been carried too far, is doubtless founded on truth, and it is not too much to say that although these writings did not cause, they at least qualified the French Revolution. A long series of years of oppression, the ambition of some of the French monarchs, the vices of others, in which the nobility, and even the clergy, too frequently participated, were doubtless the primary causes of the downfall of French Monarchy; but there is no doubt also that the taste for a spirit of enquiry into the nature and form of government, rendered so pleasing to the French by the writings of Montesquieu, the strong appeals made to the feelings of men by Rousseau, and the fearless attacks of Voltaire and his disciples against all established institutions, contributed to rouse the people to a sense of their situation, of the injuries they had suffered, and the rights they might regain. Happy had it been for the nation, if those who thus showed the evils, had also pointed out their remedy! but unfortunately an appeal was made, not to the reason, but to the feelings of the people; the desire of these reformers was, not to improve, but to destroy kings; they could not rest satisfied with a partial and gradual alteration, but desired a sudden and universal change, not only in the political institutions, but in the religious opinions

and feelings of men, and hence that dreadful subversion of every thing good and holy, which attended the overthrow of the French Monarchy, and which threatened the annihilation of France itself from among the nations of Europe.

To speak of the literature of France during the French Revolution, were to speak of what never could exist, for it was impossible that engrossed as the public mind was by the great and dreadful events which had then become of daily occurrence, the attention of the people could have been called to literary productions, even if there had been in France a man capable of turning aside from the troubles that agitated his country, to devote his time to literary pur-, suits; hence the only compositions worthy of being recorded, (such as the speeches of Mirabeau, and the celebrated Marseilloise," one of the finest lyrical compositions ever penned.) are interesting rather in an historical, than in a literary point of view.

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France, after the Revolution, like a vessel after an engagement, in which she has not only heen deprived of her commander, but has lost her sails and rudder, was tossed upon the tem pestuous waters of political dissensions, at the mercy, not only of every storm, but of the first

spirited man who chose to take possession of the helm, and by steering his own course, to make the prize his own. This was done by Napoleon Buonaparte, who having assumed the government over France, gave but little encouragement to literature, and appeared more desirous his subjects should wield the sword than the pen. It is, however, a fact well deserving of remark, that of the few writers who flourished under the reign of Buonaparte, by far the greatest was a woman, and having said this, it is almost unnecessary to add to the observation the name of Madame de Stael. No country, indeed, ever produced a woman endowed with such gigantic powers of intellect as this surprising writer. As an historian, as a critic, and as a novellist, she was equally distinguished, Gifted with great powers of imagination and endowed with excessive feelings, no writer ever so displayed the characteristics considered as peculiarly belonging to her sex and ours; and so profound is her reasoning, and so deep and powerful are her sentiments, that she may be said to have written with the head of a man, and the heart of a woman. Of the power that most particularly indicates genius, that of doscribing in terms equally forcible and vivid the thoughts of the mind, and the workings of the

heart, no finer specimens exist, perhaps, in any writer, ancient or modern, than can be found in some of the pages of Madame de Stael.

While, however, we give her all the praise she merits as a writer, let us remember that she has done more substantial service still to the literature of France, by being one of the first to call the attention of her countrymen to the literature of other countries; her excellent work on Germany, does not less merit our admiration for the valuable criticisms it contains, and the admirable style in which it is written, than for having been the first work professedly written to make her countrymen acquainted with the rich and valuable stores of German Literature, a task which few but Madame de Stael would have undertaken, and in which none could have proved so successful.

While this highly-gifted woman was at the same time enriching the literature of her own country by her works, and enlarging the views of her countrymen by her counsels and example, another writer, wandering over every part of the globe, carried every where with him the heart and feelings of a Frenchman; his spirit unbent by the severest misfortunes, his mind occupied, but not shackled, by the great political changes he had beheld and felt, he wan

dered from shore to shore, crossed every sea, visited every land, and at length returned to his native land to describe to his countrymen, in language not always pure, but always vivid and powerful, the beauties that nature had displayed to his eyes in his many travels. Chateaubriand, and his name must ere this have occurred to the reader, is by no means possessed of the taste, nor indeed of the feelings which pervade Madame de Stael's compositions; his style, generally animated and poetical, is sometimes affected and turgid; but amidst all his faults, we can always perceive the man of genius, and freed as he was by his protracted absenco from the literary shackles that bound most of his countrymen, there is no doubt that his writings have had, and will continue to have a great influence over those of future writers.

Here we find again our attention called away from the consideration of literature to that of politics. France, relieved for a moment from the yoke that had so heavily weighed upon her for centuries, abused her liberty. The victory obtained by the French Revolution can indeed be hardly called the mastery of freedom over power, but that of madness over oppression; they who instead of the long-established monarchy erected a republic, did so upon foun