zur  Mitte  des  XV  Jahrhunderts,  Halle,  1914;  *G.  Doutrepont,  La 
Litterature  frangaise  a  la  cour  des  dues  de  Bourgogne,  1909. 

On  the  poets: 

Introduction  to  E.  Hoepffner,  ed.  (Euvres  de  GuiUaume  de  Machaut, 
vol.  I,  1908;  the  same,  Eustache  Deschamps,  1904;  F.  Koch,  Leben  und 
Werke  der  Christine  de  Pisan,  Goslar,  1885;  A.  Piaget,  Christine  de 
Pisan  et  le  Roman  de  la  Rose  in  the  Etudes  romanes  dediees  a  Gaston 
Paris,  1891;  G.  Joret-Desclosieres,  Alain  Chartier,  1897;  P.  Cham- 
pion, La  Vie  de  Charles  d' Orleans,  1911. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  746 

Chapter  II : 

A.  O.  Norton,  Mediaeval  Universities,  Cambridge,  U.  S.  A.,  1909; 
G.  H.  Luquet,  Aristote  et  I'Universite  de  Paris  au  XIII'  siecle,  in  the 
Bibliotheque  de  rEcole  des  Hautes  Etudes,  1904;  D.  H.  Camahan,  The 
Ad  Deum  Vadit  of  Jean  Gerson,  in  the  University  of  Illinois  Studies, 
Urbana,  1917;  E.  Bridrey,  Nicole  Oresme,  1906;  *L.  J.  Paetow,  The 
Arts  Course  at  Mediaevcj,  Universities,  Champagne,  1910. 

Chapter  III: 

See  Book  I,  Chapter  III;  L.  Petit  de  Julleville,  Les  Mysteres,  2  vols., 
1880;  the  same.  La  Comedie  et  les  mceurs  en  France  au  moyen  age, 
1886;  E.  Kcot,  Recueil  general  de  sotties,  2  vols.,  1902-1905;  C. 
Oulmont,  Pierre  Gringoire,  1911;  F.  E.  Schneegans,  ed.  Maistre  Pierre 
Pathelin,  Strassburg,  1908;  for  an  excellent  English  translation,  Richard 
Holbrook,  The  Farce  of  Master  Pierre  Patelin,  Boston  and  New  York, 
1905. 

Chapter  IV: 

On  Antoine  de  La  Sale: 

*J.  W.  Soderhjelm,  La  Nouvelle  frangaise  au  XV^  sihde,  1910;  J. 
Neve,  Antoine  de  La  Sale,  Brussels  and  Paris,  1903;  P.  Toldo,  Contri- 
buto  alio  studio  delta  novella  francese  del  XV  e  XVI  secolo,  Rome,  1895; 
G.  Paris  in  the  Journal  des  savants,  1895. 

On  Villon: 

*G.  Paris,  Frangois  ViUon  (G.  E.  F.),  1901;  P.  Champion,  Frangois 
Villon,  sa  vie  et  son  temps,  1913;  Villon  has  been  excellently  translated 
into  English  verse  by  John  Payne,  1878. 

On  Commines: 
See  the  edition  of  the  Memoires  by  B.  de  Mandrot,  1901-1903. 


PART  II 
In  general: 

E.  Lavisse,  Histoire,  vol.  V,  Parts  I  and  II;  H.  Morf,  Geschichte; 
*  F.  Brunetiere,  Histoire  de  la  litterature  frangaise  classique,  vols.  I-III, 
1908-1914;  A.  Tilley,  The  Literature  of  the  French  Renaissance,  2  vols., 
Cambridge  1904;  *the  same.  The  Dawn  of  the  French  Renaissance, 
Cambridge,  1918  (treats  also  history  and  art);  J.  Burckhardt,  Die 
Kultur  der  Renaissance  in  Italien,  revised  by  Geiger,  10th  edition, 
2  vols.,  Leipzig,  1908  (French  and  English  translations  of  this);  P. 
Monnier,  Le  Quattrocento,  2nd  edition,  2  vols.,  1908;  *  Preserved  Smith, 


746  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  Age  of  the  Reformation,  New  York,  1920;  Sainte-Beuve,  Tableau 
historique  et  critique  de  la  poesie  frangaise  au  XVI''  siecle,  1828-1842; 
P.  de  Nolhac,  Petrarque  et  I'humanisme,  2nd  edition,  1907;  E.  Picot, 
Les  Francois  italianisants  au  XVI^  siecle,  2  vols.,  1906-1907;  *J.  E. 
Spingarn,  A  History  of  Literary  Criticism  in  the  Renaissance,  2nd 
edition,  New  York,  1908;  C.  H.  C.  Wright,  French  Classicism,  Cam- 
bridge,' U.  S.  A.,  1920;  J.  Vianey,  Le  Petrarquisme  en  France  au 
XVI"  siecle,  1909  (for  the  sonnet,  as  a  fonn,  p.  102  ff.). 


BOOK  I 
Chapter  I : 

H.  Guy,  Histoire  de  la  poesie  frangaise  au  XVI"  siecle,  vol.  I,  1910; 
the  works  of  Morf,  Brunetiere  and  Tilley;  L.  Delaruelle,  Guillaume 
Bude,  1907;  H.  Chamard,  Les  Origines  de  la  poesie  frangaise  de  la 
Renaissance  (Boccard) ;  Ph.  A.  Becker,  Jean  Lemaire,  Der  erste  huma- 
nistische  Dichter  Frankreichs,  Strassburg,  1893. 

Chapter  II : 

Introductory  volume  to  the  CEuvres  de  Clemenl  Marot,  ed.  Guiffrey, 
vol.  I,  1911;  0.  Douen,  Clement  Marot  et  le  Psautier  huguenot,  2  vols., 
1878;  A.  Lefranc,  essay  on  the  poet's  love-affair  in  the  Grands  ecrivains 
frangais  de  la  Renaissance,  1914;  C.  Ruutz-Rees,  Charles  de  Sainte- 
Marthe,  traduit  par  M.  Bonnet,  1914;  R.  L.  Hawkins,  Maistre  Charles 
Fontaine,  Cambridge,  U.  S.  A.,  1916;  Helene  Harvitt,  Eustorg  de 
Beaidieu,  Lancaster,  1918  (reprinted  from  the  Romanic  Review, 
1914  ff.) ;  H.  MoUnier,  Mellin  de  Saint-Gelais,  1911. 

Chapter  III : 

See  the  Revue  des  Etudes  Rabelaisiennes,  now  the  Revue  du  Seizieme 
Siecle,  edited  by  A.  Lefranc;  R.  Millet,  Frangois  Rabelais,  (G.  E.  F.), 
1892;  *A.  Tilley,  Frangois  Rabelais  (in  English),  Philadelphia,  1907; 
*  F.  Plattard,  L'CEuvre  de  Rabelais,  1910;  Introduction  to  the  CEuvres 
de  Frangois  Rabelais,  critical  edition  by  Lefranc  and  others,  1912  ff.; 
*W.  F.  Smith,  Rabelais  in  his  Writings,  Cambridge,  1918;  the  best 
English  translation  of  Rabelais  is  by  Urquhart  and  Motteux,  1708 
(frequently  reprinted) . 

W.  Walker,  John  Calvin,  New  York,  1906;  H.  Hauser,  Etudes  sur 
la  Re  forme  frangaise,  1910;  Introduction  to  the  Institution  de  la  Re- 
ligion chrestienne,  ed.  by  Lefranc,  Chatelain  and  Pannier,  2  vols., 
1912-1913. 

Chapter  IV: 

W.  E.  H.  Lecky,  Rise  and  Influence  of  the  Spirit  of  Rationalism  in 
Europe,  New  York,  1886;  J.  Owen,  Ramus  in  The  Skeptics  of  the 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  747 

French  Renaissance,  1893;  articles  on  Platonism  and  Marguerite  de 
Navarre  in  A.  Lefranc,  Grands  ecrivains  frangais  de  la  Renaissance, 
1914;  Mary  Robinson,  Margiierite  of  Angovleme,  1899;  A.  Chene- 
viere,  Bonaventure  des  Periers,  sa  vie,  ses  poesies,  1886;  W.  A.  R. 
Kerr,  Antoine  Heroet's  Parfaite  Amye  in  the  Publications  of  the 
Modem  Lang.  Assoc,  XX;  A.  Baur,  Maurice  Schve  et  la  Renaissance 
lyonnaise,  1905;  J.  Arnoux,  Antoine  Heroet,  neoplatonicien  et  voete 
Digne,  1913. 


BOOK  II 
Chapter  I : 

J.  E.  Spingarn,  Literary  Criticism,  Part  II;  A.  Rosenbauer,  Die 
poetischen  Theorien  der  Plejade  nach  Ronsard  und  Du  Bellay,  Leipzig, 
1895;  *P.  Villey,  Les  Sources  italiennes  de  la  Defense  et  Illustration, 
1908;  G.  Lanson,  Comment  Ronsard  invents  in  the  Revue  universitaire, 
1906;  C.  Juge,  Jacques  Peletier  du  Mans,  1907;  G.  Pellissier  ed.  of 
Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaie,  L'Art  poetique,  1885;  F.  Flamini,  Du  role  de 
Pontus  de  Tyard  dans  le  Petrarquisme  frangais  in  the  Revue  de  la 
Renaissance,  1901. 

Chapter  II : 

*  J.-J.  Jusserand,  Pierre  de  Ronsard  (G.  E.  F.),  1912;  Claude  Binet, 
Discours  de  la  vie  de  Ronsard,  ed.  P.  Laumonier,  1911;  H.  Longnon, 
Pierre  de  Ronsard:  les  Ancetres,  la  Jeunesse,  1912;  P.  de  Nolhac,  Le 
dernier  amour  de  Ronsard,  1914;  P.  Laumonier,  Ronsard,  poete  lyrique, 
1909  (these) ;  C.  H.  Page,  Songs  and  Sonnets  of  P.  de  Ronsard  (verse- 
translation),  Boston,  1903. 

H.  Chamard,  Joachim  du  Bellay,  1900;  Walter  Pater,  Du  Bellay  in 
The  Renaissance,  New  York,  1899. 

Auge-Chiquet,  Jean^Antoine  de  Baif,  1909;  A.  van  Bever,  ed.  of 
Belleau,  1909;  J.  Favre,  Olivier  de  Magny,  1885  (these);  G.  Grente, 
Jean  Bertaut,  1903;  S.  Rocheblave,  Agrippa  d'Aubigne  (G.  E.  F.),  1910; 
G.  Pelhssier,  La  vie  et  les  oeuvres  de  Du  Bartas,  1882  (these);  H. 
Ashton,  Du  Bartas  en  Angleterre,  1908  (these) . 

Chapter  III: 

*R.  Sturel,  Amyot  traducteur  des  Vies  Paralleles  de  Plutarque, 
1909;  *E.  Dowden,  Michel  de  Montaigne,  Philadelphia,  1905;  Grace 
Norton,  The  Spirit  of  Montaigne,  Boston,  1908;  Paul  Stapfer 
Montaigne  (G.  E.  F.),  1895;  F.  Strowski,  De  Montaigne  a  Pascal, 
1907;  *P.  Villey,  ^Les  Sources  et  revolution  des  Essais  de  Montaigne, 
2  vols.,  1908;  J.  de  Zangroniz,  Montaigne,  Amyot  et  Saliat,  1906; 
J.  M.  Robertson,  Montaigne  and  Shakespeare,  1909;  the  Florio  and  the 
Cotton  translations  have  been  frequently  reprinted;  L.  Lalanne, 
Brantome,  sa  vie  et  ses  ecrits  (Societe  de  I'Histoire  de  France), 
1896;  P.  Courteault,  Blaise  de  Monluc,  historien.  1907. 


748  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Chapter  IV: 

Ch  Lenient,  La  Satire  en  France,  2  vols.,  2nd  edition,  1866;  G. 
Wenderoth,  E.  Pasquiers  poetische  Theorien  und  seine  Tatigkeit  als 
Literarhistoriker  in  Vollmoller's  Romanische  Forschungen  XIX;  F. 
Giroux  La  composition  de  la  Satire  Menippee,  Laon,  1904;  R. 
Radouant,  GuUlaume  du  Vair,  I'homme  et  Vorateur,  1907;  P.  Bonnefon, 
Pierre  Chqrron  in  Montaigne  et  ses  amis,  vol.  II,  1897;  F.  Strowski, 
Saint  Frangois  de  Sdes,  1898;  Due  de  Broglie,  Malherbe  (G.  E.  F.), 
1897-  *F.  Brunot,  La  Doctrine  de  Malherbe  d'apres  son  commentaire 
sur  DespoHes,  1891;  M.  Souriau,  La  Versificatix)n  de  Malherbe,  Poitiers, 
1912;  L.  Arnould,  Honorat  de  Bueil,  seigneur  de  Racan,  1901;  J. 
Vianey  Mathurin  Regnier,  1896;  Mario  Schiff,  La  FUle  d'alliance  de 
Montaigne,  Marie  de  Gournay,  1910;  Ch.  Garrisson,  TheophUe  et  Paid 
de  Viau,  etude  historiqiie  et  litteraire,  1899. 


BOOK  in 
In  general: 

E.  Lavisse,  Histoire,  V,  Parts  I  and  II;  G.  Hanotaux,  Histoire  du 
Cardinal  Richelieu,  2  vols.,  1893-1896;  G.  Boissier,  L'Academie  fran- 
(aise  sous  I'ancien  regime,  1909;  Victor  Cousin,  La  Sodete  frangaise 
d'apres  le  Grand  Cyrus,  2  vols.,  1858;  Vial  et  Denise,  Idees  et  doctrines 
litteraires  du  XVW  siecle,  1906. 

Chapter  I : 

T.  F.  Crane,  La  Societe  frangaise  au  dix-septieme  siecle,  2nd  ed., 
1907;  E.  Magne,  Voiture  et  les  annees  de  gloire  de  V Hotel  de 
Ramhouillet,  1912;  H.  Vogler,  Die  literargeschichtlichen  Kenntnisse 
und  Urteile  des  J-L.  Guez  de  Balzac,  1908;  Fr.  Masson,  Histoire  de 
r Academic  frangaise,  1913;  Brunetiere,  Vaugdas  et  la  theorie  de  I'usage 
in  the  Revue  des  deux  mondes,  1901;  Abbe  Fabre,  Jean  Chapelam  et 
nos  deux  premieres  Academies,  1890. 

Chapter  II : 

Gustave  Reynier,  Le  Roman  sentimental  avant  I'Astree,  1908;  *A. 
Le  Breton,  Le  Roman  au  XVII'  siecle;  *T.  F.  Crane,  ed.  of  Boileau, 
Les  Heros  de  roman,  Boston,  1902;  0-C.  Reure,  La  vie  et  les  ceuvres 
de  Honore  d'Urfe,  1910;  W.  Kiichler,  Zu  den  Anfangen  des  psycholo- 
gischen  Romans  in  Frankreich  in  Herrig's  Archiv,  1909;  A.  Gaste,  Mile 
de  Scudery  et  le  Dialogue  des  Heros  de  Roman,  1902;  E.  Magne, 
Scarron  et  son  milieu,  1905;  *A.  Franz,  Das  literarische  Portrait  im 
Zeitalter  Richelieus  und  Mazarins,  Leipzig,  1905. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  749 

Chapter  III: 

E.  Faguet,  La  Tragedie  en  France  au  XVI*  siede,  1883;  G.  Lanson, 
L'Idee  de  la  tragedie  avant  JodeUe  in  the  Revue  d'hist.  litt.,  1904; 
the  same,  Antoine  de  Montchretien  et  la  litt.  jr.  au  temps  de  Henri  IV 
in  Hommes  et  livres,  1895;  *the  same,  Esquisse  d'une  histoire  de  la 
tragedie  frangaise,  New  York,  1920;  E.  Rigal,  De  Joddle  a  Moliere, 
1911;  E.  Rigal,  Alexander  Hardy  et  le  theatre  frangais  a  la  fin  du 
XVI^  siede,  1889  (these) ;  H.  C.  Lancaster,  The  French  Tragi-Comedy 
(1551-1628),  Baltimore,  1907,  (dissertation);  J.  Marsan,  La  Pastorale 
dramatique  en  France,  1905;  P.  Toldo,  La  Comedie  frangaise  de  la 
Renaissance  in  the  Revue  dhis.  litt.,  1897  and  1899;  E.  Dannheisser, 
Studien  zu  Jean  de  Mairets  Leben  und  Werken,  Ludwigshafen,  1888; 
the  same,  Zur  Geschichte  der  Einheiten  in  Frankreich  in  the  Zeitschr. 
juT  fram.  Sprache  u.  Lit.  1892;  Ch.  Arnaud,  Etude  sur  la  vie  et  lea 
ceuvres  de  I'abbe  d'Aubignac,  1887;  Le  Memoire  de  Mahelot,  ed.  H.  C. 
Lancaster,  1921  (gives  stage-settings,  etc). 

