The New York Herald Newspaper, December 14, 1873, Page 6

6 “LITERATURE. —__—_»—_—— THE NEWEST PARISIAN NOVELS te ‘MM, Sandean, Cadol, Arsene Houssaye, Cha- vette and Parfait-Paul de Kock’s Memoirs. Panis, Nov, 27, 1873. Readers of the New York HERALD who care little for French politics, but who have a taste for the lively literavure of France, may like to hear from time to time what are the new books which French- men contrive to write amid the agitations of constitutional worries. I may say at once that never at any time within the present century have books been so few, nor on the whole so bad, in France, as they are at present; and the reasons for this are ob- vious. Most French novelists have for some time past been dealing with a class of subjects which renders their books unfit for the family circie, and, as & consequence, the chief buyers and perusers of novels are men. But to sell profitably among men & novel must be very smartly written, indeed; for there is no alternative, with men readers, between @ brilliant success and absolute failure. French- Men who live much out of doors have sharp ‘wits and love strong sensations, have not the time nor the patience to read a dull book, Generally speak- ing, their staple literature is the newspaper, and they will only buy a novel if it be recommended to them as something out of the common Way. Now, it needs a sale of at least 10,000 copies to cover the expenses of a book published at the usual French price of three francs, and to leave anything like an acceptable margin of profits to the publisher and theauthor, Even with asaie of 10,000, however, the author can expect at most £300, and such a sum is not worth the attention of a first rate writer, who inthe six months’ time required to produce a £300 novel might earn £1,000 or £1,200 in journalism, or double and treble that amount in successful stage plays. So most French authors of merit turn playwrights or newspaper editors, and only venture on a novel when they feel assured of some good sale, such as 30,000, 50,000 or even 100,000 copies, there are authors who, by publishing their novels first,as serials in daily papers, then ia volume form, and by writing at steam pace three or four novels in the course of a twelvemonth, manage to secure something like adecent income. Some of th have a knack for s2lecting crude subjects and dist ing them up with a garnish of enticing spice; * others may be classed among the few French nov- elists who write with propriety in order to be read by ladies. Again there are certain authors who throw offa novel from time to time wituout much | looking to profits, but simply because they have something to say. It is from the works of the two | latter categories of writers thaf [ purpose choos- | ing the books most worthy of being mentioned to the American public. The best novel published in Paris within the last | three months is undoubtedly ‘Jean de Thomeray,” | by Jules Sandean, It might ve more properly termed a noveiette, | for it is very snort; but its author has been at | work, with af, Emile Angier, converting it into a | three-act play, which will shortly come out at the | ‘ThéAtre, Francais, and its name will, therefore, before long, be inevery month. Jean de Thomeray | is the youngest son of an old Bregon nobleman of | ‘the old and fierce school, bigotedly Catholic, royal- istand stern, He has brought up his older sons to be like him; but Jean, by reason of his amiable and Tather womanly qualities, has been the spoiled child of the house, Instead of passing his boyhood in his fatuer’s castle he has been sent to finish his studies in Paris; and Paris has proved acity of | aflictton to him, for he has perceived that Catholic | and royalist notions have no currency there; that | chivalrous sentiments are laughed at, and that the only God worshipped is the “almighty bank | note.” Indignant at some light joke about | Brittany, let fali by some too frivolous Parisian, Jean Thomeray 4, a duel, and is so seriously woundeG that his mother is summoned hastily to Paris, and, as soon as he can e moved, takes him to Italy to recruit his health. | At Pisa the young Breton meets with an attractive Parisian widow disporting herself.on the remnants | of afortune frittered away in extravagance, and his acquaintance with this lady makes the beginning of @ complete moral change in fim. He falls in love with her and allows himself to be inoculated with her easy views about the age in which we live, His mother remonstrates; but, finding her entreaties are of no avail, returns to France, hoping | that when he has had time to perceive the worth- | Jessness of tne cynical siren he will be cured of his | attachment for her. Jean de Thomeray does get | e@ured pretty quickly, for the seductive w.dow jilts | him; but his heart is filled with a sullen rage, jor he ascribes the lady’s unfaithfulness to his own poverty, and he resolves that since wealth is the key to everything—even to love—in these our times, he, too, will become rich at any cost, though he should be obliged to cast all his principles of honor and religion to the winds, He goes to Paris, dabbles in the funds, amasses a Capital, starts joint stock companies and speedily finds himself at the head of a large fortune. But all the allusions and honest beliefs of his child- hood had le!t him. He is @ hard, unscrupulous man, who makes money as fast as. he can, spends | it selfishly and laughs at conscience, virtue and everything else that 18 not quoted at a high, sal- able figure on *Uhange. His father, thegrim and dlameless old nobieman, mourns tor him in silence as i! he were dead, and his mother and brothers | have orders never to allude to tis name. While Jean | de Thomeray 1s reveiling in his ill-earned wealth, however, the Franco-Prussian war breaks out, th French are beaten, the Prussis 8 march on on Paris, and all who love their skins more than their country hasten away from the capital with their goods and chattels, Jean de {| Thomeray naturally determines to be one of these ““tugitiv What does he care for patriotism? Itis an effete and hollow word, which can bave no influence on a man of sense, If there are battles to be fought, let soldiers fight | them. As for himself, he wili go and live comfort- ably at Brussels or London till the storm has blown over, Thus speaks this prudent young epicure to 4n old friend who ventures to lecture him on his baseness; but, just as he has delivered a fine harangue about “modern principles,” and is has- tening home to pack up his trunks, he is stopped by the sight of a Breton regiment of mobiles, which fas Just arrived in Paris, and marches duwn the street amid the cheers of the bystanders, At the vead of this regiment rides Jean's fatt the old Sount de Thomeray, and in its ranks he perceives all his brothers, Thus, these gentlemen, unimbued vy “modern principles,” have lett their homes to tome and fight like men for their country, fean turns pale, @nd stands rivettea to the pavement till the last soldier hag Melted out of sight; but on the morrow, when the muster-roll of the regiment is called in the coart yard of the Louvre, a new recruit presents himself. The Count looks at him and asks sternly, “Who are you? “A man wno has lived badly.” “And what do you want?’ “To die well.” “Are you rich or poor? “J was rich yesterday; to-day Ihave given my fortune for the desenceot the city.” ‘There is & moment's silence; the Count adds anew ame to the roll, then calls “Jean de Thomeray,” and Jean replies, “Here.” Such is the pith of Sandeau’s stirring tale. It is admirably written, and is meant, of course, to be a censure on the present generation of young Frenchmen, But the author seems to contradict his own mcral when he shows his young hero repenting so nobly of his misdeeds and atoning for them. A generation Which produces such men as Jean de Thomeray May be Mippant and perverse, but is not wholly cankered, Another very readable novel is “Rose,” by M. Edouard Cadoi. M. Cadol is a suceessfal playwright, who has en- eavored to write interesting plays without ever offending against decency, and who for this reason Geserves an honorable notice, His Rose is a young actress ‘with whom a popular dramatic Nevertheless, | | they were the pet literary food of all | schoolboys, students and shopgiris, and were also | they communicated NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 14, 187: succeeds solely through the good acting of Rose. It was not a good piece; the critics frankly say so, and the author's vanity ts deeply stung to think that he is now to be indebted for part of his tame “[ to a girl.who would have been nothing had he not raised her. Rose, who deeply loves the au- thor, applies herself with infinite tact to sooth- ing his ruled feelings. She tries to persuade him that the critics are mistaken, that he is @ genius, that all the world knows it; and he, as a matter of course, soon gets reconciled to this cheering view. But there is no battling against facts, and it soon be- comes apparent thatthe author is aman who owed his first successes to mere luck and that he has really not the stuf in him jora great author, He brings out a series of plays, and when Rose acts in them her immense talent causes them to run welland long; but when she is absent they break down hopelessly, The author soon discovers, moreover, that tor a piece of his to succeed it must not only have Rose in its chief part, but must have been inspired by Rose, and written, arranged and altered according to her advice, for when he neg- lects to consult his gentle monitress he finds | himself unable so much as to build up a plot. This discovery sours him, Instead of being grateful to the devoted girl who sacrifices herself completely to him, instead of marrying her, as it was his duty to do, he feels natred towards her aud deserts her for the daughter of a rich grocer, whom he weds in his passing fit of spite and with whom he lives in homely re- tirement for five years. At the end of that time, however, the author feels tired of the so-iety of his unimaginative and rather prosy, though good, little wife, and begins to sigh anew for the excite- ment of dramatic triumphs. The chance revival of one of his early pieces and the success which at- tends it induces him to try his hand at a new com- edy; but Rose is no longer by his side to offer her wise, sweet-toned counsels, and the author throws down his pen in dismay, feeling that the spirit has departed from him. Then all his passion for the girl he has wronged occurs suddenty and witn ter- rible violence. He reflects on the career of glory | he might have led had he linked Rose’s life to his, and he sets off for Paris, throws himself at Rose's feet, prays her to forgive him and offers to forsake his wife and children if she will consent to live in bis company, She 1s too pure-minded | to accept such a propo: and the au- | thor, 1n despair, gives himself up to drink and eventually commits suicide. The plot of M. Cadol’s novel is spirited enough, but the great merit of the book lies in its finely drawn pictures of Freuch dramatic life. Knowing much of actors and actresses, the author hits off their peculiari- tles, foibles, petty quarrels, jealoustes and mean- | nesses with a master hand; and yet he does full | justice to the higher aspects of artistic character, the generous impulses, lofty ambition and solid | domestic virtues which often animate the devotees of Thalia and Melpomene. Three other novels, but: of a more substantial order, have lately been welcomed by the Parisian public, They are ’ HIGHLY EXCITY and their names are:—‘Tragique Aventure de Bal Masqué," by Arsene Hous: gurquol, by Eugene Chavette, and “L’Assassin du Bel An- teine,” by Paul Parfait. M. Arstne Houssaye, who | was the Empress Eugénie’s favorite novelist, has | @ peculiar style of writing; his subjects are | also very peculiar, and nothing more need be said of his latest production than that it dissects the vices of modern French Society with an unsparing hand. M. Chavette isa Parisian Miss Braddon, and his “Pourquoi?” | consists of 300 pages of breathless adventure, re- | volving round the question, “What interest had a | certain rich, happy and by no means insane man to commit suicide by throwing himself down an | Alpine cif? When the mystery is cleared up it | turns out that the gentleman in question had in- sured his life for 12,000,000 francs, and wanted his children to enjoy this sum as scon as possible, without having to wait till they got it in the natn- ral order of things. M. Chavette seems to think his hero a very worthy man, for he takes such pre- cautions that his death is attributed to an acci- | dent; and M. Chavette enlarges so much on the beauties of fatherly devotion that he almost leads | us to think that defrauding an insurance company may, under given circumstances, be an act of com- | mendable virtue. M. Paul Parfait’s novel, “L’As- | sassin