Le Roman de Renart en 19 récits (FLAMMARION JEUN) (French Edition)

Michel Laporte

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In Act I, scene 17, Gerval refuses, for example to accept that Georges has quit his service. He wishes to send Georges to act as his agent in Hamburg. As Cordova and Sol note, this underscores both the confidence Gerval places in Georges and the level of education that Georges has.

In fact, non-whites were sometimes educated so that they could assume duties over- seeing various parts of the plantation operation. This trope mirrors the complex cultural reality of gender relations in the nineteenth-century colonial world. Balzac initially presents the bond between Georges and Gerval as positive. This distinguishes his text from virtually all the other texts from this period in which the black heroic figure and the white heroic figure begin as deadly rivals, but by the end, each recognises grudgingly the valour of the other.

In drafting the story of an interracial love triangle for the stage, Balzac faced different challenges to those he would have faced had he been writing a novel or a poem. It became increasingly difficult to present non-white characters in the theatre. To a great extent, this remained tied to the strong resistance to demands that the civil rights of free non-whites be recognised from the s onwards. To impose their views, pro-slavery colonial lobbies fomented fears and racial prejudices. The violence in the Caribbean leading to the independence of the Haitian republic also increased xenophobia.

Thus, attitudes regarding racial diversity and equality became markedly more conservative during the Napoleonic era and during the Restoration. While selection committees for the theatres assessed whether these subjects would appeal to a paying public, censors evaluated whether proposed plays would pose a threat to public order. In general, whether a result of audience preference or political manoeuvrings, in the s, plays representing interracial love triangles enjoyed comparatively less success than prose works or poetry on similar topics.

Instead, it focuses on the question of adultery in Paris and its outskirts. When he reworks the plot, Balzac trivialises it, offering a Parisian tale. Furthermore, textual analysis strongly suggests that Balzac resisted adopting a fait divers or a scenario with a historical subtext, just as he resisted using his play as a platform for subversive political or social commentary. While these characteristics distinguish his melodrama from the other Restoration texts discussed, introducing an unexpected view of Paris as a racially diverse space, these differences result, in all likelihood, from his own desire to stage a melodrama quickly and profitably.

Expediency, as we shall see, appears to have guided his choice to adopt Othello as his subject and to domesticate it. At the same time, however, the links are clear. Othello was, of course, not unknown to Parisian audiences. We note that Ducis and Berio di Salsa made five significant changes.

First, they concentrated the plot around the Desdemona character. Fourth, they changed the murder weapon, replacing the pillow with a dagger. Fifth, and most significantly, they proposed an alternative, happy ending. These changes were linked to public responses from the s onwards to theatrical representations of violence committed by blacks or people of colour against whites, and must be seen in relation to fears and memories of the violence linked to the abolition of slavery and decolonisation in the Caribbean.

Fages, , staged at the Cirque Olympique from onwards.

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Her research helps provide the context for a close reading of the manuscript in search of its potential sources. Othello virtually disappears as the absent white husband. The Iago character, Georges, becomes a free black. Like Ducis and Berio di Salsa, Balzac maintained the focus on the female lead. In fact, he considerably developed two storylines associated with female characters and even added a fourth female to the plot, although not on stage. Significantly, the mechanism that drives the plot to its final conclusion is neither passion nor destiny, but instead the betrayal of one female by another, a betrayal triggered, moreover, by vulnerability.

Balzac chose not to offer a happy ending, or rather, he provided an ambiguous ending. Once again, however, the woman is stabbed not smothered. Balzac prudently added a suicide to his ending that neatly sanctions the villain. In modifying the colour paradigm, Balzac shifted attention from race to gender. The major modifications that Balzac made can be summarised as a shift away from questioning racial prejudice, injustice, and hierarchies and one towards an exploration of female desire and vulnerability.

Balzac was obliged to create drama. The actions of this unseen character create the required dramatic tension. In particular, the burlesque and Manichean stereotypes that structure and energise this melodrama — like so many others — introduce a predictable inevitability in the plot that serves to institutionalise social inequalities and reproduce the structures of patriarchal domination. While researchers in a variety of fields have studied the oppression of women in the nineteenth century and representations of this phenomenon, the descriptive and prescriptive staging of the imbalance of power between the sexes and the fate of the weaker sex in melodrama has garnered less attention, with some notable exceptions, including the work of Marie-Pierre Le Hir.

