gnated the novel with the poetry in her
own soul. She gave to the novel a breadth and a range which it had never
hitherto had. She celebrated the hymn of Nature, of love and of goodness
in it. She revealed to us the country and the peasants of France. She
gave satisfaction to the romantic tendency which is in every one of us,
to a more or less degree.

All this is more even than is needed to ensure her fame. She denied ever
having written for posterity, and she predicted that in fifty years she
would be forgotten. It may be that there has been for her, as there is
for every illustrious author who dies, a time of test and a period of
neglect. The triumph of naturalism, by influencing taste for a time, may
have stopped our reading George Sand. At present we are just as tired
of documentary literature as we are disgusted with brutal literature. We
are gradually coming back to a better comprehension of what there is of
"truth" in George Sand's conception of the novel. This may be summed up
in a few words--to charm, to touch and to console. Those of us who know
something of life may perhaps wonder whether to console may not be the
final aim of literature. George Sand's literary ideal may be read in the
following words, which she wrote to Flaubert:

"You make the people who read your books still sadder than they were
before. I want to make them less unhappy." She tried to do this, and she
often succeeded in her attempt. What greater praise can we give to her
than that? And how can we help adding a little gratitude and affection
to our admiration for the woman who was the good fairy of the
contemporary novel?

THE END

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