OUR PARIS LETTER.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 4, Issue 332, 23 September 1879, Page 3

OUR PARIS LETTER.

-Literary Gossip.

(-"ROM our' own correspondent.) .... ... p AWS( July 17,

Professor Stopfer, of Grenoble, gives us his first volume of ." Shakespeare and An-? tiquity.." , It is a .valuable contribution to the debated question as to the extent of the great poet's classical erudition. Did he know Greek; was he at home in Latin ; could he read Homer, and Plutarch in the original; hid he to fairbaclr oh transla-: tions; was he more educated than his cdntemporaries ? Mr: Knight avows that Shakespeare was a man of consummate learning. Dr Farmer asserts he knew neither Greek nor Latm. M. Stopfer's treatise examines all these points, and few works hitherto published surpass his in point of precise facts, delicate observations, and profound literary judgment. He makes an- inventory of Shakespeare's intellect—that is to say, of his education—. to lay bare the genius of the poet from the multitude of details which conceal and at the same time reveal it. The point for M. Stopfer is not whether the dramatist had read Homer and Plutarch, but whether or not his art is the product of a blind and unreflecting instinct, or the voluntary choice of an enlightened intelligence. For the French, Voltaire's opinion of Shakespeare still is in the ascendant, but as the masses become more instructed that opinion changes. Some view the bard as produc- ■ ing a few, others a quantity of flowers. Professor Stopfer boldly- demands why Shakespeare, instead of following the rules of the Greek drama—the three unities, the "Tempest" excepted—abandons himself to the fantasies of a romantic imagination, for which there is no other rule in-.the productions of art than imitation of nature ; no other principles than the respect of reality, no other boundaries than truth and life. M. Stopfer believes the poet was well educated, knew Latin, but not Greek. But then he lived in a classical atmosphere ; his associates, were university men, and if he decided to march in another route from his contemporaries, it; is ' simply be- • cause he wished -to do so, and that he felt himself sufficiently powerful to raise up a new art, original as it was strong, and vis-a-vis of the admirable art of the .ancients. That which constitutes the l>ase, the essence of Shakespeare's genius,- is the creation of characters. Now this gift, or talent, is the summit of dramatic art. To create one character is. much, but to sow them across an ideal world with the prodigality of nature herself, is genius. He has peopled the ideal world with indivi-; duals that can never die ; he gives to his phantoms reality •..each has its personality special to distipguish it, and becomes the immortal type ctf limited human passions, : but at the same time as infinite in variety ' as nature herself. Of course, Shakespeare disregarded time and space. In his eyes the theatre is but the kingdom of convention • all there is delivered to the imagination of the poet and spectators—all see by illusions. Hence, what signifies the rules of rhetoric and the principles' of science ; the sole rule is to have genius, and when a poet has this he has no necessity to seek in Aristotle for -tho means to write a regular piece. That part of the volume which treats of the anachronisms of Shakepeare is very brilliant. The author maintains that anachronism is the fundamental conditioi. of art, which could not exist without dramatic illusion. Racine painted his ancients from courtiers of Louis XIV. Euripides selected his mythological heroes in the young Athenian :lawyers and philosophers of his day. Shakespeare depicts Ca.sar, Brutus, Ajax, r &c.,. from..the F men of his period; and Hugo's young men are sombre and revolted plebeians of the school of Rene and Childe-'Harold. M. Stopfer admits Shakespeare had no literary passion ; that he not the less knew and admired antiquity, but never became'its slave ; it was for him a great- storehouse of materials, where he drew largely and often, as.he did in the old romances of . the middle ages, in Italian chronicles, in natural history, and in fairy tales. But he adorned all he touched, transformed-all he used, transfigured all he adopted. Shakespeare'is to be judged, not by his school, but by himself—his only parallel, for he must be witnessed in his isolation to comprehend the extent of his grandeur. Mr Leo Quesnel takes a very favorable view of Barry Cornwall's (Bryan W. Proctor) life and poetry, whose private virtues were on a par with his. talent. He had no genius in the ordinary, meaning of the word, but he had excellent faculties, perfect taste, and the gift to discern and to select. He was less original than Leigh Hunt, but his originality had the peculiar character-,of makiag him feel in others what they possessed of best, and to compose therewith a special product. He was a sincere friend, and worked day and night, like Charles Lamb, in order to alleviate a distress. He Was a notary as well as a poet, and the satisfaction of a client was a pleasure for him as great as the admiration of a reader. His poesy is easy and agreeable to read, because very clear ;. he had.too iriii-h taste'/-riot t to be simple, too much facility] tp b ; e obscure. In these respeqts he, resembled Moore. . But. he had not the.richnegs of Shelley, noi* the grandeur of Byroh - ? he excelledjin rhythm, in the inaliing 6f jh the, sentiment off. • harmony;. .' >Jj&q ;-Moore also, he. "was & '.;lcbiftsitf<ftf : &s& : :W&s. &ble to set his English songs to the chant" for;.which .they had", been written. To his death he continued , not only to'recall, .but reflect his glorious. confreres— -WordsWorth, Keats, Coleridgei Southey, Landbr, Byron, Shelley—whom he accompanies to posterity, after loving and serving them on earth. M. Louis Blanc, pending his exile in. England, was correspondent of Le Temps. He has .collected his letters, and gives the first volume under the' title " Ten Years History of England." The sketches, written from day to day, are familiar, and so exhibit the author's mind more clearly. They deal with the thousand incidents and objects which make up the cosmopolitan life of London : we travel from Indus tithe Pole. It is a moving panorama, a succession of small pictures. The letters are not sufficiently ancient to excite curiosity, nor enough recent to be apropos. But the past, which is not yet the past, has its charm, and we cling to the present that is no longer the present. Now this tableau • in morsels exactly corresponds to the many-sidedness of English character, Hull, as he describes, of contradictions and antitheses. Men and things are there to be witnessed under divers aspects.. • Monarchical in form, in reality England is' an aristocratic republic ; homage-rendered to ■'individual merit, and exaggerated respect for titles; a .'pi. it of initiative and a