da Bel Antoine,’ is based on the | always thrilling plot of @ murder being com- Mitted by one man and being laid upon the shouliers of a guiltless and amiable individual, who only succeeds in establishing his innocence in the last chapter but one. This book very ably ex- poses the detects of French judicial institutions, and gives us romantic insights into French prison | Iie, It is so realistic, however, and contains so many “‘blood-and-bones” passages that it should | not be read immediately before bedtime, save by | those who have a decided fancy for nightmare. I have spoken of the flve newest and best novels; but | Ihave not yet mentioned the best book of the sea- son, Which is unquestionably “PAUL DE KOCK!S POSTHUMOUS MEMOIRS,” This is not a@ novel, but it reads like one, Paul de Kock tells usin his first chapter that he was nota republican, because the Republic of 1793 cut his father’s head oifon flimsy grounds, when he (Paul) was but 18 months old. His mother re- married twice, however, and each of her new hus bands was an oddity. Young Paul much wished at first to be a fiddler, but his second father- in-law, being intent on seeing him become a lawyer cuffed his ears; whereat Paul absconded from home and was no more heard of until he sent his parents a presentation copy of his first novel, for which had been paid him £20, Paul de Kock’s novels took the public by surprise, but achieved an imme- diate and colossal popularity. From 1835 to 1870 French much read by foreigners, to whom, by the way, sumewhat odd notions of | French ways and morals, Paul de Kock relates | with pride that King Louis Philippe used | to send his novels as fast as they appeared to | Queen Victoria, which [ consider a rather hazard- | ous assertion; but it is certain that Pope Gregory XVI. was one of Paul de Koch's admirers, for he went the length of offering him an order of knighthood. Paul de Kock died last year in the set of apartments on the Boulevard du Temple which he had occupied uninterruptediy for 47 years, and he has left behind him 116 novels, the greatest number ever written by one man, with the single exception of Alexandre Dumas, Alex- andre Dumas’ novels, however, were not all original, tor the author had often bad other writers to help him; whereas raul de Kock's 115 books all | came trom his own brain and were penned with his own sole hand. Americans would do well to | read “Paul de Kock's Memoirs.’ They give a truer account of the social history of Paris during the last 50 years than many 4 graver book, and they are wonderfully amusing—indeed, aimost farcically so, PHILOSOPHICAL FICTION.’ The late Lord Lytton wrote constantly for at least half a century, and though he obtained great celebrity in only one kind of literary composition | he cultivated several, not unsuccessfully, From the day when, in extreme youth, he published “Weeds and Wild Flowers’ to that in Which, in the mellow year of a full flowered maturity, he anonymously gave to the world “The Coming Race,” bis pen not only was never idle, but was generally employed to a purpose, in the execution | of which genius, learning, exquisite refinement of thought and feeling, the habit of idealization and a perfect mastery Of @ most fascinating style were conspicuous, Nor, though the youth of the author at the time “Peiham’ was completed justifies our regarding that work as an example of precocity, were Lord Lytton’s abiiities of that forced and unhealthy sort which early comes to | fruit and as early falis into mediocrity or decay, | what he wrote at 60 is incalcniably healthier ana more manly than what he wrote at 26, Gradually he grew out of those morbidities and affectations, | those vices in literature and morals which distort several of his earlier noveis; so that the series, | waken as a whole—we speak of the romances | alone—may be likened to a chain of linked gems, | author becomes smitten, and to whom he entrusts _ the principal part in one of his. comedies, The viay the individuals in which, commencing with arather | low Value, constantly iuerease im beauty and iu- | the last 14 months in Blackwood's Magazine, | remind the reader that the author is as much in | dAnun, | In bri trinsic worth until the fnal one is reached, Taking “Pelham as the first © member of tms series (as it was the first signal triumph the young author achieved) and “The Parisians” as the last, we think that a leisure inspection wil ratify the similitude we have veu- tured to suggest. But, inspite of the versatility of Lord Lytton and the numerous highly contrast- ive themes to which he applied himsolf, there runs through all his prose fictions a peculiar homogene- ity of treatment which marks them as his own. We do not reer now to the mere mechanical sub- division into books and chapters, though this 18 4 peculiarity found tn almost ail his novels, if not all. We allude rather to a certaim tender philosophical tinge in which political tints are frequently ab- sorbed, and which, ridiculed by critics of a more practical cast of mind as the very bathos Of the True, the Beautiful and the Good, still survives in his latest composition, and lends tt an idealizing beauty that the romances of no other English writer can justly boast 0: possessing, Lord Lytton, tor instance, does not philosophize after the manner of George Eliot, Beautiful and apposite and ex- quisite as his reflections are, they are never marked by the sturdy grandeur of conception and the broad and picturesque simplicity of expression that so frequently characterize the author of “Mid- dlemuarch.” And they are as far from being the re- Nections of a man of commonplace mould, carefully educated and placed from childhood in the centre of daintily refined surroundings. The philosophy is such as would naturally be nurtured by one of noble and poetic intellect, who, while not only in the world, but of the world, is also above and be- yond the world, whose spiritual organization pre- sents two sides—one of which is in intense sympa- thy with earthly work and earthly pleasure, while the other hungers and thirsts after those tender idealizations, impossible to be made actual here, which his hope transfers to another time and place, he knows not when or where, and in whose objective existence he would fain believe. “The Parisians,” which has been publishing for near enough completion to justify a few rems with regard to the purpose of the author and the | manner in which he has carried that