Johns Hopkins University Press, She signals the importance of this early work in understanding how Balzac laid a foundation for considering power dynamics and gender inequalities in society, even as a young writer. By embracing and exploiting the comic and emotional potential of generic stereotypes while staging the less exalted ranks of society for the very people it portrays, melodrama normalises oppression and inequality.

Three female characters appear on stage: Pulled from the range of stock characters designed to entertain audiences, each of these characters embodies one or more female stereotypes. Finally, Marguerite, the older female villager, sometimes acts the cunning and greedy old woman, at other times the helpful and protective nurse figure, and, at still others, the burlesque country bumpkin. Although Claire never actually sets foot on the stage, this female figure proves an essential element in energising the plot. The absent Claire embodies female desire, weakness, and ruin as both an unwed mother and a fallen and forsaken woman, mad with grief.

His representations suggest that this fragility, coupled with longing womb envy, greed, sexual desire , serves as the very motor driving the plot to its predictable, catastrophic conclusion. His portrayals of female desire in this melodrama also tend to mask the practical imperative for women to ensure their own material survival. This diverts attention away from the portrayal Balzac offers of a social reality for women in this time period. At the same time, however, the play repeatedly flags as negative female attempts to ensure their own well-being. Virtually all the attempts by a female character to provide a secure and safe environment for herself and her family place that character and other women in danger.

By presenting female agency in such an unfavourable light, this melodrama offers a striking illustration of the pretended legitimacy of patriarchal domination and control. He offers four examples of women at risk: The four women also illus- trate various types of desire. Claire, although unmarried, personifies fully realised sexual and maternal desire. Rosine exemplifies deferred sexual and maternal desire. And Marguerite rejects sexual desire and lusts instead after money and land. The servant, Rosine, makes her own living, but the possibility of marriage would offer her additional surety. By waiting to receive the blessing of her future father-in-law, Rosine follows the wisest course of all the female characters, but Georges manipulates her into leaving her mistress alone by telling her that her beloved and his father want her to meet them in order to make her betrothal official.

Marguerite, the old peasant woman, seeks to maintain her repu- tation and the business that form the bases for her livelihood. Although married, she continually seeks to extend her property holdings. While the stereotype of the old peasant woman may be linked to greed, throughout Act II Marguerite had established herself as the voice of generous, kindly rustic reason and feminine solidarity. Their actions follow the script, stereotypes, and logic governing melodramas. The element that precipi- tates the betrayal functions most often as the protective supplement in the Derridean sense.

Put in place to counteract the vulnerability of a character, it increases this vulnerability. The nobleman who seeks to have the son officially adopted and his henchman warn Marguerite that she must renounce her claims. This pattern of females making dangerous choices in a bid to provide for themselves also holds for younger female characters. Classic examples of this in various melodramas include young unwed mothers giving up a child, or poor young women marrying to save their fathers from poverty. Nor is it different in its conservative reaffirmation of male institutions of patriarchal domination.

Without attempting to produce a subversive or feminist text, Balzac offers a shrewd portrayal of the double bind of female vulnerability in the early nineteenth century. In sections where Balzac abbreviated or omitted the name of the character speaking, we have reintroduced this into the text of the script. We have systematically indicated asides using a stage direction, even those that Balzac merely indicated as asides by placing them in parentheses.

We have preferred instead to summarise them here, before our discussion of the challenges faced in producing a translation of this melodrama for our contemporary readers. They also indicate the renaming of the character of the Marquis de Saint-Yves. In the unedited version, he was to be Horace Gordon, but was subsequently re-baptised Monsieur de Manfred. Balzac neglected to correct this with consistency throughout the manuscript. There are, however, two sets of changes that deserve comment: Obviously, on one level, such a shift makes the action of the play appear more credible.

Balzac struggled throughout the play to reintroduce the energy lost when he modified the power differential from the one found in Othello by making the married couple white rather than biracial. Thus, Balzac needed to find a way to raise Georges to the level of rival while still making him subservient and allowing for his descent into murderous brute. We cannot help but note, however, that the playwright insisted on flagging this character negatively.

Even the most cursory reading of the manuscript underscores what all editors of the French versions note: The final page, in particular, poses an interpretive dilemma.

In the introduction to their edition of the play, Cordova and Sol emphasise the indeterminacy of the ending given the impossibility of deciphering the pronouns in what they describe as the most important stage direction of the text. While evocative, it seems unlikely that Balzac wished his play to be read as an allegory for the theatre industry. Both contain stage directions with pronouns that are difficult to reconcile with logic and the text, and both render simple readings impossible and necessitate interpretation.

