Abbe Constantin. By Ludovic Halevy. Translated from the French by
Therese Batbedat. (Macqueen.)—Many of our readers, it is probable, have read this story in the original, for it has reached, we are told, the hundred and seventy-sixth edition. It is a pretty love-story, in which the Abbe himself is the least interesting and most conventional figure. It is reckoned, of course, in France as a, tale of the very best morality; yet we cannot help pointing out something that is characteristic of French literature, possibly, rather than of French life. Jean Reynaud is an admirable young man, but his acquaintance with grisettes is taken for granted; and when he has seen Mrs. Scott and her unmarried sister together he debates with himself which of the two he is in love with. We certainly should not find either of these things in a novel of the same type here. And it makes this practical difference, that Abbe Constantin is not to be generally recommended. All the offence is contained within a page or so, but it gives the idea that for a young man sexual morality does not exist.
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