FRENCH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. The Frend language has been devel oped under the combined influence of numerous forms of speech, among which Latin, as in every other tongue centuries of our era, the whole of Gallia, from the Rhine to the' Pyrenees, had adopted the language of the Roman conquerors, not the polished speech of the classic writers—the sermo urbanus—but the form of Latin that had become common to all the subjugated provinces of central Europe—lingua Romana rustica. Suetonius, Pliny, Juvenal, and Martial make frequent reference to the Latin in use in southern Gaul and Spain; and in the 4th c. we find that, under the emperor Theodosius, the Roman senate was addressed I by au orator of Gaul in rude and uncultured transalpine Latin. At this period, and much later, Latin was employed in the provincial assemblies of Gaul; but in the 7th c., two other forms of speech had come into general use—a provincial dialect of the lingua Romano, and a form of German known as the lingua Theotisca. The latter, which was probably a mingled jargon, used in common by the Frankish and Teutonic tribes, and consequently in vogue in the north and east, received a more definite development under Charle magne, who caused a grammar of it to be prepared for the use of the schools which he established, and in which it was taught conjointly with Latin. The council of Tours (813) recommended the use both of the rustic Latin and the Teutonic dialect; and in 842, in the compact made between the two brothers, Charles the bald and Louis the German, the former swore in the Romana rustic, and the latter in the Teutsche lan guage, which, although it had been generally spoken at the court of Charlemagne, had already given place in France to the Frankish form of Latin. This Gallo-Romanic idiom early branched off into the two characteristically different forms of the Provencal or Langue d'oc of the south, and the Roman TVallon, or Langue d'oil of the north. The comparative prosperity which the s. of France enjoyed, first under the kings of Arles, and subsequently under the counts of Provence, its freedom from foreign aggression for several centuries; the .beauty of the Climate, and the more thoroughly Romanized character of the people, led to the early development of the Provencal, and, by the lips of the troubadours, breathed forth a rich melody of song, which, after a time, was re-echoed in less harmonious tones by the trouveres of the north in their ruder tongue. The earlier productions of these two schools exhibit striking differences in diction, inflection, and construction; and while the troubadour sang of love, and dwelt on the beauties which a southern climate and a fruitful soil scattered broadcast over the face of nature around him, the northern trouvere invented a chivalrous mythology of his own, and ascribed to the heroes of Greece and Rome, and the brethren in arms of king Arthur and Charlemagne, the sentiments of his own times. The use of the northern or Wal loon French was very considerably extended through its adoption by the Normans, who in time carried it under William the conqueror to England, and, under the northern leaders of the crusades, to the south amteast. In the south, on the contrary, the cruel persecutions of the Albigenses, against which the troubadours inveighed aloud, checked the development of the Provencal language; for the songs of the troubadours were pro scribed, and thus the use of the longue d'oil soon extended with the spread of northern power into the provinces of Provence and Languedoc. One of the earliest monuments of the French-Walloon, in the form in which it shows evidence of its gradual develop ment into modern French, is the Roman de Roe, a versified chronicle of the exploits of Rollo and his successors, composed by Robert Wace. In this composition, the language is no longer the sonorous, many-voweled Provencal, or the mongrel Latin of the lingua, rustica, but a distinct form of speech. The language thus formed by the ingrafting of Norman, Frankish, and Teutonic idioms on the degenerate Latin of the Gallic provinces, was rapidly developed under the fostering influence of the university of Paris and the Sorbonne, which already, in the 13th c., attracted the learned men of all nations to their schools. The Roman de la Rose, begun in the 13th c. by Jean de Meung, and completed in the 14th c. by G. de Lorris, and Guyot's Bible, belonging to the same period, are typ ical of the literature of France in the middle ages, which consisted chiefly of tales of chivalry and coarse sallies against the clergy. Froissart's chronicles of the 14th c., which afford a vivid picture of the wars of the English and