purpose out. In “Kenelm Chillingly” the obvious intention was to depict the processes through which a young man of finely fibred nature and more than ordi- nury mental endowments passes in becoming weaned from impossible ideals, to be brought | Jace to face with the sad and imperious actuals | ofife. With what power and grace, with what noble intuitions and deep learning and wide | experience, with what wit and sparkle | nd fancy, those processes were painted, | every one who has read ‘Kenelm = Chil- lingly"—that is to say, every one who was worthy to read it—already knows. In “The Parisians" the scope of the author has been much wider, though, perhaps, his aim has not been so single or so clearly defined, The scenes, with the exception of afew littie episodes not essential to the general flow of the story, are laid tn Paris, The date 1s 1869 and the ensuing year or two, The characters | are very numerous and are, to a certain extent, illustrative of the sentiments of the three great | | political divisions—the monarchists, the imperial- ists and the republicans—by which France was | at that time, anc is at present, distracted. A large portion of the book—too large a portion to please the average reader—is occupied by political discus- sions, in which the claims of the légitimistes and Oriéanistes are alternately canvassed, and the pre- rogative of the Comte de Chambord contrasted With that of the Comte de Paris. La Droite and ta Gauche have almost as much argument de- voted to'them in this singular chef d’@uvre as if it were @ political pamphlet instead of a contempo- | raneous romance, and moderate republicans who venerate M. Thiers jostle radicals who believe in Gambetta, The same- picturesque intermixture is introduced among légitimistes, Orl¢anistes and impérialistes, and the reader has the priv- ilege of hearing those who give allegiance to Louis Napoléon exchanging views with the adher- ents of the man Whose proud fidelity to the white fag of his ancestors has gained for him the ais- tinction, among his enemies, of having his name spelled Henry Roy, in satirical reference to nis antique bias. The one class which finds no place in the Parisian political world to which Lord Lytton introduces us is the batons flottants—those who have no political opinions whatever, or who are lable to have them changed with every pass- ical complexion thus given to the tale does not prevent charming traits of characteriza- tion and incident trom being distinctly felt and seen, A plot almost as complivated, though not so ingenious, as that in “What Will He Do With It" shows its roofs at the surface just olten enough to earnest in+the sequence of his incidents and the development of hischaracters as he isin his por- traiture of an epoch in the existence of France that will live in history as one of the most agoniz- ing ofall the experiences or that fluctuating nation, That gentle and idealizing philosophy to which we bave already referred throws, too, a familiar but not the less fascinating glamour over the pages. There is one pecut.arity of style, also, Which might have been expected troma writer so | fastidious as Lord Lytton was in his rhetoric, and from whicn,the reader will remember, his “Kenelm Cnillingly’? was wholly free. This consists in the abundant use of French words and plirases. The chapters are studded with them, not so lavishly, indeed, a8 vo make the reading of the book a pain to those uniamiliar with that language, but in sum- cient abundance to suggest, when contrasted witn the English purity 01 style of the author's other recent works, that this persistent use of Galle idioms, applied with Meissonier-iiks strvkes, was intended to accentuate the Parisian lights and shadows, and give @ vernacular cliaro-oscuro to the style. Little space is lett us in whicn to speak minutely of the plot, nor would we lessen the interest of the pective réader of the book by doing so, It will be sufficiently to the purpose to say that the story deals with the adventures of the young Alain de Keronec, Marquis de Rochebriant, whose estate being heavily mortgaged, threatens to pass irom his keeping, and who thus sutfers for the ex- travagance and improvidence of his father. Alain comes to is and there falls into the hands of a fashionable and enormously weaithy usurer, named Louvier, By the semblance of liberality Louvier almost succeeds in gratifying his ambition by be- coming the possessor of Rochebriant, but at an opportune hour Alain is savea by the intervention of Duplessis, a rival of Louvier's, and possessed of a@ dauguter named Valérie, who falis in love with the young Marquis, and is thus the unconscious cause of her father's becoming interested in his behalf. Frédéric Lemercier,; an old classmate, whom Alain meets at Paris, and Alain’s two cousins, Raoul and Enguer- rand de Vandemar, became the means of intro- ducing him to two very different classes of people. Inthe ohe we meet the notorieties of the Pars financial world, are conducted to the Bourse and are indoctrinated into the mode by which beauz gargons with more family taan money, sur- reptitiously keep Stores in the Rue de la Chauss¢e and supply themselves with pocket money by the sale of gloves and perfumes, In the other class we meet not only the adherents to Henry V. and those of the House of Orleans, but the brities of the art and literary worlds as well. From these several spheres a throng of im- personations streams—all drawn carefully, all possessing interest, but nearly all totally unlike those whom even @ reader accustomed to the her circles of society can claim to have met. , Lord Lytton writes as though every mem- ber of the aristocratic classes was the perfection of refinement, good breeding, eloquence and wit. It would be diMcuit to mention one of his charaec- ters which does not say something deep or spirituel, He cannot even introduce a peasant without mak- ing him say that “good priests are like good women, they are ali under ground.” To one who likes to dine of epigrams this is very satisfying reading, and such ts the witchery of the author's Style that even a discriminating taste may be beguiled into forgetting that people in real life, even at Paris, are not perpetually uttering bon-mots intermingled with philosophy. The light in which Lord Lytton seems to regard tne world reminds us Of that soitiy tinted radiance + Sulne tues used On the Stage to counterfeit a sun | still in course of publication, | light or