A Short History of French Literature
merely affairs of state, but literary, artistic, and social matters
generally found a place.
[Sidenote: Mably.]
The third and fourth quarters of the century are the special period
when history was, as has been said, degraded to the level of a party
pamphlet, especially in such works as the Abbe Raynal's _Histoire des
Indes_. This was a mere vehicle for _philosophe_ tirades on religious
and political subjects, many if not most of which are known to have
proceeded from Diderot's fertile pen. Crevier and Lebeau, however, names
forgotten now, continued the work of Rollin; and meanwhile the
descendants of the laborious school of historians mentioned in the last
book (many of whom survived until far into the century) pursued their
useful work. Not the least of these was Dom Calmet, author of the
well-known 'Dictionary of the Bible.' But the chief historical names of
the later eighteenth century are Mably and Rulhiere. Mably, who might be
treated equally well under the head of philosophy, was an abbe, and
moderately orthodox in religion, though decidedly Republican in
politics. He was a man of some learning; but, if less ignorant than
Voltaire, he was equally blind to the real meaning and influence of the
middle ages and of mediaeval institutions. He looked back to the
institutions of Rome, and still more of Greece, as models of political
perfection, without making the slightest allowance for the difference of
circumstances; and to him more than to any one else is due the
nonsensical declamation of the Jacobins about tyrants and champions of
liberty. His works, the _Entretiens de Phocion_, the _Observations sur
l'Histoire de France_, the _Droits de l'Europe fondes sur les Traites_,
are, however, far from destitute of value, though, as generally happens,
it was their least valuable part which (especially when Rousseau
followed to enforce similar ideas with his contagious enthusiasm)
produced the greatest effect.
[Sidenote: Rulhiere.]
Rulhiere, who was really a historian of excellence, and who might under
rather more favourable circumstances have been one of the most
distinguished, was born about 1735. His Christian names were Claude
Carloman. He was of noble birth, was educated at the College
Louis-le-Grand, and served in the army till he was nearly thirty years
old. He then went to St. Petersburg as secretary to the ambassador
Breteuil, whom he also accompanied to Sweden. He returned to Paris and
began to write the history of the singular proceedings which during his
stay in the Russian capital had placed Catherine II. on the throne. The
Empress, it is said, tried both to bribe and to frighten him, but could
obtain nothing but a promise not to print the sketch till her death. He
continued to live in Paris, where he was distinguished for rather
ill-natured wit and for polished verse-tales and epigrams. For some
reason he devoted himself to the history of Poland. In 1787 he was
elected to the Academy. Then he wrote some _Eclaircissements Historiques
sur les Causes de la Revocation de l'Edit de Nantes_, and is said to
have begun other historical works. He died in 1791. His 'Anecdotes on
the Revolution in Russia' did not appear till 1797; his _Histoire de
l'Anarchie de Pologne_ not till even later. The Polish book is
unfinished, and is said to have been garbled in manuscript. But it has
very considerable merits, though there is perhaps too much discussion in
proportion to the facts given. The Russian anecdotes deserve to rank
with the historical essays of Retz and Saint-Real in vividness and
precision of drawing.
These are the chief names of the century in history proper, for Volney,
who concludes it in regard to the study of history, is, like many of his
predecessors, rather a philosopher busying himself with the historical
departments and applications of his subject than a historian proper.
Still more may this be said of Diderot in such works as the _Essai sur
les Regnes de Claude et de Neron_. The creation of a school of
accomplished historians was left for the next century, when the
opportunity of such a subject as the French Revolution in the immediate
past, the stimulus of the precepts and views of the great writers on the
philosophy of history, and lastly the disinterring of the original
documents of mediaeval and ancient history, did not fail to produce
their natural effect. The number of historians of the first and second
class born towards the close of the eighteenth century is remarkable.
[Sidenote: Memoirs. Madame de Staal-Delaunay.]
[Sidenote: Duclos.]
[Sidenote: Besenval.]
[Sidenote: Madame d'Epinay.]
