aid, symbolic) dinners--as
it were, picnics at home--of _bourgeois_ society at each other's houses,
with not a few other things. A curious plan of a fashion-review, with
patterns for the benefit of ladies, is specially noticeable at a period
so early in the history of periodicals generally, and is one of the not
few points in which there is a certain resemblance between Furetiere and
Defoe.

It is in this daring to be quotidian and contemporary that his claim to
a position in the history of the novel mainly consists. Some might add a
third audacity, that of being "middle-class." Scarron had dealt with
barn-mummers and innkeepers and some mere riff-raff; but he had included
not a few nobles, and had indulged in fighting and other "noble"
subjects. There is no fighting in Furetiere, and his chief "noble"
figure--the rascal who robbed Lucrece of her virtue and her keys--is
the sole figure of his class, except Pancrace and the _precieuse_
Angelique. This is at once a practical protest against the common
interpretation and extension of Aristotle's prescription of
"distinguished" subjects, and an unmistakable relinquishment of mere
picaresque squalor. Above all, it points the way in practice, indirectly
perhaps but inevitably, to the selection of subjects that the author
really _knows_, and that he can treat with the small vivifying details
given by such knowledge, and by such knowledge alone. There is an
advance in character, an advance in "interior" description--the
Vollichon family circle, the banter and the gambling at Lucrece's home,
the humour of a _precieuse_ meeting, etc. In fact, whatever be the
defects[263] in the book, it may almost be called an advance all round.
A specimen of this, as of other pioneer novels, may not be superfluous;
it is the first conversation, after the collection, between Nicodeme and
Javotte.

[Sidenote: Nicodeme takes Javotte home from church.]

This new kind of gallantry [_his removing the offensive
copper coins as pretended "change" for his pistole_] was
noticed by Javotte, who was privately pleased with it, and
really thought herself under an obligation to him.
Wherefore, on their leaving the church, she allowed him to
accost her with a compliment which he had been meditating
all the time he was waiting for her. This chance favoured
him much, for Javotte never went out without her mother, who
kept her in such a strait fashion of living