French, in which he him self took an active share, are written in a dialect that is quite comprehensible to the modern student. Comities, who wrote in the 15th c., is a less picturesque narrator; but he may be classed among the earliest true historians of his country, for lie was one of the first who observed public events with judgment, and recorded what he had seen in a straightforward, truthful manner. Francis I., by his love of music, song, and dramatic representations, gave indirect encouragement to literature; while the French language acquired force and terseness through the writings of Rabelais. Ronsard, Amyot, and Montaigne, and although, under the regencies of Catharine and Marie de' Medici, Ital ian writers were more patronized at court than native authors; the language and the literary talent of the nation were undergoing a .process of gradual development, which was completed by the establishment, under the auspices of Richelieu, of the Academie Frontaise in 1634. At this period. Corneille brought French' tragedy to its highest point of grandeur in the classic style of the drama, which lie• had adopted. His best pieces are Le Cid, Les Iforaces, Cinna, etc. Pascal. in his Lettres Provinciales, established a standard of French prose; while Descartes, in his Discours sur in Methocle, showed the adaptability of the language to subjects requiring conciseness and precision. A long galaxy of great names gave splendor to the reign of Louis XIV. in every branch of literature. • Notwithstanding the frivolity of the habits of the higher classes in France during this period, no age produced more vigorous writers or original thinkers. 13os suet and Flechier won respect by their noble funeral orations; Bourdaloucand Massil lon, by their eloquent preaching; Fenelon, by his learning and earnest exhortations; and Pascal, by his Christian view of the great questions of human experiences. In dra matic literature, Racine and Moliere stand forth conspicuous among a host of lesser writers, the former pre-eminent in tragedy, as his Andromaque, Iphigenie, Phedre, tes tify; the latter inimitable in comedy, and exhibiting wonderful ,powers of delineating human character from a humorous point of view, that have never been surpassed. Among his best pieces we may instance Tartufe, Le Misanthrope, and Les Femmes Savantes. La Fontaine i. alike well known among his countrymen for his moral Fables and his licentious Tales. La Rochefoucauld and La Bruyere, in their Sentences and Car
actel.es, depicted human character, with its peculiarities, inclinations, and foibles, in strong, humorous, and vivid touches. This was the age of memoirs and letters: in the former branch of contemporary history, cardinal bets was perhaps the most successful of the host of writers who gained a reputation in this special department of literature; while Madame de Sevigne's letters are models of easy epistolary style, and afford a lively pic ture of the times. This age, in which, at any rate, the semblance of religion had been respected, was followed by one of scepticism, infidelity, and philosophical speculations of the wildest kind. Four men of genius, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Buffon, contributed, to a very great extent, by their writings, and the influence which they exerted on the minds of their contemporaries, in bringing about the revolution. Mon tesquieu, by his philosophical dissertations on the laws and government of his country, taught the Prench to take more enlightened views of the rights and duties of different classes of society, and thus naturally roused the angry passions of the oppressed lower orders; while the passionate eloquence of Rousseau won a hearing for doctrines which were entirely subversive of moral obligations, and recbguized no highCr standard than human inclinations. Voltaire's versatility of powers, which were exercised with equal ease, and nearly equal success, on tragedy, satire, romance, poetry, history, and philos Opliy, enabled him, to the end of his long life, to maintain the supremacy over public opinion, which he had won in his youth. Buffon devoted himself to the study and description of nature, and his Histoire Naturelle, which inaugurated a new era in the Literature of natural history, is a remarkable monument of the science and learning of that period. Diderot, and D'Alembert the geometer, founded the Encyclopedie, which, while it gave a lucid summary of numerous branches of human knowledge, was always hostile to religion. The revolution, which had been materially accelerated, if not pro duced, by the inspirations of men of consummate intellect, was not favorable to litera ture. A period of almost complete intellectual