In the margins, we find two brief passages to insert into the text. After, at the end of the page, running vertically up from the bottom of the left corner is a more clearly scripted stage direction and line to be inserted, but there is no notation to indicate where this addition belongs in the text.

This proposed addition creates a greater challenge to editors and translators since there is a need to reconcile meaning with the two pronouns and the placement of this second addition. There exist no markings to indicate where the second addition belongs. Moreover, scene 15 begins with Manfred entering and expressing reste impossible. The most important stage direction in the play remains illegible. Are we to understand: Hence, a bolder interpretation offering a more grisly ending would place the last addition earlier, most likely in scene Cordova and Sol, and Milatchitch, all follow the same reading, taking it to be the first possibility.

We remind readers in the footnotes of the alternative reading found in two of the three French editions. Our translation takes the notion of indeterminacy of the ending seriously. Given that two of the French editions available imagine Georges as committing suicide, we offer a translation of that ending first. The first interpretative challenge has just been discussed along with our description of how this translation responds. The translator must consider the formulaic expressions that stage stock melodrama on the one hand and prejudice on the other, and determine whether intervention or transparency appear most appropriate in rendering the text accessible in English.

The contemporary reader may view the overly dramatic expressions of emotion so common to the genre of melodrama as distractingly artificial. Readers today should remember that melodrama and boulevard theatre played deliberately on conventions and on audience expectations to generate laughter, fears, and tears. Finally, shifts in race relations and perceptions of appropriate language force translators working with texts representing racialised interactions from previous centuries to decide whether or not to revise the source text in order to avoid jarring modern sensibilities.

While arguments can be made for minimising abhorrent expressions of prejudice, alternate arguments refusing revisions can be mobilised in order to convey the historical nature of representations that constructed and helped circulate prejudice. In doing so, we recognise that engaging in the challenging task of reporting and witnessing verbal exchanges that appear anathematic today places demands on both the translator and reader. It requires that each remain attentive to the difficulties inherent in staging the exotic alterity of French society from a different age.

These visceral reactions force readers and translators alike to acknowledge that this melodrama does not condemn racial prejudice. The translators encourage readers to consider how racial stereotypes and slurs serve to describe and prescribe a conservative and racially divided — if not racially pure — society.

In the twenty-first century, neither term is a comfortable choice. One could imagine a more toxic translation that deliberately heightens the racism in the play. Such a play might not have shocked a Parisian audience in , but it would certainly shock and offend a twenty-first- century public. In doing so, they have overlooked the fundamental importance of this text. In this highly conventional Romantic melodrama, Balzac offers an ambitious and concentrated vision of nineteenth-century French society in micro- cosm. In each of its three acts, the play stages the tensions, contradictions, and prejudices surrounding the role of non-whites, women, and the popular classes within French society.

While Balzac mobilises stereotypes and caricatures that offer a deliberately distorted vision of reality, his characters and the situations in which they find themselves all push the modern reader to measure the distance between this fictional representation and the cultural realities of nineteenth-century Paris and France by exploring the history, sociology, anthropology, politics, geography, art, architecture, theatre, and literature of this period. To ignore this short, unstaged melodrama would be to dismiss unwittingly a work that raises a wide variety of timely and topical issues, from the evolution and promotion of racial prejudice to the value of theatre and literature.

This English-language translation hopes to facilitate its study by offering Anglophone scholars and students the possibility to read and study this previously inaccessible Balzacian text. The introduction, trans- lation, notes, and bibliography proposed allow readers to exploit the full potential of this text across a wide variety of disciplines. Archives nationales, Primary sources Aude, J. Pierrot, 5 vols Paris: Ducourneau, 30 vols Paris: Castex, 12 vols Paris: Pierrot, 2 vols Paris: Lorant, 2 vols Paris: Fages, Desbordes-Valmore, M.

The Original French Text, trans. Modern Language Association, Desnoyer, C. Lechal de Kersaint, Ourika, 2nd edn Paris: University of Exeter Press, Gassier, J. Henri Plon, Gosse, E. Barba, Gouges, O. Vve Duchesne, Guillemain, C. Auguste Udron, Hugo, V. Broadview, Lacour, [J. Meurant, an III L. Mayeur, an IV Pons, G.

Louisiana State Press, Villeneuve, F. Pollet, Secondary sources Almanach des Spectacles pour Paris: Barba, Almanach des Spectacles pour Paris: Barba, Arrigon, L. Perrin, Bara, O. Aux sources de Balzac: Christian Pirot, Baron, A. Au diable vauvert, Bernard-Griffiths, S. Presses Universitaires du Mirail, Blackburn, R. Verso, Bongie, C.

