The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-31
SOME NEW BOOKS
rms un., nays or Tho Are,en ass,u.e.

the East DAYS OF tho hucten heRiUe.
II Ia IN extremely interesting book which.
undcr tho title of The Household Of the LaJdy
cites. has been compiled by EptTH SicuEI. md
unpublished by tho Macmillan Company. This IA
not only a biography OF Lafayette. but an no.
count Of his family and, indeed, Of tho social
changes which took place In Franco during his
long and ovcntful life. Especially effective ls
tho picture Of the Ancicn Regime during the
twenty years preceding the outbreak OF the
Revolution. Tho introduction, In winch this Is
exhibited. is well worth reading, oven by those
who are familiar with tho portrayals of tho
same subject by Carlyle and Tainc. We can
indicate the extent Of the authors researches
and the spirit OF equity in which shc writes by
directing special attention to this Introduction,
after which we shall turn to tho concluding
chapter of tho book, in which the authors view
81 Lafayette lie summed up in a few paragraphs.
1t 10 true, ms the author begins by saying,
mat poetry and fiction, as well ms history and
philosophy have been so busy with tho Ancicn
Regime that they havo done much to transfer it
TO tho domain Of magic, n picture book country,
where everybody moves romantically. and
morals do not exist. To tho majority, only super
ncially acquainted with tho records Of the times,
the Ancien Regime conveys All impression Of
enchanting vico and sensational starvation;
cupids and sorfs: deep c~urtsies, minuets. and
high heels that crushed human beings beneath
them; wax candles and intrigues; ladies in
patches and powder playing Mt les Gruces with
gentlemen in three-cornered hats and pink satin
waistcoats; gentlemen who bought their clothes
out of taxes wrung from the poor, and OCCASION
ally hunted their peasants instead OF stays. Yet,
as the author OF this book has tho good sense to
remind us, human nature, the one criterion we
noaanec hv twbi,h IN ipnlyn blatant ,n,n..,t-o.
was tho same then as now, though 1t existed
under different conditions; and human nature,
when consulted, can hardly accept rs probable
the fantastic pageant that writer's OF poetry and
fiction have so readily adopted. The reason
why the Ancien Regime is commonly depicted In
too sombre colors Is sufficiently obvious. Tho
evil that men do lives after them; the good is
oft inferred with their bones.'' The lurid excep-
tions in human history are tho easiest to remem.
Der; its unconsricuous, normal side naturally
slips out OF sight.
IL Is not, of course. commended in this book
that tho vice attributed to tho Ancien Regime,
and so persistently dwelt upon, was altogether
Q fiction. There was, undoubtedly, n corrupt
court party, whose vRGnrics can hardly be over
stated; but then there was almost as large a
number Of mobiles, some Catholic, some philo-
nophical, who led lives OF simple virtue and no.
liglous fervor. The mass Of the mobiles belonged
20 neither Of these extremes, but spent quiescent
existences good-naturcdly enough under a sys.
tenn, the rightfulness OF whicht they never stopped
70 question. They did as their noighbors did,
Judging good and evil by the standards OF tho
majority; in other words. they acted much like
their coumterpartsi In our own day. II we seem
less selfish. 1t Is only because the public
opinion that controls us has mounted to q higher
plano; to sink below the prescribed level often
requires as much originality as to rise above 1t.
The seldom-recognized truth is that the aspira.
tions, II not the actions OF the ordinary French
noble Of 1870 were strung at q far higher pitch
than are those of our contemporaries; as q mat.
ter of fashion he was penetrated by his Rous-
seau and his Voltaire. and there was more
nobility of sentiment current, even among the
commonplace members of his class. than there
has boon at any other period. Tho mistake in
the popular picture OF the Ancien Regime is
easy to discover and still easier to make. The
people portrayed are COMPOUNDED with tho sys-
tenn under which they lived. With this syst.m
in all its details and anomalies. every reader OF
Dc Tocqueville or Carlyle is familiar; tho au-
thor OF the book before us docs not undertake
to deal with 1t. Her task IL q more
eongenial one. 1t lies with the PERSONAL.
ties who formed the exceptions to tho rule, md
even with a restricted number among those per.
sonalities. We have referred to tho two ex.
tremes OF aristocratic society: the cell dc Beuf
on the one hand. and on the other the company,
30 much less known, of high-souled men and
women who irradiated the last years OF tho old
order. Among the latter the most winning In.
dividuals no doubt adhered to the orthodox re-
ligion; their personal piety had a distinction and
an attraction of it's own. There were also, how.
ever. among the mobiles mon who should be do.
Bcrlbed as philosophers. whose conduct was no
less pure and self.rcnouncing; men who were
practically more effective because more occupied
with theories of enlightenment and with public
affairs. or the religious type the Noailles
family were representative; Lafayette and his
friends were embodiments of the philosophic
type. The two types were united when Ad.
Fienno do Noailles became Nine. de Lafayette.
To present distinctly these two figures Is to
main purpose OF the book under review. 1t is,
however. only by understanding tho social con-
ditions Of any period that one can do justice to
the characters that live under them, especially
those OF larger mould that tried to master or
onnoble their environment. Biography, with
out this knowledge, has no moro vitality than a
sermon on a text considered apart from its con-
fonts. Alive to this fact, tho author. Lefore as
Stunning tho functions of q bIographer. pauses
to take n birdseyo view Of the French aristo-
cratic world as 1t existed in tho eighth and
ninth decades of the last century.
III.
At that time tho brilliant world was con.
tanned within the gates of Paris. the court end
OF which was Versailles. There all the mobiles
congregated; Paris provided them with aims;
Paris was the purveyor Of their pleasures. The
roads from the city to the provinces were for
the most part mere cart ruts. that looked as II a
Denttlhomne's coach could mover roll along
them. Unless it were to amuse a Partisan
party by a boar hunt and TO I'LL their halls with
the tinkle of Partisan witticisms, the grandees
never approached their lands of their own free
will. The iron persuasion OF a lcttre de cachet
could alone induce them 10 remaint there; the
two estates that were cited Gs exceptions In re-
spect OF prosperity were those OF tho exiled
Dukes of Choiseul and OF Aiguillon. 1t 10 only
when VIC realize how stationary gentlemen
then were, that we understand how they
found time for incessant society. copious
letter writing and absorbing friendship. They
did not SO much as stir out of Paris with their
families in the summer until lato in the cigh.