France seems now to be generally admitted.

One of the first writers who was subjected, and who, unhappily for French Literature, submitted to this literary yoke, was Corneille, a man of truly original genius, who, had he not stood in awe of Richelieu and the Academy, might have created in France a new school of dramatic poetry, a task to which, however gigantic, he was fully equal. This fear however, deprived Corneille of but a part of his glory, for to him is due that of being the founder of the French Drama, which before his time was scarcely deserving of the name; and whatever may be the merit of succeeding writers, the Cid, the Horaces and the Cinna of Corneille, will ever hold a distinguished place among the finest productions of the tragic muse.

What Corneille had done for the dramatic poetry, was done for the language of France by Pascal, one of the most surprising men that perhaps any country ever produced. To him is due the merit of having given the French language a fixed and decided character; for the style in which he wrote his admirable "Lettres provinciales" was the model on which all the best writers of the age of Louis XIV formed their own. But this was the least of his claims to the admiration of posterity; at once eminent

in piety, and distinguished for learning, sound as a philosopher, and acute as a reasoner, his style offers the double charm of thoughts well conceived and happily expressed, of a diction at once pure and animated; and hence it is that while his "Provinciales" delight the man of wit, his "Pensées," at once profound in thought, and sublime in expression, are calculated to afford equal pleasure to the christian and the scholar, to the man of taste and of piety. Few men indeed, have done more honour than Pascal, both to his country, and to the Society of Port-Royal, of which he was a zealous and distinguished member.*

With Corneille and Pascal commenced that series of great writers, whose works shed so much glory upon the reign of Louis XIV, and procured it the distinguishing and not undeserved appellation of the Augustan age of

*It may appear strange that no mention should have been made in this volume, of the productions of the Port-Royalists. It was the intention of the Editor to have given them a place in it, but finding that he could not, without increasing too much the size of the book, do justice to their extensive and valuable labours, he has reserved them for a future work, should this meet with such a reception as to warrant the supposition that French Literature is sufficiently interesting to render the work acceptable to the English public.

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French Literature.

To enter upon an examination of the works of all the writers who lived at this period, would be a delightful, but a useless task; for to add praise where it has already been so frequently and so justly bestowed, were indeed"To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, To throw a perfume on the violet,

To smooth the ice, or add another hue
Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light

To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish."

In support of this assertion, it will be sufficient to remind the reader, that France could then boast among her living writers, of such men as the tender and polished Racine, the witty and inimitable Molière, the artless and delightful La Fontaine; of Boileau, the Juvenal of France, whose poems are not more admired for the wit they contain, than for the perfection of their style; Jean Baptiste Rousseau, one of the most distinguished poets of France; La Rochefoucauld and La Bruyère, both of whom (but particularly the latter) "held up, as it were, the mirror to nature," and finally, Bossuet, that literary giant, who as a profound scholar, a theologian, an historian, and an orator, has seldom been equalled and never been surpassed.

Confined to the limits of a short Essay, it is

impossible to inquire here, into the causes that produced at one particular period, such an assemblage of great writers as never had at once appeared in any other country, but we ought not to overlook the singular fact that in a country like France, in the midst of a voluptuous court, and under the reign of a monarch who, although he put on the semblance of religion, was "at heart a rake," appeared, perhaps, the three most eloquent advocates of religion and morality, that have been known since the establishment of Christianity; for although there may be a greater display of theological learning in the writings of the ancient Fathers, although nothing ever equalled the depth of thought and closeness of reasoning found in the works of Taylor and of Barrow, of Butler and of Clarke, yet it must be allowed that of that species of eloquence which is particularly calcu lated

"By winning words to conquer willing hearts,

And make persuasion do the work of fear,"

of that resistless appeal to the heart, which is the very spirit of eloquence, more perfect specimens were never given than may be found in the eloquent sermons of Bourdaloue, the sublime pages of Bossuet, and the delightful volumes of the tender and irresistible Massillon.

On speaking of the Literature of the eight eenth century, it is the less necessary to notice the writers of other countries, as being nearer to our time they will the more readily present themselves to the reader's mind, but we cannot allow the singular fact to pass unnoticed, that Germany, which till then had scarcely been known among the literary countries of Europe, took at once such a stride as to render her literature an object of universal attention. So rapid has been the growth of this young plant in the garden of literature, that one would almost suppose it to have been reared within the quickening atmosphere of the hot-house; but so powerful has the trunk become, so strong are its branches, so green the leaves that grow, and so bright the flowers that bloom on it, that it gives good earnest of a stout and healthy tree that may live to see the decay of some of its elder brethren.

The first French writer that presents himself to our notice, at the opening of the eighteenth century, is Lesage, the celebrated author of Gilblas. He will always be admired for the great skill with which in that, and other works, he depicted human life, and the manners of his age; but let it be remembered to his eternal honour, that while he described, Lesage took