• • COE,RESPONDENCE.

SOME MODERN FRENCH BOOKS.

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]

SIB,—Once more you will allow me to begin my occasional letter with Madame de Dino's now famous Chronique, which loses nothing in fascination by the appearance of the fourth and last volume (Plon-Nourrit, 7 fr. 50c.) With a constant charm and brilliancy, with perceptions as keenly critical as ever, but with a deepening seriousness as time passes on and health fails, the Duchess leads us through the years which then seemed so fateful in the history of France and of Europe, from 1851 to 1862. For English readers some of her most interesting pages will be those which throw an unfamiliar light on the secret diplomatic history of the Crimean War, bringing into high relief the personal traits of various European rulers. Madame de Dino was a spectator, mostly from a distance, of all the early developments of that curious adventure, the Second Empire. Her life was spent chiefly in Prussia, in her principality of Sagan, but yearly visits to Paris, to Rochecotte, and to Nice kept her in touch with the country—Talleyrand's country—which held her heart to the last.

Among recent books dealing with French history, M. Louis Batiffol's Louis XIII. a Vingt Ana (Calmann-Levy, 7 fr. 50 c.) must be mentioned with special admiration. The writer's powers of research and of giving a marvellously clear and detailed insight into the times he has studied so well dis- tinguish him even among French historians of his kind, and

that is saying much, for they are a careful and brilliant band of workers. According to M. Batiffol, Louis XIIL at twenty was a young man of considerable independent character and strength of will. He had not yet come under the dominating influence of Richelieu. Another King, another Minister, are studied in the Marquis de Segur's new book, Au Couchant de la Monarchie (Calmann-Levy, 7 fr. 50 c.), in which we have an excellent account of the character and career of Turgot and of his relations with Louis XVI. It is a pathetic story of the failure of the best intentions with which King or Minister ever began the enormous task of reforming a nation. They were bound to fail; the odds against them were too great, and the burdens too heavy to be borne. Besides all that, neither of them was the right man in the right place. Louis of course lacked the genius and the strength which might possibly have given France new birth without revolution. Targot was too doctrinaire in his reforms, and did not understand or allow for human weak- nesses. M. de Segur's picture of the society and politics of the time is vivid and thoroughly interesting.

Another attractive book which touches pre-Revolutionary history is Versailles Royal, by M. Juste Fennebresque (Champion, 6 fr.) The author studies the great palace and its surroundings from what he calls a "utilitarian" point of view, giving in fact the serious side of that old Court life, the practical science which managed its gardens, parks, artificial waters, touching also on the vast Royal charities of which Versailles was long the centre, and specially describing the short, beneficent reign of Madame Elisabeth over her little domain of Montreal', suddenly cut short in 1789. With regard to the Revolution itself,' the Spectator has not yet noticed the first volume of a very valuable book which appeared some months ago, and of which the next volume, as I write, is still delayed. Readers of M. de la Gorce's history of the Second Empire will gladly welcome Histoire Religieuse de la Revolution Francaise (Plon-Nourrit, 7 fr. 50 e.) The story is brilliantly told, and with the fairness and moderation resulting from a thorough study of documents. There may be a rather comforting moral to be drawn from such a picture of what was done and suffered in France little more than a century ago. Certainly these times, if bad, are better than those. As to later history, the distinguished Belgian writer, M. Paul Hymans, has lately published the second volume of his political Life of M. Frere-Orban (Lebegue, Bruxelles, 7 fr. 50 c.), the Belgian Minister who carried on a long though intermittent diplomatic struggle with Napoleon III. for the independence of his country. The book is written in an excellent, spirited style, and should interest every one who cares to know his way about the background of European politics between 1848 and 1870.

To turn to more purely literary subjects, M. Jules Lemaitre's Conferences are always worth reading. His latest subject is Fenelon (Fayard, 3 fr. 50 c.), a study of whom attracted him, it seems, by rousing his curiosity, for he per- ceived that the Archbishop of Cambray belonged to the spiritual dynasty of Rousseau and Chateaubriand—a discovery which might lead to mistaken conclusions—and was there- fore one of the most remarkable, puzzling, and complicated of Frenchmen. And it is a singular fact, considering M. Lemaitre's own character as a clear-sighted, original critic, that at the end of his lectures he knows—and confesses it—very little more about Fenelon than he did at the beginning.

The admirers, "fit though few," of a writer who has some claim to stand among French classics kept the centenary of his birth in August, 1910. In Maurice de Guerin (Champion, 5 fr.) M. Lefranc has brought together from published and unpublished materials all that is known of a distinguished, pathetic figure, whose death at twenty-nine cut short the promise of a. brilliant career. There was a time when the names of Maurice and Eugenie de G uerin were very familiar both in France and England. If now, as I am told, the world is forgetting them, such a book as this ought to revive their memory.

M. de Wyzewa, who translated from the Danish M. Joergen- sen's Saint-Francois d' Assise, has now given us the enchanting little book in which M. Joergeusen recorded his solitary pilgrimage to the convents and shrines of the saint in " Franciscan Italy." Pelerinages Franciscains (Perrin, 3 fr. 50c.) is an exquisite piece of work. It may well be enjoyed for its high artistic value even by those whom the writer's religions aspirations leave cold. In a different world, one of more purely romantic fancy, which yet, as its author claims, is the real background of much literary history, we have Madame Felix-Faure-Goyan's La Vie et la Mort des Fees (Perrin, 3 fr. 50 c.), a study of fairy lore as it developed in the different countries of Europe ; a book charmingly written and full of out-of-the-way learning. The mention of fairyland leads on naturally to "Pierre Loti's" new book, Le Chdteau de /a _Belle-au-Bois-dormant (Calmann-Levy, 3fr. 50c.), which, though it really deals with facts and experi- ences in actual life and solid landscape, has the atmosphere of tale and dream. It is a series of short sketches in many lands, all made attractive by "Pierre Loti's " own toucb. His first impressions of London will specially amuse and interest his English readers.