Chapter  IV: 

*  G.  Lanson,  Pierre  Corneille,  (G.  E.  F.)  4th  ed.  1913;  E.  Marti- 
nenche,  La  Comedia  espagnole  en  France,  1900;  E.  Faguet,  En  lisant 
CorneiUe,  1913;  A.  Dorchain,  Pierre  Corneille,  1918;  E.  Picot, 
Bibliographic  Comelienne,  1876  (continued  by  P.  Verdier  and  E.  Pelay, 
1908);  A.  Gaste,  La  QuereUe  du  Cid,  1899;  W.  A.  Nitze,  Corneille's 
Conception  of  Character  in  Modern  Philology,  1917-1918;  A.  Tilley, 
From  Montaigne  to  Moliere,  1908  (contains  several  good  chapters  on 
Corneille);  H.  C.  Lancaster,  Pierre  Du  Ryer,  Washington,  1912;  A.  L. 
Stiefel,  various  articles  on  Rotrou  in  the  Zeitschr.  fiir  fram,  Spr.  u. 
lAt.  1894-1906;  G.  Wendt,  Pierre  ComeiUe  und  Jean  Rotrou,  Leipzig, 
1910. 

Chapter  V: 

A.  Fouillee,  Descartes  (G.  E.  F.),  1893;  G.  Lanson,  Hommes  et  livres, 
1895;  *  F.  Bnmetiere,  Jansenistes  et  Cartesiens  in  the  Etudes  critiqvss, 
IV«  serie;  E.  S.  Haldane,  Descartes,  his  Life  and  Times,  1905;  G.  J. 
Brett,  The  Philosophy  of  Gassendi,  1908;  F.  Perrens,  Les  Libertins, 
2nd  ed.,  1899;  H.  Joly,  Malebranche,  1910. 


BOOK  IV 
Chapter  I : 

Lavisse,  Lc;  f  Voltaire,  Le  Siede  de  Louis  XIV,  1740  —  a  con- 
venient modern  edition  is  published  by  Gamier  Freres;  R.  Doumic, 
Saint-Simon:  La  France  de  Louis  XIV,  1919;  *  Wright,  French 
Classicism,  Chs.  VII  and  VIII;  F.  Brunetiere,  Qu'est-ce  qu'un 
dassique?  in  his  Hist,  de  la  litt.  fr.  cl.,  vol.  II. 


750  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Chapter  II : 

Sainte-Beuve,  Portrait  de  La  Rochefoucauld  in  the  Gamier  publica- 
tion of  the  latter's  works;  J.  Bourdeau,  La  Rochefoucauld  (G.  E.  F.), 
1895;  R.  Grandsaigues  d'Hauterive,  Le  Pessimisme  de  La  Roche- 
foucauld, 1914;  Sainte-Beuve,  Causeries  du  lundi,  vol.  V.  (on 
Retz);  Mme  Duclaux,  Madame  de  Sevigne,  1914;  E.  Angot,  Dames 
du  grand  Steele,  1919;  Comte  d'Haussonville,  Madame  de  La  Fayette 
(G.  E.  F.),  1891;  Due  de  Noailles,  Histoire  de  Mms  de  Maintenon,, 
4  vols.,  1848-1858;  Saint-Rene  Taillandier,  Madame  de  Maintenon, 
1920;  *G.  Lanson,  Choix  de  Lettres  du  XVII'  Steele,  10th  ed.,  1913 
(introduction  especially  instructive). 

Chapter  III: 

K.  Mantzius,  Moliere,  les  theatres,  le  •public  et  les  comediens  de  son 
temps,  1908;  *E.  Rigal,  Moliere,  2  vols.,  1908;  G.  Lafenestre,  Moliere 
(G.  E.  F.),  1909;  B.  Matthews,  Moliere,  New  York,  1910;  *M.  J. 
Wolff,  Moliere,  der  Dichter  und  sein  Werk,  Munich,  1910;  F.  Brunetiere, 
La  philosophic  de  Moliere  in  Etudes  critiques,  IV"  serie;  L.  Moland, 
Moliere  et  la  comedie  italienne,  1867;  G.  Huszar,  Moliere  et  I'Espagne, 
1907;  Currier  and  Gay,  Catalogue  of  the  Moliere  Collection  in  the 
Harvard  Library,  Cambridge,  U.  S.  A.,  1906;  f  H.  Taine,  La  Fontaine 
et  ses  fables,  1853,  3rd  edition,  1861;  G.  Lafenestre,  La  Fontaine 
(G.  E.  F.),  1895;  G.  Michaut,  La  Fontaine,  2  vols.,  1913-1914;  K. 
Vossler,  La  Fontaine  und  sein  Fabelwerk,  Heidelberg,  1919. 

Chapter  IV: 

*  Sainte-Beuve,  Port-Roy d,  5th  edition,  7  vols,  (with  an  index), 
1888-1891;  E.  Romanes,  The  Story  of  Port-Royal,  1907;  F.  Strowski, 
Pascal  et  son  temps,  3  vols.,  1907-1909;  *E.  Boutroux,  Pascal 
(G.  E.  F.),  1900;  *  Viscount  St.  Cyres,  Pascal,  1909  (the  best  account 
in  English) ;  in  regard  to  the  Pensees,  see  also  the  editions  of  Havet, 
1861,  and  of  Brunschvicg,  1897;  *J.  Lemaitre,  Jean  Racine,  1908  (by 
far  the  most  interesting  discussion  of  the  poet);  G.  Larroumet,  Jean 
Racine  (G.  E.  F.),  1898;  F.  Brunetiere  in  his  Epoques  du  theatre 
frangais,  1892;  P.  Robert,  La  poetique  de  Racine,  1890;  Dreyfus-Brisac, 
Phedre  et  Hippolyte  ou  Racine  moraliste,  1903. 

Chapter  V: 

A.  Bourgoin,  Les  Maitres  de  la  Critique  au  XVII"  siede,  1887; 
the  same  in  Petit  de  Julleville,  vol.  V,  ch.  3;  G.  Saintsbury,  A  History 
of  Criticism,  Edinburgh,  1900-1904,  vol.  II;  *F.  Brunetiere, 
L'Esthetique  de  Boileau  in  Et.  cr.  VP  serie;  G.  Lanson,  BoUeau 
(G.  E.  F.),  1892;  F.  Brunetiere,  La  PhUosophie  de  Bossuet  in  Et.  cr. 
V"  serie;  A.  Rebelliau,  Bossuet  (G.  E.  F.),  1900;  the  same,  Bossuet, 
historien  du  protestantisme,  1909;  *G.  Lanson,  Bossuet,  5th  edition, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  751 

1901;  *E.  K.  Sanders,  Jacques-Benigne  Bossuet,  1921;  F.  Castets, 
Bourdaloue,  la  vie  et  la  predication  d'un  religieux  au  XVII"  siecle, 
2  vols.,   1901-1904. 


PART  III 

On  tbe  eighteenth  century  in  general: 

Lanson,  Histoire;  Petit  de  Julleville,  Vol.  VI;  Sainte-Beuve's  essays 
as  indexed  in  the  two  Tables  alphabetiques  to  his  works;  more  par- 
ticularly, *A.  Villemain,  Tableau  de  la  litteratwe  frangaise  au  XVIII^ 
siecle,  4  vols.,  1828;  H.  Hettner,  Literaturgeschichte  des  achtzehnten 
Jahrhunderts.  Theil  11:  GescMchte  der  franzosischen  lAteratur,  5th 
ed.,  revised,  Brunswick,  1894;  fE.  Faguet,  Dit-huitieme  siecle: 
Etudes  litteraires,  1890  (flf.) ;  J.  Barni,  Histoire  des  Idees  morales  et 
politiques  en  France  au  XV 1 11^  siecle,  2  vols.,  1865-67;  E.  Bersot, 
Etudes  sur  le  XVIII^  siecle,  2  vols.,  1855. 

For  BibUography:  Lanson,  Manuel,  vol.  Ill;  Wright,  History;  L.  P. 
Betz,  La  litterature  comparee,  2nd  ed.,  Strassburg,  1904. 


BOOK  I 
Chapter  I :        «^ 

*II.  Rigault,  Histoire  de  la  Querelle  des  anciens  et  des  modemes, 
1856  and  1859;  H.  Gillot,  La  Querelle  des  anciens  et  des  modemes  en 
France  (these) ,  Nancy,  1914  (exhaustive  as  far  as  Perrault's  Paralleles) ; 
F.  Vial  and  L.  Denise,  Idees  et  doctrines  litteraires  du  XVII^  siecle, 
1906. 

On  the  larger  question  of  Progress: 

*J.  B.  Bury,  The  Idea  of  Progress;  An  Inquiry  into  its  Origin  and 
Growth,  1920  (widely  historical,  penetrating,  philosophic) ;  J.  Delvaille, 
Essai  sur  I'histoire  de  I'Idee  de  progres  jusqu'a  la  fin  du  XVIII^  siecle, 
1910  (hmited  to  France,  erudite,  detailed);  F.  Brunetiere,  Etudes 
critiques,  V. 

Chapter  II: 

*P.  Morillot,  La  Bruyere  (G.  E.  F.),  1904;  Sainte-Beuve,  Nouv. 
lundis,  I  and  X;  L.  Prevost-Paradol,  Etudes  sur  les  moralistes  frangais, 
6th  ed.,  1885. 

*G.  Boissier,  Saint-Simon  (G.  E.  F.),  2nd  ed.,  1899;  A.  Le  Breton, 
La  Comedie  humaine  de  Saint-Simon,  1914;  Sainte-Beuve,  Caus.  du 
lundi.  III  and  XV,  Nouv.  lundis,  X;  Taine,  Essais  de  critique  et 
d'histoire,  6th  ed.,  1892. 

J.  Lemaitre,  Fenelon,  1910;  Paul  Janet,  Fenelon,  (G.  E.  F.),  2nd  ed., 


752  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1903;  H.  See,  Les  Idees  politiques  de  Fenelon  in  the  Revue  d^histoire 
moderne,  1899. 

Chapter  III : 

E.  Lavisse,  Histoire  de  France,  VIII,  Part  II;  *C.  Stryienski,  Le  Dix- 
huitieme  siecle,  1913  (short  and  readable) ;  J.  B.  Perkins,  France  under 
Louis  XV,  6th  ed.,  2  vols.,  Boston,  1897. 

On  social  conditions: 

*  H.  Taine,  Les  Origines  de  la  France  contemporaine.  Tome  I: 
L'Ancien  regime,  22nd  ed.,  1899;  V.  Du  Bled,  La  Societe  jrangaise  du 
XVI^  au  XX°  siecle.  Vol.  V:  Dix-huitieme  siecle,  1905;  *M.  Roustan, 
Les  Philosophes  et  la  societe  jrangaise  au  XVIII"  siecle,  (these,  1906), 
1911;  E.  and  J.  de  Goncourt,  La  Femme  au  XVIII"  siecle,  new  ed., 
1896. 

On  the  ladies  of  the  salons: 

Sainte-Beuve,  passim,  especially  Caus.  du  lundi,  I,  II,  IV;  Petit  de 
Julleville,  VI  (chapter  by  Brunei) ;  P.-M.  Masson,  Madame  de  Tencin, 
3rd  ed.,  1910;  P.  de  Segur,  Le  Royaume  de  la  rue  Saint-Honore,  Mme 
Geoffrin  et  sa  fiUe,  1897;  Introductions  to  Mme  du  DeflFand's  Correspond 
dance  generale  (ed.  Lescure,  2  vols.,  1865),  and  her  Lettres  a  Horace 
Walpole  (ed.  Mrs.  Paget  Toynbee,  3  vols.,  1912);  P.  de  Segur,  Julie 
de  Lespinasse,  6th  ed.,  1913. 

On  science  and  the  English  influence: 

D.  Momet,  Les  Sciences  de  la  Nature  en  France  au  XVIII^  siecle, 
1911;  *J.  Texte,  Jean-Jacques  Rousseau  et  les  origines  du  cosmo- 
politisme  litteraire  au  XVIII"  siecle,  1895  —  English  translation,  1899; 
R.  Rosieres,  Recherches  sur  la  poesie  contemporaine,  1896  (articles 
on  the  EngUsh  and  the  German  influences).  Other  bibliography  on 
this  subject  will  be  foimd  under  Books  III  and  IV,  below. 


BOOK  II 
Chapter  I : 

*J.  Delvolve,  Essai  sur  Pierre  Bayle,  1906  (exhaustive,  abstruse, 
authoritative);  for  the  general  reader,  *Faguet,  op.  cit.,  Sainte-Beuve, 
Port,  litt.,  I,  Brunetiere,  Etudes  critiques,  V,  P.  Lenient,  Etude 
sur  Pierre  Bayle,  1855  (still  useful) ;  for  the  speciahzing  student,  G. 
Lanson,  Origines  de  I'esprit  philosophique  in  the  Revue  des  cours  et 
conferences,  1908-10;  H.  E.  Smith,  The  Literary  Criticism  of  Pierre 
Bayle,   (dissertation),  Albany,   1912. 

*L.  Maigron,  Fontenelle,  1906;  Laborde-Milaa,  Fontendle  (G.  E.  F.), 
1905. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  763 

Chapter  II : 

Villemain,  Bersot,  Faguet  (calls  Voltaire  "  un  chaos  d'idees  claires  ") ; 
Brunetiere,  Etudes  critiques,  I  and  III,  also  in  Etudes  sur  le  XVIW 
siecle,  1911  (an  incomplete  study,  minimizes  English  influences);  *G. 
Lanson,  Voltaire  (G.  E.  F.),  2nd  ed.,  1910  (mvltum  in  parvo);  L. 
Crousle,  La  Vie  et  les  ceuvres  de  Voltaire,  2  vols.,  1899  (informative, 
but  prejudiced  against  Voltaire);  G.  Desnoiresterres,  Voltaire  et  la 
societe  au  dix-huitieme  siecle,  8  vols.,  2nd.  ed.,  1871-76;  J.  C.  Collins, 
Voltaire,  Montesquieu  and  Rousseau  in  England,  1908;  S.  G.  Tallentyre| 
(pseudonym).  The  Life  of  Voltaire,  2  vols.,  1903.  See  also  Bk.  Ill, 
Ch.  I  and  Bk.  IV,  Ch.  II. 

Chapter  III: 

L.  Vian  (pseudonym),  Histoire  de  Montesquieu,  2nd  ed.,  1879;  *A. 
Sorel,  Montesquieu  (G.  E.  F.),  1887;  *  J.  Dedieu,  Montesquieu  (Grands 
Philosophes  series),  1913 — also  Enghsh  translation;  same  author, 
Montesquieu  et  la  tradition  politique  anglaise  en  France,  1909;  Faguet, 
Villemain,  Brunetiere  {Etudes  critiques,  IV);  Paul  Janet,  Introduction 
to  school  edition  of  the  Esprit  des  lois,  1887;  H.  Barckhausen, 
Montesquieu,  ses  idees  et  ses  oeuvres,  d'apres  les  papiers  de  La  Brede, 
1907;  E.  P.  Dargan,  The  Aesthetic  Doctrine  of  Montesquieu,  its 
Application  in  his  Writings,  (dissertation),  Baltimore,  1909;  J.  C. 
Collins  (see  preceding  chapter). 

Chapter  IV: 

Petit  de  JuUeville,  Bami,  Villemain;  Sainte-Beuve,  Cavs.  du  lundi, 
III  (on  Vauvenargues  and  d'Aguesseau)  and  XV  (on  St.  Pierre);  M. 
Paleologue,  Vauvenargues  (G.  E.  F.),  1890;  Falconnet,  Notice  on 
dAguesseau  in  the  latter's  CEuvres,  2  vols.,  1865;  *  A.  Lombard,  L'Abbe 
Du  Bos,  un  initiateur  de  la  pensee  moderne  (these),  1913. 

On  St.  Pierre,  see  Sainte-Beuve  (supra),  Bami,  J.  Fabre,  Les  Peres 
de  la  Revolution,  and  J.  Drouet,  L'Abbe  de  St.  Pierre,  I'homme  et 
I'ceuvre,  1912.  ^ 

On  the  Memoirs,  see  Ch.  Aubertin,  L'Esprit  public  au  XVIII^  siecle, 
etude  sur  les  Memoires,  3rd  ed.,  1889  (our  text  follows  his  divisions) ; 
the  excellent  condensations  of  Barriere  et  Lescure  {Bibliotheque  des 
Memoires  relatifs  a  I'histoire  de  France  pendant  le  XVIII"  siecle, 
37  vols.,  1846-81)  have  been  made  more  valuable  by  the  pubUcation 
of  a  thorough  Table  alphabetique  by  A.  Marquiset,  1913. 

On  the  journals,  see  Petit  de  JuUeville,  VI;  also  P.  Van  Tieghem, 
L'Annee  litteraire  comme  intermediaire  en  France  des  litteratures 
etrangeres,  1917. 


