New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-05-22
LITERATURE ~ FRANCE.
From Our Own CorresIona~u,
P,Rrs. WednsA1sy Hay ?, 1854.

Fourth Estate IKE Wiz and reason might have found
a Fifth in the Boob Pedders, whose inhseaee IN
Frsnce he. hardly been less although 1t has been
strangely overlooked by Government and .. historians
Until cutie reo%xtly Thanks 10 Charles Nisard- we
have a, last Esfory cf Popular Books or 81 iae Lar
erature Of Coortcge run the 18Th css:ur 20 the IN
sttutan of y; Commission for examining the books ei
coh,ortage (His,oriedes Lures r0pSdirs, fc, Fos
svo 81 frsoe.1 In November. l-52, VI. de Mlupas
srr.inted a Permanent Commission Of ColpOrt4ge,
which On the suppression Of me Ministry OF Police,
vss transferred the Department Of the Interior,
under fersigny. where II holcs lts strings once week
Under the late Republic Law was passed intended "a
regulate eoportsge. Tie ordounsnce Of the Imperial
Minister # Police the compliment to this law. in-
elective in itself 10 purify The literature Of col ortsge
II presores that every colpored book must bear an
official stamp No book receives this eregHaiEr unless
has been examined and approved by the Commission.
They are thus the editors Of The peoples book
Standing Con mttee popular education. The eoun-
try towns ard villages Of France not very much
better provided with booh-shops and libraries than
they were twenty years ago; meantime the law Of
1-33 which organized 4 general system Of primary
education has multiplied the number Of readers and
excited their appetite for knowledge. To This appe-
te, greedy and ndiscrmnae the voracity OF young
pun pies tie coporteurs reaoy ministers, ofe.-
ing too often the yerrest chal Of letters, such
and fouler than the yellow covered
corruption furtv,ly vended at of our railroad
stations and steamboat landings. The number OF these
travelling booksellers is about $500, who traverse
France each in bis own district and yearly distribute
scne nine millions of volumes besides prints and en-
cravings. Their annual receipts estimated at
f,tlo,LCCf Their beat customers, rs was Just mt
mated are the Inhabitants Of the provinces. part
of tie they vendthe production of which the
almost exclusive business Of certain long established
FULFILLING boufes-foTms part Of what readers OF
ordinary cultivation understand by French literature
The majority of French scholars native or foreign
ere ignorant OF it 0ne-ha Of the world prover
bal il If The life of the Other-rnateral spiritual
And vet il is well worth the knowing. not only 10 the
blphie and literary archaeoogst but 10 the student
81 The philosophy of history. For these books, witn
tier o, scurtcs tupertii0ns hlyobties Their mora
ard religious Teachings their Wit and hunor, TIER
fanccs and images in fine whatever they have of good
and bad have been-sonle of them for ages-the food
Of the French popular mind from which. ny asflmna
ton of spiritual chemistry ideas and emotions NATIONAL
character and national acts have grown. NJ Nlsatd
wac by BIZ position of the Secretaries OF the
Permanent Commis, ion spared the labor OF collecting
the materials of bis work, while the labor oi examlil-
rg them was his daily office. His previous studies
not altogether foreign To- the nature OF the pres
ent work. Its title would he more appropriate If tho
word - History omitted or - Review subsri-
,uted NJ Nsard is photographer rather than hsio-
rim: happily he il not an bibOmaniac nor philo
soI hiftic tleorist He mOdestly pretends only 10
give the reader at least idea of the literature OF
coli ort8ge, its origins and varieties. To attain this
crd he gives representative specimens of this literature
in the share foneiimes of entire work, oitener o
copious extracts from curious texts, of titles when
ly sufficiently Indicate the nature Oi the contents OF
a lock. There are frequently accompanied by Illus
tIave cuts taken directly from the blocks used by the
rubl,lers of colported books, which for antiquity
aud uuaintrees are as curious as the text.
ON all these VI. Nisard is ineligible, sensible,
bibliogrsphical commentator His occasional moral
ref ciions are commonplace when they are sound.
His frequent attempts at pleasantly are not sue
ssfi and would still be mpertinent II they were
Those two the only marked faults That is but
little evto say Of nearly 200 octave pages. Nearly
two-thrds &C the work is made up of specimen ex-
tracts copous aud well chosen ~ 70 convey IN
Themselves toleraby correct idea of the mass from
which they selected. This is the most valuable,
the documentary portion of the history. IL Is unique
Of its Kind requiring for its compilation, even after the
materials all collected. as they never before had
been collected to any ones hand, amount of drudg-
cry that the author needed the double motive Of bbi
oeiaphic zeal and official duty perform. Free from
vain professions 10 originality in the explanatory por-
ous Of the work. he has wisely and freely taken to
bis aid the profounder but more limited researches OF
several eminent French bibophiics. In his preface he
renders due thanks on this account 10 Paul lacrox,
DIETER known by his de piHme lie Blbiophile Ja-
cob that fountain Of photographic knowledge that
raIe and finished type of literary disinreresedness;
10 the editor Of the journal de maend LicrS when
t. pursue the aquaeous smile might be called the
reservoir of numbercss tributary streams winding
down through rarey-explored literary fields. and tn
NJ. FCurtCul. at present Minister ut Public lnstruc-
ton The essay OF this last the Danse Maed1re or
the Dance Of Death is by anal or direct quotation
incorporated almost entire in the second volume The
bbonansc and the general reader will be equally con-
tent with the manner at erude and attractive,
in which NJ. Fourtoul Las treated his Interesting
theme.
While reading NJ. Nisard's volumes kept ever in
mir the readers of THE TRIBI Me- marking from time
to time passage, by the translation OF which thought
10 make them parakers Of the entertainment should
say that the Of these passages from hns to preface
Il roughly calculate them, turning backvard-wonld
fill psge or two of your paper TO the exclusion OF
better matter. Here is one, not sample of the rest
more than another. choose it because it is short and
| happen 10 remember the page II Is on. IL Is taken
from a treatise :Cvility praetsed in good com
''pany in France and elsewhere" The book dates
back into the 18th century, but las been frequently
edited ard widely circulated in later times. |,
ains among other things, rules for the conduct of all
parts Of the body-thys:
The hands should be washed every day. BE careful
not scratch yourself 10 kill lice feas nor 70 gnaw
you rails in company Let the ears be open 10 good
cetons the word Of od and 10 all sorts OF good cOun
sells let them Ice closed vanity 10 attery, 10 SANDER.
They should be cleaned from time 10 time with smooth
well-made esrpick.
And So on-wiih rules Of behavior practed in good
society In the present work NJ Nisari treats of the
literature of colportage it has been. He promises
another on what II has become under the censorship
If the Permanent Commission.
Heire is preparing complete French edition Of his
poems translated from the German by himself and by
friendly coloborators He makes the announcement in
characteristic letter Ia Dumas. from which give two
extracts:
.'Some weeks ago You expressed in your journal in
entn Of coming soon. Il happy thought.
But f,rewaln Won that II you defer your visit much
longer you will not be Ike find At my present apart
n.rt Rue d Amsterdam. and that .hall have moved
to another residence which Is quite unknown % me
that shall be able 10 leave a. ress with the
ceree in such tsrdy friends A. you come 10 AK for