g entirely in his writings, there are
several other authors of minor note who have adopted the same course,
but not any who have created any great sensation, or effected any
permanent impression on the public.

The only living author whose name is likely to descend to posterity is
that of Chateaubriand, who, although he has never been a writer of
poetry, may be considered the greatest poet in France, as there is so
much of imagination and of soul in his prose, so much of sublimity in
his ideas, that the works in verse of his contemporaries appear insipid
when compared to the wild flights of genius which ever emerge from his
pen, yet when they are closely studied, and deeply sounded for their
solid worth, it will be found that they consist merely of beautiful
imagery, elegantly turned phrases, a sort of flash of sentiment, which
catches the ear, but appeals not to the understanding, a gorgeous
superstructure, as it were, without a firm foundation for its basis. As
for example, in his preface to Attila, alluding to Napoleon, he observes
"Qu'il etait envoye par la Providence, comme une signe de reconciliation
quand elle etait lasse de punir." Which may be rendered thus: that
Napoleon was sent upon earth by Providence as a sign of reconciliation,
when she was fatigued with punishing; this is certainly very pretty, but
I will appeal to common sense, whether there was aught of fact to
support such an assertion? Even those who were the most enthusiastic
admirers of the martial genius of Bonaparte, could not participate in
the fulsome compliment paid to their hero by M. Chateaubriand; but when
strictly scrutinized, all his works will generally be found of the same
tissue; yet, as there is so often a wild grandeur in his conceptions and
in his mode of expressing them, whilst they are arrayed in all the grace
and beauty which language can bestow, his volumes will always find a
place in every well-assorted library, when probably those of most of the
other French authors of the present period will be consigned to
oblivion, excepting such as have written upon history, which will always
maintain their ground, as they are in a degree works of reference.

There are several very clever men who write for the newspapers, or what
may be styled pamphleteers, amongst whom are Jules Janin, and Alphonse
Karr; the latter publishes a satirical work called the Guepe, which
possesses the talent of being very severe and stinging wherever it
fixes.