, 1879-05-03

Ednannd 4haui in Ln1tdon 4tAeu9un
| The literature which 'l'Assommor" is the
| tyne, Is making such progress in France that !
! 1oresee the day when ''La File aux Yeux a. Orr
] Of Balzac, "Aiauemoiselle DE- Maupan.'' - Mad.
| anne Bovary," and Mademoiselle Giraud ma
Fcmme,' will be given as prizes ut con.
| vent schools for girls For long time
the "Fille Elisa" Of NJ. De Goucourt
has been surpassed by TWO or three
works of Mme. Quivogne, who uses the sigma
! ture OF Mare dc Montifand, and by Madame
Becart, /" which itself is tame in comparison with
a new masterpiece Of the same kind, lies
Snnrs Vatard." II remains to be seen whether
the SGurs Vatard are more chaste and ideal
than "htadme Andre" the novel of N. Jean
Richepin. Some eccentric Englishmcn will, per-
hans, have the curiosity to collect all these
abotninations; but warn them that these tales
resemble French novels as closely as the Cham
Der Ut Horrors Of Ame. Tussaud does the treas
ures OF the British Museum.
Still IT is true that people buy, as they go
along, this horrid stuff, and that thanks to its
financial success disciples throne to the school
OF n. Lo1a- This master, as they call him,
metes out praise and advice to bis imitators,
after having yilitied In Russian journal all his
contemporaries VINO permit themselves to think
and write; and extols Il Madame Becart u in a
letter Of forty-three lines, when the publisher
prints at the beginning of the book and which
hc cadyertises on the cover. It is in the name OF
''notre n1ditTe a fous. fe grand Bd'zac," that n.
III. Lola distributes his prizes. The fact is that
be descends from Balzac as Frcrop IRON the
Abbe Desfontaines; but he takes the relation
ship seriously aud it Is pleasure to listen to bis
oraces. He discusses like agourmet all the impro-
prieres OF the epoch, dwe!ls upon the evil smells
aud smiles paternally on the heaps OF dirty linen
as il they were family treasures. Nothing is
more curious than this attitude OF professional
rag-picker and diettante frequenter Of the
sewers. The tllustrions author Of the ''Sym-
phonie dcs Fromages'' - has cultivated ali his
senses to such pitch that a falls. note that
would have escaped the Maiade lnagfnaire
would be at once detected By his subtle organi-
cation.
When tell you that such oachyderm is
Last summer charming young man, highly
educated, distinguished. who had Just won q
prize offered by the Academy, came to the Office
Of the Diz-n:'.eit,ne Steele 70 ot1cE me novel
story. full Of details that showed knowledge,
about a naaitre Gdu1es in the Quarter Latin, who
began BY drinking beer, went on to BRANDY, and
then to abslnthe, and wasted the bones
Of his skull to such an extent that
ne showed bis fingers into his brain. All,
French fiction has advanced since the days of
"Telemaque ~ The hero OF the last novel that
~. zo!a has blessed with his pontifical hands is
also maitre detudes, or as the phrase is, pon.
He is ugly, he is vulgar, he is red-hared, be |
dresses like m ape, and Is as stupid as goose.
While dangling alter servant-girl be manages |
to inspire an unbrid1ed passion in the mistress |
OF the house, happy woman loved By !
millionaire Doct. This mad woman-how can /
she be called anything else?-tbinks to seduce |
him BY leaving him 200, coo francs, but the mo-
ment tue will is signed aud sealed he shuts up
Madame Becars in Gothic mousc-trap and J
leaves her there to die of starvation. He is him
sell kllled Dy Game-keeper, and the unfor-
tutlate poet dies of sorrow without Enowinr
why, simply TO give the final touch to this plot,
as new as it is probable. Such is the stuff that
delights our portieres, and perhaps some Of our
1onrgaoses in the year of delicate tastes, 1870
Now or never should pyramid, 500 feet high,
be reared IN honor of the modest, amlable, and
truthful Paul de Rock. 000