* JAN1N, JULES-GABRIEL, a popular French critic, was born at SL-Etienne, in the department of La Loire, on the 11th of December 1804. He received his earliest instruction from his father; he then spent two years at school at Lyon, after which he ws.s sent to complete his education at the College Louis-le-Grand in Paris. Early in 1823, within a few months after his leaving collage, Janin became a contri butor to the 'Figaro,' in which journal be continued to write his equibs, pasquinades, and personal lampoons, until it was suppressed by the government in 1825. Jsuin was engaged to write for the ' Massager des Chambres,' in 1827, and he now began to acquire fame and in fluence, by the vivacity of his style, and the fearless manner in which he distributed both praise and blame. In 1823.29 his vigorous attacks on the despotic administrations of Charles X., stimulated the Polignan ministry, who had been the principal objects of his satire, to tako pro ceedings against the ' Meleager,' which was fined for the abuse. But Janin, though he denounced the aggression of power, was then, and still is, a supporter of Couservativu principles, both in literature and politics. As soon therefore as the new Romantic school began to rebel against the established rulea of authorship, Jauin singled out their leader, Victor Hugo, and ridiculed him in a parody, called • L'Ane mart et la femme guillotin6e; which appeared with great euccess in 1829. In all the papers and periodicals to which his fertile pen has since contributed something daily, Jules Janin has pursued the same course. When be began these hostilities, and exposed the false taste which was disfiguring the literature and demoralising the stage of his country, Janin was only twenty-five years old ; yet even then he was recognised as the leader of the defenders of the Classic school, and won from Rabbe the name of Prince of Critics. In 1830 he published a romance, called ' La Confession ; ' and in 1831 'Barnave.' But Jaain, though a severe critic of others, is essentially an improvisatore' himself. A collection of abort tales, contributed by him to different periodicals, was published in 1832 under the title of Coates Fautas tiques;' and a second series followed in 1833, called Cordes Nou veaux,' the interest of which was much increased by an interesting autobiography, of considerable length, affixed to the work.
It was likewise in 1833 that Jules Janin began to write those dramatic notices and literary reviews for the Jourual des Ddbats,' which, in spite of some levity in the manner, and too much expe dition in the work, have established his reputation as the most sagacious and intuitive among the living critics of France, apart from the domains of science and philosophy. He has held this position in the `Ddbats,' without any interruption, for twenty-three years, having, during that long period, produced nearly 1200 dramatic nutices alone, and introduced several aspirants—among others Mademoiselle Rachel —to fame and fortune. Nor has he confined his writing to the feuille tons or foot articles : he has written a great number of biographies and not a few ' leaders' for the ' Messager des Chambres,' the Quoti dienne,' and the Journal des Ddbats.' if he writes fast, he reads slowly ; and his memory, which is very active, never appears in fault.
His friends and intimates consider him a man of erudition ; nor would it be easy to account for the immense variety of subjects he has treated, and treated successfully, without is some degree sharing in that opinion. No contemporary French author has been more frequently employed by French publishers to edit the republications of the old masters, to all of which Janin has affixed prefaces, biographies, and essays on the merits of the eminent authors reissued. In all these intruductious, his brilliant and vivacious pen continues to annoy the reader with its wonted frivolity ; yet the information contained in them is ofteu interesting and valuable. Several might be named as of considerable merit, but it will suffice to name that prefixed to the illustrated edition of Le Sage, which is a piece of writing of very unusual ability. Jaoin'a romance, ' Le Chemin de Traverse,' which has since become popular in France, appeared in 1841; Un Hiver h Paris,' in 1842; in which year he also produced an illustrated serial, in fifty numbers, called 'La Normandie Hiatorique: After this he published Le Prim, Royal,' a tribute to the memory of the Duke of Orleans, who was killed by falling from his carriage, July 13, 1842. His ' Clarisse Harlowe,' an absurd abridgment of Richardson's novel, reduced to two volumes, came out in 1846 ; ' La Religieuse de Toulouse,' was published in 1850.
Janin, who was one of the founders of the 'Revue de Paris,' contri buted to it his racy sketches of Mirabeau and Lord Byron, besides a most interesting description of Saint Etienne, his native town. His extremely clever sketches of la Grisette,' le Gamin de Paris,' and ' la Devot4,' in Les Francais paints par eux-mOmes,' have been much admired. By some French writers Janin has been called the successor of Duviquet and Geoffroy, critics of great note during the two preceding generations; but we think he affords a more perfect idea of Diderot, as Marmontel has described him in his 'Memoirs.' He has the same variety of subject; the same singular facility and abundance, affording irrefragable proof of wide reading, if not of deep study ; the same retentive memory. Like him his levity often verges on puerility, yet almost every sentence he writes suggests new thoughts to the reader. Jules Janin has lectured in public at the Athen6e of Paris with an eloquence which most people expected, but likewise with a seriousness and fulness of matter which took his audience by surprise. In his lectures, as in his criticisms, his style is remarkable for polish and neatness.
Besides the works already named, Janin produced Les Fils du Rajah,' in 1834 ; ' L'Enfance et Is Jeunesse de Lysis,' in 1835 ; Un Coeur pour deux Amours,' in 1837; ' Les Catacombes,' 6 vols., in 1839 ; 'Tableaux Aneedotiques de la Litterature Francaise depuia Francois L Voyage en Italie,' 1842 ; ' Biographie de Mademoiselle Mare,' 1843. In 1851 he visited this country, and spent the month of May in London to study the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park; but his letters on this subject were not equal to his general reputation. His dramatic feuilleton in the Debats ' usually appears every Monday.