754  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

BOOK  m 

Chapter  I : 

*  F.  Vial  and  L.  Denise,  Idees  et  doctrines  litteraires  du  XVIII^  siecle, 
1909;  *  H.  Lion,  Les  Tragedies  et  les  theories  dramatiques  de  Voltaire 
(these),  1895;  E.  Deschanel,  Le  Theatre  de  Voltaire,  1886  (emphasizes 
the  romanesque  element);  F.  Brunetiere,  j^ Les  Epoques  du  theatre 
jranQais,  1892  (on  Voltaire  and  Crebillon) ;  J.-J.  Jusserand,  Shakespeare 
en  France  sous  Vancien  regime,  1898  —  also  English  edition,  New  York, 
1899;  T.  R.  Lomisbury,  Shakespeare  and  Voltaire,  New  York,  1902; 
E.  P.  Dargan,  Shakespeare  and  Ducis  in  Modern  Philology,  X,  (1912). 

Chapter  II : 

*  C.  Lenient,  La  Comedie  au  XVII I^  siecle,  2  vols.,  1888;  E.  lintilhac, 
Histoire  generale  du  theatre  en  France.  Vol.  IV:  La  Comedie  au  XVIII' 
siecle,  1909;  J.  Lemaitre,  La  Comedie  apres  Moliere  et  le  theatre  de 
Dancourt,  1882;  (for  Lesage,  see  next  chapter);  G.  Larroumet, 
Marivaux,  so  vie  et  ses  oeuvres,  new  ed.,  1894;  G.  Deschamps,  Marivaux 
(G.  E.  F.),  1897;  L.  de  Lomenie,  Beaumarchais  et  son  temps,  2  vols., 
1856;  E.  LintUhac,  Beaumarchais  et  ses  ceuvres,  1887. 

G.  Lanson,  Nivelle  de  La  Chaussee  et  la  comedie  larmoyante,  2nd 
ed.,  1903;  F.  Gaiffe,  Etude  sur  le  drame  en  France  au  XVI 11^  siecle, 
1910  (complete  list  of  drames) . 

Chapter  III: 

*  A.  Le  Breton,  Le  Roman  au  XVIII^  siecle,  1898;  G.  Saintsbury,  A 
History  oj  the  French  Novel,  vol.  1, 1917;  L.  Claretie,  Lesage,  romander, 
1891  (difFuse);  E.  LintUhac,  Lesage  (G.  E.  F.),  1893;  (for  Marivaux, 
see  preceding  chapter);  H.  Harrisse,  L'Abbe  Prevost,  Histoire  de  sa 
vie  et  de  ses  ceuvres,  1896  (original  researches) ;  V.  Schroeder,  Vn 
Romander  frangais  au  XVI W  siecle.  L'Abbe  Prevost;  sa  vie,  ses 
romans  (these),  1898  (based  on  preceding  work,  but  better  adapted 
to  general  reader);  Sainte-Beuve,  Port,  litt.,  I;  G.  R.  Havens,  The 
Abbe  Prevost  and  English  Literature  (Elliott  Monographs),  Princeton, 
1921. 

Chapter  IV: 

Poitevin,  ed.  Petits  poetes  franQois  depuis  Malherbe  jusqu'a  nos  jours, 
2  vols.,  1864  (Anthology,  with  Notices);  B.  Jullien,  Les  Paradoxes 
litteraires  de  La  Matte,  1859;  P.  Dupont,  Houdar  de  la  Motte,  1898; 
on  minor  poets,  such  as  Chaulieu  and  La  Fare,  see  Sainte-Beuve  and 
Villemain,  passim;  *H.  Potez,  L'Elegie  en  France  avant  le  romantisme, 
1898  (Pamy,  Bertin,  etc.);  L.  Morel,  James  Thomson,  sa  vie  et  ses 
ceuvres,  1895;  F.  Baldensperger,  Young  et  ses  '  Nuits'  en  France  in 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  756 

Etudes  d'histoire  litteraire,  (first  series),  1907;  E.  Faguet,  Andre 
Chenier  (G.  E.  F.),  1902;  L.  Bertrand,  La  Fin  du  classicisme  et  le  retour 
a  I'antique,  1898. 

BOOK  IV 
To  the  general  titles  given  for  Book  I,  add  here: 

J.  Fabre,  Les  Peres  de  la  Revolution;  de  Bayle  a  Condorcet,  1910 
P.  Lanfrey,  L'Eglise  et  les  phUosophes  au  XVIII^  siede,  2nd  ed.,  1857 
J.  P.  Belin,  Le  Mouvement  philosophique  de  1748  a  1789,  2  vols.,  1913 
F.  Rocquain,  L'Esprit  revolutionnaire  avant  la  Revolution,  1878. 


BOOK  IV 

Chapter  I: 

*L.  Ducros,  Les  Encydopedistes,  1900;  J.  Morley,  Diderot  and  the 
Encyclopaedists,  new  ed.,  2  vols.,  1897;  J.  Rocafort,  Les  Doctrines 
litteraires  de  VEncydopedie  ou  le  Romantisme  des  encydopedistes, 
1890;  J.  Bertrand,  Dalembert  (G.  E.  F.),  1889;  *L.  Dimier,  Bujfon, 
1919;  M.  Flourens,  Buffon.  Histoire  de  ses  travaux  et  de  ses  idees, 
2nd  ed.,  1850;  on  the  later  sensationalists:  Levy-Bruhl,  History  of 
Modem  Philosophy  in  France,  Chicago,  1899;  F.  Picavet,  Les 
Ideologues,  1891. 

Chapter  II: 

*G.  PeUissier,  Voltaire  Philosophe,  1908;  J.  Morley,  Voltaire,  new 
ed.,  1903;  J.  F.  Nourrisson,  Voltaire  et  le  Voltairianisme,  1896  (clerical 
standpoint) ;  Sainte-Beuve,  passim.  E.  Faguet,  La  Politique  comparee 
de  Montesquieu,  Rousseau  et  Voltaire,  1902.    See  also  Bk.  II,  Ch.  II. 

Chapter  III: 

*L.  Ducros,  Diderot,  I'homme  et  I'ecrivain,  1894;  J.  Morley,  op.  cit., 
Ch.  I,  above;  R.  L.  Cru,  Diderot  as  a  disciple  oj  English  Thought 
(dissertation),  New  York,  1913;  E.  Scherer,  Diderot,  1880;  J.  Reinach, 
Diderot  (G.  E.  F.),  1894;  R.  Hubert,  La  Morale  de  Diderot  in  Revue 
du  XVIW  Steele,  1915-16;  F.  Brunetiere,  Etudes  critiques,  II  (on  the 
Salons). 

BOOK  V 
Chapter  I : 
On  Romanticism,  in  general: 

D.  Momet,  Le  Romantisme  en  France  au  XV III"  siede,  1912;  same 
author,  Le  Sentiment  de  la  Nature  en  France  de  Romseau  a  Bernardin 


766  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

de  St.  Pierre,  1907;  J.  Texte,  op,  cit.  (Bk.  I,  Ch.  Ill);  M.  B.  Finch 
and  E.  A.  Peers,  The  Origins  of  French  Romanticism,  1920. 

*A.  Chuquet,  J. -J.  Rousseau  (G.  E.  F.),  5th  ed.,  1919;  Frederika 
Macdonald,  Jean-Jacques  Rousseau,  a  New  Criticism,  2  vols.,  1906 
(shows  d'Epinay-Grimm  conspiracy);  J.  Lemaitre,  Jean-Jacqu£s 
Rousseau,  1907  — also  *  English  translation,  1907  (sympathetic  and 
penetrating);  H.  Beaudouin,  La  Vie  et  les  ceuvres  de  J. -J.  Rousseau, 
2  vols.,  1891;  G.  Gran,  Jean-Jacques  Rousseau  (English  translation) 
N.  Y.,  1912. 

Special  phases:  Irving  Babbitt,  Rousseau  and  Romanticism,  Boston, 
1919  (views  Rousseauism  as  a  moral  malady;  bibhography) ;  E.  Faguet, 
La  Politique  comparee,  etc.;  *C.  E.  Vaughan,  ed..  The  Political 
Writings  of  Jean-Jacques  Rousseau,  2  vols.,  Cambridge,  (England), 
1915  (a  critical  edition,  with  good  introduction);  E.  Champion,  J.-J. 
Rousseau  et  la  Revolution  frangaise,  1909;  P.-M.  Masson,  La  Religion 
de  J.-J.  Rousseau,  3  vols.,  1916. 

A.  Barine  (pseudonym),  Bernardin  de  St.  Pierre  (G.  E.  F.),  1891. 

Chapter  II: 

On  the  Revolution,  see  the  historians  discussed  inBooks  VI  and  VIII; 
also  Carlyle;  E.  J.  Lowell,  Eve  of  the  French  Revolution,  new  ed., 
Boston,  1900;  A.  Rousse,  Mirabeau  (G.  E.  F.),  2nd  ed.,  1896. 

*Lady  Blennerhassett,  Madame  de  Stael.  Her  Friends  and  her 
Influence  in  Politics  and  Literature  (English  translation),  3  vols.,  1889; 
A.  Sorel,  Madame  de  Stael  (G.  E.  F.),  1890;  *  Sainte-Beuve,  Portraits 
de  femmes  (still  unsurpassed  as  a  portrait);  M.  Souriau,  Les  Idees 
morales  de  Mme  de  Stael,  1910;  F.  Brunetiere,  i  Evolution  de  la 
critique  and  Etudes  critiques,  IV  (on  the  novels) ;  E.  Faguet,  Politiques 
et  moroMstes  (see  below),  vol.  I  —  also  for  Constant;  Sainte-Beuve, 
Cauteries  du  lundi,  II  (on  Adolphe). 

Chapter  III: 

*M.  Lescure,  Chateaubriand  (G.  E.  F.),  2nd,  ed.,  1901;  V.  Giraud, 
Chateaubriand,  etudes  litteraires,  2nd  ed.,  1912,  and  Nouvdles  etudes 
sur  Chauteaubriand,  1912;  f  Sainte-Beuve,  Chateaubriand  et  son 
groupe  litteraire  sous  I'Empire,  2  vols.,  1860  (revised  ed.,  1872);  E. 
Faguet  in  Dix-neuvieme  siecle,  etudes  litteraires  (very  laudatory). 
On  Chateaubriand's  American  travels,  see  J.  Bedier,  Etudes  critiques, 
1903;  G.  Chinard,  L'Exotisme  americain  dans  I'ceuvre  de  Chateau- 
briand, 1918. 

General  nineteenth-century  authorities: 

V.  Duruy,  Histoire  de  France,  new  ed.,  1891  —  Engl,  transl.,  revised 
and  continued  to  1919,  N.  Y.,  1920;  W.  S.  Davis,  A  History  of  France, 
Boston,  1919  (gives  much  space  to  the  19th  century) ;  Ch.-V.  Langlois, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  757 

Manuel  de  bibliographie  historique,  2  parts,  1901-04;   G.  Vapereau, 
Dictionnaire  universel  des  contemporains,  6th  ed.,  1893. 

Petit  de  JuUeville,  vols.  VII  and  VIII;  *G.  Pellissier,  Le  Mouve- 
ment  litteraire  au  XIX«  siecle,  1889  (ff.)  —  English  translation,  1897;  F. 
Strowski,  Tableau  de  la  litterature  frangaise  au  XIX^  siecle,  1912;  E. 
Gilbert,  Le  Roman  en  France  pendant  le  XIX^  siecle,  5th  ed.,  1909; 
B.  W.  Wells,  A  Century  of  French  Fiction,  New  York,  1912  (brief  men- 
tion of  many  novels);  fE.  Faguet,  Dix-neuvieme  siecle;  Etudes 
litteraires,  1887,  and  ^Politiques  et  moralistes  du  Z/Z"  siecle,  3  vols. 
1891-1900;  E.  Hatin,  Histoire  politique  et  litteraire  de  la  presse  en 
France,  8  vols.,  1859-61;  H.  Avenel,  La  Presse  frangaise  depuis  1789 
jusqu'a  nos  jours,  1900. 

Lanson,  Manuel,  IV  and  Supplement;  Thieme,  Guide  bibliographique ; 
G.  Vicaire,  Manuel  de  I'amateur  des  livres  au  XIX^  siecle,  7  vols., 
1894r-1910. 

BOOK  VI 
Chapter  I : 

On  general  history,  see  above.  —  T.  Gautier,  Histoire  du  Romantisme, 
1894;  L.  Maigron,  Le  Romantisme  et  les  mwurs,  1910;  P.  Lasserre,  Le 
Romantisme  frangais,  2nd  ed.,  1908  (hostile);  Lanson,  Histoire;  F. 
Vial  and  L.  Denise,  Idees  et  doctrines  litteraires  du  XIX"  siecle  (to 
1850),  1918;  also  (for  definitions)  G.  Michaut,  in  Pages  de  critique  et 
'  d' histoire  litteraire,  1910;  and  for  qualities,  F.  Brunetiere,  Nouvelles 
Questions  de  critique,  1890  (pp.  189  ff.). 

Special  phases  and  iafluences:  C.  Des  Granges,  La  Presse  litteraire 
sous  la  Restauration,  1816-30,  1907;  L.  Seche,  Le  Cenacle  de  la  Muse 
Frangaise,  1908;  same  author,  Le  Cenacle  de  Joseph  Delorme,  2  vols., 
1912;  J.  Texte,  chapter  on  foreign  relations  in  Petit  de  Julleville,  VII, 
also  L'Influence  allemande  dans  le  romantisme  frangais  in  Etudes  de 
litterature  europeenne,  1898;  F.  Baldensperger,  Goethe  en  France: 
etude  de  litterature  comparee  (these),  1904,  also  Esquisse  d'une  histoire 
de  Shakespeare  en  France  in  Etudes  d'histoire  litteraire,  second  series, 
1912;  P.  Van  Tieghem,  Ossian  en  France,  2  vols.,  1917;  E.  Esteve, 
Byron  et  le  Romantisme  frangais  (these),  1907;  L.  Maigron,  Le  Roman 
historique  a  Vepoque  romantique:  essai  swr  I'infhtence  de  Walter 
Scott,  2nd  ed.,  1912. 

Chapter  II: 

On  Nodier:  *E.  Montegut,  Nos  marts  contemporains,  1, 1884;  Sainte- 
Beuve,  Port,  litt.,  I;  L.  Seche,  Cenacle  de  Joseph  Delorme;  J.  Retinger, 
Le  Conte  fantastique  dans  le  romantisme  frangais;  M.  Salomon,  Charles 
Nodier  et  le  groupe  rorrumtique,  1908. 

On  Beranger:  Sainte-Beuve,  Caus.  du  lundi,  II  and  XV;  E.  Caro, 
Poetes  et  romanciers,  1888;  E.  Renan,  in  Questions  contemporaines, 
1868  (hostile). 

On  Lamartine:  R.  Doumic,  Lamartine  (G.  E.  F.),  1912;  *H.  R. 
Whitehouse,  The  Life  of  Lamartine,  2  vols.,  Boston,  1918;  L.  Seche, 


758  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Etudes  d'histoire  romantique :  Lamartine  de  1816  a  1830,  1905;  E. 
Deschanel,  Lamartine,  2  vols.,  1893;  C.  de  Pomairols,  Lamartine,  1889; 
*  E.  Zyromski,  Lamartine,  poete  lyrique,  1898. 

Chapter  III: 

First,  the  thorough-going,  but  rather  unsympathetic  series  by  *E. 
Eire:  Victor  Hugo  avant  1830,  1883;  Victor  Hugo  apres  1830,  2  vols., 
1891  (2nd  ed.,  1899);  and  Victor  Hugo  apres  1852,  1894;  L.  Mabilleau, 
victor  Hugo  (G.  E.  F.),  3rd  ed.,  1902;  E.  Dupuy,  Victor  Hugo,  I'homme 
et  le  poete,  1893;  C.  Renouvier,  Victor  Hugo,  le  poete,  4th  ed.,  1902; 
E.  Rigal,  Victor  Hugo,  poete  epique,  1900;  M.  Souriau,  Les  Idees 
morales  de  Victor  Hugo,  1908;  and  see  below,  Chs.  V  and  VI,  also 
Bk.  VIII,  Ch.  I  (Sainte-Beuve). 

Chapter  IV: 

F.  Brunetiere,  Evolution  de  la  poesie  lyrique  en  France  au  XIX* 
si^cle,  2  vols.,  1894. 

On  Musset:  A.  Barine  (pseudonym),  Alfred  de  Musset  (G.  E.  F.), 
1893;  Sainte-Beuve,  Caus.  du  lundi,  I  and  XIII;  L.  Sech6,  Alfred  de 
Musset,  1907. 

