New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-01-11


that this seasoned man of letters has
not only buoyant and ineXhaustible
enthusiasm for his work, but remark
able fttnd of warm human sympathy.
With heart as we'll as with magma
ton he throws himself back into the
period. of. the Terror, and to be in his
company is actually to live over again
dramas nominally dead and buried
No other living writer has his gift for
reviving the very color and movement
Of French society at the time Of its
tragic overturn into the melting pot
and NJ Lenotre is equally distinguished
for the scholarly Recommendation of his
romantic narratives.
On this latter point we know, there
has been here and there some dissent;
but familiarity with his writings has
inclined us to confidence in his moth
DDS. and these, as il happens, are per
ticularly we'll justified in the introduce
ton he provides for the present collec-
ton of some half dozen 'historiettes."
Replying 10 one Of his critics, and Incl
dentaliy to all those commentators who
have accused him Of unduly heighten-
ing the effect of his facts by the use Of
a too fervid imagination. he analyzes a
salient case" and turning TO his
authorities, gives chapter and verse 10
show how meticuous he has been IN
his fidelity to them. Going on, more
over. TO the questions Of his "sensa-
tionalism" and the comparatively I'M
important and obscure nature of some
of his themes, he justly points out that
the minor incidents he has so often ex-
plotted are. after ALL, profoundly rep
resentative. and do much TO initiate us
into the very core OF the Revolution
AIRY movement. The agonies of the
humble are no less eloquent for the
, student of this epoch in French his
tory than are those of royal victims,
and perhaps they do even more in help
} ing us to realize the full weight OF that
trial through which the people of the
country passed and the manner in
which they bore themselves.
The episodes traversed in the book
before us are especially significant of
the mpnstrous conditions imposed by
the Terror upon provincial communi-
ties. The scum that rose TO the sur
face In Paris was poisonous enough in
its reaction upon the social fabric, but
il was very nearly surpassed by the in
fuences at work in the smaller towns
and on the countryside. There there
was greater scope for private malice
and revenge. A few functionaries of
n low type OF mind and character,
briefly invested by their Partisan mas
ters with practically unreasonable
authority. could turn some sequestered
locality into a hell, out of the depths of
which innocent men, women and chill
dren might cry in vain. The first of NJ.
Lenotre's narratives. "Taupin," sup
plies a thrilling Illustration. There
was a man of this name, in service
with the Bishop of Treguier, living
happily in that little Breton town when
its inhabitants were first beginning to
feel the stir Of the coming storm. He
had a wife and children, and the for
mer would appear to have unwittingly
attracted the specious attentions of one
lie Roux 4Cheffdubois. an official like
wise attached to the administration of
the cathedral Bishop lie Minticr,
diyining the Revolution. publicly gave
warning OF the horrors he foresaw, and
IA the upshot his Royaiist attitude
compelled him to emisrate. Taupin