BOOKS.

SOME MODERN FRENCH BOOKS.*

Tun best French memoirs now being published are those of Princesse Dorothee de Courlande, Duchesse de Dino, niece by marriage of Talleyrand, and the constant, devoted companion of his later years. These two volumes begin with her London experiences during Talleyrand's embassy there, till 1834, and they end in her temporary retirement at the Chateau de Roeltecotte, where her daughter, the Marquise de Castellano, was in later years the leading spirit of a delightful circle. All conspicuous French and English figures, both in politics and society—and the two spheres were more nearly related then than now—find their place in Madame do Dino's fascinating Chrmigue. Among them, up to his death in 1838, none is more interesting than the Prince de Talleyrand, unless it be the writer herself, distinguished by personal charm as much as by strong intellect, clear judgment, and perfect taste.

M. Stryienski's new book, Le Dix-huitieme Siècle, is, we believe, the second volume that has appeared of a popular history of France edited by M. Funek-Brentano. The former volume was Le Siècle de la Renaissance, by that charming writer, M. Louis Batiffol. M. Stryienski is already well known as an able historian, and this book will add to his fame. The politics of the eighteenth century are sometimes tiresome and complicated; they need such a narrator as this. There is not a dull page in the volume. With a sure touch and in a lively and picturesque manner, M. Stryienski leads us through the labyrinth of gradual change, the slow journey of France towards the Revolution. His story ends in 1789; that of the Revolution will be told by another writer.

M. Jeergensen's Saint Francais d'Assise is the fruit of long study and real enthusiasm, and M. de Wyzewa's excellent translation has placed it among the books most read in France at this time. It only needs to become known in England to be equally popular here. Without being in opposition to

M. Sabatier, of whom he speaks with high admiration, M. Joergensen has been able to add a good deal to the know- ledge of the saint's actual history which was available when M. Sa.batier wrote his famous book. All pilgrims to Assisi should welcome this new Life, with its curious illustrations.

The great artist Philippe de Champagne—spelt by himself Champaigne—and Sister Catherine de Sainte-Suzanne of the Abbey of Port-Royal, are the Pere et Fille whose story is told by M. Gailly de Taurines. The book is as attractive as its subject. Le grand siècle appears in its glory, full of charm and genius, of great men and women, of deep devotion and strong character. Contrasts of good and evil only serve to make the picture more striking. The century, here described • (1) Chronigue de 1831 d 1882. Par In Duchess° de Dino. Pali& aveo des .A.nnotations, deo., par la Princess° Radzirill, nee Castellane. Vol. I., 1831-1833. Vol. II., 1836-1840. Paris: Plon-Nourrit. [15 fr.]—(2) La Dix-huitieme Riede. Par Casimir Stryienski. " L'Histoire de France Recent& Tons." Paris Hachette. [5 fr.)---(3) Saint Francais d'Assise : on Vie et son (Sierra. Par Johannes Joertensen. Traduits du Danois par Teodor de Wyzewa. Paris : Perrin. [5 fr. (4) Pare et Fille. Par C. Gailly de Taurines. Paris : Hachette. [3 . 50 o.]—(5) Belles du Vieux Temps. Par le Vicomte do Reiset. Pans: Emile-Paul. [5 fr.]—(6) Portraits de Femmes at d'Eniants. Par Henry Bordeaux. Paris : Plon-Nournt. [3 fr. 50 c.]—(7) Souvenirs de jeuneese, 1860-1870. Par Areene Houssaye. Paris : Flammarion. [3 fr. 50 c.] —(8) George Sand Dim Conferences our so Vie at son CEuera. Par Rend Doumic, de FAcademie Francsise. Paris : Perrin. [3 fr. 80 c.]—(9) Francois l'Homene at is Poite. Par Henri Schoen. Paris : Fischbacher. Sr. 50 c.]—(10) Pour los demotes : Discours Prononets our Assemblies Generale: de Vdesoeiation Valentin Haug. Par Francois Coppee. Introduc- tion par Maurice de In Sizeratme. Paris : Association V. Malty. [3 fr.]— (11) Reflpts d'Iliatoire. Per Paul Gaultier. Paris : Machette. [3 Sr. 50 c.]— (12) L'Bcolution cruse kat Phitanthropique. Par Ilene Claparkle at le Docteur H. Christ-Soda. Geneve Edition Ater. [3 fr. SO c.]—(13) La Philosophia Gindrale do John Looke. Par H. Dillon, Docteur is Lettres. Paris : Felix Alcan. C7 fr. 50 0.3—(1.4) Colette Baudoche PG.:tetra dune Jenne Fill, de Metz. Par Maurice Barnes, de l'A cademie Francaise. Paris : Felix Juven. r3 Sr. 50 c.]—(15) Sur tee Deux Rives. Par Leon de Tineeau. Paris : Calmann- Los-y. [3 fr. 50 e.)—(16) Pierre at Thirise. Par Marcel Prevost. Paris : Lemerre. [3-fr. 50 o.]—(17) Le Mariase de Mademoiselle Gimel, Daetylographe. Par Rene Basin, de l'Acadesnie Frangaise. Psi-is: Calmann-Lery. [3 fr. 50 c.]— (18) La Fourniiiiire: Raison Provincial, Par Lucien Alphonse Daudet. l'aris : Flammarion._ [3 fr. 50 e.]—(19) La Revanche do Paris. Par Jules Laforgue. Paris : aftlmann-Levy. [Sir. 50c.]—(20) Les Demoiselles de la Poste. Par Peel Bonb-omme. Paris : Plon-Nourrit. [3 fr. 50c.]—(21) La Princess:, de Vented. Par Maximo Formont. Paris : Lemerre. [3 fr. 50 c.]— (22) La Jeanne d'Are de M. Armed. France. Par Andrew Lang. Paris : Perrin. 12 fr.]—(23) Bemis de Biographies Littaraires. Par Frideric lioudin. Lincoln: The Lincoln Printing Company. [2s.]—(24) La Vie Politigue dens lea Dew Mendes. Publite sou.s hi Direction do Achille Viallate. Donn:erne Annie, 1907-1908. Paris : Felix Aleln. [10 fr.]— (26) Los Petits pames de John Milton. Traduits en Vera, avec Toxin Aziglais et Notes, par _Fernand Henry. Introduction de Edmund Goose. Paris : GuiliHnoto. [Hr.] from the special points of view of art and of religion, possessed no finer artist and no better man than the portrait-painter Philippe de Champagne, and no religieuse more sincere than his favourite daughter.

