The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-01-24

| tNmel1nS. IL IL n CURIOUS law 'hoN
whose hypcr.refnemcnt OF sentiment ana
style gave rise to a new substantive. mari
| rduda5e and OF whom Voltn'ro observed.
This man knows all tho paths OF the human
| heart but has never found tho highway.
should in hs story Of Marianne have set
| himself tho task OF making p!cbeian woman
| relate In old age tho adventures OF her youth.
| That is to say. hc opened for France tho vein
which was to be worked In England by kich-
| ardson's' Pamela" and Ficldings Joseph
| Andrews" and to which !. j. Rousseau was 10
| rccur in his "Nouvelle H6loise.'
| rho only poet who deserves mention In the
early years OF the eighteenth century Is ]. b.
| Rousseau whose verse has been compared
| by La Harpu with tho best Of Dryden
| An essayist Of nearly the Same period was
| the MARQUIS de Vauvenarguos. to whom propa-
bly, because he IL comparatively untamil'ar 10
English readers. Mr.. Keene dcVotes couple
Of pages. His mayims remind ono OF La
Rochafoucnuld. though he isless Of cynic. ana
does not fall into the mistake OF cohfounuing
deliberate selnshness with tho instinct oil sell
preservation. He also wrote Characters In the
manner OF La Bruyare. but 1t Is in his Pcnsees.
which arc not altogether unworthy to DO
coupled with Pascal's. that he contin-
ues to survive. Ho hns the power of elicit
ing and kccpng sympathy. although hc is
often trivial In thought and bald in expression.
or course tho groat names OF the Ago Of Rea-
son. as Mr.. Keene calls tho epoch between tho
death OF Louis XIV and tho convocation OF the
States Gcneral. nre those OF MontesQuiou.
votaire. and Rousseau. Tho two first mon
toned were the last rcformers Of their coun-
try's prose- What had been before All instru-
ment of narrative became In their hands II
sinew OF war. The author OF this handbook
dcvotes good deal OF space to expounding
"a ht.t, ~,, Al ct,
cance of the Esprit des Lois. which, as Nine.
du Deirand said. should rather have been
called L'esprit sur los Lois. The two pages
awarded in this manual to Votairo are by no
means adequate but somo concluding
sentences arc worth noting in which VOL
taire and Rousseau are compared from
the viewpoint of their historical importance.
Greut as was Voltaire's influence upon his
own time and the era Immediately following
1t. the influence OF Rousseau was even greater.
Yet in the eyes OF contemporary observers no
two men could seem moro dissimilar or more
unequal than the aspiring man Of tho world
an exemplar Of Regency manners and the
Swiss lackey. with his exaggerated. scarcely
Ineligible sentimentality. and no manners at
all. Voltaire was a highly cultivated product
OF civilization. whilo Rousseau affected to be-
lieve that civilization was the cause OF all
social maladies; hence his teaching. poisoned
at its source by this sophstry. was exactly
suited to do the minimum OF good and the
maximum OF harm 10 a people Of hereditary
bondsmcn. conspicuously excitable. vain. and
ill-educated. like the mass Of the reading pub
lie OF France in the eighteenth century Whom
the constitutional reform movement Of 1888
had broken down and power had passed into
the hands Of unframed Missionaries and homi-
cidal maniacs. it was natural that the most ex-
travagant proposition should find the readiest
acceptance. Thus it came about that the Cos
pei according to Rousseau. while putting no
restraint upon the criminals OF the time. con-
tinued to supply them with specious texts and
sonorous maxims.
But whatever signs Of credulity. sentimen-
tally. and weak judgment may be discernible
in the literary Tone after this had been affected
by Rousseau. science made its way. and specu-
lntive thought Of materialistic character be-
came active and aggressive. Mr.. Keno names
piderot, DAlombert. Helvetius. D'Holbach,
and Condillac. but he omits to characterize
Condorcet and he does not mention any OF the
economists with the exception OF TurGot. Tho
failure OF the Encyclopedia is attributed to
Diderot on the ground that he wrote as he
talked. pell NELL. and without reflection or re-
straint. and that he was. therefore. ill-suted to
be the conductor OF an enterprise in which
severe method was the first requirement.. It
is nevertheless admitted that to Diderot's I'M
fagging energy was largely duo the nominal
completion OF the colossal work.
Among writer's who belong rather by date
than character to the Age OF Reason may be
mentioned Fontencle and Marmontcl. The
formers style is still commended by French
critics. but he is now seldom road. and Is
chiefly remembered by tho circumstances that
his mother was sister OF Corneile. and that
he lived to be 100 years old. II anything of
Marmontel survives it Is his stories. Bell
saire" and LES Incas." which We believe are
still occasionally used in young ladies' schools.
Far above such men stands George Louis
Leclerc. better known as tho Comte de Button,
whose Historic Naturelle." composed in n
noble dlction. anticipated pivotal discovery
Of modern times by showing that an unbrok on
succession OF forms could DO traced through the
animal kingdom. thus suggesting to Iamarck
and others n now classification and tho idea OF
the origin Of species.
The Age OF Reason is considered by tho au-
thor OF this manual to have lasted from the
death OF Louis XIV. to the Restoration: IL
therefore ostenslbly included Andrs. Chenicr.
and Chlteuubrand who are slnguurly mod.
ern in tone and do not seem In spirit to belong
to tho century Of their birth. OF Chenicr the
interesting fact is recalled that he was only
half Frenchlnan. being the son OF diplo.
HldllC Dy u uTeck mOtner, and having
from childhood been accustomed to Greek
idcas and the sound OF the Greek language,
From his Jeuhc Captive written on a fellow
prisoner under the shadow OF the scofYold
some stanzas are quoted on tho ground tbnt
they breathe tho spirit OF modern sentiment
in all tho purity OF IN ancient style. NJ
keene also roproduces u part OF tho re-
markable letter written by ChGnier for
Louis WI. by way OF Il last appeal to his mex.
orablc Judges. In Chateaubriand the com.
pller Of this handbook recognizes something
Of an nrstocratic hypocrite. while he i. in.
clinei TO agree with those who detected in
HernnGnr leisnol senialty,, and called him
,,u,nnlIhn K n"mnoinm" ne, N thhteaubriand. ~
revolution were shown not SO much In rea me-
ton as ina strange aesthetic skepticism with
lad Inc POW, Of ey,9,king enthusiasm Of his
and 80; 10 snis REPUBLICAN, par inclination.
hourDonion par devor. ct monarchistr mr.
inison.' In II similar spirit he called himsnlt
.Democrate nar principtes ct Hristocrnte par
'o"s 20 w9 ,% and showing in ills io no
he yet wrote n most eloquent defence OF t'nriu