moonlign#efect, The ensembd’e is tender | and beautiful, but the momentary appearance of naturainess results only from the intenser arti clality of the otber accessories, Chief among the characters are Isaura Cicogna, @ young singer who abandons her imtention to go upon the stage and becomes a successful romance writer instead; Gustave Rameau, a young poet, some of whose characteristics suggest that Swinburne may bave been the model; Victor de Mauléon, & man of family, wronged by a crue! suspicion in early life, and avenging himsel! by politica! intrigue in his maturity; the brothers Raoul and Enguerrand, ex- quisitely drawn, we might say engraved. could we apply such a term to tre literary art; Colonel Mor- ley, in whica the author nas ridiculously failed in his intention of consistently putting siang into the mouth of an accomplished American gentieman; Mrs. Mortey, his wife, a very graceful and spark- ling creation; Signora Venosta, a retired prima donna, full of vanity, childishness and good natare ; Duplessis and Louvier, the rival financiers; Alain de Rochebtiant, an ideal picture of a brave, ingenuous and generous young man, full of chival- ric ardor, but not proof against the temptations of Parisian life; Frédéric Lemercier, his fiend, and M, Savarin,’a successful author, There are nu- merous episodes which the art of tew authors be- sides Lord Lytton could have described without abandoning the drift of the story; there are wittl- cisms and aphorisms upon every page, and over all shines that light for which we can find no more expressive epithet than ‘Bulwerian,” and which certainiy does not belong to this little, obscure world, * The Parisians,” by Lord Lytton. LITERARY CHIT-CHAT. A New Srory from the pen of Sir Arthur Helps is in the press, It is concerned with Russian con- spiracies, and gives an account of the economies of Siberia. Tue DeatH is announced of Mr. John Gough Nichols, F. S. A., the well known antiquary, which occurred in his sixty-seventh year. Besides editing the Gentleman's Magazine for many years he | edited the ‘Collectanea Topographica’ and the “Topographer and Genealogist,” and in 1862 com- menced the Herald and Genealogist, which is He was one of the founders of the Camden Society, and of the hun- dred and odd volumes illustrative of our national | history issued by that society several were edited by him, Mr. Nichols was the grandson of the author of “Literary Anecdotes” and the “History of Leicestershire." THE BEAUTIFUL Work of imagination by ‘a Coleridge, entitied “Phantasmion, Prince of Palm- land," is shortly to be issued in London. THE SAME F1RM promise the first volume of “A History of Japan,” compiled chiefly from native and official sources, by Mr. F. 0. Addams. Mrs, LINN LINTON, the Saturday reviewer, is Writing a new novel, in which women's education will be dealt with, 5 A CONSTITUTIONAL HisToRY OF CANADA, from the conquest in 1760 to the passing of the constitutional act of 1791, by Mr. S. J, Watson, the librarian of the Legislative Assembly at Ontario, 1s about to be published, ‘THE GERMAN ParERs publish a netice to all per- sons possessing any part of the correspondence of Buerger, the poet, famous chiefly for his story of “Lenore,” inviting them to con- fide their papers to the hands of Herr Strodt- mann, the well known biographer of Heinrich Keine, who has undertaken to do for the former poet the same service he has already performed so | successfully tor his more celebrated successor. ‘Tne MeMorRS of the late Heury F, Chorley are repudiated by his surviving brotner as impertect and inaccurate. Mr. W. B. Chorley will publish a new and correct memoir early in the spring, THE Diavect of Lancashire is the subject of an imteresting report by the Manchester Literary Club, EpMUND ABouT writes to the Atheneum about a prolific French novelist named Ponson du Terrail, who “imitated the defects of Dumas ana Eugene Sue.” His stories, which he would drive in pairs, or even four-in-hand, from day to day in the big journals, and also in the little ones, delighted tor twenty years the less educated por- tion of the French public. Every morning he used to seat himself before a pile of paper either at home or at the office of the nearest journal, and there he knocked off, one alter the other, two, three, tour seuilletons, belonging to as many differ- ent works. He passed from the Middle Ages to the present day, from the court > the Mabille, trom the boudoir to the hulks, with incredible versatil- ity, although sometimes he made a slip and inad- vertentiy put a personage of the sixteenth century into a story of the nineteenth, Tue New Boox on Brazilian colonization, by Mr. Assu, is full of recent information, lively and en- tertaining. A COLLECTION of autograph compositions, by Mozart, has just been purchased for the Royal Li- brary at Berlin, It consists of 531 pieces, and in- cludes 10 operas, one oratorio, flve masses, 15 sym- phonies, &c, Mr. F. J. FURNIVAL has found in the Record Office an entry that King Edward IIL. paid £16 on the 1st ot March, 1560, toward the ransom of the poet Chaucer, who had been taken prisouer in the war with France in 1359-60, THE Frest IMrREession of Mr. Mili’s “Autobio- grapay,’”? consisting of 3,000 copies, was all sold within six days of publication, and a second im- pression of the same number is already exhausted, MESSRS. MACMILLAN willissue, early in the spring, Sir Samuel Baker's account of his recent expedi- ton, in two large volumes. MR. EUGENE ScutvyLer, of the American Lega- tion at St. Petersburg, is writing a work on Central Asia, which will ap ear in England in May, THe CELEBRATED Roman lidrary called “Biblio- teca Casanatense” is about to reopen, having tor director a professor of the Turin University, The monks will continue to pertorm the ordinary ser- vice of the establishment. Of all the public libra- ries in Rome this, after the Vatican, is the most considerable and the most frequented. Itcontains | 180,000 volumes, including 2,000 editions of the fil- teenth century and 1,800 manuscripts. MR. JouN Fiske, formerly lecturer on philosophy at Harvard University, has in the printer's hands awork entitled “Outiines of Cosmic Philosophy, based on the Doctrine of Evolution,’ A PLEASANT BOOK On an Interesting subject is Mr. Swainson’s “Handbook of Weather Foik.Lore,” just published by Blackwood, THE AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN ConsuL GENERAL in this city, Mr. Hugo Fritsch, has published