M. de Reiset's Belles du Vieux Temps are not all beautiful, nor is their fame very ancient. He explains that his sieve temps covers half the nineteenth century, so that he is able to include such famous women as the Duchesse de Dino and, unluckily for her, the Comtesse de Boigne. His judgment of this lady is exceedingly severe, but we have to remember that she was a strong Orleanist, and that M. de Reject, a partisan of the elder branch, is an enthusiastic champion of the Duchesse de Berry. One of the most interesting in a series of clever studies is that of "Anne de Mores," the romantic, unfamiliar history of the daughter of Peyrenc de Mores, the builder and first inhabitant of the beautiful /ate/ in the Rue de Varennes, afterwards known as the Hotel de Biron and the Convent of the Sacre Cceur.

M. Henry Bordeaux is an excellent writer, either of novels or of literary and social criticism. His latest book, Portraits de Femmes et d'Enfants, will be generally enjoyed. These biographical sketches include subjects of varying date, some familiar, others little known. The latter may be said of "Madame de Charm.oisy," the " Philothee " of St. Francois de Sales, and also of "Madame de Charriere," the gifted woman of letters of the later eighteenth century, whose works and whose personality so strongly attracted Sainte-Beuve. As to portraits of children, it would be difficult to excel ill charm " L'Enfance de Mistral."

If M. Arsene Houssaye were still alive, he would be the first to say that he lives more truly in the literary fame of his son, the Academician, the author of 1814, than in any works of his own. These works, however, still live, and the present volume of Souvenirs de Teunesse is the second pub- lished. It is amusing, if not always edifying. The recollec- tions and anecdotes are mostly theatrical and artistic, covering the period of the Second Empire. Rachel appears more than once, and late wreaths are offered to various literary names too soon forgotten.

M. Rene Doumic's conferences on the life and work of George Sand are delightful reading. His style is of the most agreeable ; to a truly French lightness and grace he adds what is also peculiarly French,—a limpid clearness of thought and a criticism no less keen and telling because its stronger conclusions are rather hinted than expressed. He is no blind admirer of George Sand, either as a woman or a writer, but he makes us appreciate her genius rightly, her descent from Rousseau, her extraordinary influence on the modern world, her place in the evolution of modern thought. He prophesies a return to her romantic literary ideals by minds weary of the "brutal literature" of to-day.

In Paris, to a greater extent than English people generally know, the name of the late Francois Coppee is one to conjure with. He was a typical Parisian of the rive gauche, and of the best kind ; he was the poet of the humble and the die- inherited. M. Schoen has made an interesting study of his life and work, the development of his mind, character, and genius, in a slight volume of delicate criticism. An even more intimate view is given by M. Maurice de la Sizeranne in his introduction to the speeches delivered by Cop* as president of a well-known society for the help of the blind, lately published in an attractive little book with the title of Pour les Aveugles. There are ten of these addresses, marking off the last ten years of the poet's life, and they are as valuable as they are charming ; distinguished in style, and full of that understanding sympathy which was a part of his genius.

The relations of art and history are studied with minute- ness in M. Paul Gaultier's new book, Reflets d'Histoire. His chief hunting-grounds are the Louvre and Versailles, but be takes wider fields in following the influence of Nature on art from an historical point of view, and of local colour on theatrical representations, ranging from the ancient and mediaeval mysteries to Wagner and M. Georges Fuchs. The book is interesting and suggestive. A book with a sarcastic name, L'Evolution d'un Vtat Philanthropigue, is the history of the Congo State. The two authors are the president and vice-president of a Swiss society for the protection of the aborigines. The volume contains curious facts, and details often horribly painful, but such as

cannot be ignored by any civilised nation. We have not space to give it the full review it deserves, but must add that it should be read by every one interested in the difficult question of the Congo. To these writers the future seems almost as black as the past. It is only to be hoped that their worst fears are exaggerated.