On  Vigny:  M.  Paleologue,  Alfred  de  Vigny  (G.  E.  F.),  1891;  L. 
Dorison,  Alfred  de  Vigny,  poete  philosophe,  1892;  F.  Baldensperger, 
Alfred  de  Vigny,  contribution  a  sa  biographie  intellectueUe,  1912. 

On  Gautier:  E.  Richet,  Theophile  Gautier,  I'homme,  la  vie  et  I'ceuvre, 
1893;  M.  Ducamp,  Theophile  Gautier  (G.  E.  F.),  1890;  Sainte-Beuve, 
Nouv.  lundis,  V  and  VI. 

Chapter  V: 

*  P.  Nebout,  Le  Drame  romantique,  1897;  P.  Ginisty,  Le  Melodrame, 
1910;  on  Delavigne,  Sainte-Beuve,  Port,  contemp.,  V,  and  J.  Lemaitre, 
Impressions  de  theatre.  III;  M.  Souriau,  La  Preface  de  CromweU  de 
Victor  Hugo  (critical  edition),  1897;  P.  and  V.  Glachant,  Essai  critique 
sur  le  theatre  de  Victor  Hugo,  2  vols.,  1902-03;  H.  Parigot,  Le  Drame 
d' Alexandre  Dumas,  1898;  L.  Lafoscade,  Le  Theatre  d' Alfred  de  Musset, 
1901;  E.  Fricke,  Der  Einfluss  Shakespeares  auf  Alfred  de  Mussets 
Dramen,  Bale,  1901;  E.  Sakellarides,  Alfred  de  Vigny,  autevr 
dramatique,  1902. 

Chapter  VI: 

Wells,  Gilbert,  Maigron,  etc.  (see  above) ;  A.  Le  Breton,  Le  Roman 
frang^ais  au  dix-neuvieme  siecle  avant  Balzac,  1901 ;  *  J.  Merlant,  Le 
Roman  personnel  de  Rousseau  a  Fromentin,  1905;  fE.  Rod,  Stendhal 
(G.  E.  F.),  1892;  A.  Chuquet,  Stmdhal-Beyle,  1902;  A.  Filon,  Merimee 
(G.  E.  F.),  1898;  F.  Brunetiere  et  ses  eleves  (Cavenel,  Dimoff,  etc.), 
Victor  Hugo,  2  vols.,  2nd  ed.,  1906;  *R.  L.  Stevenson,  Victor  Hugo's 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  759 

"Romances  in  Familiar  Studies  of  Men  and  Books,  1882  f.;  H  Parigot 
Alexandre  Dumas  pere  (G.  E.  F.),  1901,  and  Alexandre  Dumas  ei 
I'hwtoire  m  the  Revue  de  Paris,  1902;  R.  Doumic,  George  Sand,  dix 
conferences,  1909  (English  translation,  1910);  *W.  Karenine,  George 
Sand,  sa  vie  et  ses  oeuvres,  3  vols.,  1899-1912.  On  Vigny,' Gautier 
and  Hugo,  see  also  preceding  chapters. 

Chapter  VII: 

On  the  critics:  *I.  Babbitt,  Masters  of  Modern  French  Criticism, 
Boston,  1912;  -f-F.  Brunetiere,  Evolution  des  genres:  Evolution  de  la 
critique,  5th  ed.,  1910;  E.  Faguet  in  Petit  de  Julleville,  VII;  G. 
Saintsbury,  A  History  of  Criticism  and  Literary  Taste  in  Europe, 
Vol.  Ill:  Modem  Criticism,  Edinburgh,  1904;  Sainte-Beuve,  Caus.  du 
lundi,  I  (Joubert,  Montalembert,  Lacordaire),  and  Port,  litt.,  II 
(Joubert,  Joseph  de  Maistre);  A.  Beaunier,  La  Jeunesse  de  Joseph 
Joubert,  1918  (dispels  legend);  also  M.  Arnold,  Essays  in  Criticism, 
I,  1889  (Joubert),  and  Babbitt,  op.  cit.;  Paul  Janet,  Victor  Cousin  et 
son  ceuvre  (G.  E.  F.),  1885;  Barthelemy  Saint-Hilaire,  Victor  Cousin, 
sa  vie  et  sa  correspondance,  3  vols.,  1895. 

On  the  CathoUc  revival:  *  A.  Guerard,  French  Prophets  of  Yesterday, 
1913;  Sainte-Beuve  (see  preceding  paragraph);  on  Lamennais,  Sainte- 
Beuve,  Port.  contemP;  I  and  Faguet,  Pol.  et  mor..  III. 

On  the  historians:  *G.  P.  Gooch,  History  and  Historians  in  the 
Nineteenth  Century,  2nd  ed.,  1913  (excellent) ;  *  C.  Jullian,  Introduc- 
tion to  Extraits  des  historiens  frangats  du  XI X^  siecle,  1897;  A. 
Bardoux,  Guizot,  1894;  also  Sainte-Beuve,  Cans,  du  lundi,  I  and 
Faguet,  Pol.  et  mor.,  I;  F.  Valentin,  Augustin  Thierry,  1895;  also 
Faguet,  Pol.  et  mor..  Ill  and  E.  Renan,  Essais  de  morale  et  de  critique, 
1859;  G.  Monod,  Jules  Michdet,  1875;  ¥a,^e%,Dix-neuvieme' siecle; 
J.  Simon,  Mignet,  Michelet,  Henri  Martin,  1890;  P.  de  Remusat, 
Adolphe  Thiers  (G.  E.  F.),  1889  and  Sainte-Beuve,  Port,  contemp,  IV. 


BOOK  VII 
General  Authorities: 

G.  PeUissier,  Le  Mouvement  litteraire  contemporain,  2nd  ed.,  1902; 
tF.  Brunetiere,  Le  Roman  naturaliste,  1883;  David-Sauvageot,  Le 
Realisme  et  le  naturalisme,  1889;  L.  Desprez,  L' Evolution  naturalist'e, 
1884;  fE.  Zola,  Les  Romanciers  naturalistes,  1881;  -f-E.  Scherer, 
Etudes  critiques  sur  la  litterature  contemporaine,  10  vols.,  1863-95; 
t  J.  Lemaitre,  Les  Contemporains,  7  vols.,  1885-99;  8th  vol.  (posthu- 
mous), 1918. 


760  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Chapter  I: 

*A.  Le  Breton,  Balzac,  I'homme  et  I'aeuvre,  1905;  *H.  Taine, 
Balzac,  in  Nouveaux  essais  de  critique  et  d'hutoire,  1865  —  also  Eng- 
lish translation  of  the  same  essay  by  L.  O'Rourke,  New  York,  1906; 
Sainte-Beuve,  Cam.  du  lundi,  II;  +F.  Brunetiere,  Honore  de  Balzac, 
1906  —  also  English  translation. 

Chiefly  biographical:  F.  Lawton,  Balzac,  1910;  J.  H.  Floyd,  Women 
in  the  Life  of  Balzac,  New  York,  1921;  G.  Hanotaux  and  G.  Vicaire, 
La  Jeunesse  de  Balzac;  Balzac  Imprimeur,  new  ed.,  1921. 

Special  phases:  *Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul,  Histoire  des  ceuvres  de 
Balzac,  1879  (3rd  ed.,  1888);  same  author,  Autour  de  Honore  de 
Balzac,  1897;  M.  Barriere,  L'CEuvre  de  Balzac,  1890  (useful  sum- 
maries of  stories);  Cerfbeer  et  Christophe,  Repertoire  de  la  Comedie 
humaine,  1887. 


Chapter  II : 

*  H.  Parigot,  Le  Theatre  d'hier,  1893;  C.  Lenient,  La  Comedie  en 
France  au  XI X"  siecle,  2  vols.,  1898;  fF.  Sarcey,  Quarante  ans  de 
theatre,  8  vols.,  1900-02;  fj.  Lemaitre,  Impressions  de  theatre, 
10  vols.,  1888-98;  B.  Matthews,  French  Dramatists  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century,  4th  ed.,  New  York,  1895;  J.  J.  Weiss,  Le  Theatre  et  les  moeurs, 
1889;  *H.  GaiUard  de  Champris,  EmUe  Augier  et  la  comedie  sodale, 
1910;  P.  Morillot,  Emile  Augier,  Grenoble,  1901;  R.  Doumic,  De 
Scribe  a  Ibsen,  1893;  A.  Filon,  De  Dumas  a  Rostand,  1898. 

Chapter  III: 

Brunetiere,  Evolution  de  la  poesie  lyrique;  T.  Gautier,  Ettide  sur  la 
poesie  franQaise,  1830-68  (publ.  in  Histoire  du  Romantkme,  1874); 
C.  Mendes,  Le  Mouvement  poetique  frangais  de  1867  a  1900  {Rapport 
followed  by  Dictionnaire) ,  1903. 

On  Baudelaire:  *C.  Mauclair,  Charles  Baudelaire,  sa  vie,  son  art, 
sa  legende,  1917;  T.  Gautier,  Preface  to  the  Fleurs  du  nud,  Levy  ed., 
1868  f.;  C.  Asselineau,  Charles  Baudelaire,  sa  vie  et  son  oeuvre,  1879 
(partial);   J.  Huneker,  in  Egoists,  New  York,  1909. 

On  Banville:  Sainte-Beuve,  Cam.  du  lundi,  XIV,  and  Lemaitre, 
Contemporains,  I. 

On  Leconte  de  Lisle:  Jean  Dornis  (pseudonym),  Essai  sur  Leconte 
de  Lisle,  1909;  *G.  Deschamps,  La  Vie  et  les  livres,  II,  1895; 
J.  Vianey,  Les  Sources  de  Leconte  de  Lisle,  Montpellier,  1907. 

On  Heredia:  Lemaitre,  Contemporains,  II;  Faguet,  Propos  litt.. 
Ill,  1905;  J.  Richepin  in  the  Journal  de  I'Universite  des  Annates,  II 
(April,  1908);  E.  Langevin,  Jose-Maria  de  Heredia,  1907  (source- 
studies)  . 

C.  A.  Downer,  Frederic  Mistral,  New  York,  1901. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  761 

Chapter  IV: 

See  above,  General  Authorities;  Gilbert,  Wells,  Brunetiere;  *E. 
Faguet,  Flaubert,  (G.  E.  P.),  1899  — Engl,  transl.,  1914;  R.  Dumesnil, 
Flaubert,  son  heredite,  son  milieu,  sa  methode,  1905;  R.  Descharmes, 
Flaubert,  sa  vie,  son  caractere  et  ses  idees  avant  1857  (these),  1909; 
Elliott  Monographs,  I-IV,  Baltimore  and  Paris,  1914-17;  L.  Bertrand, 
Gustave  Flaubert,  1912;  Sainte-Beuve,  Cans,  du  lundi,  XIII,  and 
Nouv.  lundis,  IV;  also  (on  Feydeau),  Caus.  du  lundi,  XIV  and  XV; 
A.  Riddell,  Flaubert  and  Maupassant,  a  Literary  Relationship  (disser- 
tation), Chicago,  1920;  *E.  Maynial,  La  Vie  et  I'oeuvre  de  Guy  de 
Maupassant,  1907;  J.  Lemaitre,  Contemporains,  I. 

Chapter  V: 

B.  Schmidt,  Le  Groups  des  romanciers  naturalistes,  Carlsruhe,  1903; 
C.  Bran,  Le  Roman  social  en  France  au  XIX^  siecle,  1910. 

tE.  Zola,  Le  Roman  experimental,  1880;  *E.  Lepelletier,  Emile 
Zola,  sa  vie,  son  oeuvre,  1909;  Brunetiere,  op.  cit.;  Scherer,  Etudes 
sur  la  litt.  contemp.,  VII;  J.  Lemaitre,  Contemporains,  I;  -f- A.  France, 
La  Vie  litteraire,  1  and  III;  H.  James,  Notes  on  Novelists,  New  York, 
1916  (Balzac,  Flaubert,  Zola). 

The  Journal  des  Goncourt,  9  vols.,  1887-96;  A.  Delzant,  Les  Gon- 
court,  1889;  J.  Lemaitre,  Contemporains,  III. 

Leon  Daudet,  Alphonse  Daudet,   1898;    Brunetiere   and  Schmidt;  ' 
G.  A.  Ratti,  Les  Idees  morales  et  litteraires  d' Alphonse  Daudet  d'apres 
ses  ceuvres,  1911. 


BOOK  VIII 
Chapter  I: 

*I.  Babbitt,  op.  cit.  and  Brunetiere,  Evolution  de  la  critique;  E. 
Scherer,  Etudes  critiques,  I,  1863;  G.  M.  Harper,  Charles-Augustin 
Sainte-Beuve,  Philadelphia,  1909  (chiefly  biography  and  portraiture) ; 
L.  Seche,  Sainte-Beuve,  2  vols.,  1904;  *  G.  Michaut,  Sainte-Beuve  avant 
les  "Lundis,"  Paris  and  Fribourg,  1903  (very  full  up  to  1850); 
L.  MacClintock,  Sainte-Beuve's  Critical  Theory  and  Practice  after  1843 
(dissertation),  Chicago,  1920  (supplementary  to  the  preceding);  G. 
Saintsbury,  op.  cit. 

Chapter  II: 

On  St.  Simon  and  Comte:  *G.  Weill,  L'Ecole  saint-simonienne,  son 
histoire,  son  influence  jusqu'a  nos  jours,  1896;  Levy-Brahl,  La  Philo- 
sophie  d'Augmte  Comte,  1900;  *J.  S.  Mill,  The  Positive  Philosophy 
of  Auguste  Comte,  New  York,  1887. 

On  Taine:  *V.  Giraud,  Essai  sur  Taine:  son  ceuvre,  son  influence, 
4th  ed.,  1909;  same  author,  Maitres  d'autrefois  et  d'aujourd'hui,  1913 


762  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

(Sainte-Beuve,  Taine,  Brunetiere,  etc.) ;  A.  Laborde-Milaa,  Hippolyte 
Taine,  essai  d'une  biographic  inteUectuelle,  1909;  G.  Monod,  Renan, 
Taine,  Michelet,  3rd  ed.,  1895. 

On  Renan:  *L.  F.  Mott,  Ernest  Renan,  New  York,  1921  (the  fullest 
biography);  M.  J.  Darmesteter  (Mme  Duclaux),  La  Vie  d'Ernest 
Renan,  1898;  G.  Deschamps,  La  Vie  et  les  livres,  II,  1895;  R.  Allier, 
La  PhUosophie  d'Ernest  Renan,  1905;  G.  Paris,  Penseurs  et  poetes,  1896. 

Chapter  III : 

On  Quinet;  Faguet,  PoUtiques  et  Moralistes,  II;  on  the  minor  his- 
torians: Gooch,  Jullien,  etc.  (see  above,  Bk.  VI,  Ch.  VII);  on  Tocque- 
ville:  Faguet,  Pol.  et  Mor.,  Ill,  and  P.  Marcel,  Essai  politique  sur 
Alexis  de  Tocqueville,  1910.  On  Lavisse:  R.  Douinic,  Portraits 
d'Ecrivains,  U,  1909;  on  Quinet,  the  church  and  Veuillot:  A.  Guerard, 
op.  cit.  (Bk.  VI,  Ch.  VII) ;  also  L.  Dimier,  VeuiUot,  1912. 

On  Amiel:  Scherer,  Etudes  critiques,  VIII,  and  Mrs.  Humphry  Ward's 
Introduction  to  her  English  translation,  1885;  on  Fromentin:  Merlant, 
op.  cit.,  and  M.  Wilmotte,  Etudes  critiques  sur  la  tradition  litteraire 
en  France,  I,  1909. 


BOOK  IX 

General  authorities  on  the  fin  de  siede: 

*  G.  Hanotaux,  Histoire  de  la  France  contemporaine,  4  vols.,  1903-08; 
W.  S.  Davis,  History  pf  France;  J.  E.  C.  Bodley,  France,  1898; 
G.  Pellissier,  L'Affaire  Dreyfus  et  la  litterature  frangaise  in  Etudes  de 
litt.  et  de  morale  contemporaines,  1905;  Mme  Juliette  Adam,  Memoires, 
7  vols.,  1902-1910. 

J.  Huret,  Enquete  sur  revolution  litteraire,  1891  (interviews  with 
prominent  writers);  fP.  Bourget,  Essais  de  psychologic  contem- 
poraine, 2  vols.,  1883;  definitive  edition,  2  vols.,  1901;  G.  Pellissier, 
Le  Mouvement  litteraire  contemporain,  1901 ;  *  V.  Giraud,  Les  Maitres 
de  I'heure,  2  vols.,  1912-14  (Rod,  Vogiie,  Bourget,  Loti,  etc.);  Sansot- 
Orland,  etc.,  editors,  Les  Celebrites  d'aujourd'hui,  numerous  small 
volumes  since  1903. 

