In this work

romances was on the wane, and was probably still farther shaken by the ridicule of Boileau. That poet informs us, that in his youth, when these works were in fashion, he had perused them with much admiration, and regarded them as the master-pieces of the language. As his taste, however, improved, he became alive to their absurdities, and composed the dialogue above-mentioned, which he declares to be "Le moins frivole ouvrage qui soit encore sorti de ma plume." the scene is laid in the dominions of Pluto, who complains to Minos, that the shades that descend from earth no longer possess common sense, that they all talk galanterie, and upbraid Proserpine with having l'air Bourgeois. During this conversation, Rhadamanthus announces that all hell is in commotion; that he had met Prometheus at large, with his vulture on his hand, that Tantalus was intoxicated, and that Ixion had just ravished one of the furies. Cyrus, Alexander, and other heroes, are summoned from the Elysian fields to quell the insurrection. They appear accompanied by their mistresses, and the satire on the heroic romances is contained in the extravagance and affectation of their sentiments and language.

It seems unnecessary to search farther into the causes of the decay of the heroic romance, of

5

which the temporary favour may perhaps appear more unaccountable than the decline. Similar causes contributed to render pastoral romance unpopular; and, except in the works of Florian, there have been no recent imitations, of any note, of that species of composition. Spiritual fictions, of which the object was to inculcate a taste for the ascetic virtues, came to be regarded as despicable, in consequence of the increasing lights of reaPolitical romances had never formed an extensive nor popular class of fiction, nor, in modern times, have there been many imitations of such works as the Utopia or Argenis.

son.

CHAPTER XIII.

French Novels.-Fairy Tales.-Voyages Ima

ginaires.

THE human mind seems to require some species of fiction for its amusement and relaxation, and we have seen in the above survey, that one species of fable has scarcely disappeared, when it has been succeeded by another. The decline of the tales of chivalry produced those various classes of romantic composition with which we have been recently engaged, and the concurrent causes which hastened their decay, were indirectly the origin of those new sorts of fiction, which became prevalent in France, in the close of the 17th, and during the first half of the 18th century.

These, I think, may be reduced into four classes. 1. That which is founded on a basis of historical events, as the Exiles of the court of Augustus, and those numerous works concerning the intrigues of the French monarchs, from the first of the Merovingian race to the last of the Bourbons.

2. Novels, such as Marianne, Gil Blas, Heloise, &c. of which the incidents, whether serious or comical, are altogether imaginary. 3. A species of romance of a moral or satirical tendency, where foreigners are feigned to travel through the different states of Europe, and describe the manners of the inhabitants. This class comprehends such works as the Turkish Spy, and is partly fictitious and partly real. The journey and characters are the offspring of fancy, but a correct delineation of manners and customs is at least intended. 4. Fairy Tales, to which may be associated the French imitations of the Oriental Tales, and the Voyages Imaginaires.

1. The object of historical novels is to give to moral precept, the powerful stamp of experience and example. It was supposed that adventures, though in some measure fictitious or conjectural, of well-known heroes, would produce a more powerful impression than the story of an imaginary personage. In most compositions of this description, however, we are either tired with a minute detail of events already well known, or shocked by the manifest violation of historical truth.

The intrigues, both amorous and political, of the court of France, have given rise to the greatest number of compositions of this description, which

appeared during the period on which we are now entering. As far back as the year 1517, a sort of historical romance was formed on the subject of Clotaire and his four queens; but this style of writing does not appear to have been accommodated to the taste of the age, and a long period elapsed before it was imitated. About the middle of the subsequent century, M. de la Tour Hotman published the Histoire Celtique, in which, it is said, the principal actions of the French monarchs are shaded, but so faintly and ambiguously, that those who are but moderately conversant in French history, cannot trace any correspondence in the incidents. At length, however, in 1695, appeared the Intrigues Galantes de la cour de France, written originally by M. Sauval, and afterwards improved and enlarged by Vanel, by whom it was published. It is a history of the amours of the French sovereigns, from the commencement of the monarchy to the reign of Lewis XIV. To a passion, which has, no doubt, especially in France, had considerable effect in state affairs, there is assigned throughout this work a paramount influence. It is represented as alone prompting the Merovingian family to unbounded atrocities, as the motive which stimulated Charles VII. to achieve the freedom of his country, and in fu