wledge and appreciation, in
its chief classics, of the great literature which has been written in
French. This object has been sought, not through narrative and
description, making books and authors the subject, but through the
literature itself, in specimen extracts illuminated by the necessary
explanation and criticism.

It is proposed to follow the present volume with a volume similar in
general character, devoted to German literature.

CONTENTS.

I.
PAGE
FRENCH LITERATURE 1

II.

FROISSART 18

III.

RABELAIS 28

IV.

MONTAIGNE 44

V.

LA ROCHEFOUCAULD (LA BRUYERE; VAUVENARGUES) 66

VI.

LA FONTAINE 81

VII.

MOLIERE 92

VIII.

PASCAL 115

IX.

MADAME DE SEVIGNE 134

X.

CORNEILLE 151

XI.

RACINE 166

XII.

BOSSUET, BOURDALOUE, MASSILLON 182

XIII.

FENELON 205

XIV.

MONTESQUIEU 225

XV.

VOLTAIRE 238

XVI.

ROUSSEAU 255

XVII.

THE ENCYCLOPAEDISTS 282

XVIII.

EPILOGUE 288

INDEX 293

CLASSIC FRENCH COURSE IN ENGLISH.

I.

FRENCH LITERATURE.

Of French literature, taken as a whole, it may boldly be said that it
is, not the wisest, not the weightiest, not certainly the purest and
loftiest, but by odds the most brilliant and the most interesting,
literature in the world. Strong at many points, at some points
triumphantly strong, it is conspicuously weak at only one point,--the
important point of poetry. In eloquence, in philosophy, even in
theology; in history, in fiction, in criticism, in epist