, standing by itself among romances much as stands a kindred work
of imagination, "As You Like It," among plays, yet thoroughly
characteristic of George Sand, the nature-lover, the seer into the
mysteries of human character, and the imaginative artist. The agreeable
preponderates in the story, but it has its tragic features and its
serious import. A picturesque and uncommon setting adds materially to
its charm. Every thread tells in this delicate piece of fancy-work, and
the weaver's art is indescribable. But one may note the ingenuity with
which four or five interesting yet perfectly natural types are brought
into a group and contrasted; improbable incidents so handled as not to
strike a discordant note, the characteristics of the past introduced
without ever losing hold of the links, the points of identity between
past and present. The scene is the hamlet of Nohant itself; the time is
a century ago, when the country, half covered with forest, was wilder,
the customs rougher, the local coloring stronger than even Madame Sand
in her childhood had known them. The personages belong to the rural
proprietor class. The leading characters are all somewhat out of the
common, but such exist in equal proportions in all classes of society,
and there is ample evidence besides George Sand's of notable examples
among the French peasantry. The plot and its interest lie in the
development of character and the fine tracing of the manner in which the
different characters are influenced by circumstances and by each other.
If the beauty of rustic maidens, and of rustic songs and dance-music, as
here described, seem to transcend probability, it must be remembered it
is a peasant who speaks of these wonders, and as wonders they might
appear to his limited experience. As a musical novel, it has the
ingenious distinction of being told from the point of view of the sturdy
and honest, but unartistic and non-musical Tiennet; a typical
Berrichon. Madame Sand was of opinion that during the long occupation of
Berry by the English the two races had blended extensively, and she
would thus account for some of the heavier, more inexpansive qualities
of our nation having become characteristic of this French province.

More than one English reader of _Les Maitres Sonneurs_ may have been
struck by the picture there presented of peasant-folk in a state of
peace and comfort, such as we do not suppose to have been common in
France before the Revolution. Madam