Stanford University Press, Boutin, A. Colombia University Press, Chalaye, S. PUPS, , pp. Rodopi, , pp. Presses Universitaires de France, Descaves, P. La Table Ronde, Desormeaux, D. Rodopi, Faux Titre, Dubois, L. Garrigus, Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, — Palgrave Macmillan, Einspahr, J. University of Tennessee Press, Fouchard, J. University of Virginia Press, Garrigus, J. Geggus, eds, A Turbulent Time: Indiana University Press, Gauthier, F. The Historical Context, —, ed. Frank Cass, , pp. Clarendon Press, Gengembre, G. Colin, Gilman, M. Champion, Gleize, J.

Cambridge University Press, Heuer, J. Payot, Iandoli, L. Massardier-Kenney, eds, Translating Slavery: University of Cambridge Press, Jenson, D. University of Exeter Press, Mainardi, P. Yale University Press, Marcandier, C. Champion, McCormick, J. Routledge, Meininger, A. University of Pennsylvania Press, Paliyenko, A. Stovall, eds, The Color of Liberty: Duke University Press, Popkin, J. Cambridge University Press, Pruitt, D. Picador, Scully, P. Duke University Press, Surville, L. Jacottet, Bourdilliat, Thomasseau, J.

Presses Universitaires des France, Que sais- je? Presses Universitaires de Vincennes, Tremewan, P. Dumont, Wild, N. Aux Amateurs des livres, Yon, J. It is still dark in the apartment, but dawn has broken and morning light can be seen filtering through the shutters. He is watching the door.

She is resting and I am standing watch over her! Her breath is as pure as that of a child and mine is burning like the sky over my homeland…1 She has just this instant returned home from the ball… He looks at the clock. He bends low as if picking up the sash and giving it to her. Her smile and her heavenly accent whipped my rage to its limits… He removes a rose from his shirt.

Rose that fell from her hair, you will be a talisman for me. For the past two years, I have watched over her, like this, consumed by vain efforts to extinguish this fire that consumes me. My eyes devour her. Fortunately, my mouth has always remained silent. Let us break this wretched silence.

I have just seen her in such beauty! He runs to the door. May she live and be happy. The intensity and unbounded nature of both contrast sharply with the calm, contained repose enjoyed by the European female. If I think about her heavenly smile, my death will not taste bitter and, at least, I will not have insulted virtue… And, why should I not speak? Let me tell her the horror of my torments, so that she may know the depths of my misfortune and how my African blood boils in my veins. She will weep over my death… No! I know what her answer will be…4 Why trouble the happiness that she enjoys?

She loves her husband… Die, Georges! Would I die without having attempted anything? Monsieur de Gerval is absent. I will send the servants away and I will remain alone with her, alone! I hear some noise. She is ringing for me. She rings the bell. Somebody will see me. What excuse shall I give? I will open everything up, myself. You are here, Monsieur Georges? For somebody who came in so late, you are up early! Was the ball beautiful? He returns to this at the climax of the play.

It occurs here and then at the end of the play Act III, scene Given the title of the play, the rarity with which Balzac uses the term intrigues and encourages interpretative speculation. They underscore the devious and violent nature that he keeps carefully hidden until he attacks those whom he betrays. That boy is always sad. Did Madame look very beautiful? Her rose crown,7 was it placed well? Did Madame dance much?

Did she have many handsome partners? How can I get rid of her? Was the supper lovely? Did you not see anything? Nothing… Well, only one thing. Hurry up and get Madame dressed. His father has learned of your love for one another and he has agreed to let you marry. How happy, I am! Your mistress is waiting. Despite his gloominess, he has good heart! Thank you, Monsieur Georges! I will not forget this. It pains me to deceive her. She, she is loved! And, if she does not find Charles, her heart will nonetheless revel sweetly in the thought.

How I wish I were looking forward to such a meeting, myself! I hear the others. Let me get rid of all of them. He hides and only leaves after having seen her. You are always sad, Madame. And yet, yesterday, you must have enjoyed yourself. Worldly pleasures hold such little importance, Rosine! And, if your heart is not in them, then they hold no importance at all.

But, Georges told me that you danced a great deal. To distract myself, because, as you know, ever since Monsieur went away, I have been going out often. I have been trying to find the much-vaunted pleasures of Paris and nothing anywhere amuses me. How cross I am with Gerval for not returning! When will I stop getting more letters! They bring you pleasure, nonetheless. Yes, but they are merely letters! And, if when I read them, my heart feels and recognises his affection for me, his tenderness, and the tone he uses that seems to bare his very soul, I would still prefer seeing him.

