told him our first service began at nine o'clock, that we might not interfere with church-hours, which was our practice in general. He asked me how it was I had never availed myself of 'a licence' till now. I informed him that I had never needed it before; and that I had never known, during all my itinerancy in the kingdom, men so void of the fear of God, nor magistrates connive at such outrageous proceedings. He then gave me a written document for protection in case of disturbance, and told me to call on him at such an hour on Monday.

"These are the undaunted men, who, like Luther, Wickliffe, Wesley, Whitfield, and others of the same Christian hardihood, have, year by year, broken down the proud barriers of religious CASTE, giving at the same time fresh scope for the best energies of civil liberty, and laying broad and deep the foundations of national independence, free discussion, and a freer press. These were the pioneers of liberty of conscience, who came forth—

"To fight the battle of the Prince Most High

Against the antichristian trinity,

SELF, EARTH, and HELL. These did they trample down;
In conquering these, obtained their richest crown.

Go on, great men! both fools and madmen be,

And share with Christ and Paul their obloquy!"

Our extracts from this work have been numerous, and of considerable length; but the reader will feel that no apology is therefore required, it not being a fault of frequent occurrence in this Review. Rather might it have been alleged that our own disquisitions, whatever their merit, have in general occupied an unusually large portion of our pages, and that it might have contributed to their interest and value had they have been somewhat more interspersed with quotations from the works which we were noticing. Moreover, if ever there was a subject which would justify an enlargement of this nature, it is that of which we have been treating-important at all times, but especially so at the present-when more than one form of Caste is putting forth its efforts of extension in our own country, and when to the prevalence of it, in its most horrid form, we are to ascribe, in no small degree, the awful scenes which have lately arisen in a distant land. If, indeed, the subject of this article shall lead us, on a future occasion, to bring before our readers the events, with their causes, to which we have now alluded, we shall consider the discussion of it, on that account alone, not to have been unprofitable.

VOL. XLII.

с с

ART. V.-Du Roman et du Théâtre contemporains et de leur

Influence sur les Mours. couronné par l'Institut. London: Nutt.

Par M. EUGENE POITOU, ouvrage 1 Vol. 8vo. Paris: A. Durand.

THERE are three or four data in the sphere of religion and of moral philosophy, which we, simple folks, have been accustomed to receive as undoubted axioms. Plain common sense has led us to conclude that man cannot rightly fulfil his destiny, if he acts in defiance of the doctrinal precepts contained in the ten commandments; and we hold it as an irrefutable principle, that the Gospel injunctions respecting marriage, family ties, property, and responsibility, are the foundations without which society could not hold together for a long time. There have been, however, endeavours to disregard these facts; like the physician in Molière's play, a few political Sganarelles have come forward with the bold profession that they had changé tout cela; and if, through the mercy of God, Englishmen have been spared from the attempt made by quacks to construct the social edifice on the sandy substratum of immorality, hatred, and mammon-worship, they can study in the contemporary history of their neighbours the progress of the disease, the causes which brought it about, and the results of the infection.

M. de Bonald's celebrated axiom, that "literature is the expression of society," has become so trite, so commonplace, that we hardly venture to repeat it here once more; and yet its very triteness is the best proof of its truth; and it is quite evident that novelists, poets, and historians, can only obtain popularity in proportion to the fidelity with which they describe the manners, the vices, the foibles of the age in which they live. If we can recognize ourselves in the characters or situations described by a gifted writer, we hoist him on the pedestal, we bestow upon him that favour which we are ever inclined to give to our own passions; and, as a final result, should the painter, the novelist, happen to have crowded on his canvass only full-length portraits of rakes, courtezans, swindlers, and black-legs, the great share of blame and censure must fall upon those who sat as models for the artist's study.

At the same time, we quite agree with the assertion maintained by M. Eugène Poitou in the very first page of his admirable work; the litterateur should not forget that if he is an

artist, he is also a man; and, possessing a degree of originality commensurate with his talents, that man mixes necessarily with the ideas which he receives from without, many other ideas peculiarly and exclusively his own ;-errors or truths for which he must alone be blamed or praised. Thus it comes to pass that the writer, after having undergone the action of his own time, exercises in his turn, upon his contemporaries, a re-action more or less profound.

"Aux époques de crise et de transitions," M. Poitou continues, "la société reçoit l'impulsion bien plus qu'elle ne la donne. L'initiative individuelle usurpe alors, dans le mouvement général des intelligences, une plus large place. Alors, au lieu de peindre les mœurs, la littérature aspire à les réformer; au lieu d'exprimer les ideés communes, elle s'efforce d'en répandre de nouvelles. Elle ne se contente plus d'amuser ou de polir les esprits; elle veut les endoctriner. Son but n'est plus le culte de l'art, la conquête du beau elle vise à l'enseignement et à la prédication; elle se met au service des systêmes et des utopies; elle se transforme en instrument de propagande; elle peut devenir un moyen de révolution."Du Roman, etc., pp. 2, 3.

