Part 21 (2/2)
Preachers, in deference to their audience, kept out of view whatever was purely religious, and enlarged on those topics which coincided with mere human morality. Religion was introduced only as an accessory which it was necessary to disguise skillfully, in order to escape derision. Genuine pulpit eloquence was out of the question under these circ.u.mstances.
Forensic eloquence had been improving in simplicity and seriousness since the commencement of the eighteenth century, and men of the law were now led by the circ.u.mstances of the times to trace out universal principles, rather than to discuss isolated facts. The eloquence of the bar thus acquired more extensive influence; the measures of the government converted it into a hostile power, and it furnished itself with weapons of reason and erudition which had not been thought of before.
We come now close upon the epoch when the national spirit was no longer to be traced in books, but in actions. The reign of Louis XV. had been marked with general disorder, and while he was sinking into the grave, amid the scorn of the people, the magistrates were punished for opposing the royal authority, and the public were indignant at the arbitrary proceeding.
Beaumarchais (1732-1799) became the organ of this feeling, and his memoirs, like his comedies, are replete with enthusiasm, cynicism, and buffoonery. Literature was never so popular; it was regarded as the universal and powerful instrument which it behooved every man to possess.
All grades of society were filled with authors and philosophers; the public mind was tending towards some change, without knowing what it would have; from the monarch on the throne to the lowest of the people, all perceived the utter discordance that prevailed between existing opinions and existing inst.i.tutions.
In the midst of the dull murmur which announced the approaching storm, literature, as though its work of agitation had been completed, took up the shepherd's reed for public amus.e.m.e.nt. ”Posterity would scarcely believe,” says an eminent historian, ”that 'Paul and Virginia' and the 'Indian Cottage' were composed at this juncture by Bernardin de St, Pierre, (1737-1814), as also the 'Fables of Florian' which are the only ones that have been considered readable since those of La Fontaine.” About the same time appeared the ”Voyage of Anacharsis,” in which the Abbe Barthelemy (1716-1795) embodied his erudition in an attractive form, presenting a lively picture of Greece in the time of Pericles.
Among the more moral writers of this age was Necker (1732-1804), the financial minister of Louis XVI., who maintained the cause of religion against the torrent of public opinion in works distinguished for delicacy and elevation, seriousness and elegance.
When the storm at length burst, the country was exposed to every kind of revolutionary tyranny. The first actors in the work of destruction were, for the most part, actuated by good intentions; but these were soon superseded by men of a lower cla.s.s, envious of all distinctions of rank and deeply imbued with the spirit of the philosophers. Some derived, from the writings of Rousseau, a hatred of everything above them; others had taken from Mably his admiration of the ancient republics of Greece and Rome, and would reproduce them in France; others had borrowed from Raynal the revolutionary torch which he had lighted for the destruction of all inst.i.tutions; others, educated in the atheistic fanaticism of Diderot, trembled with rage at the very name of a priest or religion; and thus the Revolution was gradually handed over to the guidance of pa.s.sion and personal interest.
In hurrying past these years of anarchy and bloodshed, we cast a glance upon the poet, Andre Chenier (1762-1794), who dared to write against the excesses of his countrymen, in consequence of which he was cited before the revolutionary tribunal, condemned, and executed.
4. FRENCH LITERATURE UNDER THE EMPIRE.--Napoleon, on the establishment of the empire, gave great encouragement to the arts, but none to literature.
Books were in little request; old editions were sold for a fraction of their original price; but new works were dear, because the demand for them was so limited. When literature again lifted its head, it appeared that in the chaos of events a new order of thought had been generated. The feelings of the people were for the freer forms of modern literature, introduced by Madame de Stael and Chateaubriand, rather than the ancient cla.s.sics and the French models of the seventeenth century.
Madame de Stael (1766-1817) has been p.r.o.nounced by the general voice to be among the greatest of all female authors. She was early introduced to the society of the cleverest men in Paris, with whom her father's house was a favorite resort; and before she was twelve years of age, such men as Raynal, Marmontel, and Grimm used to converse with her as though she were twenty, calling out her ready eloquence, inquiring into her studies, and recommending new books. She thus imbibed a taste for society and distinction, and for bearing her part in the brilliant conversation of the salon. At the age of twenty she became the wife of the Baron de Stael, the Swedish minister at Paris. On her return, after the Reign of Terror, Madame de Stael became the centre of a political society, and her drawing- rooms were the resort of distinguished foreigners, amba.s.sadors, and authors. On the accession of Napoleon, a mutual hostility arose between him and this celebrated woman, which ended in her banishment and the suppression of her works.