Chapter  I: 

G.  Coquiot,  Le  vrai  J.-K.  Huysmans,  1912;  Remy  de  Gourmont, 
Promenades  litteraires,  I  and  III,  1904,  1909;  H.  Schoffler,  Die  Stellung 
Huysmans  im  framosischen  Roman  (dissertation),  Leipzig,  1911;  Have- 
lock  Ellis  in  Affirmations,  2nd  ed.,  Boston,  1916  (Zola  and  Huysmans). 
R.  P.  Bowen,  The  Novels  of  Ferdinand  Fabre,  Boston,  1918.  On  the 
later  Naturalists,  see  Wells  and  Gilbert;  also,  on  the  Margueritte 
brothers:  R.  Doumic,  Etudes  sur  la  litterature  frangaise,  III,  1895;  on 
J.-'H.  Rosny:  Pellissier,  Nouveaux  essais  de  litt.  contemp.,  1895;  on 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  763 

the  idealists  and  Bourget,  see  Giraud,  Maitres  de  I'heure;  on  Bourget 
and  Loti:  R.  Doumic,  Portraits  d'Ecrivains,  II,  1909.  G.  Miohaut, 
Anatole  France,  etude  psychologique,  1913;  L.  P.  Shanks,  Anatole 
France,  Chicago,  1919. 

Chapter  II: 

*A.  Benoist,  Le  Theatre  d'aujourd'hui,  2  vols.,  1911-12;  *r.  W. 
Chandler,  The  Contemporary  Drama  of  France,  Boston,  1920;  A.  E. 
Sorel,  Essais  de  psychologie  contemporaine;  R.  Doumic,  Le  Theatre 
nouveau,  1908  (mainly  critiques  of  premieres);  A.  Kahn,  Le  Theatre 
social  en  France  de  1870  a  nos  jours,  (these),  1907;  anon.,  Le  Theatre 
Libre,  1900  (program  and  achievements  of  the  first  three  years);  *A. 
Thalasso,  Le  Theatre  Libre,  1909  (fuller  history  and  repertoire) ;  W.  H. 
Scheifley,  Brieux  and  Contemporary  French  Society,  New  York,  1917; 
H.  Burkhardt,  Studien  zu  Paul  Hervieu  (dissertation),  Zurich,  1917;  R. 
Le  Brun,  Francois  de  Cur  el,  1905;  A.  Van  Bever,  Maurice  Maeter- 
linck, 1904;  J.  Haraszti,  Edmond  Rostand,  1913. 

Chapter  III: 

*E.  Zyromski,  Sully  Prudhomme,  1907;  C.  Hemon,  La  Philosophie 
de  Sully  Prudhomme,  1907;  G.  Paris,  in  Penseurs  et  poetes,  1896.  M. 
de  Lescure,  Frangois  Coppee,  I'homme,  la  vie  et  I'ceuvre,  1889;  also 
A.  France,  La  Vie  litteraire,  I  and  III. 

C.  Mendes,  Rapport  (see  Bk.  VII,  Ch.  Ill);  *A.  Barre,  Le  Symbo- 
lisme.  Essai  historique  .  .  .  suivi  d'une  Bibliographie,  1911  (extensive 
and  authoritative);  A.  Symons,  The  Symbolist  Movement  in  Litera- 
ture, revised  edition.  New  York,  1919;  Amy  Lowell,  Six  French  Poets, 
2nd  ed..  New  York,  1916  (Verhaeren,  Samain,  R.  de  Gourmont,  Regnier, 
Jammes,  Fort;  diffuse  criticism;  translations);  A.  Rette,  Le  Symbo- 
lisme,  anecdotes  et  souvenirs,  1903;  Mme  Anne  Osmont,  Le  Mouvement 
symboliste,  1917;  E.  Raynaud,  La  Melee  symboliste  1870-1890,  1918; 
T.  de  Visan,  U Attitude  du  lyrisme  contemporain,  1911;  G.  Waloh,  ed., 
Anthologie  des  poetes  frangais  contemporains,  3  vols.,  1919  (with 
Notices);  G.  Kahn,  Symbolistes  et  decadents,  1902. 

C.  Morice,  Paul  VerMne,  I'homme  et  I'ceuvre,  1888;  *E.  LepeUetier, 
Paul  Verlaine,  sa  vie,  son  ceuvre,  1907  —  English  translation,  1909.  On 
MaUarme:  J.  Lemaitre,  Contemporains,  IV,  and  see  paragraph  above. 
On  the  Americans:  T.  B.  Rudmose-Brown,  French  Literary  Studies, 
1918.  On  Samain:  L.  Bocquet,  Albert  Samain,  sa  vie  et  son  ceuvre, 
1905.  On  Regnier:  Jean  de  Gourmont,  Henri  de  Regnier  et  son 
ceuvre,  1908. 

Chapter  IV: 

J.  Bedier,  Hommage  h  Gaston  Paris,  1904;  H.  Behrens,  Francisque 
Sarceys  Theaterkritik  (dissertation)  Greifswald,  1911;  Giraud,  Maitres 
de  I'heure   (on  Faguet,  Bourget,  Brunetiere,  France,  Lemaitre);    R. 


764  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Doumic,  Ecrivains  d'aujourd'hui,  1894  (on  Brunetiere,  Bourget,  Faguet, 
Lemaitre);  E.  Faguet,  Ferdinand  Brunetiere,  1911. 

EPILOGUE: 

W.  L.  George,  France  in  the  Twentieth  Century,  1908;  Le  Larousse 
Mensuel,  1910-20  (for  dates  and  facts) ;  *  M.  Braunschvig,  Notre  littera^ 
ture  etudiee  dans  les  textes,  Vol.  II,  1921  (lists  of  important  books, 
1850-1920),  G.  CaseUa  and  E.  Gaubert,  La  nouvelle  litterature,  1895- 
1905,  2nd  ed.,  1906;  F.  Baldensperger,  L'Avant-guerre  dans  la  litteror 
ture  frangaise,  1900-1914,  1919;  E.  Henriot,  A  Quoi  revent  les  jeunes 
gens,  1913  (another  enquete  on  the  various  "  isms  ") ;  Florian-Parmen- 
tier,  Histoire  de  la  litterature  frangaise  de  1815  a  nos  jours,  no  date 
(1914);  Mme  Duclaux,  Twentieth-Century  French  Writers,  New 
York,  1920. 

On  Bergson  and  his  influence:  E.  Le  Roy,  Vne  Philosophie  nouvelle, 
M.  Henri  Bergson  in  the  Revue  des  deux  mondes,  VII  (1912)  6»  per. 
—  also  Enghsh  translation,  London  and  New  York,  1913;  H.  W.  Carr, 
The  Philosophy  of  Change;  a  Study  .  .  .  of  the  Philosophy  of  Bergson, 
1914;  G.  Turquet-Milnes,  Some  Modem  French  Writers,  1921. 

On  Holland:  Mme  Duclaux  (above);  P.  Seippel,  Romain  RoUand, 
I'homme  et  I'oeuvre,  1913;  S.  Zweig,  Romain  RoUand  —  English  trans- 
lation, New  York,  1921. 

On  the  poets  and  mystics:  Amy  Lowell  and  T.  de  Visan  (see  Bk.  IX, 
Ch.  Ill);  G.  Duhamel,  Les  Poetes  et  la  poesie,  1912-13;  same  author, 
Paul  Claudel,  1919;  P.  M.  Jones,  Whitman  in  France  in  Modem 
Language  Review,  X  (1915);  S.  Zweig,  Emile  Verhaeren  —  English 
translation,  Boston,  1914;  H.  Potez  (on  Verhaeren)  in  the  Revue  de 
Paris,  1910;  Remy  de  Gourmont,  Promenades  litteraires,  5  vols., 
1904-14. 

*  A.  Schinz,  French  Literature  of  the  Great  War,  New  York,  1920. 


INDEX  OF  NAMES 


INDEX  OF  NAMES 


Italic  figures  indicate  the  chief  references.  Italicized  titles  are,  as  a 
rule,  anonymous.  Historical  characters  are  usually  omitted,  unless  they 
present  literary  interest.  Credit  for  compiling  this  index  is  mainly  due 
to  Messrs.  W.  D.  Trautman  and  Louis  Allen,  students  in  the  Romance 
Department  of  the  University  of  Chicago. 


Abelard,  79,  487 

About,  E.,  648 

Acarie,   Mme,  211 

Acton,   Lord,   658 

Adam,  Paul,  667,  668 

Adam  de  la  Halle,  70-71.  32,  67 

Adam,   Representation    de,   68-69 

Addison,  389 

Aesop,  302 

d'Aguesseau,  408,  406,  407,  451 

Aiol,  29 

Alain  de  Lille,  59 

Alarcon,  256 

Alary,  Abbe,  410 

Alciat,   155 

Alexander,  381 

Alexandre,  38 

Alexis,  Paul,  624 

Alexis,  Vie  de  Saint,  15,  19 

Alice  of  Blois,  33 

Alice  of  France,  51 

Aliscans,  S7 

Almanack  de  Gotha,  135 

Amadas  et  Idoine,  51 

Amiel,  663 

Amy,  Pierre,  146 

Amyot,  i93-m,  195,  224,  229,  247 

Anacreon,  176,  181,  187,  188,  208,  381 

Andreas  Capellanus,  33,  55,  60 

Andrieu  de  la  Vigne,  105,  108 

Aneau,  Barthelemy,  173 

Angelique,  Mere,  307 

Angellier,  Auguste,  731 

Aniel,  Dit  dou  vrai,  85 

Annius  of  Viterbo,  135 

Anselm  of  Laon,  79 

Anselm,  St.,  16,  268 


Antoine,  Andre  681,  600,  682,  684, 

686 
Apolloniits  of  Tyre,  53 
Arabian  Nights,  85,  436 
d'Argenson,  Rene-Louis,  411>  410 
Ariosto,  130,  189,  216,  237,  301 
Aristophanes,  71,  315,  693 
Aristotle,   16,  79,  98,  99,  102,  129, 

145,  161,   162,  163,  170,  172,  174, 

175,  197,  228,  248,  249,  260,  272, 

327,  342,  381,  403,  653,  717 
Amauld,  307,  308,  309,  325,  346 
Arnold,  Matthew,  576,  642,  644,  645, 

712 
Arouet,  see  Voltaire 
d'Aubignac,  Abbe,  249,  253,  316,  321 
d'Aubigne,  176,  182,  183,  190,  191, 

192    568 
d'Aubray,  Claude,  209 
Aucassin  et  Nicolette,  63-64,  15,  73 
Augier,   Emile,   696-697,   426,    562, 

600,  601,  613,  661,  680 
Augustine,  St.,  18,  68,  128,  158,  306, 

339,  484 
Aurelius,  Marcus,  653 
Ausonius,  180 

Autels,  Guillaume  des,  175,  176 
Avianus,  64 

Babbitt,  Irving,  541 

Bachaumont,  412 

Bacon,  Francis,  202,  339,  453,  454, 

455,  476 
Bacon,  Roger,  62,  103 
Baif,  Antoine  de,  175,  176,  178,  187, 

244 
Baif,  Lazare  de,  178,  239 


767 


768 


INDEX 


Baldensperger,  736 

Balzac,  Honore  de,  686-694,  280, 
412,  426,  482,  619,  524,  566,  568, 
570,  571,  575,  598,  613,  616,  618, 
623,  625,  626,  629,  651,  666,  667, 
680,  682,  684,  705,  714,  734 

Babac,  Jean-Louis  Guez  de,  SU-e26, 
198,  212,  222,  235,  258,  268 

Balzac,  Laure  (Mme  de  Surville), 
585 

Banville,  543,  605,  688,  691,  719 

Baour-Lormian,  520 

Barante,  525 

Barat  et  Hcdmet,  84 

Barbey  d'Aurevilly,  573,  577 

Barlaam  et  Josaphat,  86-86 

Baro,  230,  351 

Baron,  351,  436 

Barre,  A.,  702 

Barres,  Maurice,  672-673,  656,  668, 
669,  720,  726,  729,  730 

Bartas,  Du,  190-191,  176 

Bataille  des  sept  arts,  see  Henri 
d'Andeli 

Bataille,  Henri,  736-737 

Baudelaire,  602-606,  551,  700,  701, 
705,  713,  717 

Bayle,  37SS78,  270,  286,  381,  382, 
396,  408,  412,  413,  453,  456,  457, 
465,  468,  639 

Bazin,  Ren6,  730 

Beaumarchais,  4S9-4S0,  363,  424,  427, 
432,  680 

Becque,  Henry,  600-601,  681,  684 

Beds,  80 

Bedel,  Jean,  84 

Bedier,  Joseph,  43,  84 

Beethoven,  727 

Belasco,  679 

Bellay,  Guillaume  du,  149 

Bellay,  Joachim  du,  171-173  {De- 
fense), 184-187  (Life  and  Poetry), 
107,  134,  135,  163,  168,  169,  170, 
174,  175,  176,  177,  178,  180,  183, 
192,  195,  277,  339,  639 

Belleau,  Eemy,  175,  176,  178,  183, 
187 

Benda,  J.,  724 

Bennett,  Arnold,  727  (note) 

Benoit  de  Sainte-More,  39-40,  73 

Benserade,  226 

Beranger,  6SS-6S9 


Berguire,  Pierre,  98-99,  88 

Bergson,  Henri,  711-726,  720,  729, 
731,  734 

Bernard,  Claude,  625,  645 

Bernard,  Gentil,  446 

Bernard,  St.,  100 

Bernart  de  Ventadom,  33 

Bernhardt,  Sarah,  631,  679 

Bemy,  Mme  de,  585,  586 

Bernstein  Henri,  7S6,  6,  737 

Beroul,  42,  43 

Bertaut,  188,  189 

Berthelot,  652 

Bertin,  445,  447,  448 

Bertran  de  Bom,  33 

Bertrand,  Louis,  730 

Beyle,  565,  see  Stendhal 

Bible,  16,  158,  376,  468,  469,  631,  548 
577,  653 

Bien  avise,  mal  avise,  111 

Binet,  175 

Boccaccio,  40,  85,  88,  89,  94,  118, 
128,  137,  165,  167,  247,  301 

Bodel,   Jean,   69,    120 

Bodin,  Jean,  209 

Boethius,  62,  79,  93 

Boetie,  Etienne  de  la,  195,  196, 
199 

Bpex,  J.-H.  and  S.-J.,  668  (see 
Rosny,  J.-H.) 

Boileau,  SSSSSQ,  2,  171,  188,  191, 
213,  215,  216,  218,  228,  234,  235, 
250,  258,  276,  277,  279,  281,  291, 
294,  297,  301,  302,  313,  314,  318, 
319,  321,  339,  340,  341,  342,  343, 
344,  346,  347,  350,  415,  513,  518 
639,  641,  713 

Boisrobert,  226 

Bolingbroke,  371,  384,  410,  465 

Bonaventure,  St.,  100 

Bonnard,  447 

Bordeaux,  Henry,  730 

Bordeors,  Les  deux,  84 

Borderie,  de  la,  143 

Bornier,  Henri  de,  688 

Borstel,  Sieur  de  Gaubertin,  230 

Bossuet,  3S0SS6,  98,  101,  159,  160. 
212,  225,  258,  276,  279,  283,  295, 
347,  357,  392,  393,  400,  408,  457, 
513,  579 

Boucher,  479 

Bouhours,  Abb(5,  281,  340  (note) 


INDEX 


769 


Bouilhet,  Louis,  614 
Boulay-Paty,  523 
Bourdaloue,  212,  335,  408 
Bourdeille,  Pierre  de,  see  Brantome 
Bourget,   Paul,    670-6711    (Fiction), 

716-717  (Criticism),  566,  623,  656, 

665.  669,  729 
Boursault,  253 
Boutroux,  722 
Brantome,  SO^-SOe,  193 
Brer  Rabbit  Collections,  65 
Brieux,  Eugene,  681-683,  684,  736 
Brownell,  W.  C,  4,  640,  651 
Browning,  Robert,  705 
Brunetiere,  71S-715,   134,   135,   152, 

160,   166,   168,  214,  215,  258,  278, 

330,  340,  454,  501,  633,  634,  665, 

669,  670,  717 
Brunetto  Latini,  81,  78,  94 
Buchanan,  196 
Buckle,  401,  403 
Bude,  130,  131,  146,  153,  161 
Bueil,  Honorat  de,  see  Racan 
Buffon,  Comte  de,  469-461,  8,  370, 

452,  455,  497 
Bunyan,  John,  63 
Bussy-Rabutin,   205,   286,   289,  340 

(note) 
Byron,  6Z3-524,  498,  505,  515,  520, 

537,  544,  546,  548,  559,  561,  565 

Caillavet  G.  de,  737 

Galas,  464 

Calhsthenes,  38 

Calvin,  164-160,  130,  132,  145,  153, 

165,  193,  195,  200,  203,  204,  263, 

306 
Campistron,  322,  418 
Capus,  Alfred,  737 
Carlyle,  10,  392,  406,  583 
Carmen  de  proditione  Guenonis,  20 
Castelvetro,  174,  228,  248,  249 
Castiglione,   129,   131 
Castro,  Guillen  de,  255 
Catherine  the  Great,  473 
Cdard,  624,  681 
Celestina,  137 
Cent  Nouvelles  nouvelles,  86,  115, 