By what means, under what causes has imaginative literature in France sunk so low as to become a subtle and dangerous poison, vitiating the sources of domestic, social, and political life? How is it that French novels, French plays, and French poetry have willingly accepted a degradation which confines them to the filthy purlieus of Holywell-street? These are questions well worth the study of the moralist and philosopher; for they touch upon the very condition of a society's existence, and the light literature of a nation is a kind of barometer by which we can test and ascertain the healthy or unhealthy state of the moral atmosphere.

During the course of the year 1856, the académie des sciences morales et politiques had proposed as a subject for one of its periodical competitions, the following thesis: "To explain and appreciate the influence which contemporary literature, especially novels and plays, have had in France upon public morality." The work now before us obtained the prize, and in attempting to examine it succinctly in the following pages, we are bound to say that never was there a more eloquent, more spirited, more generous testimony borne by any author to the everlasting truths which form the happiness and stability of nations. Let those amongst us who still entertain a secret but fond admiration for the heroes of the Newgate calendar, and the exploits of Jack Sheppard; let the unsus

pecting readers who treat as contemptible bigotry the denunciations of "the Lady with the Camelias," which some time ago found their way into the respectable organs of the daily press,-let them ask a Frenchman, ask M. Poitou, what he thinks of George Sand, of M. de Balzac, of M. Alexandre Dumas fils!

The revolution which, unhappily, threw into a new direction the light literature of our neighbours, took place about the year 1830. It corresponded with the political movement which was then agitating the whole of Europe; yet, strange to say, whilst the principles of order and of conservation were enforced calmly and determinately by the government which the events of July had brought to the throne of France, in the sphere of intellect and of morality, every thing was once more called into question.

"A thousand mad ideas, a thousand foolish theories, a thousand absurd or dangerous systems, produced themselves suddenly in the broad daylight, similar to those impure vegetations which spring from the earth after a storm. Destitute of principle and of rule, given up to all the caprice of fancy, literature sought its inspirations only in the passions and the whims of the day. Then, as during the last century, we saw the novel and the drama, energetic upholders of all the new utopias, enlist under many various standards.

"Whilst the stage resounded with declamations, our novelists becoming daily more and more popular, indulged in every species of bold attempts; one might have thought, that carried away by its mania for invasion, the novel aimed at reigning absolute in the domain of literature. Already, since the last few years, it had taken possession of history, which it treated en pays conquis. Now it aimed at reconstructing philosophy upon an original basis; it wished to reform religion, it preached social science from the corners of the street. Political economy, civil and penal legislation, penitentiary systems, emancipation of woman, organization of labour,-there was not one topic which romance-writers did not think themselves competent to discuss; they embraced all problems, the whole circle of human knowledge, the moral and political world, God, man, and the universe. Our novels, our plays spoke and discussed de omni re scibili; we might almost add et de quibusdam aliis.”—Du Roman, etc., pp. 8, 9.

If we think for a moment of the immense power possessed by imaginative literature, of the readiness with which it finds its way into the very life of a nation; if we consider its popularity, its might as an organ of instruction, we shall soon acquiesce in the truth of M. Poitou's assertion, that during the last thirty years an extraordinary amount of evil has been the

result of the extravagant position assumed by French dramatists and novel-writers. This amount of evil, M. Poitou has endeavoured to ascertain. We shall, in our turn, attempt to estimate it from his own deductions; and like him, we think that the sad sketch we are about to present to our readers, if melancholy and often repulsive, will not, at least, be without profit.

M. Poitou begins very properly by enquiring into the religious tendencies of contemporary French literature, for, as there is no lasting and legitimate system of ethics but that which has religion as its foundation, it follows necessarily that the character of the one can only be the result of the views which a nation entertains of the other. It would be, undoubtedly, absurd to seek in a novel or a play, a system ex professo of theodicy or of religion, although from what we have just said, novelists and playwrights have seriously aimed at passing for inspired prophets and apostles of a new creed; but we can certainly ask our poets, what are the sources from which they borrow their inspirations, and require them to state what they think about God, the human soul, man's position in this world, and his destiny in another. Now, we find two distinct tendencies, two schools contending for the supremacy in contemporary French literature; disguised under brilliant ornaments, concealed under the pretentious jargon of spiritualism, or even mysticism, the materialistic philosophy of the last century is as popular, as prevalent, as general as ever. Look at the openly, unblushing sensationalism of M. Théophile Gautier, saying, that "beauty is identical with virtue; study the pantheistic phraseology of M. de Balzac, in his livre mystique, you will still find, in the end, as the key-stone of the whole edifice, the glorification of the senses, and the apology of corruption.

It is very easy to accuse a critic of exaggeration in his denunciation of evil, and to say that he creates monsters for the purpose of knocking them down; we have too much respect for our readers to advise them to go and seek in M. Gautier's fetid productions quotations which would amply justify our censure; but we cannot forbear from quoting a curious passage, in which one of the most popular of French novelists, M. Eugène Sue, has embodied under the features of one of his heroines that refined sensuality, which, at the present day, is exalted into almost a religious tenet.

* Mademoiselle de Maupin.