Admirers of M. Rene Bazin's always conscientious and often charming work will not neglect La Barriere (Calmann- Levy, 3 fr. 50 c.) It is M. Bazin's way, of course, to write with a purpose ; and be shares this characteristic with many of the best French writers of the day. But a novel, to be really successful in this line, must possess other attractions brilliant enough to keep the purpose in shadow. Here La Barriers seems inferior to some of M. Bazin's earlier work. Scenes laid in England, Paris, Rome do not altogether snit his genius. But the story is strong, and the characters, on the whole, are drawn with knowledge and sympathy. We do not enter a. different world in turning to Ascension (Plon-Nourrit, 3 fr. 50 c.) M. de Pomairols is better known as a poet than as a novelist, but he belongs to the genre of M. Basin, and in his story, lengthy and somewhat inartistic as it is, we have the same feeling for Nature and her many voices, and for the special features of the countryside he knows and loves best, that gave their intimate charm to M. Bazin's masterpieces. Ascension is rather a religious romance than a novel. The scene is in the South of France, and its chief figures are the hero, Desteve, who tells the story, partly in the first person, in thoughtful, measured style, and his young daughter, who leaves him to become a nun in a neighbouring convent,—a life of peace which the new laws of the Republic bring to a sudden end.

The next novel on my list, Le Meilleur Amour, by M. Louis Delzons (Calmann-Levy, 3 fr. 50 c.), belongs to quite another kind of life and of literature. It is a clever, strong, well- written story, mostly of Parisian bourgeois society on its surface—the picture is happily one-sided—in which the only character influenced by religion is a half-mad idealist, and the deepest feeling described is the natural affection of a great doctor for the child be had not seen or owned since her infancy. But there is plenty of tragedy in the futile but vivid and struggling lives of a few very human characters. Another good novel of Paris and its environs is La Breche (Plon- Nounit, 3 fr. 50 c.), by the popular writer, Madame de Puliga (" Brada "). This is the story of a couple, deeply attached to each other, who try to ensure the happiness of their son by means which, though not exactly unfair, are unlawful. The underlying motif has something in common with that of M. Delzons,—parental passion. La Bre.che is a telling study of character and full of dramatic situations. Les Deus Consciences, by Leon de Tinsean (Calmann-Levy, 3 fr. 50 c.), shares its cover with another story of equal length, called Ferreol from the name of its hero. Both may be recom- mended as agreeably written, interesting, and good in tone. The first, as a story, is the finer and more complete of the two ; but perhaps a more personal sympathy is claimed by the stern Socialist, so much less hard than his doctrines, his charming daughter, and the delightful Baronne who makes herself a Providence to one and the other.

Another of M. Maxime Formont's picturesque historical novels has lately appeared under the title of La Florentine (Lemerre, 3 fr. 50 c.), and is a worthy successor of La Princesss de Venise. Here we have Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici riding splendidly through the streets of Florence, Savonarola preaching in the Dnomo, and Botticelli, in the Borgo Ognissanti, painting his toncli and his "Primavera," for which a wondrous unknown lady poses as model. Then the whole' bright Florentine picture darkens into tragedy, and the death of Fm a Girolamo is the terrible close of all.

M. Paul Bourget's pen has been active lately. First perhaps should be mentioned his very striking preface to

Etienne Mayran (Hachette, 3 fr. 50 c.), the exceedingly curious fragment of a novel which was begun by the late M. Taine when a young man, laid aside about 1361, and never taken up again ; the history of a collegian of those days, and the gradual growth of his mind as be enters the unknown world of ideas. M. Bourget sees something autobiographical in this early study by a great master. The theory may be strained too far, but in any case the book is original and valuable to a degree. A most readable volume, too, is M. Bourget's own recent collection of nouvelles called La Dame qui a Perdu son Peintre after the principal story (Plon- Nourrit, 3 fr. 50 c.) This study in the world of art criticism is particularly amusing and clever. But some of us will not be sorry to turn to the more actual, human interest of M. Bourget's play, La Barricade (Plon-Nourrit, 3 fr. 50 c.), now published in volume form. I may add, for those who have not had the privilege of seeing it acted in Paris this year, that La Barricade is the story of a strike of cabinet- makers, and of the personal relations between employer and employed. It may well be described as saisissant : a picture only too true of the war between Capital and Labour, drawn Irons the life with keen feeling and sympathetic touch.

N. Bourget's introduction, in which he explains himself to his many critics, is worth careful and thoughtful study.

Another play, Lee Affranchis, by 3111e. Marie Leneru (Hachette, 3 fr. 50 c.), must not be missed by any one in search of what is most singular and most distinguished in modern French literature. It is a piece in three acts, but really more a novel than a play. It introduces a Cistercian Abbess, expelled by the new law from her convent, who brings back with her into the world a young girl, not yet made a novice of her Order, but full of the spiritual fire which may, or may not, mean a definite religious vocation. It is not long before an earthly love claims Helene, and the end of the story is worked out with an insight amounting to genius. The whole treatment of the characters shows marvellously clear understanding and high artistic skill.—I am, Sir, dm.,

E.