blish under
his own name works of which he certainly had no reason to be ashamed.
One of the earliest of these was, "La Jacquerie"--a sort of long
melodrama, or series of scenes, illustrating feudal aggressions and
cruelties in France, and the consequent peasant revolts of the
fourteenth century. It shows much historical research and care in
collection of materials, is rich in references to the barbarous customs
and strange manners of the times, and, like the "Chronicle of Charles
IX.," another historical work of M. Merimee's, has, we suspect, been
found very useful by more recent fabricators of romances.

Educated for the bar, but not practising his profession, M. Merimee was
one of the rising men of talent whom the July revolution pushed forward.
After being _chef de cabinet_ of the Minister of the Interior, Count
d'Argout, he held several appointments under government, amongst others,
that of Inspector of Historical Monuments, an office he still retains.
In 1844 he was elected to a chair in the French Academy, vacant by the
death of the accomplished Charles Nodier. He has busied himself much
with archaeological researches, and the published results of his travels
in the west of France, Provence, Corsica, &c., are most learned and
valuable. In the intervals of his antiquarian investigations and
administrative labours, he has thrown off a number of tales and
sketches, most of which first saw the light in leading French
periodicals, and have since been collected and republished. They are all
remarkable for grace of style and tact in management of subject. One of
the longest, "Colomba," a tale of Corsican life, is better known in
England than its author's name. It has been translated with accuracy and
spirit, and lately has been further brought before the public, on the
boards of a minor theatre, distorted into a very indifferent melodrama.
The Corsican Vendetta has been taken as the basis of more than one
romantic story, but, handled by M. Merimee, it has acquired new and
fascinating interest; and he has enriched his little romance with a
profusion of those small traits and artistical touches which exhibit the
character and peculiarities of a people better than folios of dry
description. "La Double Meprise," another of his longer tales, is a
clever _novelette_ of Parisian life. According to English notions its
subject is slippery, its main incident, and some of its minor details,
improbable and unpleasant, although so n