New-York tribune., 1876-07-01
PARISIAN TOPICS.
,,,rp, I,pOu HENRY JAMES, JR.

-. .,.,,.oyurD-THE LATE GEORGE SAND.
,xpou , REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE llNboNh''
p,,,o lime 9.-To people who are fond OF good
-. recommend those of the late NJ. Doudan'
-ticb have lust been published by the oonte
EUauesonville one of his principal correspondents
caIIot,ors sre the most entertaining reading Ito
nv sepsel in the world and in these two ut must DC
.onsoseed ratber formidably massiye) volumes this
hra,ch oi literature exceptionally rich IN France
hos received delightful accession. M Doudah was
not known to fame, aud his letters VIII not inaho
M famous, iua.nuch as their interest is OF avery
,roropi, order and their charm of sort to be appre
.iatcd only by people OF delicate TASTE ""o ,;.o
always in tie minority. Bnt they are very exquiSi'e
r.. f,s,;f,, eIoopentlv to the culture the intel
Goeuce and .le intellectual good mariners Vi
tbo CIRCLE of which their author was -"
,.oohor and of which they form as IL
were simplv the written cohVels'.'o"s' n
Doudop was one Of those men tevery one mas kho"h
onoc,,,opl whose friends speak OF thcm ahi' ther
o,rers I'm supera.ivc terms, but whom, as theIe Is
rt,le 70 show for these same powers, the OUTSIDE
world must take ON trusi-the men of whom, 10 the
III &c tl n Gays it is said that they might do great
,biu,s if they orly would. They pass away WITHOUT
hoving done ANYTHING and the brutal world shrugs
,t sbouldegs and observes that when people can do
ornotbing thcy manage sooner or later to d0lt
Ibot - MN stands all his life on the brink OF
no .trc,n, i is safe to conclude that he does not
kron Low to swim. Sainte-Beuve somewhere
,,eaks of ~ D,udan one of the "SupTemeS dehcatS
boso ideal S placed 80 high that they give up ever
rying to r,Ach it. A great many clever men douoI-
L., boor, In tt,s ca, CORY, as well as great many
,borlataps: but we must not forget the homey
,roverb which SAYS that 10 make an omelette
you must break your eggs 10 wri'e
"a bool, one must hang ones ideal on
z nj
,ossed the greater part of his life in the family OF
p.o,lio 90 which he had been introduced through
benq engaged as preceptOr to young NJ. dc kocca'
te son of Madame dc Stall by her second marriage
He was an intimate friend of the Duchess de Broglle,
tbe daughter of Madame de Stael; believe that
tbis lady was saint, aud that the intimacy was OBJ
served TO 20 as far as an intimacy between SAINT
and an agreeable man may 90. HIS correspondents
in these volumes &c chiefly her children and her
so,.;p-law. NJ. dHaussonve. The letters range
from the wear 1927 TO the year 1872 the period OF
tbe authors death many ot them, year after year.
are dated from that chaIiug chateau OF Coppet' on
the Lake of Ger wa in winch Madame de Staei
spept her wears of exile and to which her descend
ants have continued TO resort. NJ. Doudan was pre-
eminently literary man; literature was his pas
SION and two-thirds OF hrs alluslons IN these vol
umes are to books but he wrote very little and
nublishcd less-tie editor informing us that even
his maqpam Oy,p, brief and extremely
condensed treatise on the art OF style
and the principles of literary composition, which he
had spent great deal OF time in polishing and per-
fectng, never left his portfolio. l believe however,
that il is now to be given TO the world. don't
know what NJ. DoId&n's teOIi,s We're but his prac-
tce is admirable. His Own st. lo' Is charming and
the amount of excellent, Of exquisite writing buried
IN these essentially familiar letters may excite the
at,isf nj larNrI Iuau uVlpr
threatens to saver more and nCEeOfthe telegram and
the postal card There letters and letters those
OF ~ Doudan are decidedk :old-fashiOncd," but
thev are not in the least ponlerous. They are not
formal dissertations on the one nard nor on the
other are they marked by the desperate vivaciy of
many of those social scribes WHO know that their
letters are to be read aloud ari landed about.
They touch upon eveIything--cN - OF the day,
people books abstract questions; S,me readers VIII
perhaps complain that they contain too little gossip,
and absolutely no scandal. They have a great deal
of humor pitched in the minor key; 1t is never
quite absent but it never rises TO the hight Tor
sinks to the depth of the comic Lad marked
great many passages for quotation, bat | must use
the privilege scantiy. Eyo.y now and then there is
something eXcelleDtly said-as when, speaking of
foreign htcratures, and declaring Jhat one never,
really enters into them tocnter into them, as
the natives do, that they Ia ways a strangeness
for u.s. NJ. Doudan af1irms tA&J "at bottom there
are only two things that really please u.s. the ideal
or own likeness" Excellent too - this about
Rousseau: 81 am not surprised <hat he has dis
pleased YOU. There is nothing sadder to see than
this lively imagination, witt its strength and
severity, governed by vulgar incnatons. He
wished sincerely to live according 10 the I'd al which
ne saw floating before him, but his nature rebclling
too strongly he squeezed into his ideal all the pitt
able qualities of his personal nature, by conscience
BY insanity and also by certain per}crsty." And
ST. Augustine he adds WHOM his correspondent
appears also 10 have been reading, his confessions
make think of everything They are like
fne night of Africa. Great shadows, vast spaces,
and the eternal stars" NJ. DCudan had, as young
man. paid a short visit to Italy, and his Italian
memories kept him company for life. HIS illusions
TO Italian things are constant, and they have an
almost passionate tenderness. "A young Roman
girl of the bourgcosie has her confesJ lodging be-
hind ST. Peters and in passing she thinks neither
Of the dome of st. Peters, nor of the Egyptian
obesk nor of the statues Of Beuni, OF the
lions of Canova; but all these things are mingled
cOnfusedly with her real life. She il a bright little
flower on the wills Of a great monument The sun
of Rome has given her her brightness but she doesn't
know it. An old English lady declaims rs she gaZos
on the Roman horizon, the catacOmbs and the pines
Of the Villa Pamfli and while the old English
lady remains ugly and pale and declamatory' Tie
little Roman bourgeosie, who has never been 80
lse grows up and becomes beautiful without think
ing of the TaTquins the GrdcChi. NJ dc Langsd0rl
he adds, "means to SAIL but for my par, iona as
am Of nature, shouldn't care to 20 INTO those un-
settled parts of America would rather see kOnigS-
berg or Nuremberg, under their grey sky, than all
those virgin forests which have never been looked
at but by lumber dealers. | am like my old English
laIts titur-