”The Six Years of Exile” is the most simple and interesting of her productions. Her ”Considerations on the French Revolution” is the most valuable of her political articles. Among her works of fiction, ”Corinne”
and ”Delphine” have had the highest popularity. But of all her writings, that on ”Germany” is considered worthy of the highest rank, and it was calculated to influence most beneficially the literature of her country, by opening to the rising generation of France unknown treasures of literature and philosophy. Writers like Delavigne, Lamartine, Beranger, De Vigny, and Victor Hugo, though in no respect imitators of Madame de Stael, are probably much indebted to her for the stimulus to originality which her writings afforded.
Another female author, who lived, like Madame de Stael through the Revolution, and exercised an influence on public events, was Madame de Genlis (1746-1830). Her works, which extend to at least eighty volumes, are chiefly educational treatises, moral tales, and historical romances.
Her political power depended rather on her private influence in the Orleans family than upon her pen.
Chateaubriand (1769-1848) must be placed side by side with Madame de Stael, as another of those brilliant and versatile geniuses who have dazzled the eyes of their countrymen, and exerted a permanent influence on French literature. While the eighteenth century had used against religion all the weapons of ridicule, he defended it by poetry and romance.
Christianity he considered the most poetical of all religions, the most attractive, the most fertile in literary, social, and artistic results, and he develops his theme with every advantage of language and style in the ”Genius of Christianity” and the ”Martyrs.” Some of the characteristics of Chateaubriand, however, have produced a seriously injurious effect on French literature, and of these the most contagious and corrupting is his pa.s.sion for the glitter of words and the pageantry of high-sounding phrases.
The salutary reaction against skepticism, produced in literature by Madame de Stael and Chateaubriand was carried into philosophy by Maine de Biran (1766-1824), and more particularly by Royer-Collard (1763-1846) who took a decided stand against the school of Condillac and the materialists of the eighteenth century. Royer-Collard restored its spiritual character to the science of the human mind, by introducing into it the psychological discoveries of the Scotch school. Benjamin Constant (1767-1830) infused into political science a spirit of freedom before quite unknown. In his works he attempted to limit the authority of the government, to build up society on personal freedom, and on the guaranties of individual right.
His writings combine extraordinary power of logic with great variety and beauty of style.
Proceeding in another direction, Bonald (1753-1846) opposed the spirit of the French Revolution, by establis.h.i.+ng the authority of the church as the only criterion of truth and morality. As Rousseau had placed sovereign power in the will of the people, Bonald placed it in that of G.o.d, as it is manifested to man through language and revelation, and of this revelation he regarded the Catholic church as the interpreter. He develops his doctrines in numerous works, especially in his ”Primitive Legislation,”
which is characterized by boldness, dogmatism, sophistry in argument, and by severity and purity of style.
The peculiarities of Bonald were carried still farther by De Maistre (1755-1852), whose hatred of the Revolution led him into the system of an absolute theocracy, such as was dreamed of by Gregory VII. and Innocent III.
5. FRENCH LITERATURE FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE PRESENT TIME.--The influences already spoken of, in connection with the literary progress which began in Germany and England towards the close of the eighteenth century, produced in the beginning of the nineteenth century a revival in French literature; but the conflict of opinions, the immense number of authors, and their extraordinary fecundity, render it difficult to examine or cla.s.sify them. We first notice the great advances in history and biography. Among the earlier specimens may be mentioned the voluminous works of Sismondi and the ”Biographie Universelle,” in fifty-two closely printed volumes, the most valuable body of biography that any modern literature can boast. Since 1830, historians and literary critics have occupied the foreground in French literature. The historians have divided themselves into two schools, the descriptive and the philosophical. With the one cla.s.s history consists of a narration of facts in connection with a picture of manners, bringing scenes of the past vividly before the mind of the reader, leaving him to deduce general truths from the particular ones brought before him. The style of these writers is simple and manly, and no opinions of their own s.h.i.+ne through their statements. The chief representatives of this cla.s.s, who regard Sir Walter Scott as their master, are Thierry, Villemain, Barante, and in historical sketches and novels, Dumas and De Vigny.
The philosophical school, on the other hand, consider this scenic narrative more suitable to romance than to history; they seek in the events of the past the chain of causes and effects in order to arrive at general conclusions which may direct the conduct of men in the future. At the head of this school is Guizot (1787-1876), who has developed his historical views in his essays on the ”History of France,” and more particularly in his ”History of European Civilization,” in which he points out the origin of modern civilization, and follows the progress of the human mind from the fall of the Roman Empire. The philosophical historians have been again divided according to their different theories, but the most eminent of them are those whom Chateaubriand calls fatalists; men who, having surveyed the course of public events, have come to the conclusion that individual character has had little influence on the political destinies of mankind, that there is a general and inevitable series of events which regularly succeed each other with the certainty of cause and effect, and that it is as easy to trace it as it is impossible to resist or divert it from its course. A tendency to these views is visible in almost every French historian and philosopher of the present time. The philosophy of history thus grounded has, in their hands, a.s.sumed the aspect of a science.
