Page:The Library, volume 5, series 3.djvu/421

RECENT FRENCH LITERATURE. 407 his life. Flaubert, according to his latest critic, is an eminent son and typical representative of the fourth romantic generation, which stands between the sensibility of Rousseau, the incurable melan- choly of Werter, Obermann, and Rene, and the pessimism of Schopenhauer and Leopardi. Flau- bert's work shows ' Timperialisme irrationnel,' that is morbid egoism, rebellion of the feelings against calculating intellectualism, of instinct against reason, and more than all, his inability to adapt himself to the atmosphere by which he was surrounded. Such an attitude easily becomes nothing more than a desire of power and of conquest. Seilliere de- scribes very ably the characteristics of the mystic temperament, and endeavours to discover the causes of the reaction against social discipline that under- lies so much of Flaubert's writing. In the c Lettres de Jules Ferry, 1846-1893,' we gain new light on a man better known as a states- man and public official than as a private individual. The letters were addressed to his wife, relatives and friends, and show him to have been attractive in domestic life, simple, frank, kind-hearted. He writes without self-consciousness, describing his travels, his experiences he was in Paris during the siege his pleasures and his sorrows. The following reflections were consequent on a visit to London in December, 1869. c C'est laid, mais c'est grandiose. Ni ciel, ni jour, ni monuments. Nous avions beau temps, pourtant ; au ciel une sorte de lanterne venitienne en papier ros pergait tres difficilement une couche de brume palpable. Dans ce brouillard, les details d'archite&ure disparaissent, et le