lished in 1788, in the fourth volume of the Studies of Nature. The tale is founded on fact. Saint Pierre is a writer of great feeling; his style is simply elegant, not devoid of ornament, and what there is, is selected with great taste."-Barbier's Bibl. vol. 5, p. 118. The Chaumière Indienne is one of the most attractive tales in any language. It is replete with interest; and the style is animated, rich, pure, and harmonious. SOUZA (Madame de). Mademoiselle de Tournon. Paris, 1820, 2 vols. 18mo. Eugène et Mathilde. Paris, 1821, 2 vols. 12mo. 6 "Madame de Souza has written several very popular novels. The story of Eugène et Mathilde is perhaps more artfully constructed than any that Madame de Souza has hitherto produced. The time of the events is during the first years of the French Revolution, and the struggles of an uncloistered nun with her vow of singleness, afford, if not the chief, the most touching source of its interest. The characters of the three sisters, the prim, rigid Ernestine, que dès quinze ans on eut voulu rajeunir'; the capricious, but affectionate and natural Mathilde, who, when expostulated with on any of her faults, thinks it enough to answer gaily' je suis comme cela', and the gentle young nun, Eugénie, whose ready sacrifices to another world, are enhanced by her susceptibility of the best affections of this; all these various portraits are touched with a delicacy, a discrimination, and a truth, which throw an air of perfect reality over the painful story to which they belong. The story of Madame de Tournon is founded on a few pages in the Mes de Marguerite de Valois, which relate the melan * choly death of the young Hélène de Tournon, daughter of the celebrated woman of that name, who twice defended the town of Tournon against the Protestants. * * The personages in this novel are almost all historical; and the skill with which their real characters, as well as that of the gallant, superstitious, and cruel court to which they belonged, are made to serve the purposes of the author's fiction, without deviating in the slightest degree from their original and recorded peculi arities, is the more remarkable, from its rarity in works of this kind, where, as in the portraits of distinguished persons in print-shops, the name is often the only part of the original that. is preserved."-Edinburgh Review, vol. 34, p. 376-377. TASTU (Madame Amable). Poésies, etc. quatrième édition. Paris, 1827, 1 vol. 12mo. "Madame Tastu, in her poetical effusions, unites the qualities of both sexes, energy and grace; and these qualities, far from weakening the effect, only serve to produce a lively and a more refined interest."-Revue Ency. vol. 32, p. 650. TRESSAN (M. de). Corps d'Extraits de Romans de Chevalerie. Paris, 1786, 4 vols. 12mo. The "We owe this work to the labours of M. de Tressan. first volume contains a sketch of French romances. Then follow Tristan de Léonois, Artus de Bretagne, Florus et Blanchefleur, &c, an extract from the Romance of the Rose, Pierre de Provence, and the Belle Maguelone. The second and third contain a number of other extracts from old romances. The fourth volume, besides a dissertation on the origin of romance writing, before the Christian era, contains a work of some length, entitled Zélie, a novel which has supplied the materials for the comedy of that name, in the Theatre of Education,' by Madame de Genlis."-Barbier's Bibl. vol. 5, p. 30. TERRASSON (l'Abbé Jean). Séthos, histoire ou vie tirée des monumensanecdotes de l'ancienne Egypte, traduit d'un MS. grec, composé par Terrasson. Paris, 1731, 3 vols. 12mo. This is an edition recommended by Brunet. A new edition of it was published in 1813, in 6 vols. 18mo. "I had borrowed of M. B- a French moral and political romance of the Abbé Terrasson, called Sethos. The beginning is fine, the description of the manners of the court of Memphis is worthy of Tacitus; and the system of the Egyptian initiation is a very happy thought; but, unluckily, the interest of the piece gradually diminishes in every book, till you arrive at the catastrophe, which is very cold and unnatural. As to the style, it is pure and elegant, scarcely ever elevated, and never animated. The Abbé Terrasson had too mathematical a head to excel in the language of descriptino, and too stoic a heart to shine in that of the passions. His feelings, however, are just, though not warm; the whole work breathes a spirit of virtue and humanity, which renders it very amiable."-Gibbon's Miscel. Works, vol. 2, p. 93. VIENNET (J. P. G.) Epitres et Poésies, suivies du Poème de Parga. Paris, 1821, 1 vol. 8vo. "M. Viennet deservedly bears the character of a distinguished poet, a philosopher, and good citizen. The present collection consists of sixteen Epistles, followed by Parga, a poem. Part of these Epistles are purely literary; and in others of them, the author glances at passing events; one of them is a specimen of a heroic Epistle, a species of writing, it must be allowed, not very successful in France, since the only remarkable specimen we have is a translation from Pope, and like all other translations very inferior to the original."-Revue Ency. vol. 10, p. 136. |