a valuable and interesting book, in large pamphlet form, re- viewing the commerce, industry and navigation of the port of New York and their relation to the com- mercial interests of the United States generally. ‘The caretuily prepared statistics and comparative tables on exports, imports, immigration and the movements of the gold, money and stock markets must have required @ great deal of labor, The book, besides being useful, is a tribute to the prog- Tess and development of the country, and is highly creditable to Mr. Fritsch, SUBURBAN SHORTCOMINGS. The Alleged Offic Malefe mee and Forgery in Morrisania, The allegations of forgery and fraud against William Leslie, @ member of the Morrisanta Board of Trustees, still forma prominent topic of dis- course among the ring-ridden taxpayers of that piace. Leslie {8 charged, among other things, with having aMxed the signature of an intimate friend to @ check for $98, and out of this have grown ugly rumors, which implicate more than one town officer in transactions of @ reprehensible, if not aishonest character, Some two or three weeks have elapsed since the charges indicated were first made known, and yet the town authorities have not deemed it prudent to institute such @ thorough in- vestigation of these and other alleged official mis- demeanors a8 would brand the delinquents with the infamy they have merited. ‘The action of the Board of Trustees at a recent mecting, whereby a resolution Was adopted Soe Leslie before the latter has been legaliy called to account for the alleged offence, is regarded by many as a ruse to prevent disclosures which might seriously impli- cate some of the municipal officers who have hitherto passed for honest men in the community. It is not impronabie that the Grand Jury will te asked to Investigate the whole matter during its hext session, as the District Attorney has been july apprised of the affalte sometimes amounted to us Much as £26.000 in on QUADRUPLE SHEET, THE DRAMA. SARDOU _ AND UNCLE SAM. The Man Who Satirized America on Old, Second Hand Information—What He Looks Like and How He Became Famous, . Paris, Nov. 20, 1873. A fortnight ago I attended the first performance of M. Victorien Sardou’s new comedy, “Uncie Sam," et the Vaudeville Theatre, but I wrote no report of the piece ior the readers of the New York H¥RALD because I simply thought it beneath notice. M. de Villemessant, the Figaro’s editor, who isa good judge of plays, shared my opinion, and pronouuced the attempted satire of American institutions to be foolish and wearisome. Many 0. the best critics went even jurther in their censures ; but somehow, 1n despite of condemnations—or, perhaps, by very reason of them—‘Uncie Sam" has hit the public fancy and promises to stand on the bills all through the winter. Considering M. Sardou has never been in America, and scarcely knows English enough to distinguish a New York paper from Hottentot man- uscripts, one may fairly ask what claim he has to indite satires on the New World. But French play- goers are, for the most part, so ignorant that they are not likely to propound this query. They will accept M. Sardou's pictures as faithful portrayals of things that are, instead of second hand exaggerations of other men’s faples. M. Sardou has ransacked Charles Dickens’ Martin Cnuzzle- wit,’ M. Assolant’s “Butterfy’ and M. Duvergier de la Hauranne’s book -of “Travels in the United States,” and out of these old and by no means strong materials he has fashioned comedy which isas true to life as a satire on modern France would be ifit were written by a Chicago author out of French correspondents’ letters published in @ San Francisco journal thirty years ago. To make the matter more ludicrous M. Sardou has written “Uncle Sam” with a spiteil object. Hut- ing republicanism he started with the fine idea vhat if he ‘could bring America into contempt he would be . DOING IMPERIALISM OR ROYALISM & GOOD SERVICE. Stupid bourgeois looking at “Uncle Sam’ would be sure, thought he, to exclaim:—‘Heaven save us from @ country where girls of the best class are forward and immodest, where Gospel mis- sionaries go about with a Bible in one hand anda bottle of rum in the other, where strangers fall a prey to land-owning colonels, who sell them tracts of fever-laden swamps and laugh if their victims die there, and where, in fact, social ethics consist im overreaching one’s neigh- bor in the sharpest way possible and shooting him with a revolver if he turns crusty.” Then would follow the reflection—“If republicanism bears such fruits as these, bad luck to it, and let us remain the well mannered and up- right, though enslaved people we are! For M. Sardou has adroitly pandered to the national ; vanity of his countrymen by making a pair of French people skulk through vhe four acts of his play as living embodiments of all the virtues, One isa young man trresistibly handsome, nobie and witty, who towers over American youths as Saul did over the people of Israel; the other a young widow, who delivers tart homilies about the purity of French domestic morals. Unfortunately M. Sardou has in along series of previous comedies “Les Pattes de Mouches,” ‘Nos Intimes,” “La Famille Benoiton,” “Maison Neuve,” ‘Seraphine,”’ “Fernande” and “Rabagas,” given us a very queer account of those French morals which he now commends to our example. He has been pitiless im exposing to our eyes—often in very repulsive colors—the social leprosies which have corroded the innermost heart of France, and when expostulated with as to the crudity of these pictures he used to answer, ‘lL paint my countrymen asI find them, and I hope my plays may do them good.” Just so; but ul “La Famille Benoiton” be a correct presentment of French home life, such as M. Sardou knows it, where is the point to the comparisons which ne seeks to draw in “Uncle Sam" between France and America? Ifail M. Saraou’s plays be exaggera- tions there is nothing more to say on the matter, but if M. Sardou holds that all his plays are graphic then, according to his own repeated showing, the French are very far below the Americans in all points which concern the decencies and moralities, not only of private but of public and political life. However, M. Sardou is well acquainted with hus own country, whereas he is, a8 above said, entirely unacquainted with America. There- fore, Whether he likes it or not, Competent judges | wil continue to accept his pictures of French customs as portraits, and his