Dr. 011ion's examination of the thought and work of John Locke, and especially of his influence on French philosophy, ought to please English students of this kind of subject. We may add, for the benefit of such readers, that the author inclines to the German opinion which attributes to Locke " une tendance criticiste et des germes d'idealisme."

It is hardly too much to say that Colette Baudoche is the masterpiece of M. Maurice Belies. All that was too fanciful and complicated in his frequently beautiful work has disappeared, and we have here a simple, exquisite story, told in perfect French, clever, pathetic, patriotic. We have seldom read anything better than the final description of the service in the Cathedral of Metz, held in memory of the French soldiers, which decides the young girl of Lorraine to refuse her excellent German lover.

Comte Leon de Tinseau's recent novel, Sur lea Deux Rives, has much of his usual sympathetic charm, though some of the liveliness of his earlier books is absent. It is a very pretty modern story of a Vendean noble who is forced by evil times to sell his old estate and to emigrate to Canada. The fortunes of the family, which fall very low, are at last restored by his heroic young son-, a patriotic Frenchman at heart, who goes home to serve in the French Army, but after many adventures returns to a kinder country than his own.

M. Marcel Prevost can write a good novel when he likes. Pierre et Therese is not, of course, food for babes, but it is a powerful story, and true, both in the sphere of passionate human life and in that of morals. Therse Dautremont ought to take her place among the finer heroines of fiction.

M. Rene Bazin's new volume contains, besides Le Mariage de Mademoiselle Gimel, four shorter stories, interesting specimens of his varied work. The charm and tenderness of "Mademoiselle Gimel," in which a pretty love affair is delicately touched, is balanced by a dark, strong, revulsive picture of peasant life in "Le Testament du Vieux-Chogue." On the other hand, "Le Petit Cinq" is broad comedy. But one need hardly add that all are good and wholesome in tone.

The son of Alphonse Daudet can hardly be said to possess his father's genius. Still, with various limitations, La Fourmiliere is a really clever novel. It is a picture of country life, pessimistic but true ; in these days the subject is not a cheerful one. It is the story of an unlucky bourgeois who settles on his property in a village, and, partly by his own fault, lives in a state of mutual misunderstanding with nobles and peasants alike, till the death of his one friend, the fine old master of the chateau, leaves him undefended, to be stung to death by slander and active malice.

La _Revanche de Paris is the tragic tale of the latter days of a minor poet, who after shining and waning for some years as a literary star in Paris, returns home to his mother and her old friends in a small provincial town. The poor hero, broken and a failure, is a terribly pathetic figure, and there is a painful interest in his slow journey down-hill.

Les Denuriselles de la Poste is a pretty picture of the happier side of provincial life, with a charming hero and heroine, a benevolent cure, a severe aunt, an official villain, an ideal Judge, a false accusation triumphantly refuted, and a satis- factory end. It is a novel to be enjoyed by everybody.

The French view of literary art does not as a rule favour historical novels ; but now and then we meet with an exception, and La Prineesse de Venise is one of these. It is a romance of the late sixteenth century, the principal figure being Aforosina Morosini, the wife of the Doge Marino Grimani. Venice and her manners and customs are vividly painted, and the characters are natural and of their time. A romantic love story inns through the book.

Mr. Andrew Lang has published in French a spirited justification of his former criticisms of M. Anatole France's book on Jeanne d'Arc. He finds that, while graciously receiving the corrections of his critics and friends, the historian has made no appreciable use of them in his latest editions. It is well that Mr. Lang should frankly deliver his soul on the subject; but we fear that the differences between M. France's view and his own lie too deep for any mutual understanding. M. Bondin's little- book is a _series of short lecture on some of the principal French writers given at Newark in 1908. These Essci is de Biographies Littiraires are of a slight and surface character, and the opinions and conclusions seem to us occasionally unconvincing. But, on the other hand, the book contains much that is lively and suggestive—we would point out the lectures on Bossuet and on Moliere—and much that should pique young people's curiosity as to the great literature of France.

La Vie Politique des Deux _Mantles, of which a new volume lies before us, is a kind of Annual Register, begun in 1906 by the French School of Political Science, and edited and written by its professors and students. It is a world-wide chronicle of current political events. The writers are careful to avoid any expression of extreme opinion, generally con- fining themselves to bare facts, and leaving the reader to draw his own conclusions.

Among literary curiosities we are bound to eignalise the beautifully printed translations from Milton by M. Fernand Henry, already known as the translator of Shakespeare's and Mrs. Browning's sonnets, and of Omar Khayydm. They are the charming and delicate work of a scholar and a poet.