117,  118 
Cervantes,  5,  50,  229,  247 
Chambers,  371,  451 
Champfleuiy,  613 


Chancel,  322 

ChauQun  de  Guillelme,  27 
Chandler,  F.  W.,  687,  736 
Chanson  d'Antioche,   19 
Chanson  de  Jerusalem,  19 
Chanson  de  Roland,  20-B6,  26,  27 
Chapelain,  22S,   183,  215,  222,  223, 

227,  234,  247,  248,  249,  252,  288,  326 
Chardin,  397,  479 
Charlemagne,  13,  19,  20,  25 
Charles  of  Anjou,  71 
Charles  V,  89,  99 
Charles  d'Orleans,  96-97,  91,  118 
Charles,   Mme  Julie,  530 
Charron,  197,  210,  271 
Chartier,  Alain,  93-96,  81,   91,   166 
Chastiement  d'un  pere  a  son  fils,  81 
Chateaubriand,  607-616,  8,  341,  416, 

493,  497,  503,  505,  517,  618,  521, 

523,  525,  528,  534,  541,  564,  567, 

576,  577,  580,  615,  618,  636,  638, 

640,  641,  674,  719 
Chatelain  de  Coucy,  35 
Chdtelain  de  Coitcy,  51,  53 
Chatelaine  de  Vergy,  51 
Chatelet,  Mme  du,  370,  385,  386,  389 
Chatterton,  447,  562 
Chaucer,  2,  15,  40,  62,  63,  76,  85,  89, 

91,  651 
Chauheu,  445 
Chenedolle,  520 

Chenier,  Andre,  448-460,  6,  444,  447 
Chenier,  M.-J.,  423,  448 
Chesterfield,  Lord,  368 
Chevalier  as  deus  espees,  50 
Chevalier  au  cygne,  19 
Chinard,  G.,  510 
Chrestien,  Florent,  209 
Christine  de  Pisan,  92-93,  63,  91,  98, 

100,  101 
Cicero,  55,  60,  94,  100,  102,  150,  163, 

199,  200 
Clairon,  Mile,  368,  463,  464 
Claudel,  Paul,  737,  706,  720,  725,  726, 

731,  735  (note) 
Col,  Pierre,  101 
Colardeau,  446 

Colin  d'Auxerre,  131,  144,  193 
Colin  Muset,  36 
Colhns,  Anthony,  371 
Commines,    PhiUippe    de,   lSl-124, 

113,  114 


770 


INDEX 


Comte,  Auguste,  646-648,  455,  649, 

653,  654 
Comte  de  Poitiers,  51 
Concilium  Amoris,  54 
Conde,  the  Grand,  220,  234,  331,  349, 

351 
Condillac,  461 
Condorcet,  Marquis  de,  462 
Conon  de  Bethune,  34 
Conrart,  226 
Constant,   Benjamin,   605-608,  497, 

498,  522 
Cop,  Nicolas,  155,  156 
Copernicus,  382 
Coppe,  Francois,  679-698,  605,  669, 

688,  695 
Coquelin,  Constant,  693 
Corbiere,  703 
Cordier,  154 
Comeille,  Pierre,  S61-m$,  165,  194, 

212,  222,  225,  228,  233,  235,  238, 

241,  247,  248,  249,  265,  280,  286, 

299,  314,  315,  316,  321,  322,  339, 

359,  378,  379,  416,  421,  553,  554 
Comeille,  Thomas,  254,  314,  322,  340 

(note),  378,  379 
Cortegiano,  II,  see  Castiglione 
Costanzo,  Angelo  di,  189 
Cotton,  202 
Coulanges,  see  Fustel 
Couperus,  727   (note) 
Courbet,  613 

Couronnement  de  Louis,  26 
Couronnement  de  Renard,  66 
Cousin,    Victor,    678-679,   235,    504, 

505,  521  (note) 
Crebillon   pere,   4S1-42S,   387,   418, 

420,  464 
Crestien  de  Troyes,  43-60,  15,  33, 

42,  51,  52 
Cretin,  133,  134,  137 
Cry  de  la  Basoche,  109 
Curel,  Francois  de,  686-687,  681,  688, 

736 
Cuvier,  460 

Dacier,  Mme,  340 

Dalembert,  453-466,  369,  370,  451, 

452,  464,  473,  476 
Damigeron,  80 
Dancourt,  4^6 
Dangeau,  354 


Daniel,  189 

Daniello,  185 

Dante,  5,  34,  46,  55,  62,  78,  81,  93. 

94,   128,   166.   170,   192,   513,   541, 

588,  680 
Danton,  652 
Dares  Phrygius,  37,  39 
Darwin,  608,  645,  657,  714 
Daudet,  Alphonse,  629-633,  627,  698, 

714 
Daudet,  Leon,  726 
Daunou,  635 
Daurat,  175,  178 
Debat  de  I'hiver  et  de  I'ete,  83 
Deffand,  Mme  du,  366,  368,  369 
Delacroix,  E.,  520,  524,  604 
Delavigne,  Casimir,  524,  554,  559 
Dehlle,  Abbe,  446 
Delorme,  Joseph,  see  Sainte-Beuve 
De  Phyllide  et  Flora,  55 
De  Quincey,  347 
Desaugiers,  528 
Descartes,    863-272,    3,    10,    16,    79, 

103,  163,  228,  307,  308,  310,  335, 

339,  340,  343,  345,  375,  381,  402, 

466,  467,  578,  646,  670 
Deschamps,  Emile,  519,  520 
Deschamps,  see  Eustache 
Desfontaines,  386 
Desjardins,  519 
Desmarets,  see   Saint-Sorlin 
Desmasures,  Louis,  241 
Desmoulins,  Camille,  496 
Desperiers,  Bonaventure,  167,   139 
Desportes,  PMhppe,   176,   184,   188, 

189,  213,  214,  215,  216,  217 
Despreaux,  see  Boileau 
Destouches,  Nericault,  4S6 
Destruction  de  Troie  la  grant,  108 
Destutt  de  Tracy,  see  Tracy 
Dickens,  2,  325,  370,  435,  437,  570, 

581,  632,  651 
Dictys  Cretensis,  37,  39' 
Diderot,  432  (Theories  of),  47S-482 

(Life  and  Works),  369,  370,  371, 

378,  412,  434  (note),  443,  451,  452, 

453,  455,  456,  458,  461,  464,  484, 

490,  555,  576,  646,  716 
Dierx,  L^on,  702  (note),  706 
Dies  Irae,  58 
Diodorus,  194 
Dit  de  la  Rose,  55 


INDEX 


771 


Dit  dou  wax  aniel,  85 

Dobson,  Austin,  36,  552 

Doette,  La  belle,  31 

Dolet,  132,  149,  161,  339 

Donnay,  Maurice,  €87,  736 

Dorat,  445,  446 

Dorval,  Mme,  547 

Doumic,  667 

Dowden,  196,  285,  635 

Dreiser,  727  (note) 

Dreyfus,  624,  664,  671,  676,  719 

Dubois,  Cardinal,  354 

Dubois,  Paul-Frangois,  521 

Du  Bos,  Abbe,  jj08~409 

Du  Camp,  614 

Ducis,  Jean-Frangois,  422,  553.  562 

Duclaux,  Mme,  720,  727 

Duclos,  Charles,  413 

Ducros,  L.,  459 

Dudevant,  Baron,  573,  574 

Dufresny,  435 

Du  gargon  et  de  I'aveicgle,  112 

Du  Marsais,  452 

Dumas  pere,  S59-560  (Plays),  670- 

671   (Life  and  Novels),  519,  520, 

523,   554,   555,   597,   692 
Dumas  fils,  697-600,  426,  601,  602, 

680,  681,  684,  717,  718 
Du  Maurier,  528 
Dupanloup,  652 
Dupin,  Aurore,  see  Sand 
Durante,  62 
Duruy,  Victor,  659,  660 

Ecbasis  captivi,  64 

Eilhart  von  Oberge,  43 

Einhard,  22 

Eleanor  of  Poitou,  33,  39,  51 

Eliot,  George,  645,  648,  649,  714 

Emerson,  2,  9,  202,  203 

Encyclopedic,  La  Grande,  4^1-439, 

463,  473,  474 
Eneas,  Roman  de,  39,  38 
Ennius,  63 

d'Epinay,  Mme,  484 
Erasmus,    128,    132,    142,    148,    149, 

153,  156 
Espinel,  436 
Estaunie,  E.,  730 
Estienne,  Henri,  131,  199,  208 
d'Estissac,  Geoffroy,  146 
Estoire  de  Tristan,  42,  41 


Etienne  de  Fougferes,  82 
Eulalie,  Sainte,  18 
Euripides,  129,  239,  314,  315,  317 
Eustache    Deschamps,    90-91,    36, 

131 
Eustorg  de  Beaulieu,  143 
Everyman,  109 
Eyquem,  Michel,  see  Montaigne 

Fabre,  Ferdinand,  666 

Fabri,  Pierre,  132 

Faguet,   Emile,  716-716,   374,   516 

658,  691 
Farce  de  Mattre  Pathelin,  112 
Farel,  Guillaume,   157 
Fauriel,  497,  554 
Favart,  427 
Fenelon,    367-360,    332,    334,    340 

(note),  346,  409,  492 
Feuillet,  Octave,  669 
Feydeau,  Ernest,  613 
Ficino,  128,  161,  164,  165 
Fielding,  435 
FiUeul,  245 
Firdusi,  643 
Flamenca,  61-6B,  86 
Flaubert,  614-618,  8,  441,  516,  574, 

591,  602,  613,  619,  623,  627,  629, 

630,  668,  675,  716,  717 
Flechier,  335 
Flers,  R.  de,  737 
Fleury,  410,  435 
Floire  et  Blanchefleur,  53 
Florian,  446,  718 
Florian-Parmentier,  732 
Florio,  202  \ 

Folengo,  147 
Folic  Tristan,  43 
Fontaine,  Charles,  143,  139 
Fontanes,  508,  676 
Fontenelle,     343-344     {Digression), 

S78-S8B    (Life   and   Works),   254, 

270,  339,  340,  344,  346,  347,  351, 

368,  367,  368,  370,  373,  391,  416, 

428,  438,  444,  445 
Formey,  452 

Fort,  Paul,  731-738,  702  (note),  708 
Foucher,  Adele  (Mme  Hugo),  535, 

635 
Fouquet,  235,  257,  300 
Fourier,  646 
France,  Anatole,  674-678  (Life  and 


772 


INDEX 


Works),  718  (Criticism),  5,  8,  154, 

203,  634,  656,  664,  668,  695,  719 
Francis  1,   HO,  136,  138,  139,  140, 

156,  165,  166,  239,  558 
Frederick  the  Great,  362,  365,  378, 

385,  386,  387,  389,  471 
Freron,  385,  414,  464 
Froebel,  493 
Froissart,  76-78   (Life  and  Prose), 

91    (Poetry),  121,  206 
Fromentin,  Eugene,  662,  565 
Furetiere,  227,  236,  314 
Fustel  de  Coulanges,  669-680,  401 

Gace  Brul6,  35 

Gaimar,  Geoffrey,  73 

Galiani,  368 

Galileo,  264 

Gambetta,  663,   679 

Garat,  461 

Gamier,  Robert,  W,  238,  243,  245, 

246 
Gamier    de    Pont-Sainte-Maxence, 

73,  15 
Gassendi,  268,  270,  291 
Gautier  d'Arras,  Bl 
Gautier  de  Coincy,  85 
Gautier  de  Metz,  81 
Gautier,   Theophile,   B50-BBS    (Life 

and  Poetry),  572-573  (Prose)  518, 

519,  521,  524,  544,  546,  556,  558, 

602,  605,  609,  611,  615,  627,  629, 

696,  701,  716 
Gawain  (.Sir)  and  the  Green  Knight, 

50 
Gay,  Delphine,  520,  523 
Genlis,  Mme  de,  523 
Geoffrey  Gaimar,  73 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  41,  46 
Geoffrin,  Mme,  366,  368,  369,  379,, 

413,  473 
Gerbert  de  Montreuil,  47,  48,  51 
Gerson,  Jean  le  Charlier,  100-lOt, 

63,98 
Geulincx,  271 
Ghil,  Ren6,  703,  706 
Gibbon,  401 
GUbert,  447 
Gillot,  209,  345 
Giraldi  Cinthip,  246,  247 
Girard  de  RouBsillon,  18,  27 
Giraud,  V.,  717 


Glatigny,  605 

Godeau,  226 

Godejroi  de  Bovillon,  19 

Godefroi  de  Leigni,  46 

Goethe,  5,  66,   152,   190,   299,  480, 

503,  504,  522,  527 
Gombault,  226,  227 
Gomberville,  Marin  Leroy  de,  232 
Goncourt,  the  brothers,  6S7-6S9,  613, 

621,  624,  633,  681,  713,  716,  719 
Goncourt,  E.  de,  630,  633,  730 
Gongora,  222 
Gooch,  G.  P.,  579,  660 
Gottfried  von  Strassburg,  43 
Goujon,  Jean,  131 
Gourmont,  Jean  de,  709 
Gounnont,  Remy  '  de,  725 
Goumay,  MUe  de,  216,  217 
Gracd,  Conte  del,  47 
Graelent,  53 
GraU,  Holy,  47,  48 
Greban,  Amoul,  106 
Greban,  the  brothers,  105 
Greban,  Simon,  107 
Gregh,  Femand,  721 
Greaset,  427,  446 
Greuze,  479 
Grevin,  241,  244 
Grimm,  368,  412,  473,  484,  485 
Grignan,  Mme  de,  269,  288,  289 
Gringoire,  Pierre,  108,  109 
Griseldis,  Estoire  de,  72 
Guarini,  245 
Guazzo,  284 
Guerard,  A.,  662 
Guevara,  435 
Gui  de  Blois,  77 
Gui  de  Mori,  63 
Guido  delle  Colonne,  40,  108 
Guillaume  Alexis,   113 
Guillaume  d'Angleterre,  44 
Guillaume  de  Digulleville,  63 
GuUlaume  de  Dole,  51 
Guillaume  de  Lorris,  66-69,  62,  63 
Guillaume  de   Machaut,  89-90,  36, 

131 
Guiraud,  Alexandre,  519 
Guiron,  53 
Guizot,  579-^80,  364,  505,  521  (note), 

578,  583,  584.  659 
Guttinguer,   Ulrio,   520 
Guyon,  Mme,  334,  357 


INDEX 


773 


Halevy,  595 

Haller,  463 

Hanska,  Mme  de,  586,  587 

Hardy,  Alexandire,  S4S-S48,  207, 
238,  259,  260,  261,  554 

Harrison,  Frederic,  648 

Hauptmann,  G.,  681 

Hegel,  578,  649 

Heinricli  der  Glichez&re,  66 

Hein  van  Aken,  62 

Heine,  120,  504 

Heliodorus,  313 

Helvetius,  C,  461 

Henault,  President,  367,  368,  410 

Hennequin,  Emile,  71S,  717 

Hennique,  624,  681 

Henri  d'Andeli,  83,  84,  102 

Henri  de  Valenciennes,  74-7S 

Heniy  IV,  S18,  389 

Henry  of  Saltrey,  52 

d'Herberay  des  Essarts,  229 

Herder,  657 

Heredia,  Jose-Maria  de,  609-611, 
539,  695,  709,  719 

Herodotus,  208,  393 

Heroet,  164 

Herrick,  188 

Hervieu,  Paul,  684-685, 6, 566, 686, 736 

Historia  regum  Britanniae,  see 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth 

Hoffmann,  522,  528 

d'Holbach,  Baron,  461,  473,  478 

Homer,  5,  94,  137,  158,  178,  181,  314, 
315,  340,  343,  358,  444,  445,  523, 
548,  606 

Horace,  94,  129,  172,  173,  175,  179, 
180,  185,  186,  240,  325,  326,  327, 
347,  461,  641 

Houdar,  see  Lamotte 

d'Houdetot,  Mme,  484,  487 

Housse  partie,  La,  85 

Huet,  340   (note),  342 

Hugh  Capet,  14,  15,  19 

Hugo,  Victor,  634-643  (Life  and 
Poetiy),  654-669  (Plays),  669- 
670  (Novels),  6,  7,  118,  183,  192, 
276,  280,  504,  516,  517,  519,  520, 
521,  522,  523,  524,  525,  544,  545, 
550,  553,  560,  562,  568,  573,  581, 
588,  589,  595,  603,  606,  610,  635, 
636,  638,  679,  688,  692,  693,  698, 
712,  734 