torpor succeeded the active mental development that had characterized the preceding classic and onfiosophic periods. The empire was scarcely more propitious to learning; but with the Corinne and L' Allemagne of Madame de Stael, and Les Martyrs of Chateaubriand, a reaction took place; and these productions of the new romantic school were soon followed by numerous others, either belonging to the same, or to the rival classical school. Among the host of young and original writers who now acquired reputation, we may instance, in poetry, dramatic art, and fiction, Victor Hugo, the greatest of living French poets, Alfred de Vigny, Frederic Soulie, and A: Dumas the elder, one of the most prolific of novel-writers, among whose most popular works are—Les Trois Mousquetaires; Le Comte de Monte Christo; Le Collier de la Reine; etc. He published ample reminiscences of his various travels and personal adventures in Le Caucase; Voyage; Les Memoires d' Horace; Memoires de Garibaldi; the successive volumes of his own Memoires; etc. The catalogue of his writings is scarcely conceivable for its extent, numbering, it is said, above 1200 vol umes. Casimir Delavigne has attempted to combine the romantic and classical schools in his Louis XL ; Les Enfants d'Edouard, etc. George Sand (Madame Dudevant) is one of the most elegant writers of her country, and her works are models of style. Her Indiana, which appeared in 1832, inaugurated a new era of emotional novel-writing, and has had numerous imitators. Among her numerous works, the most popular are Hattprat; Andre; Consuelo, and the numerous pieces which she subsequently wrote for the stage, such as Francois le Champi; _Marquis de Villemer; etc. Les Mysteres de Paris, and Le ,Tuif Errant, which depict the concealed miseries and depravities of social life; quickly brought their author, Eugene Sue, into notice. The tendency to materialism and sensualism, which characterizes the works of the two last-named writers, is more or less perceptible in all belonging to their age in France. The few artistic and good historical novels that have appeared have not met with the SUCCCEE.4 they deserved. Among other recent writers of fiction, we may especially instance Bal zac; A. de Musset, with his unrivaled richness of fancy, and melody of speech; Jules Sandeau, with whom Madame Dudevant wrote in conjunction; the historian Merimee; Tlreophile Gautier; Paul de Kock; the literary partners, Erckmann-Chatrian; Edmond About; and Dumas the younger, who has latterly devoted himself mainly to writing for the theater, which still absorbs much of the talent of France (as in Sardou's case). Till recently, few names in the domain of poetry, beyond those of Beranger, Lamartine, Victor Hugo, De Vigny, Sainte Beuve, and De Musset, were much known out of France; Gautier and De Banville, lyrists of the romantic school, have of late obtained a favora ble hearing in many lands; and De Lisle is recognized as the head of a small but popu lar modern school. History is undoubtedly the most successful branch of modern French literature. Among those who have gained for themselves a world-wide reputa tion in this department of research, we would instance Barante, whose early work, L'Histoire des Dues de Bourgogne, has been followed by his able histories of the Conven tion and Directory. Guizot has shown indefatigable powers of research and a, philo sophic power of generalization in a great number of works, among which the first rank may be awarded to his Essais sur 'Histoire de France, and L'Histoire de to Civilisation en Europe. Thierry, in his Lettres sur l'Histoire de France, and L'Ilistoire de to Conguete de l'Angleterre par les Normans, displays great poWers of narration and aptitude for theo retic criticism, perhaps more imaginative than sagacious. Sismondi has shown great research and profound knowledge in his somewhat diffuse history. The late president A. Thiers has devoted his learning, industry, and powers of delineation to the exposi tion of the revolutionary and imperial phases of French government. Louis Blanc, in his Histoire de Dix Ans, gives one of the most vivid pictures of contemporary history that we possess. Lamartine, who carries his poetic inspirations and enthusiastic tem perament with him into his historical researches, presents magnificent but not perfectly trustworthy pictures of history.in his Histoire des Girondins; Histoire des Constituents; and HiStoire de to Restauration. Villemain, although better known for his history of literature, is yet to be classed among historians. Michelet is known as the brilliant author of the Histoire de France. Martin and Taine, both recently admitted members of the academie, may close the list.