HISTORY OF FRENCH VERSIFICATION.
History of French Versification. By L. E. Ka,stner, M.A. (The Clarendon Press. 5s. 6d. net.)—This is a very elaborate, it would scarcely be too much to say an exhaustive, study of its subject. Mr. Kastner takes the whole course of French literature and examines the development of its metrical practice. His reading has made him at home both in old and in modern French, and he has taken advantage of his proficiency to write a book which is not less attractive than useful. A reader who may be but slightly interested in the scientific aspect of the subject may easily go from beginning to end without any feeling of weariness. The volume is really an anthology, and no one can study it without an increased respect for French verse, for its quality as well as its form. It is true, however, that an Englishman finds much difficulty in recognising the reasonableness of the rule which prescribes an alternation of masculine and feminine rhymes. If the feminine rhymes were always of words in which the " e' mute" follows a consonant, the case would be different. It has a slight stress in pronunciation which serves to accentuate the rhythm of the verse. But is there any such difference between the feminine rhyme " furie—vie" and " lui--aujourd'hui"? Some French poets have found courage to disregard the rule. Mr. Kastner strongly disapproves of the heresy; but he has, it is possible, an unavowed liking for the pretty poem which he quotes as an example from Theodore de Banville. What is there wrong in the rhyming of the last couplet ?— " Et notre aniandier couvre son beau con, Des blanches flours qu'il secoue "?
For French blank verse no one seems ready to break a lance, though it has been written.
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