Humboldt,  608 

Hume,  484 

Huon  de  Bordeavx,  29 

Huysmans,  666-666,  619,  624,  706 

Ibsen,  681,  686 

Irving,  Sir  Henry,  680 

Isabella  of  Navarre,  69 

Jacquemard  Gelee,  66 

Jacques  de  Vitry,  85 

Jacques  Millet,  108 

James,  Henry,  8,  439,  593 

James,  William,  722,  723 

Jammes,  Francis,  703,  708,  731 

Jansen,  306,  307,  308 

Jaucourt,  (jhevalier  de,  452,  458 

Jean  Bodel,  see  Bodel 

Jean  de  Meun,  69-62,  56,  58,  63,  92, 

98,  100,  101,  143 
Jean  de  Montreuil,  99-100,  63,  101 
Jean  le  Charlier,  see  Gerson 
Jeanne  of  Champagne,  75 
Jeu  du  Pelerin,  71 
Joanna  of  Flanders,  47 
Jodelle,  171,  174,  175,  176,  178,  183, 

240,  244 
John  of  Garland,  80 
Joinville,  75-76 

Joubert,  Joseph,  676,  334,  498,  508 
Jvujrois,  51 
Jullien,  J.,  681 
Jurieu,    373 

Jusserand,  J.-3.,  184,  651  (note) 
Juvenal,  326 

Kahn,  Gustave,  699,  706,  707 

Kant,  4,  409,  504,  723 

Eean,  Edmund,  554 

Keats,  449 

Kemble,  Charles,  554 

Kempis,  Thomas  k,  211 

Kepler,  264 

Ker,  W.  P,  53 

Kiot,  49 

Knox,  John,  158 

La  Barre,  464 

Labe,  Louise,  169 

Labiche,  Eugene,  595 

La  Bruyere,  S49-S62,  136,  219,  280, 


774 


INDEX 


281,  340  (note),  344,  347,  380,  397, 

435,  592 
La  Calprenede,  S3S,  235,  236,  314, 

326 
La  Chaussee,  431,  432 
Lacordaire,  577 
La  Fare,  446 
La  Fayette,  Mme  de,  S87-Z88,  222, 

235,  276,  283,  284,  289 
La  Fontaine,  SOOSOS,  84,  207,  216, 

276,  279,  293,  313,  314,  324,  340 

(note),  342,  343,  390,  622,  693,  734 
Laforgue,  Jules,  699,  706 
La  Fosse,  322 
La  Harpe,  464 
Led  du  Cor,  53 
Lalanne,  205 
Lamarck,  460,  635 
Lamartine,  B30-B33,   184,   185,   189, 

447,  448,  494,  504,  508,  516,  517, 

518,  519,  521,  523,  524,  525,  528, 

538,  549,  576,  577,  613,  638,  695, 

715 
Lambert,  Mme  de,  366,  367,  379,  395, 

436 
Lamennais,  Abbe  de,  577,  575,  576, 

636,  640 
La  Mettrie,  478 
La  Mothe  le  Vayer,  270 
Lamotte,  Ui-UB,  340,  343,  344,  359, 

408,  409,  416,  428 
Lancaster,  H.  C,  246 
Lancelot   (Prose),  46 
Lancelot,  Claude,  307,  313 
Landor,  W.  S.,  378 
Lang,  Andrew,  54,  96 
Langlois,  80 
La  Noue,  de,  204,  206 
Lanson,  Gustave,  716,  8,  78,  165, 189, 

224,  245,  264,  285,  287,  289,  297, 

371,  431,  531,  711 
La  Peruse,  175,  176 
Laplace,  461 
Larivey,  SJf4-£45 
La    Rochefoucauld,    28S-S85,    276, 

279,  287,  303,  330,  350,  352,  355, 

639 
La  Sale,  Antoine  de,  114 
Lavedan,   Henri,   681,  687,   736, 
Lavisse,  Ernest,  273,  275,  661  (and 

note) 
Lebrun,  445,  446 


Le  Cuvier,  112 

Leconte  de  Lisle,  605-609,  449,  539. 

548,  610,  623,  695,  697,  702,  717 
Lefevre  d'Etaples,  155 
Lefevre,  Jules,  520,  523 
Lefranc,  Abel,  138,  150 
Legenda  Aurea,  98 
Leger,  Vie  de  Saint,  19 
Leibnitz,  375,  385,  460,  477,  646 
Le  Kain,  463 
Lemaire   de  Beiges,  Jean,  13S-1SS, 

40,  132,  137,  173 
Lemaitre,  Jules,  719,  7,  315,  320,  321, 

484,  634,  649,  687,  691,  697,  714, 

715 
Lemercier,  Nepomucene,  553 
Leo  X,  130 

Leo  Hebraeus,  169,  176 
Leonard,  446,  447 
Leroy,  Jean,  209 
Le  Roy,  722,  723 
Leroux,  646 
Lesage,    42S-426    (Plays),    43^^-438 

(Life  and  Fiction),  424,  440,  443 
Lespinasse,  Julie  de,  S69,  366,  452, 

473,  476,  500 
Leasing,  85,  409,  504 
Letoumeur,  371 
Lewes,  G.  H,  648 
Lewis  "  Monk  "  589 
Lillo,  432 
Littre,  646,  648 

Livy,  81,  94,  98,  115,  377,  400,  650 
Locke,  John,  370,  371,  384,  403,  453, 

454,  461,  465,  466,  467 
Longfellow,  97 
Longpierre,  322 
Longueville,  Duchess  of,   220,  222, 

578 
Lope  de  Vega,  247,  262 
Lorenzino,  244 

Loti,  Pierre,  673-674,  516,  665,  713 
Louis  XIV,  g7S-g8g,  219,  223,  253, 

254,  257,  269,  290,  291,  294,  295, 

299,  300,  301,  312,  315,  316,  319, 

320,  324,  325,  330,  332,  335,  341, 

347,  348,  351,  355,  392,  635 
Louis  XV,  453 
Lucan,  37,  94,  115 
Lucian,  326,  378 
Lucretius,  200,  270,   292,   450,  476, 

478 


INDEX 


775 


Luther,  146,  154,  211 
Luynes,  Due  de,  265 
Lyly,  222 

Mabinogion,  50 

Machaut,  Guillaume  de,  89-90,  36, 

131 
Machiavelli,  123,  386 
Mackenzie,.  Compton,  727  (note) 
Macpherson,  372,  446,  502,  523 
Maeterlinck,  Maurice,  688-691,  698, 

703,  736 
Maffei,  419 

Magny,  Olivier  de,  175,  188 
Mahieu  le  Poriier,  63 
Maindron,  Maurice,  730 
Maintenon,  Mme  de,  289-S90,  236, 

274,  319,  320,  354,  357 
Mairet,  232,  248,  252,  260 
Maistre,  Joseph  de,  S76-677,  662 
Maistre,  Xavier  de,  577 
Malebranche,  Z70-S72,  397 
Malesherbes,  508 
Maleville,  226 
Malfilatre,  447 
Malherbe,    SlS-Sl?,    173,    176,    188, 

189,   191,  207,  208,  211,  212,  218, 

222,  225,  227,  228,  235,  248,  261, 

327,  329,  330,  342,  359 
MaUarme,   704-706,   699,   702,   703, 

708 
MaUet,  452,  458 
Malory,  Sir  Thomas,  41,  49 
Manessier,  47,  48 
Manteau  mal  taille,  53 
Manzoni,  522,  554 
Map,  Walter,  49 
Marais,  412,  413 
Marbode,  81 
Marguerite    d'Angouleme,    165-166, 

132, 137, 139,  143,  153,  160, 164, 167 
Margueritte,  Paul,  667-668,  665 
Margueritte,  Victor,  667 
Marie  of  Champagne,  33,  43,  44,  45 
Marie  de  France,  6S-6S,  15,  64 
Marinetti,  721,  731 
Marino,  220,  222 
Mari  qui  fist  sa  jemme  confesse, 

84 
Marivaux,  4S7-4S9  (Plays),  438-UO 

(Novels),  255,  365,  367,  368,  426, 

434    (note),   443,   560 


Marmontel,  368,  406,  413,  452,  458, 

464,  497 
Marot,  Clement,  1S6-W,  63,  94, 107, 

132,   134,  143,  144,  148,  153,   172, 

179,  188,  216,  302 
Marot,  Jean,  136 
Martial,  142 
Martin,  Henri,  660 
Marullus,  181 
Massenet,  85 

Matthews,  Brander,  434  (note) 
Maturin,  Charles,  589 
Maupassant,  Guy  de,  619-62S,  6,  542, 

614,  623,  624,  718 
Maupertuis,  370,  387,  478 
Maurras,  Charles,  726 
Maynard,  Francois,  215,  216 
Maynial,  620 
Meigret,  Louis,  163 
Meilhac,  595 
Melanchthon,  158 
Menage,  223,  227,  287,  288,  296,  340 

(note) 
Mendes,  Catulle,  605,  688,  693,  707, 

708 
Mendoza,  293 
Menippee,  Satire,  Zfft-ZlO 
Mercier,  Sebastien,  423,  553 
Mere,  ChevaUer  de,  286 
Merimee,    Prosper,    667-668    (His- 
torical    Novel),     671-572   (Tales 

and  Fantasies),  519,  524 
Merrill,   Stuart,  707-708,   699,   706, 

735  (note) 
Metenier,  681 
Michaut,  G.,  639 
Michel  (de  Bourges),  575 
Michel,  Jean,  107 
Michelangelo,  727 
Michelet,  Jules,  581-58S,  3,  567,  580, 

646,  657,  660 
Mieulx  que  devant,  112 
Mignet,  584,  583 
Mill,  J.  S.,  645,  646,  647,  648 
Millet,  Jacques,  108 
MUton,  2,  183,  191,  192,  312,  328, 

502,  513 
Mintumo,  175 
Mirabeau,  Gabriel,  Marquis  de,  497, 

515 
Miracles  de  Notre  Dame,  Qvaranle, 

70 


776 


INDEX 


Mirbeau,  Octave,  684,  667,  683 

Mistral,  Frederic,  609  (note),  630 

Modus,  Le  roi  Modus  et  la  reine 
Racio,  88 

Moliere,  291-300,  9,  84,  113,  145,  154, 
216,  223,  228,  234,  235,  236,  239, 
244,  245,  253,  259,  269,  270,  276, 
277,  279,  280,  282,  285,  301,  312, 
314,  315,  317,  324,  326,  328,  330, 
340,  342,  351,  359,  424,  425,  427, 
438,  490  (note),  596,  680 

Molinet,  Jean,  63,  134 

Monde  et  Abuz,  112 

Mondory,  251,  252 

Monluc,  137,  204,  206 

Monod,  582,  583 

Montaigne,  19S-W3,  3,  4,  9,  128,  130, 
137,  154,  163,  187,  193,  194,  204, 
207,  210,  217,  224,  232,  245,  263, 
270,  271,  284,  308,  311,  350,  377, 
397,  484,  630 

Montalembert,  577 

Montausier,  Marquis  de,  222 

Montchretien,  $43 

Montemayor,  229 

Montespan,  Mme  de,  274,  290 

Montesquieu,  395-405,  334,  347,  354, 
364,  367,  368,  370,  371,  378,  391, 
408,  409,  410,  416,  446,  452,  457, 
464,  472,  491,  501,  502,  579,  658, 
659,  660,  716 

Montesquieu,  Comte  Robert  de,  706 

Moore,  Edward,  432 

Moore,  George,  593 

More,  Sir  Thomas,  153 

Moreas,  Jean,  699,  706 

MoreUet,  452,  464 

Moreri,  374 

MoriUot,  191 

Morley,  John,  Viscount,  407,  453, 
469 

Momy,  Due  de,  630,  631 

Muret,  Mare-Antoine  de,  175,  196, 
241 

Musset,  Alfred  de,  544-547  (Poetry), 
660-56S  (Plays),  4,  6,  7,  429,  494, 
519,  520,  522,  523,  524,  538,  550, 
555,  565,  574,  638,  649,  680,  691, 
698 

Myst^re  de  Saint  Crispin  et  Samt 
Crispian,  104 

Mysthre  de  Saint  Louis,  104,  110 


Napoleon  I,  496,  497,  498,  503,  508. 

515,  517,  519,  521,  528,  529,  535, 

538,  553,  565,  570,  584,  589,  651, 

652 
Napoleon   III,   530,   535,  538,  584, 

612,  659 
Narbonne,  498 
Navagero,  187 
Necker,  496,  497 
Nerval,  Gerard  de,  520,  522 
Nevelet,  302 

Newton,  370,  384,  385,  454,  456,  465 
Nicole  de  Margival,  63 
Nicole,  Pierre,  294,  307,  313 
Niebuhr,  657 

Nietzsche,  280,  476,  686,  716 
Ninon  de  Lenclos,  235,  270,  324 
Nisard,  634-SS5,  330 
Nivard,  64 

Noailles,  Comtesse  Mathieu  de,  731 
Nodier,  Charles,  6S7-6SS,  504,  520, 

522,  524,  572 
North,  Lord,  194 
Norton,  Miss,  202 

Ogier,  247 

Oresme,  Nicolas,  99,  88,  98,  102,  239 

Orjeo,  Sir,  53 

Orosius,  115 

Osdan,  see   Macpherson 

Ovid,  33,  37,  39,  44,  45,  46,  52,  55, 

59,  60,  61,  82,  132,  134,  142,  172, 

180,  184,  216,  445 

Pailleron,  Edouard,  680,  429 

PaUssot,  427 

Paris,  Gaston,  711,  1,  3,  24,  41,  43, 
78,  112,  718 

Pamasse  Contemporain,  Le,  605, 
606 

Pamy,  447-448 

Partenopeus  de  Bids,  50,  51 

Pascal  S06-S1S,  3,  8,  153,  159,  200, 
201,  203,  210,  223,  228,  263,  269, 
277,  279,  280,  281,  282,  286,  325, 
330,  339,  350,  407,  457,  466,  475, 
513,  725 

Pasquier,  Etienne,  94,  175,  198,  208 

Passerat,  209 

Passion  (Mystere  de  la),  105-107 

Passion  (poem  on),  19 

Patin,  270 


INDEX 


777 


Patru,  227 

Paulet,  Mile,  223 

Payne,  John,  121 

Peguy,  Charles,  7S2,  720,  725,  727, 
731,  735  (note) 

Pelerinage  de  Charlemagne,  id-SB 

Peletier,  Jacques,  163,  174,  175,  176, 
178,  185 

Pellisson,  253 

Perceval,  47,  48 

Perceval  (.Prose),  49 

Percyvelle,  Sir,   (Middle  English), 
49 

Perefixe,  287 

Perlesvaus,  49 

Perrault,  the  brothers,  S41 

Perrault,  Charles,  S4I-342,  344-346, 
325,  339,  340,  343,  348 

Perrault,  Claude,  328 

Perrin  d'Angecourt,  71 

Pestalozzi,  493 

Petrarch,  62,  76,  83,  88,  89,  102,  128, 
138,  175,  179,  181,  184,  185,  187, 
380,  381,  531 
Petrus  Alphonsus,  82,  85 
Phaedrus,  64,  302 
Philip  of  Flanders,  43,  47 

PhUippa,  Queen,  76 
Philippe  de  Beaumanoir,  36 
Philippe  de  Novaire,  82 
Philippe  de  Thaon,  80,  81 
Phygiologtis,  79,  80 
Pierre  Berguire,  98-99,  88 
Pierre  Col,  101 
Pierre  d'Ailly,  100 
Pierre  de  Beauvais,  73 
Pierre  de  Saint-Cloud,  66 
Pindar,  179,  181,  314,  446 
Piron,  424,  427,  445 
Pithou,  209 

Pixerecourt,   553,   554,   559,   589 
Plato,  60,  102,  128,  129,  132,  153,  159, 
160,  161,  163,  164,  172,  175,  176, 
185,  191,  199,  397,  466,  487,  489, 

576,  578,  616,  704 
Plautus,  244,  246,  291,  296,  299 
Plutarch,  194,  195,  198,  377,  492 
Poe,  Edgar  Allan,  602,  603,  702,  705 
Po&me  Moral,  82 
Poggio,  118 
Politian,  153 
Pomairola,  C.  de,  725 


Pompadour,  Mme  de,  366,  386,  451 
Pompignan,  Lefranc  de,  389,  446, 

464 
Pons,  Abb6  de,  340  (note) 
Ponsard,  595,  596 
Pope,  Alexander,  278,  326,  330,  371, 

384,  385,  465,  468,  641 
Poquelin,  see  Moliere 
Porto-Riche,   Georges   de,   685-680. 