thirst for arid, the , fear to quit ancient usages ; coriteriipt for poverty, and a prodigal philanthropy j. social institutions resulting in extreme misery, side by side with". extrerhe opulence ',' ' tastes.' for th<_j shop, united with a love for bucolics; de-; cency of language carried to affectation, and liberty of manners very, near to license ;* coldness andreser*.e, and in ineetings violence let loose ; phlegmatical gravity, and unlimited gaiety.) 1686 are the author's contrasts, and he is in addition to being a wifriessTmore or less an authorised judge.*** 'His;ladycwas English. :He places in fell, light -what, 'fs worthy of enconium,sand strongly denounces what is r'egretable and dangerous*. "He'admonishes as a friend.- But" eveTy~Englishman may be exciised asking Daniel, the very-defects you expose': the very fernedies-you I prescribe, are they not-as, mlich. neoded .for la belle France &sperfide Albion. A: society for propagating* republican instruction was founded in 1872 ; it has since ttjat perißd circulated four millions of pamphlets to found arid defend ;the Republic t The' Society -riow< intends to instruct republicans, to deyelop i among the pupils of the primary 1 schools, and also their parents, -generous, sentiments, r _.the religion of great events and traditions, and above all, the love of country. It wishes to. attain these ends by' examples rather than precepts, to establish a'museum of heroesy the representatives of self-help, devotion, of duty well done, and self-sacrifice nobly practised. ; These brochures will replace tho too often . meaningless books given as prizes at the annual school examinations, where frequently the spirit of party, sect, and passion is discernable. M. Henri. Martin has opened tho instructive series by a work bri Jeanne d'Arc; it is less poetical, than Michelet's ; it is a simple recital, and M will not cause the reader to treriiblo either with enthusiasm or emotion. It is grave and authoritative, such as becoriies '■& virile nation. " The Republic of the United States," by M. Maze, is not so well done; it is declamatory '. and theatrical, ; and describes the departure and -landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in a 1 style up ; to the present un.known.; The ~French; cannot have . too much matter, of fact literature,, but if word painting be encouraged, the end. of windbagism can only be propagated. '"■*" jSaia\tc-,Bmvp; et .ses ; jncoffiitcesi by M. Pous, is a subject to be lightly touched. It treatsof the'great critic's inner life and frailties. He was not at all a seducing kind, of man,- and never counted, upon winning a Graziella or an Elvira He has extremes in bis flirtations'.as wide as Goethe's. But he never : wed •; the'eonsequence is, that a. number of young women recalling in their claims on his property, the eleven thousand virgins of Cologne almost .pretend to be inconniies. Sainte Beuve was too clear a sighted man to be duped by his amour propre ; he knew Well enough he was never made for the r6le of a Romeo. He never regarded woman only as an important bagatelle, about whom no time ought to be lost. Thus his heart remained free, and his mind also. He never had time to be either happy or unhappy in love. Sense took the place of heart with him. In his: very early salad days he had a passion, but the trembling of a lily -hand beneath the lindens on a summer's evening, with mysterious and secret conversations, lost, all their poetry and meaning when he thought of a household without a budget. This he said is the element of the rogue which is at the base of all' human character. .' " ! blush to have committed someipllies ; but I would blush at my age not to have put an end to tnem ; " said Horace. " Sainte Beuve forgot this maxim, and his~closing years must have made- H him f -bitterly /.regrej ,-npt havjng risked tiu. "joys of ia fireside iutftthe. smiles of children to gladden his declining age. "To many.'has been given-the power to suffer and,be happy.;,, Sainte Beuve was nothappy. : ■ .... -..,■■ ..-'•, Conversations, .Souvenirs,'&c., oi Theo phile Gautier, by.'M. Bergcrat, is a disapvolume. ; It. reveals very little that is new concerning the eminent dramatic critic, the most brilliant word painter of modern days. The most remarkable feature iii the : book is ah'apology'for the withdrawal of certain letters from Grisi at the moment of going to press. , Among the prominent romances of the season to be noticed is :La Mdisou dcs deux barbeaux, by M. Theunet.. The work displays much: power of observation, of delicate irony, and discreet, emotion. The touch is amiable and light,- and the plot turns on : the trials and troubles of a provincial chemist. The History of 3farriage, by M. d'Hervilly is' very amusing. It is lively, light, arid : sparkling,: possessing smartness, and much fantasy. Chateauroy,. by M-Vigheau, is a disagreeable'tableau of Creole life. The browns claim -to be as good, if not better, than the whites, and quarrels and bloodshed follow. Zola's Assomrngir has failed to anticipate some of the scenes. It is rare to meet with a volume of tales dedicated to a professor of philosophy, but this is what M. Epheyre has done in his ',' Pursuit after Happiness," 'These''philosophical romances' tend to " hang up philosophy." The author tries ;arid> illustrates, all the systems—nothing but barrenness from Dap to Reersheba. Dr Pangloss himself could: riot continue to be optimist were ,h.e to -read the. volume. Out of ( pity for tl*e clever, author,: may happiness come to' him 'if.' the' form of a few 'edition..! 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