Memoires d'Outre - tombs. Par Chateaubriand, et notis par E.
Bir6. Vols. (Gamier, Paris.)—For some years Chateau- briand has suffered a passing eclipse. The young writers of France have been moved to discredit him, on the ground that he bestowed too much pains upon his magnificent style. For to the anarchists of literature style is only worth acquisition that it may with the greater effrontery be laid aside. But a changing fashion does not affect eternal masterpieces, and it is a proof of returning sanity that M. Sire's new edition of the Mentoires d'Outre-tombe is even now in act of publication. So for the first time has this monumental work been placed within the reach of limited purses; for the first time it has been presented in such a practical shape as the author himself would have wished for it. Books have their fates, and no book ever found so unlucky a destiny as these famous Mentaires. Chateaubriand was determined that they should not see the light until after his death ; he was also determined that they should never be clipped and mutilated in the columns of a journal. He braved poverty, that his ambition should not be frustrated ; and when in 1836 a small company, pledged to respect his wishes, was formed for the instant purchase and ultimate publication of the famous Memoires, it seemed that for once speculation would achieve a beneficent purpose. Thus literature was made the sport of the Stock Exchange, but it must be remembered that in 1836 also the world was submerged beneath a wave of gambling. The worst is that the shareholders, in Chateaubriand'a case, did not remain wholly loyal to their bargain. It is true that they adhered to their promise not to publish during the author's lifetime; but the greed of gold persuaded them to sell what we should call the serial rights to M. Girardin, of La Presse, and Chateaubriand died in the fall knowledge that his work would presently be cut up into snippets,
and that his protest was of no avail. The result was that when at last the Mimoires appeared in a dignified shape, their effect was discounted, and they were greeted with a chorus of political rancour. Long ago, however, they recovered their true position, and to-day they are universally recognised as an invaluable history of a most dramatic perisid. Of their eloquence, their romance, their poetry, it is too late to speak. But it may be confidently asserted that M Bire has accomplished his task as editor with tact and knowledge, and that his edition of a great book is at once the best arranged and most practical to be found,
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