A few novelists remain to be mentioned who are incapable of particular classification. These are Dr. John Moore (q.v.), author of Zeluco, etc., Godwin (q.v.), author of Caleb Williams, St. Leon, etc., in whom the free-thinking and revolutionary spirit that seized many minds aftei. 1789 is conspicuous; Mrs. Inehbald (Nature and Art, A Simple Story, etc.); Charlotte Smith (Old Manor House, etc.); Miss Austen (Pride and Preju dice, flrallidi Persuasion): and Maria Edgeworth, whose sketches of Irish character first suggested to Walter Scott—the idea of attempting for Scotland a series of like illustra tions.
2. French prose fiction in the 18th century.—It is not easy—perhaps not possible—to trace the causes that led to the cultivation of the different kinds of fiction which flour ished in France during this century, and particularly during the first half of it. The natural love of change—of novelty; the accidental influences of foreign literature; the disposition, so peculiarly French, to satirize prevalent follies and vices; the wish, on the other hand, to amuse the leisure moments of a luxurious, superstitious, and profligate society: all these and many other causes unquestionably aszisted in determining its diverse development. Four kinds have been distinguished: 1. Pseudo-historical Romance, the literature in which department, although copious enough, neither deserves nor requires special notice. 2. Romance in which. the incidents, though natural, are purely imaginary. 3. Satiricoonoral Romance. 4. Thiry Tales, to which may be associated the imitations of Oriental Tales, and the Voyages Inaginaires.
2, Romance in which the incidents, though natural, are purely imaginary.—This class more nearly corresponds with the modern coneeptiOn of the novel than any of its prede cessors, and probably had its prototype in La Princesse de Cleves and Zaide, by the com tesse de Lafayette, who flourished in the latter half of the 17 c.; but the first great name that adorns it is that of Marivaux (1683-1763), whose Vie de Mariamne and Payson Parvenu were long in high favor. They have this in common with the contemporary English fiction, that everything in them is produced by ordinary means, and the interest of the reader is sought to be awakened by the vivid and powerful portraiture of natural feelings, while the incidents, if often highly romantic, arc always sufficiently probable to insure the credence of the imagination. Next to Marivaux comes the Abbe Prevot, q.v. (1693-1763), who first "carried the terrors of tragedy into the novel." He was a most voluminous writer, but the work by which he is now chiefly remembered is Mahon L'Escaut, recounting the adventures of a kept-mistress and swindler, the purpose of which appears to be similar to that of La Dame aux Comelias of Dumas fits—viz., to show how noble, true-hearted, and self-sacrificing a prostitute may be! - Other writers belonging more or less strictly to the same division are Madame Riccoboni (flor. 1750) and Rousseau (q.v.) in whose Ifeloise we begin to see the dawn of that fierce natural impure passion. and that extravagant scorn of conventional life, that culminated in the sanguinary paroxysms of the revolution.
'-3. Humorous and satirical far the most celebrated .specimens of this kind of fiction produced in France during the 18th c. are the Gil Bias, the Diable Boiterns and Le Bachelier de Salamangue of Le Sage, q.v. (1668-1746), all of which were sug gested by the prolific comic romancists of Spain, Juan de Luna, Quevedo, Cervantes, Espinel, from sonic of whom he has borrowed, with hardly any variation, whole scenes and stories, as well as from more ancient sources. The best parts, however, are his own, and the spirit of the work is thoroughly French in the gay and, lightsome vivacity of its humor.' It is with some hesitation that we place the younger Crebillon (q.v.) in the same category, for the licentiousness of his E:garonents du Cmur et de l'Espi'it, and other novels, is far more apparent than their satire or humor. Bastide and Diderot (q.v.) kohl an equally doubtful position as satirists or humorists; but Voltaire (q.v.) may fairly el,im to rank among theformer, in virtue of his Candid., Zadig, L' Ingenu, La Princesse de liaby!one, etc., most of which contain covert attacks on superstition and despotism, in.,ler the forms in which Voltaire best knew them. Voltaire; however, had not a rich imagination, and, in consequence, has been obliged to help himself liberally in the mat-, ter of incident from older writers.
4. Kurt' tales, etc.—A very careful inquiry might probably succeed in tracing back this kind of literature to the early intercourse of Christian and Moorish nations, but the first work in which we find definite examples of fairy tales is the Nights of the Italian novelist Straparola, translated into French in 1585. In this collection are found at least the outlines of some of the best-known stories of the sort, such as Le Chat Botte (Puss in Boots), Prince Marcassin, Blanchebelle, and Fortunatas. The immediate forerunner and prototype, however, of the French fairy tales was the Pentamerone of Signor Basile, written in the Neapolitan patois, and published in 1672. This work attracted and stimu lated the of M. Charles Perrault (q.v.), whose llistoires ou Conics du Temps passé appeared in 16b7, and is incomparably the most nave and charming of all the collections of fairy tales. The titles of some of his conies will recall many a literary feast of our childhood—La Barbe Bleue (Bluebeard), La Belle au Bois Dormant (The Sleeping Beauty, to which, by the by, Tennyson has given a poetic immortality), Le Chat Botte (Puss in Boots), Riquet a in Houppe (Riquct with the Tuft), and Le Petit Chaperon Rouge (Little Red Riding Hood). The principal successors of Perrault were the comtesse d'Aumoy (see AU:NOY), Madame Murat, and Mademosielle de la Force; but their stories are much more extravagant and forced than those of the illustrious academician. The same cen sure, however, is not applicable to Les Conies Marines (1740), by Madame Villeneuve, among which occurs the talc entitled La Belle et he Bete (Beauty and the Beast), perhaps the most beautiful creation in the whole circle of this fantastic form of fiction.