A single glance from him is worth one hundred love letters. Rosine, truthfully, I believe that this separation has given my affections all the freshness of that first wave of emotions. Do not say that too loud, Madame. The walls have ears and all husbands would leave their wives. You ask me that every day. That is because every morning I expect him! Rosine, something terrible is going to happen to me.

People have always predicted that I shall die a victim of my own tenderness. And, how old will you be when this happens? Very well, my child! Help me push away these sinister thoughts. I imagine that Gerval will arrive today. My heart assures me of this. Even if one is completely happy, this does not prevent the suffering and misery of others. But, let us drop that subject. Gerval is coming back. Everything here must be happy, full of laughter, and seem like a celebration. Does Madame have anything to add to her outfit? Her noble soul scorns these frivolous things.

And, besides, simplicity, is it not its own form of coquetry? Does Madame have any order to give me? Run and see if there are any letters. I have already checked, Madame. There was only this. It is not in his writing! I am going to see him… Run to his suite and put out new flowers. Make sure that everybody is ready. I will not dine without him.

But, in the meantime? Georges will serve me my chocolate here in this drawing room. Does Madame have any other orders to give me? Bring me my rose crown. Rosine goes into the bedroom and comes back out. But, I am out of my mind, in truth. My heart is racing. Now I am truly living! Fasten my crown of flowers better than you did yesterday, because it fell off.

If Madame would be so good as to… But, this circlet is too short! There is a rose missing. And, what does that matter? When is he coming? If I knew what road he would be taking, I would go meet him. Could Madame do without my services for several minutes? Rosine, I can do without the entire world. The idea that he is coming back is enough to keep me happy for a long while. I want everybody who is around me to feel my joy. She is always the same! So, I am going to see him again! To call him by his sweet name. Alas, while my heart shivers with joy, my sister, my poor Claire is pining in solitary agony, alone, prey to despair, to shame.

Oh, my sister, I am ashamed of being so happy for myself and I can only think of you! Let me look at the last letter he sent, because I cannot give it to Claire unless it offers hope for her. They insult my love. It is no more possible for Manfred13 to be a coward, than for you to be unfaithful. Learn, my dear, that the reason for my exile has vanished and that shortly I will return, like a loyal knight, bearing a heart over which you continue to reign as sovereign.

How happy I am for you! As I write this, I add to it my whole soul because these letters will strike your eyes. Oh, my tender love, what I would give to be there to dry your tears, to cover you with kisses and to serve you as I did in those happy days when you laughed and danced at my side. In the depths of the heart of the one who penned these lines, a spark of honour and of virtue continues to shine. Manfred, come honour this unfortunate woman who hides herself from all other eyes!

Her only wish is to bear, without shame, the title of mother, which I envy her so. I will save her reputation! For no one in the whole world knows about this important secret. It is the only one I keep from Gerval. The honour of a woman, and especially that of a cherished sister, is so precious that one cannot make too many sacrifices to keep it pure. The people in the house where she is know nothing themselves about the existence of her child! Let us go put this letter with the other ones.

I will bring it to my sister in a little while and I will go early since for her it will be the height of happiness! She folds away the letter. Everything smiles on me this morning and my sinister premonitions have disappeared. I have never hidden my actions from Gerval and what would happen if he were to learn that during his absence, I went out for five hours each day?

He, who gets alarmed at the slightest nothing, at a worried smile, at a word… He, whose jealousy is as intense as his love… Oh! How a woman must carefully attend to the 13 Throughout the manuscript, Balzac tended to forget to correct the name for this character. The end of this scene posited in editions and translated here is based on the margin notes. This village on the outskirts of Paris was linked in the public imagination to frivolity and debauchery, as well as to manufacturing.

It would hold none of the residual connections to court life associated with Versailles. It is decided, then. I will not go to see my sister anymore… Not to go see her would be like taking away the raft to which an unfortunate person clings when drowning. Come what may, I will go! Nobody will tell Gerval about it. And, besides, he loves me and if he gets angry, it is I who shall scold him. Here is my chocolate. You can go now. I will stand in for you if anyone needs you. Finally, we are alone together… He comes closer.

What is the matter with you, Georges? When I am gay at heart, you should be happy. Monsieur de Gerval is coming home. What is wrong with you? I cannot breathe, Madame. Are you in pain? A great deal of pain! This man terrifies me… His face has changed. Madame, I must speak with you. Speak, Georges, but first get up! The choice focuses attention on his mental state. Are you guilty of having committed some error? You know how indulgent we are, and you can confess without fear.

