manner of the passion of Henry II. for the duchess of Valentinois :" Il est vray que ce n' est ni le merite, ni la fidelité, de Madame de Valentinois, qui a fait naitre la passion du Roy, ni qui l'a conservée, et c'est aussi en quoy il n'est pas excusable; car si cette femme avoit eü de la jeunesse et de la beauté jointe á sa naissance; qu' elle eust eu le merite de n' avoir jamais rien aimé; qu' elle eust aimé le Roy avec une fidelité exacte; qu' elle I' eust aimé par raport à sa seule personne, sans interest de grandeur, ni de fortune, et sans se servir de son pouvoir que pour des choses honnestes ou agreables au Roy meme; il faut avouer qu' on auroit eu de la peine a s' empescher de louer ce Prince du grand attachement qu' il a pour elle." Notwithstanding this laxity with regard to royal gallantry, and which must have had its effect in private life, there is in the whole composition, in the sentiments and language of this romance, a certain chivalrous grandeur, joined to a certain delicacy of feeling and sentiment, which is extremely interesting. The historical details are usually correct, and the episodes are introduced with great art, and never disturb the effect of the main story. In short, this admirable work has all the dignity of the old romance, without its prolixity or ridiculous inflation, and it unites all the delicacy and minute

ness of delineation of the modern novel to a certain feudal stateliness and majesty, such as, in a higher path of literature, appears in the works of Bossuet and Corneille.

Madame La Fayette is also author of Zayde, a novel of considerable beauty and interest, and of a description resembling the Princess of Cleves, though, unfortunately, partaking somewhat more of the old school of fiction in its incidents and characters.

Gonsalvo, a Spanish grandee, disgusted with the treatment he had received at the court of Leon, the ingratitude of his prince, the treachery of a friend, and the infidelity of a mistress, retires into the wilds of Catalonia. He is accidentally received in the house of Alphonso, a grandee of Navarre, who was in retirement, on account of the misery he had occasioned himself, and those he most tenderly loved, by an extravagant and groundless jealousy. A community of wretchedness.cements the friendship of Gonsalvo and Alphonso. They resolve to dwell together, and this residence gives the author an opportunity of contrasting the effects and force of the misery which results from the conduct of others, with that which is the consequence of our own.

One day, during his stay with Alphonso, Gon

salvo, while walking near the shore, perceives the wreck of a vessel, and at no great distance a woman lying insensible on the sand. She is conducted to the habitation of Alphonso, and soon after recovers. Between Gonsalvo and this lady, who proves to be Zayde, a Moorish princess, and the heroine of the romance, a mutual passion arises. Residing on a desert shore, and ignorant of each other's language, their situation gives rise to a singular painting of the emotions and intelligence of passion, which is infinitely more interesting than the subsequent adventures of the romance.

The story of Zayde is somewhat inferior to that of the Princess of Cleves, but these two works united may justly be regarded as forming a new æra in fiction, and as effecting the most fortunate revolution we have witnessed in the course of our survey. The novels of Mad. La Fayette, were, according to the expression of Voltaire, "Les premiers ou l' on vit les moeurs des honnetes gens et des aventures naturelles decrites avec grace. Avant elle on ecrivoit d' un style empoulé des choses peu vraisemblables." Accordingly, we shall find that henceforth the old romance was com pletely exploded. Writers of fictitious narratives were now precluded from the machinery of the chivalrous, and the expedients of the heroic ro

1

mance. They could no longer employ giants or knights to carry a heroine away, or rescue her from captivity. They no longer attempted to please by unnatural or exaggerated representations, but emulated each other in the genuine exhibition of human character, and the manners of real life; and the approximation of their works to this standard came now to be regarded as the criterion of their excellence.

Subsequent to this important revolution in taste, the most celebrated novels which appeared in France are the Vie de Marianne, and Paysan Parvenu of Marivaux. Of these the first has been deservedly the most popular. It is the display of the noble pride of virtue in misfortune, and the succour it at length receives from enlightened beneficence.

A coach, in which Marianne, the heroine of the work, was travelling, when only two or three years of age, with persons afterwards supposed to be her parents, was attacked by robbers, and all the passengers murdered, with the exception of this infant. The child is placed under the charge of the curate of a neighbouring village, by whom she is brought up with much care and affection till her sixteenth year. At this period the curate's sister is called to

See Appendix, No. IX.

Paris to attend a dying relative, and takes Marianne along with her, in order to place her in some cre. ditable employment. During her stay in Paris, the curate's sister unfortunately falls sick, and dies after a short illness. By this time the curate had fallen into a state of imbecility, and his funds had been exhausted by the supplies necessary for his sister. Is was, therefore, in vain for Marianne to think of returning to him, and she had no resource left but in the protection of a Religious, to whose caré her friend had recommended her when on her death-bed. The priest delivers her up to M. de Climal, in whose benevolence he placed implicit confidence, but who only extended his charity on such occasions or the most infamous purposes. Marianne is accordinly pensioned with Madame Dutour, a woman who kept a linen shop, and, during her residênce there, the views of her hypocritical guardian are gradually developed. One day, while returning from mass, she accidentally sprains her foot, and being, in consequence, unable to proceed, she is conveyed to the house of M. Valville, who lived in the vicinity. Between this young gentleman and Marianne a mutual, and rather sudden, passion arises. M. de Climal, who was the uncle of Valville, accidentally comes into the apartment where his nephew was on his knees before Marianne. After her return to her former