The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-13
FTNCK .BRENTANO ATCOL UMBIA
1HE SOLVER or THE IRON MASK
EXPL ANS CORNEILLE.
Exaggerated sentiment In the French
Tragic Author Only the Echo OF
MS Period social Life ~ Nobility
ndcr lOuls NIL. and Nlcheleu.

french lecturers have ceased to be a
novelty in New York city Since Henri
hlois,,n. the great chemist, and Ferdinand
Brunctiere Of the French Academy and
tho unforgettabe trousers opened the way
,,, a wear has passed without some gem
tauln Of France going the round of the
colleges with lectures of some sort.
We have had ladylike literary men like
fdouard Rod and Rene Doumic. we have
had decadent poetasters like Count Robert
al. Moutesquiou Fczensac and NJ. Henri
d R6gnlcr we have had the apostle Of
the simple life. VI. Charles Wagner and we
have had sociologists and economists in
..,perabundance 1t has dawned on many
tat occurring in French may be as dreary
A. l,eturing in English and that some re-
card must be paid TO the personality Of
Tho lecturer himself
n any one could rehabiltate the French
Lecture and again associate with il the spark
Dn- Qualities that NJ Brunetiere impressed
,n New York 1t must be NJ Frantz Funck-
Brcntano. who talked much about Richeieu' 3
time and very lit about Corneille at Co
h,u.ba University yesterday afternoon
before crowded audience consisting
largely Of ladies' who had not been frightened
z,gav by the terrors OF weather or walking.
They we're by no means all college girls;
inc majority were middle aged and elderly
women who took in all that the lecturer
had TO say, and felt that their afternoon
wa by no means wasted
NJ Fuuck. Brentano is pleasant looking,
voingish man. certainly under 40. who
somehow seems to have escaped the &C.
eeutr.liues Of modern parsians. He
speaks distinctly and simply using the
French Of Notaire and Renan and other
respectable Frenchmen, the French that
, j. lear and beautiful, and free from the
iargon of the countless artistic schools
lie l. a historical student who has made
speciality of certain romantic puzzles IN
French history and has presented honestly
all the evidence, whether his solutions be
accepted or not in the questions of the
Man with the Iron Mask. Of the notorious
Bnnvher- polsonings and the AFFAIR OF
the QUEENS Necklace, among others he
has set strai ght "A good deal OF DumaS's
romantic hi- tory. and IL a first rate au-
thorty ON the period Of Louis XIV
Prof Adophe. Cohn OF Columbia intro
dured the lecturer to the audience in
humorous speech a. fellow graduate oil
the famous Ecole dies Charities at Paris.
Then NJ Funck-Brentano began his lecture,
an explanation Of Corneille in the light OF
the social conditions Of his day. His eH-
position was bright. WITTY. full OF amusing
and enlightening historical anecdotes, and
while never quoting and seldom alluding 10
the author or his works, it yet must have
gwen his hearers new views about the
understanding Of Cornelle. The audience
was quick 10 catch the lecturers points.
VI Funck -Brentanos thesis was that
1, j. very difficult to reproduce the feelings
and IDEAS Of earlier times and that no poet
has succeeded in doing so. AT most he puts
into the mouth OF his heroes the thought
Of his own time Shakespeare's Greeks
and Romans are Ehzabethan Englishmen
and CuruClle's heroes are only the echo
Of the nobility OF his period, the France
~ RiCheleu and Louis Nil He could only
understand them, and it is IN the social
history II the French nobility that we
must look for the explanation Of what seems
10 he his extravaganza
He gave "a analogous instances the
copies VI Titan made 10y Teniers, which
no one can mistake for anything but
TenIers or Boucher's copies Of Rubens.
lie might have given n more modern in
stance IN the queer appearance that Ameri-
can photographs take when reproduced |
in French or German journals
A the Inheritance OF the civil and rel gious !
wars IN France with the diSorganized !
remnants Of Journalism, the quality most |
highly esteemed at the court Of Louis NH. |
Was bravery or perhaps, brayado. War |
was the normal state Of the country and |
the mobiles chaied when there was no war. |
i was carried on with the most quixotic |
ideas Of chiyalry.
No commander could count on his sub |
ordinates for their strenuous valor inn |
reNed them to seek hand-to-hand en- |
counters and wholly ~ disregard orders. !
Defensive aTmOr was oowardy. and the |
French gentlemen attired themselves in |
silks and aces for a battle as they might |
for party. The reason that hoTseracing |
gained no ground until the end OF the |
eighteenth century in France was that it was |
not brave TO develop the speed of horses |
that might lie used TO run away.
The lecturer had good deal to say about /
duelling IN hcheleu's time, in spite Of /
edictr So long As there was a fight the /
cause did not matter. The duels were not. |
however, like the modern dues Of Paris. |
where every precaution IL taken to avoid |
misfortune They were rough and /
tumble fights IN which principals and sec |
ond, did their heat TO exterminate the other |
SIDE though some stickers objected to the
servants attacking opponents in the hack /
Whi'e they were fighting Boys Of twelve .
fought Gucls. 20 did domestic servants
o. cid women. and IN one case wife who
g1arreiled with her husband putthree sword
thrNsis through him in a single combat.
Violence characterized many other re-
Atons II life. The Duke dEpcrnire
punched the Cardinal Archbishop Of Bor-
deauE % the face and prodded him in the
'@lly with his cane. telling him that II 1t
t'.'t l'N Inv lFNi ffA ne iflA lAl MN anu
H. Office he would have knocked him down
One eager lover blew up his lady loves door
win a bomb. bur she was ready for him
hnd routed him with her pistols Another
throw bis sword before tho lady who re-
le'ied him telling her she might pierce his
hear' with ii and she took him a his word
hn1 ran him through
Another characteristic Of the age was the
extreme youthfulnes~ Of mind u every one.
IN -iances Of this are the seriousness with
winch rival things We're taken: for ex-
amy 7" ihe incident 81 Richciieu's being
caught dancing and trying 10 see how high
,' could Jump 4 sample Of tho peculiar
,1"as n ga.lantry was tho Portuguese ann
hai-eador's wearing in his hat Young girls
'lN stocking which he had bribed her
''aniermaid 10 steal II was an age q
''aggorated dcIcacy Of sentiment in some
'"nFs and ~ excessive Frossness in others.
e-- iii--'- - ia Reflected in Gorneiie'H tTHE
woes The eyagEeration - that Of the
',.'l and not that Of the poets fancy.
D. New Thursday afternoon NJ Funck-
i''h'ann will deal with Raclnc's heroes no
"'' same way and at the same place