The first memoirs, properly so called, which have to be mentioned as
belonging to the eighteenth century, are those of Mademoiselle Delaunay,
afterwards Madame de Staal. Mademoiselle Delaunay was attached to the
household of the Duchess du Maine, the beautiful, impetuous, and
highborn wife of one of the stupidest and least interesting of men, who
happened also to be the illegitimate son of Louis XIV. The Duke du
Maine, or rather his wife, for he himself was nearly as destitute of
ambition as of ability, was at the head of the party opposed to that of
which the Duke of Orleans (the Regent) was the natural chief, and Saint
Simon the ablest partisan. The 'party of the bastards' failed, but the
duchess kept up a vigorous literary and political agitation against the
Regent. The court (as it may be called) of this opposition was held at
Sceaux, and of the doings of this court Madame de Staal has left a very
vivid account. The Marquis d'Argenson, a statesman and a man of great
intelligence, concealed under a rough and clumsy exterior, has left
memoirs which are valuable for the early and middle part of the reign of
Louis XV. The memoirs, properly so called, of Duclos are of small
extent, but he has left impersonal memoirs of the later reign of Louis
XIV. and the beginning of that of his great-grandson, which are among
the best historical work of the time. His account of the famous 'system'
of Law is one of the principal sources of information on its subject, as
is his handling of the Cellamare conspiracy and other affairs of the
regency. Duclos was a man not only of considerable literary talent, but
of wide historical reading, which appears amply in his work. The
gossiping memoirs, attributed to Madame du Hausset, bedchamber-woman to
Madame de Pompadour, give many curious details of the middle period of
Louis XV.'s reign; and in the vast collection of tittle-tattle, often
scandalous enough, called the _Memoires de Bachaumont_, much matter of
interest, and some that is of value, may be found. Among the most
valuable memoirs of this kind are those of Colle, which have been only
recently edited in full. Colle, who, though a time-server and an
ill-natured man, had much literary talent, was an acute observer, and
enjoyed great opportunities, has left important materials for the middle
of the century. The Baron de Besenval, half a Savoyard and half a Pole,
who played an important part in the early days of the Revolution, and
who had previously encouraged Marie Antoinette in the levities, harmless
enough but worse than ill-judged, which had so fatal a result, has left
reminiscences of the later years of Louis XV., and a connected
narrative of the outbreak of the Revolution. The memoirs concerning the
_Philosophes_ form a library in themselves, even those which concern
Voltaire alone making a not inconsiderable collection. Those of Madame
d'Epinay (the friend of Grimm, of Galiani, and of Rousseau), of
Marmontel, of Morellet, are perhaps the principal of this group.
Marmontel's memoirs are among his best works, and Madame d'Epinay's are
among the most characteristic of the period. There is a certain number
of interesting memoirs of actors and actresses, which dates from this
time, including those of the great actress Mademoiselle Clairon, the
tragic actor Le Kain, and others.
[Sidenote: Minor Memoirs.]
Circumstances rather political than literary have given a place in
literary history to the memoirs of Linguet and Latude concerning the
Bastile. That celebrated building, however, figures largely in the
memoirs of the time, and the experiences of Voltaire, Marmontel,
Crebillon, and others show how greatly exaggerated is the popular notion
of its dungeons and torments. The so-called memoirs of the Duke de
Richelieu (the type, and a very debased type, of the French noblesse of
the eighteenth century, as La Rochefoucauld was of that of the
seventeenth) are the work of Soulavie, a literary man and unfrocked abbe
of very dubious character: but they at least rest upon authentic data,
and abound in the most curious information. The President Henault, a man
of probity and learning, has left memoirs of value.
[Sidenote: Memoirs of the Revolutionary Period.]
As might be expected, the collection of memoirs which have reference to
the Revolution and the Empire is very large. The fortunes of the
ill-fated royal family are dealt with in three sets of memoirs, on which
all historians have been obliged to draw, those of Madame Campan, of
Weber, and of Clery, all three of whom were attendants on Louis XVI. and
Marie Antoinette. The memoirs of the first-named are supposed to be the
least accurate in matters of fact. The ill-natured and factious Madame
de Genlis has left two different works of the memoir kind, the one
entitled _Souvenirs de Felicie_, which is somewhat fictitious in form
and arrangement, but is believed to be accurate enough in facts; the
other, definitely called _Memoirs_, which was written long after date,
and is much coloured by prejudice. The Marquis de Bouille, whose gallant
conduct during the Nancy mutiny set an example which the nobility of
France were unfortunately slow to follow, and who would have saved Louis
XVI. in the Varennes flight but for ill-luck and the king's incredible
folly, has also left memoirs of value; and so has Dumouriez. The memoirs
of Louvet, of Daunou, of Riouffe, of the Duke de Lauzun, of the Comte de
Vaublanc, of the Comte de Segur, may be mentioned. The unamiable but
striking and characteristic figure of Madame Roland lives in memoirs
which are among the most celebrated of the time. A group of short but
striking accounts of eye-witnesses and narrowly-rescued victims remains
to testify to the atrocities of that Second of September, which some
recent historians have striven in vain to palliate. Many of the men of
the Revolution, of the servants of the Empire and of their wives, have
left accounts (of more or less value in point of matter) of the events
of the time, some of which have been only very recently published. Among
these latter special notice is deserved by the memoirs of Davout, of
Madame de Remusat, and of Count Miot de Melito. But with few exceptions
(those of Madame de Remusat are perhaps the principal) none of these
memoirs are of great literary importance or interest. They are often
very valuable to the historian, very curious to the student of manners
or the mere seeker after interesting and amusing facts; but no one of
them, named or unnamed, can be said to rank in literary interest with
the work which is so plentiful in the preceding century, and which
constitutes so large a part of that century's claim to a place of first
importance in the history of French literature.
[Sidenote: Abundance of Letter-writers.]
It is otherwise with letters, of which the century contributes to
literature some of the most remarkable which we possess. It is
impossible even to give a bare list of those which remain from a time
when almost every person of quality knew how to correspond either in the
natural or the artificial style; but the most remarkable (each of which
is in its way typical of a group) may be noticed with some minuteness.