delineations of American manners as caricatures. I happen to know M. Sardou well and periaps American readers may like to have A SLIGHT SKETCH OF THIS FRENCHMAN whose head has evidently been turned by study- ing the story of David and Goliath, From the first M. Sardou has given himself out as a slayer of Philistines and his compatriots have come to regard him as eminently fitted for the part. He is a lank, lean man 42 years old, whose face reminds one of Napoleon I. at the period when the latter was young and hungry, He wears no beard or mus- tache, but his black hair fails in tong cascades over his shoulders and he has a pair of humorous eyes forever on the twinkle like those of a weasel. ‘The son of a needy professor, who bequeathed him his blessing and nothing besides, Victorien Sardou at first studied medicine; but pills and boluses being distasteful to his nature he gave himself up to historical studies and for some years led a very dog's lite of it im the Students’ Quarter of this city. Ihave it from his own lips that from his 20th to hi th year he lived principally on dry bread and fric potatoes. He contributed articles to small news- papers, picked up a dinner now and then with an editor, obtained occasional tickets for the theatre from the same sources, and, in 1854, tried his hand atadrama called “The Student’s Tavern,” which Jell Nat, He had devoted some six months of tn- cessant labor to this composition, and its failure so disheartened him that he resolved he would always thenceforth write au courant deta plume, throwing his sheets behind him as fast as they were filled, and never reperusing or correcting them. On this new plan, which allowed nim to fabricate a five act tragedy in something less than @ week, M. Sardon wrote for the next four years, and fabricated plays enough to stock a waste paper shop. All of them were eventually sold by the weight to buttermen, and the author's situa- tion became so precarious that, in 1857, being then 26 years old, he sickened and was very near dying. Happily, there lived in the same house as himseif A YOUNG AND PRETTY ACTRESS, named Mile. Brécourt, who, hearing that a youth- ful writer was pining away from illness and tarvation at her very doar, went in and tended him like @ hospital nurse. Thanks to her. Victorien Sardou recovered, Mile. Brécourt, out of her -smalil earnings, had bought him food and fuel, paid his doctor's bills, and, $o 800n as he could move, supplied him with warm clothes. Saraou was not ungrateful, and oflered Mile. Brécourt his hand, though at tnat time there was no prospect of his ever being @ successiul playwright, and Mlle. Brécourt, tn con- senting to become his wife, might be said to be sacrificing herseif to him, However, as Josh Bil- lings says, “Marrying for love may be a little risky, but it’s so honest that heaven can’t but smile on it.” In this case, as in many others, heaven did smile on tt for Mme, Sardou introduced her husband to Mile. Dejazet, who had just set up a theatre of her own, and this great actress gave Sardou some val- unable advice as to @ new plece he was then writ- ing, alter which she accepted the said piece and performed the letding part init, The name wis “Candide ; ou, Les Premieres Armes a6 Figaro,” and the play Was so successiul that it ran for 200 nights, Now in France there is NO MEDIUM FOR A DRAMATIC AUTIION between starvation and speedy wealth. Once @ playright earns @ name managers Baan opot him trom all points of the compass, authors are paidvat least 10 per cent on the grossa receipts of the theatre where their plays are per- formed money accumulates fast. It must be re- membered, too, that an author does not depend for his income on the Parisian theatres only. There are more than 200 provincial thea- tres, the managers of these houses are’ so bound by the trade union laws of the Société des Auteurs Dramatiques that the dare hot put a Parisian author's plays upon their 8! without giving him the usuai percentage, It haa sometimes happened to M. Sardou that & comedy of his stood on the bitis of 70 provin- cial theatres simultancously, and his gaing have year. There ts no instance of so rapid a fortune among playwrights, tor sincé his first success M. Sardou has bronght out wt least one and some- times two or three plays regularty every year, and not one of them has run for less than 160 | nights. The list 18 too tong to covy, but it may be mentioned that M, Sardon’s fertility 0! composition has drawn down on him repeated accusations of plagiarism, and even suits at law to recover dam- ages. But'M. Sardou bas always come clear out of court, and he is now snapping his fingers at M. Assolant, who claims have first originated the idea of “Uncle Sam.” M. Sardou’s first wile is dead, but he was married again last year to Mile. Soulié, daughter of the librarian of the Chateau de Versailles, and he has an in/ant son and heir, Like al! French authors who attain to wealth, M. Sardou has bullt himself a princely medtival looking palace, and adorued it with rare art collections and antique furniture, It stands at Marley, and opens its gates hospitably to visit- ors and strangers, also to the poor, for M,. Sardow is open handed, and has never ceased to remem- ber the days of his indigence. Of course the au- thor of “La Famille Benutton” is decorated with the Legion of Honor, and he now cherishes the ambition of composirg some master work which shall get him elected to the French Academy, Let us hope that this master work will be worthier of him than “Uncle Sam.”” MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC NOTES. Mr. Jefferson has been playing Bob Acres in Bak timore, Mr. F. S. Chanfrau appears at Booth’s to-morrow evening in his oft repeated play of “Kit.’? Miss Lillie Eldridge appears at the New Park Theatre, Brooklyn, this week in her play ot “Alma."