. . . . . . . . . . 131

II. THE FRENCH ACADEMY--PHILOSOPHY (DESCARTES)--RELIGION
(PASCAL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

III. THE DRAMA (MONTCHRESTIEN TO CORNEILLE) . . . . . . . . . . 160

IV. SOCIETY AND PUBLIC LIFE IN LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

V. BOILEAU AND LA FONTAINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

VI. COMEDY AND TRAGEDY--MOLIERE--RACINE . . . . . . . . . . . 196

VII. BOSSUET AND THE PREACHERS--FENELON . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

VIII. TRANSITION TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY . . . . . . . . . . . 235

_BOOK THE FOURTH_--_THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY_

I. MEMOIRS AND HISTORY--POETRY--THE THEATRE--THE NOVEL . . . 251

II. MONTESQUIEU--VAUVENARGUES--VOLTAIRE . . . . . . . . . . . 273

III. DIDEROT AND THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA--PHILOSOPHERS, ECONOMISTS,
CRITICS--BUFFON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

IV. ROUSSEAU--BEAUMARCHAIS--BERNARDIN DE SAINT-PIERRE--ANDRE
CHENIER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

_BOOK THE FIFTH_--1789-1850

I. THE REVOLUTION AND THE EMPIRE--MADAME DE STAEL--
CHATEAUBRIAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

II. THE CONFLICT OF IDEAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354

III. POETRY OF THE ROMANTIC SCHOOL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

IV. THE NOVEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

V. HISTORY--LITERARY CRITICISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

BOOK THE FIRST
_THE MIDDLE AGES_

CHAPTER I
NARRATIVE RELIGIOUS POETRY--THE NATIONAL EPIC--THE EPIC OF
ANTIQUITY--ROMANCES OF LOVE AND COURTESY

The literature of the Middle Ages is an expression of the spirit of
feudalism and of the genius of the Church. From the union of feudalism
and Christianity arose the chivalric ideals, the new courtesy, the
homage to woman. Abstract ideas, ethical, theological, and those of
amorous metaphysics, were rendered through allegory into art.
Against these high conceptions, and the overstrained sentiment
connected with them, the positive intellect and the mocking temper
of France reacted; a literature of satire arose. By degrees the
bourgeois spirit encroached upon and overpowered the chivalric
ideals. At length the mediaeval conceptions were exhausted.
L