New-York daily tribune., 1858-07-22
Nelu11ork Dailp Gaibn,a
LITERATURE At PARIS.

from the p,ess since the publication OF 'nc nfe
sof Cujzot's :" Memories" Arscne Hcussyss
new volume dissppo;nts tie expectations rss&
b, its title AID the name Of the author. Ai'aSsgA
!, ia By no means without certain merits, nA
spes ms.n'y Of its defects. For IN tieir Aino "a
are common to. snd It seems to me growing mow
AID uore common to, great deal OF modern Z fecdl
liObt le,ature. The substance is far intenof TO II
promise of the s'en.
The tile. lie Roi Tctaue, is a taking pars-
dcx. but rot resry as hsppiy maint,iped a. that d
tbs .. gi,toire du Al. Famcal" The lss.-usa.
,ior cd work ia a rare insisocs OF prol nsed Jn
c,sryi,. il $50. Its decided success h.s misied ~
sutl OF to this second attempt IN the same kuad'
witch is more pretentious aud l.bored' WINE isct'
ing tie attraction Of novelty. 1t 10 An essay -
Votare ard his times, snecdotical rather thsn hs
,o,:caI. fnuciful rather than reflective, laudato1
rather ,h.n critical LiHited to the compass ofs
review article, aud the natural play OF the sushxt
powers. i. would have furnished the reader a. n
Gchtfol two hours psstime. Stretched 10 400 oc-
tsgo pages, i. overstrsius the writer's faculty and
ths readers patience 81. Housssye, who s souo-
thing of a poet, is very little OF philosophical
thinker. His reflections are never deeper tnaa
sentiment His wit is abundant, bright, play.
ful: but instead of bringing 1t in after the mannw
of Voltaire and Sydney Smith, IA auxiliary 10 SOW
argument. the gliding of bitter sarcasin tne rose
wre ath of sharp-edged satire, he pushes II iorwsn
az principal Unsustaincd by sohd body d
thought undertaking an enterprise lar beyond ~
strength this light wit spreads out, Strainlng and
struggling with its great theme, through the boob,
caIGro To- the aid OF its exhausted forces the n
sources of mere verbal ingenuity. II an important
fact is stated or opinion expressed 1t Is almost surs
to be artifcally balanced BY an unimpoitant ooS
the really important thing with NJ. llousssye beng
the antitbesis The book brstles with such contsfh
YOU caenot 90 quietly down page OF what should
be- simple narration Your attention is dsagreeably
ierked up by some verbal cap-trap lying 10 tho way
You soon begin to dread meeting with them, az, ID
what might be pleasant conversation, you dread
the urmanncry interruptions Of morbid punstefs
verbal wittcisms.
The ROYALTY of Voltaire, which is promised ~
the leading idea of the book, is little more than lk
leading verbality. Such phrases as :" King Vo.
taire." the Kingdom of Voltaire, &C., frequently
recur like the refrain of a song Ia remind ths
readt 81 the drift of the author, which. indeed
would otherwise be in danger of forgetting. Fox
wherein that spiritual royalty really consisted, and
whit are the real limits of Votaires realm 10
very dimy shown. The fact is that Voltalre was
much less of king than subtle intrguer aud par
Z ssn revolutionary leader. Ills Office was 10 uaAs-
mine and attack, not to coordinate and rule. TAa
different chapters OF the book hltchcd on to thu
main title by such headings as these: 1.-The C0r0
nation of Nolfaire," "The Court of Noltaire,"
" The People of Voltaire," "The Queens" "Ths
Minister, The Dynasty of Notairc." This COZ
slant recurrence Of the metaphor is the substitute
for a real continuity Of thought with NJ. Housssye.
The degeDerscy of taste, shown by this excess Of
Of fhA
author Of the present work undoubtedly is, 49, as
Lad already remarked, grand defect with many
Of the contributors to modern French polite ltera-
ture. Perhaps 4 cause for II may be s0ugh. in tho
artifcality that reigns throughout every depart
ment Of Partisan life, which is at once highly stimu
lated and conventional, added to the ParIsans over
weening vanity, which finds the measure Of oil
truth and beauty within the barriers.
Since / lave spoken so i'll of this book il is but
fair to mention two of its merits. One H. that sofir
az it is biographical, i. is made, by happy citations
from Noltalre's letters and lesser compositions, ina
sort autobographical another is, that il gives W
some notice Of Notare in his yOuth--a part oil
the life OF the patriarch of Ferney that n TO
cursorlly treated by most Of his biographers Vd-
taire, handsome young fellow of twenty vor
" fast young fellow, eating three suppers Of
night, and committing other equally inexcusable
extrayagances, is hardly known to us. 10 give
fair and rather favorable specimen of the volume
(Under the disadvantage of transatiOn), | cite tho
opening sentences OF the preface:
" IN ihcss days, there was King who was slle4
N'sire. His kingdom mad neither beginning n0
end. He succeece1 Louis XIV. and traosmt I'd bic
scepter to Napoleon. He ecrs,sd klnE Of the
BuUsn intelligence at the Court OF Prussia by his
biotLer, Frederick II. He was orowoed et the Tui-
eyies TIE Theatre Frsncsis occupied part Il the
rossl pslsce at the time, I77Sl. Hs mini.tsrs were
81 great uen. Their Names were Dderot, d Alsnr
bert, Buior, Hevstius. Turgot, ,ndorcst lie hid
Tor Allies the Epp'ess Of Ru'sia Pope Clement XIV,
tie King Of Prussia, the King of Denmark the King
or Sweden, all the royalties wit ,out counting u
MHquss de Pomp sdour, QUEEN by the loft hsAd
lie had for ensmes-Dot 70 mention the ptti'uIyhxs
one..Jean Jacques Rousseau and n. de Voitsne-
that H. de Votsre who DC ird xr s,ion ss tas
division Of Poland who vas gen'lemsu Of the cham
ber OF LOUIS XIV, ard was Tot gentleman Of Carst.
His people-t was all peoples; b, fam lyit " - the
ntce of Corneile, the Of Lslly, the chldrsaM
Cslss ard Sfvep, all the dsinhertsd and ell the o
pressed"
Marie Antonette, ike her unwitting worst enemy,
N0ltare, appears 10 most Of in the latter phases
Of her life. We have seen her in Burkc's gorgeous
historical picture, brilliant, youthful queen, AM
then in the Temple, at the Conciergerie before tho
Revolutionary tribunal and on the scafIold, grsy.
haired While yet young, chlldess while her chIdfea
yet lived, widowed, martyred woman. The
brothers Edward and Jules Goucourt, those Sisues
twins OF literature, have written with their comnod
pen What purpOrts TO be the story of all her l' u
an octayO volume. entitled the ~ Hst0ir, II, Mars
1nto'nete." 1t is nor and does not pretend to be
profound historical work, but it is al interesting
narrative, in which historical tNth is perhaps teS
iayoraby colored, but not greatly distorted BY tho
brother blographers amiuble par;ialty for tae1
heroine.
There are people existing at the present day. and
sensible people, too, in some respects, who have
such general, loose, Illogical horror of revola-
nons, reign Of terror, the mob. Mazzini, com