No, I have still not spoken. No, I would not know how to confess it to her. I will keep it locked in my heart, all this mourning, rage, despair, all these torments of Hell. I will die, but this fatal secret will never pass from my soul to my lips. Has some misfortune befallen Gerval? Rest assured, the misfortune is mine alone. I tell you that I must to see her and that she knows who I am… Oh!

I can breath again! What brings you here? I have forbidden you to come here. That is true, Madame. But, you see, there is a great deal of news on our end. That little lady has slipped out the back. What are you telling me? The truth, Madame, with all due respect to you. But, Claire was calm enough when I left her! But it is precisely after you left, that she began her ruckus. She was shouting, shouting loud enough to be heard all the way over at that bit of land that my man sold last year to Guillaume, the church warden.

You are torturing me. When the young woman was not shouting any longer, I made as how to go into her bedchamber. Oh, my heart has stopped…. She told me that she had been waiting for me for a long time, but I just explained to you why I did not go up. Then, she took me, with all due respect to you, for a man, a Monsieur Manfred. She made me sit next to her and took my hand, and after speaking to me very friendly-like, she looked at me and gave a terrible scream, and went running off into the other room where I never go, just like we agreed.

Her suffering has altered her reason. I would think that yes, and no. No, because I done stayed up watching over her all the night and she was calm enough. She talked readily enough, talked and talked to Monsieur Manfred, and to somebody else whom she called her little Ferdinand. But, being as how I did not understand anything at all, I did not know whether this was good or bad. I think that yes, because this morning, when I be leaving her alone, she run away and Pierre, the neighbour, he saw her leave through the little woods.

Sure enough, she was dressed like a lady and to any questions, she answered that she was going to find him. Was she alone when she ran away? Did she have anything with her? Did she close the door to her rooms? Her baby will die! Well, not nothing… I ran here, quick. Marguerite, I am going to give you some money. You will send people out right away to find this young girl. Marguerite, they must bring this unfortunate creature back, no matter what the cost.

Georges, have them ready the carriage. I am going out. Madame, Pierre is out. I will do without the carriage. You must be discreet about everything that you see or hear. It appears that you are going out with Madame? Do you live far from here? One is always far from home, when one is not there. You are very haughty for a dairymaid!

Is that not the village where Madame goes every day? Well, to help the poor… Some might tell you the secret, but me, thank God, I know how to keep my mouth shut, my friend! You will leave immediately. I will not be far behind you. Respects to you and yours. I can eat nothing more. My heart is swollen. Shall I wait for Gerval? No, this poor baby will die if she has locked him in… And, besides, I must be the first to weep with this poor sister because now our tears will hold no more bitterness. What are you still doing there? I am leaving you, Madame.

And, for what reason? You dislike it here so much? Then, why would you leave? Do not ask me any questions! I would have thought, Georges, that we had shown you enough kindness through the trust that we have placed in you and the place you have here, for it to be possible to examine together this problem that you insist on keeping secret. And I must, Madame. Georges, you are free. I will be angered by your going and I had not thought that one day you would leave the man who saved your life, the man who is your benefactor…. What is the meaning of this? Was I the one who asked to come to France?

Well, Madame, she loves somebody else! Marriage fulfilled all of her wishes. She pierces my heart each day and the madness in my words tells you sure enough that this woman, it is you! It is I who pointed you out to my master, pointed you out as an object worthy of love. This fire that burns me, I ignited it in his heart and you owe me his love. But, my love, I believed I could extinguish it. I have fought to smother it for the past two years.

I have suffered because of it and I will die from it! And, could I keep this volcano contained within my heart, without letting it break out into the open and must I not leave you? Georges, you should have gone yesterday. I understand what you see! And, besides, a soul that springs from God, a soul in which your image dwells, could it ever be base? Your head could rest without shame upon my breast!

Georges, do not speak any further! This word creates an entire world of thoughts in my soul. I am no longer equal to it. I tremble and I feel a rage in my soul that all of my love can hardly outweigh. When will you be finished with this insulting speech?

When this heart has ceased to beat. What do I see, there? A rose from my crown! Give it back to me! It is my soul! Your screams are useless. I have taken care to send everybody away and we are alone. What is to become of me? You are safe with me. The most tender respect stands between the two of us.

But, my infernal passion has burst forth from my heart and it must no longer, it can no longer, be contained within and the forfeit I condemn you to pay for your disdain is to hear me out. Yes, this is torture. Even more, I would prefer death! I am afraid to destroy you. Stay away from me! I am seeing you perhaps for the last time.