HISTORY.--Among the celebrated writers who have combined the philosophical and narrative styles are the brothers Amadee and Augustine Thierry (1787- 1873), (1795-1856), who produced a ”History of the Gauls,” of ”The Norman Conquest,” and other excellent works; Sismondi (1773-1842), whose history of the ”Italian Republics” and of the ”French People” are characterized by immense erudition; Thiers (1797-1877), whose clearness of style is combined with comprehensiveness and eloquence; Mignet (1796-1884), celebrated for his history of the French Revolution. The voluminous ”History of France,” by Henri Martin (1810-1884), is perhaps the best and most important work treating the whole subject in detail.
The downfall of the July Monarchy brought forth works of importance on this subject, the most noted of which are those by Lamartine, Michelet, and Louis Blanc. Lamartine's ”History of the Girondins” was written from a const.i.tutional and republican point of view, and was not without influence in producing the Revolution of 1848, but it is the work of an orator and poet rather than that of a historian. The historical and political works of Michelet (1778-1873) are of a more original character; his imaginative powers are of the highest order, and his style is striking and picturesque. The work of Louis Blanc (1813-1883) is that of a sincere and ardent republican, and is useful from that point of view, as is that of Quinet (1803-1875). Lanfrey places the character of Napoleon in a new and far from favorable light. Taine, so distinguished in literary criticism, has discussed elaborately the causes of the Revolution.
POETRY AND THE DRAMA; RISE OF THE ROMANTIC SCHOOL.--During the Middle Ages men of letters followed each other in the cultivation of certain literary forms, often with little regard to their adaptation to the subject. The vast extension of thought and knowledge in the sixteenth century broke up the old forms and introduced the practice of treating each subject in a manner more or less appropriate to it. The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries witnessed a return to the observance of arbitrary rules, though the evil effects were somewhat counterbalanced by the enlargement of thought and the increasing knowledge of other literature, ancient and modern. The great Romantic movement, which began in the second quarter of the nineteenth century, repeated on a larger scale the movement of the sixteenth to break up and discard many stiff and useless literary forms, to give strength and variety to such as were retained, and to enrich the language by new inventions and revivals. The supporters of this reform long maintained an animated controversy with the adherents of the cla.s.sical school, and it was only after several years that the younger combatants came out victorious. The objects of the school were so violently opposed that the king was pet.i.tioned to forbid the admission of any Romantic drama at the Theatre Francais, the pet.i.tioners a.s.serting that the object of their adversaries was to burn everything that had been adored and to adore everything that had been burned. The representation of Victor Hugo's ”Hernani” was the culmination of the struggle, and since that time all the greatest men of letters in France have been on the innovating side. In _belles-lettres_ and history the result has been most remarkable. Obsolete rules which had so long regulated the French stage have been abolished; poetry not dramatic has been revived; prose romance and literary criticism have been brought to a degree of perfection previously unknown; and in history more various and remarkable works have been produced than ever before, while the modern French language, if it lacks the precision and elegance to which from 1680 to 1800 all else had been sacrificed, has become a much more suitable instrument for the accurate and copious treatment of scientific subjects. At the time of the accession of Charles X. (1824), the only writers of eminence were Beranger (1780-1857), Lamartine (1790-1869), and Lamennais (1782-1854), and they mark the transition between the old and new. Beranger was the poet of the people; most of his earlier compositions were political, extolling the greatness of the fallen empire or bewailing the low state of France under the restored dynasty. They were received with enthusiasm and sung from one end of the country to the other. His later songs exhibit a not unpleasing change from the audacious and too often licentious tone of his earlier days. In the hands of Lamartine the language, softened and harmonized, loses that clear epigrammatic expression which, before him, had appeared inseparable from French poetry. His works are pervaded by an earnest religious feeling and a rare delicacy of expression. ”Jocelyn,” a romance in verse, the ”Meditations,” and ”Harmonies” are among his best works.
Victor Hugo (b. 1800) at the age of twenty-five was the acknowledged master in poetry as in the drama, and this position he still holds. In him all the Romantic characteristics are expressed and embodied,--disregard of arbitrary rules, free choice of subjects, variety and vigor of metre, and beauty of diction. His poetical influence has been represented in three different schools, corresponding in point of time with the first outburst of the movement, a brief period of reaction, and the closing years of the second empire. Of the first, Theophile Gautier (1811-1872) was the most distinguished member. The next generation produced those remarkable poets, Theodore de Banville (b. 1820), who composed a large amount of verse faultless in form and exquisite in shade and color, but so neutral in tone that it has found few admirers, and Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), who offends by the choice of unpopular subjects and the terrible truth of his a.n.a.lysis.
The poems of De Vigny are sweet and elegant, though somewhat lacking in the energy belonging to lyric composition. Those of Alfred de Musset (1800-1857) are among the finest in the language.
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