681,  688 
Pradon,  318,  322,  340  (note) 
Prescott,  William,  504 
Prevost,  Abbe,  4^-4j^,  84,  371,  413, 

443 
Prevost,  Marcel,  672 
Prevost-Paradol,  648 
Propertius,  180 
Prophetes  du  Christ,  68 
Proudhon,  575,  636,  646 
Proust,  Marcel,  7i27  (note) 
Prudentius,  55,  83 
Prudhomme,  Sully,  see  Sully  Prud- 

homme 
Pseudo-Turpin,  20,  73 
Pushkin,  670 

Quern  quaeritis,  68 

Quesnay,  456 

Quinault,  314,  315,  322 

Quinet,  Edgar,  657-658 

Quintilian,  129,  163,  172 

Quinze  joyes  de  mariage,  117,  118 

Rabelais,  I49-I64,  8,  62,  103,  127, 
130,  132,  133,  143,  150,  158,  162, 
165,  167,  195,  203,  209,  210,  291, 
339,  474,  482,  492,  585,  587,  677, 
726 

Bacan,  Honorat  de  Bueil,  Marquis 
de,  215,  216,  235 

Racine,  Jean,  S1Z-SS3,  1,  6,  7,  145, 
194,  213,  218,  236,  239,  242,  249, 
253,  254,  260,  262,  276,  277,  279, 
280,  281,  286,  290,  301,  306,  307, 
324,  326,  340,  341,  342,  359,  379, 
400,  415,  416,  417,  420,  421,  422, 
427,  428,  444,  445,  448,  449,  513, 
518,  533,  553,  562,  609,  684,   719 

Rambaud,  661   (note) 

Rambouillet,  Catherine  de  Vivonne, 
Marquise  de,  2S1,  130,  222,  224, 
225,  226,  231,  248 


778 


INDEX 


Rameau,  480 

Bamee,  Pierre  de  la,  see  Ramus 

Ramus,  132,  161,  263 

Eaoxd  de  Cambrai,  ZI-i8 

Raoul  de  Houdenc,  60,  55 

Rapin,  Nicolas,  209,  216 

Rapin,  le  Pere,  287,  340  (note) 

Recamier,  Mme,  497,  509,  636 

Regnard,  M-i^,  426 

Regnier,  Hem-i  de,  708-710,  7,  699, 

706,  730 
Regnier,   Mathurin,  116,   207,  217, 

546 
Re  jane,  Mme,  680 
Renan,  Ernest,  e6S-S66,  6,  627,  649, 

659,  672,  675,  676,  716,  718,  719 
Renan,  Henriette,  652,  653 
Benard,  Roman  de,  see  Roman  de 

Benard 
Renard  le  Contrejait,  66 
Renaud  de  Beaujeu,  50 
Renclus  (Bartbelemy)  de  MoUiens, 

82 
Rene  of  Anjou,  89,  114 
Renee,  Duchess  of  Ferrara,  139,  157 
Renouvier,  722 
Retz,  Cardinal  de,  ZSB-ZSe,  220,  283, 

353,  411,  580 
Richard  de  Foumival,  81 
Richardson,  Samuel,  233,  371,  439, 

440,  479,  481,  487 
Richelieu,   130,  219,  220,  222,  225, 

228,  247,  248,  252,  273,  284,  285, 

378 
Richepin,  688 
Richeut,  84 

Rigaud  de  Barb6zieux,  33 
Rimbaud,  Arthur,  70S,  699,  700,  706 
Rivarol,  6,  717 
Robert  de  Blois,  82 
Robert  de  Boron,  48,  49 
Robert  de  Clari,  7^-75 
Robespierre,  449,  493,  652 
Rocca,  Delia,  706 
Rod,  Edouard,.  566,  669,  672 
Rodenbaoh,  699,  703,  704 
Rohan,  Chevalier  de,  384 
Roj as,  Francisco  de,  262 
Roland,  Chanson  de,  see  Chanson 

de  Roltznd 
Roland,  Mme,  194,  493 
RoUand,  Romain.  7S6-730,  720,  732 


Romains,  Jules,  721,  731 

Roman  de  Renard,  63-67,  693 

Roman  de  la  Rose,  66-63,  18,  55,  76, 
98,  101,  117,  131,  137 

Roman  des  sept  sages,  85 

Romulvg,  52,  64 

Ronsard,  Pierre  de,  179-183,  6,  40, 
134,  135,  136,  142,  144,  171,  173, 
175,  176,  177,  178,  184,  185,  187, 
188,  189,  190,  191,  193,  203,  208, 
212,  213,  215,  217,  218,  227,  247, 
277,  389,  449,  519,  609 

Rosny,  J.-H.,  665,  668,  681 

Rossetti,  D.  G.,  120 

Rossini,  429 

Rostand,  Edmond,  691-694,  232,  237, 
270,  291,  539,  688,  706 

Rotrou,  261-262,  222,  248,  314,  322 

Roucher,  446 
-Rouget  de  I'lsle,  448  (note) 

Rousseau,  J.-B.,  386 

Rousseau,  Jean-Jacques,  483-494, 
194,  199,  201,  278,  298,  359,  370, 
371,  378,  386,  388,  407,  411,  412, 
434  (note),  440,  443,  446,  452,  463, 
472,  473,  474,  495,  497,  500,  507, 
510,  511,  521,  530,  531,  564,  565, 
574,  658,  714,  719 

Royer-CoUard,  517 

Rutebeuf,  69-70,  66 

Ryer,  Pierre  du,  261-262,  232,  248 

Sable,  Mme  de,  223,  269,  283,  284, 
307,  578 

Sabli^re,  Marquise  de  la,  301,  305 

Sacchetti,  167 

Sagon,  FranQois  de,  139 

Saint-C3yran,  Jean  de  Hauranne, 
Abbe  de,  306,  308 

Sainte-Beuve,  636-644,  66,  180,  184, 
188,  191,  203,  283,  286,  321,  325, 
341,  377,  448,  498,  499,  505,  519, 
520,  521,  522,  527,  532,  535,  537, 
544,  545,  547,  564,  576,  580,  582, 
613,  627,  634,  645,  649,  651,  698, 
712,  715,  719 

Saint-Evremond,  286,  270,  316,  340 
(note),  346,  383 

Saint-Gelais,  Mellin  de,  I44,  139, 
143,  180,  185 

Saint-Gelais,  Octovien  de,  132 

Sainte-Hilaire,  GeoSroy  de,  460 


INDEX 


779 


Saint-Lambert,  386,  446 
Sainte-Marthe,  Charles  de,  143 
Saint-Pierre,  Abbe  de,  jfO9-410 
Saint-Pierre,  Bemardin  de,  494r-49S 
Saint-Simon,  Louis,  Due   de,  353- 

SB6,  276,  276,  288,  349,  357,  364, 

408,  410,  411,  515 
Saint-Simon,  Henri  de,  580,  636,  640, 

645,  647,  653 

Saint-Sorlin,  Desmarets  de,  233,  248, 

340,  341 
Sainfc-Vahy,  619 
Saintsbuiy,  George,  39,  58,  117,  143, 

312 
Sales,  Saint  FranQois  de,  Sll,  207, 

212,  230,  232,  288,  332  * 
Salluste,  GuiUaume  de,  ^e  Bartas 
Samain,  703,  704,  708      ^ 
Sand,  George,  673-S75,  501,  616,  519, 

544,  561,  565,  571,  613,  614,  638, 

646,  669 
Sandeau,  Jules,  574 
Sannazzaro,  135,  144,  172,  229,  246 
Sarcey,  Francisque,  717-718,  648 
Sardou,  Viotorien,  679-680,  681,  688, 

718 
Sarrasin,  226 
Scaliger,  176,  249 
Scarron,  235,  236,  290,  292,  326,  381, 

573 
Sceve,  Maurice,  167-168,  176 
Schelandre,  247 

Scherer,  482,  634   (and  note),  645 
Schiller,  498,  504,  505,  522 
Schlegel,  A.  W.,  504,  554 
Schopenhauer,  608 
Schure,  E.,  725 
Scott,  Sir  Walter,  5S4,  498,  499,  520, 

525,  567,  568,  570,  580,  587,  588 
Scribe,  Eugene,  595,  601,  679,  680, 

718 
Scudery,  George   de,  SSi-SSB,  222, 

232,  248,  252,  255 
Scudery,  MUe  de,  ZSi.-S36,  221,  223, 

236,  326,  380 
Sebillet,  169,  171,  239 
Sebond,  Eaymond  de,  196 
Sedaine,  427 
Segrais,  287,  340  (note) 
Seilliere,  725 
Senancour,  522,  564 
Seneca,  94,  95,   129,   155,   168,   171, 


176,  198,  259,  314,  381 
Serafino  dall'Aquilla,  139,  168 
\  Serments  de  Strasbourg,  14 
\Servetus,  158 

iSevigne,  Mme  de,  S88-S89,  222,  254, 
\  269,  270,  274,  283,  287,  290,  301, 

316 
Shaftesbury,  371,  397,  466,  475 
Shakespeare,  1,  2,  5,  35,  46,  61,  71, 

106,  108,  129,  194,  202,  240,  247, 

317,  321,  371,  384,  385,  415,  417, 

418,  422,  466,  502,  606,  522,  523, 

554,  655,  559,  560,  662,  570,  692, 

661,  655,  688,  726 
Shaw,  Bernard,  298,  553 
Shelley,  3,  533,  651 
Sheridan,  429 
Siege  d'Orleans,  108 
Silvester,  191 
Simon,  Richard,  332 
Sismondi,  622 
Smithson,  Miss,  654 
Socrates,  163.  199,  699,  700 
ISbderhj61m,  117 
Solinus,  79 
Somaize,  223 
Songe  du  Vergier,  88 
Sophocles,  129,  239,  262 
Sorel,  Albert,  660 
Sorel,  Charles,  236,  236 
Soulie,  F.,  522 

Soumet,  Alexandre,  519,  520,  654 
Spencer,  Herbert,  645,  714,  717,  722 
Spenser,  Edmund,  164 
Speroni,  Sperone,  172 
Spinoza,  271,  658 
Sponsus,  68 
Stael,  Mme  de,  487-S05,  372,  403, 

496,  507,  513,  521,  523,  554,  564, 

678,  634 
Statius,  37,  94 
Stendhal,  666-666,  506,  519,  564,  567, 

574,  625,  649,  716,  717 
Sterne,  154,  371,  480 
Stevenson,  R.  L.,  118 
Sturel,  193 
Suares,  A.,  732 
Sudre,  64 

Sue,  Eugtee,  671,  589 
Suetonius,  115,  204,  316 
Sully  Prudhomme,  696-697,  605 
Sulzer,  458 


780 


INDEX 


Swedenborg,  587 

Swift,  Jonathan,  154,  384,  397,  677 

Swinburne,  543,  702 

Symonds,  J.  A.,  129 

Tacitus,  316,  393,  400 

Taiile,  Jacques  de  la,  242 

Taille,  Jean  de  la,  174,  241,  244 

Taillefer,  20 

Taine,  648-662,  275,  305,  363,  364, 

366,  547,  566,  623,  627,  634,  641, 

643,  659,  671,  712,  714,  716,  717. 

719 
Tallemant  des  Reaux,  221,  234 
Talleyrand,  365,  498,  530 
Talma,  553 
TansiUo,  189,  213 
Taaso,  183,  189,  237,  245,  328 
Tassoni,  326,  341 
Tebaldeo,  139,  168,  189 
Tencin,  Mme  de,  S67-S68,  366,  395, 

452 
Tennyson,  41,  44,  49,  547 
Terence,  244,  291,  293,  300 
Thebes,  Roman  de,  S8-S9,  51 
Theocritus,  172,  177,  181,  445,  576, 

606 
Theuriet,  Andre,  669 
Theophrastus,  350  (note) 
Thibault,  Jacques-Anatole, 

see  France,  Anatole 
Thibaut  de  Blois,  51 
Thibaut  de  Navarre,  35 
Thierry,  Am6d6e,  580 
Thierry,  Augustin,  680-581,  514,  525, 

567,  583 
Thiers,  68S-584,  612,  659,  663 
Thomas,  43,  43 
Thomas  Aquinas,  St.,  80,  100 
Thomson,  James,  371,  446 
TibuUus,  445 
Ticknor,  504 
Tinayre,  Mme,  730 
Tiraqueau,  127,  146 
Tocqueville,  Count  Alexis  de,  658- 

659,  660 
Toland,  371 

Tolstoy,  570,  670,  681,  726,  727,  729 
Tombeor  Nostre  Dame,  85 
Tory,  Geoffroy,  138,  153 
Tracy,  Destutt  de,  461,  565  (note), 

635 


Trissino,  144,  239 

Tristan  I'Ermite,  313 

Tristan,  Estoire  de,  Jfi,  41 

Tristan,  Folie,  43 

Tristan  (Prose),  43 

Tristrem,  Sir,  43 

Troie,  Roman  de,  39-40,  38 

Turgenev,  630,  653,  716 

Turgot,  452,  456,  496 

Tumebe,  Odet  de,  244 

Turoldus,  22 

Turpin,  Psevdo-,  see  Pseudo-Turpin 

Tyard,  Pontus  de.  169,  175,  176 

Tycho  Brahe,  264 

Tydorel,  53 

Tyolet,  53 

dlJrfg,  Honors,  SS9-g3e 

Vair,  Du,  207,  210,  211,  232 

Valla,  Lorenzo,  135 

Valleran,  Lecomte,  238,  245 

Valliere,  MUe  de  la,  331 

Valois,  Margaret  of,  180,  204 

Van  Dale,  381 

Varro,  209 

Vatable,  140 

Vaugelaa,  227,  228,  277 

Vaumoriere,  233  (note) 

Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye.  174 

Vauvenarguea,  406-407 

Verdi,  558 

Verdier,  Du,  184 

Vergil,  37,  40,  46,  94,  128,  134,  142, 

158,  171,  172,  177,  180,  181,  183, 

185,  190,  200,  201.  315,  358,  380, 

513 
Verhaeren,  Emile,  732-735,  699,  706, 

708,  720,  721,  731 
Verlaine,   Paul,   699-70S,   605,   695, 

703,  704,  705,  719,  731 
Veuillot,  Louis,  661-eeS,  577,  658 
Viau,  Theophile  de,  216,  217,  218, 

313 
Viaud,  Julien,  see  Loti,  Pierre 
Vico,  581 
Vida,  172,  175 

Vie  de  Saint  Alexis,  see  Alexis 
Vie  de  Saint  Martin,  105,  108 
Viele-Griffin,  Francis,  707-708,  699, 

704,  706,  735  (note) 
Viennet,  183 


INDEX 


781 


Vigny,  Alfred  de,  547-550  (Life 
and  Poetry),  562  (Drama),  567 
(Novel),  6,  7,  519,  520,  523,  524, 
525,  533,  539,  544,  554,  555,  565, 
638.  695,  698,  716 

Vilain  Mire,  84 

Villehardouin,  73-74,  75,  121 

Villemain,  678,  505,  521  (note),  634, 
642 

Villiers  de  I'lsle-Adam,  573 

Villon,  Frangois,  118-lSl,  6,  69,  89, 
96,  110,  114,  137,  138,  153,  217,  711 

Vincent  de  Beauvais,  98 

Vinci,  Leonardo  da,  131 

Vinet,  335 

Vitry,  Philippe  de,  121 

Vivonne,  Catherine  de,  see  Ram- 
bouillet 

Vogue,  Melchior  de,  670,  656,  669 

Voiture.  Vincent.  8SS-226,  218,  222, 
234,  268,  332,  3^ 

Volney,  461 

Voltaire,  S8S-S94  (Literature  and 
Life),  4I6-42I  ((I!riticism  and 
Drama),  463-472  (Polemics  and 
Philosophy),  3,  62,  183,  203,  251, 
272,  273,  293,  316,  335,  355,  362, 
365,  367,  368,  369,  370,  371,  373, 
377,  378,  380,  382,  395,  398,  405, 
406,  412,  414,  422,  427,  428,  429, 
431,  432,  434  (note),  436,  437,  438, 
440,  444,  445.  446,  451,  452,  453. 


454,  456,  457,  458,  461,  498,  513, 
523,  534,  553,  644,  646,  654,  675, 
678,  715,  716 
Vrai  amiel,  see  Dit  dou  vrai  ardel 

Wace,  15,  20,  39,  41,  73 

Wagner,  Richard,  699,  726,  727 

Walpole,  Horace,  368,  369 

Warens,  Mme  de,  483,  486,  487 

Wauohier  de  Denain,  47,  48 

Wassermann,  727  (note) 

Watteau,  365,  427,  700 

Wells,  B.  W.,  666 

Whitman,  Walt,  731,  735  (and  note) 

Wilde,  Oscar,  666 

Willem     (author     of     the     Dutch 

Reinaert),  66 
William  IX  of  Poitou,  33 
Wolfram  von  EsChenbach,  49 
Wordsworth,  2,  637,  643,  698 
Wright,  C.  H.  C,  281,  317 
Wyatt,  144 

Young,  Edward,  371,  446,  447 

Ysengrirmis,  64 

Ysopet  de  Lyon,  etc.,  64 

Zamacois,  693 

Zola,  Emile,  683-627,  566,  613,  619, 

628,  632,  664,  665,  667,  668,  670, 

681,  718