Utter one single word of regret for my fate and I die content! This word will be for me the sole blossom of love that I will gather in my life. I am trying not to hear you. To die with her hating me! Her indifference never drew tears from me… Go! I will make you share the pain that you leave as your testament to me. I have no love left, but rather, a terrible need to avenge myself. In the most sacred of sanctuaries, in the heavens, we will meet again! So many misfortunes all at once! Indeed, I find you overcome with emotion! I have already troubled his happiness.

Was it on your orders that all the servants were sent out? My love, I did not know they were gone. Your face does not show that calm that it usually displays and the expression on your face is not that of joy. Gerval, it is true, indeed, that my face will always be too weak an interpreter for my feelings for you. That tone, I recognise it as the voice of the woman who takes care to render my life beautiful. The source of your emotion still remains hidden from me, however.

Is it not merely the pleasure of seeing you again? This pleasure looks a great deal like worry. I have much of that! When I see, Gerval, that you do not believe me any longer! I beg your pardon! Do not attribute this reaction to anything other than my dark and extremely jealous nature, that you know so well. If it has been my misfortune, it also gives greater strength to my love. How happy I am to see you again! As for me, I thought I would never arrive! And, when I saw Paris, I trembled with pleasure! In the end, dear love, seeing your face makes me forget all the rest!

Looking at the clock. Just a moment and I will be back. What business can be so pressing as to oblige you to leave me so soon?

Can you not tell me, at least, what it is? Oh, I would like to be able to explain the whole to you.

Are You an Author?

But, where are you going then? Gerval, you love me, or at least you say you do…Well, no more questions! I must keep this secret, because it is not mine. I believed that a woman did not have any secrets from her husband. You are free to act as you wish. I will never demand any account of your actions, and from now on, I will notify you of the exact time of my arrival.

Surprises are unpleasant for me. Every able-bodied Frenchman is liable to military service from 20 to 48 years of age ; he must serve: While in the Reserve of the " Active ", he serves two periods of 21 days ; while in the " Territoriale " , one period of nine days. History shows that military service became more general, as nations became more conscious of themselves.

Our case is no exception. Until toward the end of the Years'War , the French King had to engage the services either of his noblemen and their serfs, for a price, or apply to specialists, generally foreign- ers, who hired their troops and their services to him for a stated time and amount. Those troops had been recruited from the lowest classes of all parts of Europe, mostly Germany.

They looted the French peasantry as willingly as the enemy, who was often a French vassal Permanent cavalry was instituted first, then, in , permanent French infantry. Five years later, the land was entirely reconquered. The first national army on the large scale now generally adopted was created by Prussia, after the invasion by the French in Foreign Legion, Mountain Artillery. He therefore forbade Prussia to have more than a few thousand sol- diers. Prussia complied perforce with the letter of his law, but Thus did the whole nation rapidly go through the mill, and in , Napoleon was met by a homo- geneous, perfectly drilled force, of , men, who seemed to have risen from the soil by magic.

Our present system was adopted, in its general lines, in Previous to , everybody was called up, and drew a num- ber by lot. The lowest numbers, up to the requirements for the year, were taken. It was legal to " buy a man " to take one's place in the ranks. The duration of the service was 7 years.

The law of called up for 5 years every young man of 21, the only sons of widows and students reading for certain exa- minations being exempted. In , the 5 years were reduced to 3, and the categories previously exempted had to serve I year. In , every man was called up for 2 years without any exemptions whatever. In 3, the 2 years were increased to 3, still without exemptions. The institution is entirely democratic and technical. Rank is given on purely military grounds. Briand is a private ; President Poincare is a lieutenant. Every man must begin as a private, and live in barracks ; after 6 months of special training, and a successful examination, the private can become a " caporal " unmounted troops , or a " brigadier ".

As a rule, it takes a year to make a " brigadier " of the Artillery, or a "caporal " of the Engineers. After another minimum of 6months, the caporal may become a " sergent ", and the "brigadier " a " marechal des logis ". Then they may rise again to " sergent fourrier " or " mare- chal des logis fourrier" stores, ammunition, billets, and signall- ing , and to " sergent-major " or " marechal des logis chef book-keeping, office-work, platoon commander. If they wish to stay in the army they must re-enlist for 2, and then for 5 years.