* Mr. Bronson Howard's most recent play, “Lillt- an’s Last Love,” isto be given at Mrs, Conway's Brooklyn Theatre this week. Anew burlesque on Mr. Charles Reade's “Wan- dering Heir” will shortly be produced at one o! the metropolitan theatres under the title of “The Blundering Hetr.”” Mme. L’Hote, the French planiste, will appear in concert before the New York pub!ic in afew days) Mme. L'Hote will be the first French artiste who has appeared in America, Mr. Charles Whitney is to give “oratorical and Shakespearean impersonations” at Association Hall on Tuesday aiternoon. The oratorical imper- sonations include extracts from the speeches of Hayne, Webster, Clay and Randolph. @The Union League Amateur Dramatic Associa- tion will give a performance of Sterling Coyne’s “Widow Hunt’? at the theatre belonging to the Club House, on the 27th inst., for the beneflt of the Five Points House of Industry. Signor Salvini takes his benefit at the Academy of Music on Monday evening, playing ‘‘Othello,’* and Signora Piamonti receives hers on Friday evening, the play being “Queen Elizabeth,’ she taking the title rdle, and Salvini plays tie Karl of Essex. e Mr. Boucicault's comedy, which is to be produced at Wallack’s, has not been named, but we may ex- pect to see the play ina very few days. Previous to its production a number of the plays already pro- duced will be repeated, “She Stoops to Conquer’? being on the bills for Monday evening, “Oura’ tor Tuesday, and “The Liar’ for Wednesday, ‘The Germania Theatre continues its varied per- formances, including operetta, German comedy and French drama. This week Moser’s very suc- cessful play, ‘Das Stiftungsfest’ “and his later comedy, “Der Elephant,’ and Schiller’s “Mary Queen of Scots” are to be given, and_ Offenbach's, opréa bouffe, “Les Georgi¢nnes” and Dumas’ “La Femme du Clande” are underlined. It will be re- membered that even Paris was offended at the moral of the latter piece. This week Mr. Edwin Adams plays Robert Landry in “The Dead Heart,” at the Olympic, bis engagement closing on Saturday. He will be ‘ol- lowed by the Christmas piece, an “imagination” based on Dickens’ story of “Gabriel Grub; or, The Goblin Who Stole a Sexton.’ It is a piece of diadlerie in which the Raynor and Majilton fami- lies are to appear, Mr. Wilkie Collins’ dramatization of his powerful novel, “The Woman in White,” 1s to be produced at the Broadway Theatre to-morrow evening, with Mr. Wybert Reeve, who made considerable reputa- | tion in the partin England, as Count Fosco, The dramatic effect of the work ought to be very great, and if the play is properly presented it can scarcely fail to be successful, The new piece announced for production at the Fifth Avenue Theatre on Wednesday evening is M. Belot’s “Parricide.” It does not deal with the or- dinary subject of French comedy, its moral consist- ing of a false accusation of murder, that of a son of his mother, and tne refusal of society to receive him after his acquittal until the real murderer is discovered. A piece by the same author, “La Femme de Fue," 13 to be produced at Booth’s for the first appearance at this house of Mrs. J. B. Booth. The management of the Thé&tre Comique an- nounce for this week the “box trick” of the Babo- lain brothers, which seems to be more wonderful than any mystery which Spiritualism nag yet claimed. The Babolains are sealed up, one in a sack and the other in a box, and almost instanta- neously afterwards it is discovered that the sack is empty, though still sealed, and when the box is opened the Babolain in the sack is in the box and the Babolain who was in the box has disappeared, Itis not claimed that the trick is performed by any supernatural agency. Other noveltis are also announced, among which we notice the first ap- pearance of Miss Kate O’Connor, who “has just arrived from Dublin.’? Mme. Nilsson has recovered from her indispost» tion and will to-morrow start for Philadelphia, where she is to sing in Mignon’ on Tuesday even- ing. She will accompany the’ Strakosch troupe to Baltimore, and on Thursday night will appear at Ford’s Opera House in “Les Huguenots.” At the = Saturday matinée, Mme. Nilsson is alsc to appear in “Martha.” On Friday night “Lucrezia Borgia’ will be given, with Miss Cary and Campanini in the cast. The Southern tour of the troupe will close at Washington, where probably “Mignon” will be given on Monday. the 22d mst. Previous to its appearance in Cincinnati, on the 30th inst. the Strakosch troupe will give four farewell perform- ances in this city—viz., on the evenings of Decem- ber 24, 25 and 26, and on Saturday afternoon, the 27th inst, In two of these perormances Mme. Nilsson will appear, and at the others “AYda” will be repeated. A OARD FROM THE MANAGER OF THE UNION SQUARE THEATRE, UNION SQUARE grees} New York, Dec, 12, 1373. To THE Eprror oF THE HERALD? ‘The communication of “Anti-Puf’ in this morn- ing’s HERALD contains an attack upon a lady con- nected with this theatre and upon our audiences which I cannot pass unnoticed. Fair criticism upon'“Led Astray” or the manner in which it is acted is not a subject with which @ manager hag the right to find fault, when tt 1s confined to legiti- mate limits, A portion of the article 1s not, how- ever, within these limits. The manager would be recreant to his duty to an otherwise defenceless lady did he not indig- nantly deny the assertions contained in “Anti- Pus” attack on Miss Weathersby., They are ag untrue as they are coarse, and the inferences sought to be drawn from them are not only unjust to the lady named; but when he adas that “no decent man would care to take his wile and daughter to see it,” he attacks also the audi- ences at this theatre, which are the equal tn intell.- ence, Wealth and iashion of those of any of the other theatres in the city. Since “Led ‘Astray’? was produced I have received the most gratilying compliments irom many of our best people, not only by their presence and applause, but also in the shape of personal assurances and letters of unstinted praise. A word as to the allusions of “Anti-Puff” to a “claque”’ and to “paper,”’ They are both equally destitute of foundation, and while your cor- respondent finds it “singalar’ atre should always be full when others are empty, I think T can point wits te to the solution of that “singular? mystery in the merit of our plays and their acting. No gieater complt- ment could be paid to the judgment of the man- agement or the excellence of the company, Free admissions, or “paper,’’ as your correspondent, from his knowledge of theatrical and other slang, styles it, would not be sent to the Lotwos or any other club where the membership consists of jour nalists and actors, who are, by courtesy, given the entrée of the theatres without the formula of “paper. ‘he rest of your correspondent's article does not come within hy province to reply to, and, were tt not my duty to deiend the character of the lady assailed, as Well as that of the audien at this theapre, Lshonid not make this claim on‘ your tne duigence. Very respectfoily, yours 4. M. PALMER, Manawor. that this the. «