gious Harmonies. Paris, 1830. 2 vols.]

Lamartine's political career did not, at first, interfere with his
literary occupation, it was merely an agreeable pastime--a respite
from his most ardent and congenial labors. In 1835 appeared his
"_Souvenirs, impressions, pensees et paysages pendant un voyage en
Orient, &c_."[6] This work, though written from personal observations,
is any thing but a description of travels, or a faithful delineation
of Eastern scenery or character. It is all poetry, without a
sufficient substratum of reality--a dream of the Eastern world with
its primitive vigor and sadness, but wholly destitute of either
antiquarian research or living pictures. Lamartine gives us a picture
of the East by candle-light--a high-wrought picture, certainly; but
after all nothing but canvas. Shortly after this publication, there
appeared his "_Jocelyn, journal trouve chez un cure de village_,"[7] a
sort of imitation of the Vicar of Wakefield; but with scarcely an
attempt at a faithful delineation of character. Lamartine has nothing
to do with the village parson, who may be a very ordinary personage;
his priest is an ideal priest, who inculcates the doctrines of ideal
Christianity in ideal sermons without a text. Lamartine seems to have
an aversion to all positive forms, and dislikes the dogma in religion
as much as he did the principles of the _Doctrinaires_. It would
fetter his genius or oblige it to take a definite direction, which
would be destructive to its essence.

As late as in 1838 Lamartine published his "_La chute d'un age_."[8]
This is one of his poorest productions, though exhibiting vast powers
of imagination and productive genius. The scene is laid in a chaotic
antediluvian world, inhabited by Titans, and is, perhaps, descriptive
of the author's mind, full of majestic imagery, but as yet undefined,
vague, and without an object worthy of its efforts. Lamartine's time
had not yet come, though he required but a few years to complete the
fiftieth anniversary of his birth.

[Footnote 6: Souvenirs, Impressions, Thoughts and Landscapes, during a
Voyage in the East. Paris, 1835. 4 vols.]

[Footnote 7: Jocelyn, a Journal found at the House of a Village
Priest. Paris, 1836. 2 vols.]

[Footnote 8: The Fall of an Angel. Paris, 1838. 2 vols.]

The year following, in 1839, he published his "_Recueillements
poetiques_," which must be looked upon as the commencement of a new
era in his life. Mahomed was past for