They can then become " adjudant " and " adjudant- chef " the senior N. Officers belong to two main categories, and are recruited from four sources. The "offieiers de reserve" — civilians commanding units in war-time. The "offieiers d' active " — regular— are either graduates from the military schools of St. The organization, downwards, is a follows: A "Division" as a rule comprises: Brigades, i Artillery Regt. A " Brigade " consists of 2 " Regiments ".

The Regiment, under a "Colonel" , or a "Lieutenant-Colonel" , is the fundamental unit ; every private belongs to a regiment, located in one given town, paraded and marched in the same manner, etc. Ithasi2 "Compagnies", grouped into2"Bataillons". The Batta- lionis under a "Commandant M. I corporal is in charge of the Coy's transport; i officer, with a proper number of N.

To sum up, a "Regiment d'lnfanterie" , is composed of 2, men in peace-time, distributed between: The pay of a 2nd. The soldier's pay has been raised during this war to 25 centimes a day ; it used to be 5 i cent. This purely nominal pay works, in peace-time, better than one would suppose: The very poor, orphans, etc. Reveille sounds at 5 A. A pannikin of hot coffee is brought to the men straight from the kitchen into their dormitory by the man in charge of the room for the day.

This, and some bread, hastily swallowed while dressing, or lei- surely taken in bed on more favourable days, is the breakfast. At 10, soup, meat, and potatoes, the national " pot-au-feu " , some jam, or cheese, and water, are consumed in the refectory. At 5, a " ragoAt" stew and more water, are issued. Then the men may stroll in town ; they may leave at 5 if they can afford restaurants ; but all must be back by 9 ; and all lights are out at French Kings always had some foreign troops in their pay.

Shortly after the death of one " legion- naire ", a man-of-war of a great allied nation steamed to the nearest point of the wild coast where the men were fighting, and received the body with the honours paid to impe- rial blood. At the death of an- other, the captain asked if any man could say a few words over the body, as there was no chaplain near.

One man stepped forward, and went through the Catholic Service for the Dead in truly profes- sional style: The " Legion " has done extremely well in this war, and wears the red " Fourragere. Romagny, liistoire generale de' Varmee nalionale J2i4-i8g2 Berg. Hanguillart, Petit Guide pratique de guerre pour ma compagnie Berg. Frolle, La Marsouille the marines , Payot, 3 fr. Everett , — F. Martyn, Life in the Legion etc. See also the catalogues of: But French art escapes definition, as much as our history or our race, and it is as impossible to state when it really attained its highest point, as to say at what time we were most truly ourselves in politics or philosophy.

Indeed, the best way to classify our works of art is undoubtedly to group them under periods, coinciding with stages of our national evolution. Then the following essential points become quite clear: The practice of any art implies the release of much accumulated energy ; general poverty is unfavourable to it. Our situation being central, this meant European expression and influence. Either one art took precedence over all others, or, in all arts, similar traits became predominant. Now, when our political circumstances have caused discipline to prevail over freedom, design has asserted itself, and the South with it, in the history of our painting ; the gift for colour still existed, but had to await a more favourable opportunity.

Balance is perhaps the charac- teristic of our arts. Emotion may provide the loftier purpose, but must remain the key-note of the melody ; that, but no more ; as to manual skill very common in France , it is expected to do its best, but must keep in the back-ground ; an excellent pianist may be a bad composer, and a worse critic.

Perfect art is neither " mere genius ", nor " mere cleverness ": The actions and reactions of those several factors will better appear in the various chapters on Architecture, etc. Their net result has been that, while some other nations have given to the world artists who rank as high as any of our, own, the bulk of our artistic production stands unparalleled in continuity, variety, and influence.

Full bibliographies and illustrations. Hachette; 7 fr- In the xvth century, Louis XI burnt it down, like Arras. In the xvith, Charles V of Spain captured it, and made it his bul- wark against Peronne, which was at the time the stronghold of the French. Francis I besieged it successfully in The " Ligue " gave it to the Spanish ; it was besieged and taken, in 1 64 1, by a general of Richelieu, finally made French by the treaty of , and fortified by Vauban. The " Allies " occupied it in the xviiith and xixth centuries ; Napier was Camp- Commandant of Bapaume as late as The old ramparts were demolished in Such a history partly accounts for the great presence of mind of the people is this war: They know what to expect, and what is worth, or is not worth doing.

As long as the land is theirs, and they are able to work it, they are ready to endure almost anything. Houses are soon built again, - 32 - feAYONEt S,nd it is no more use making them too durable than crying over their disappearance. The wanton destruction of fruit-trees is quite another matter. The staple industries of Bapaume were It replaced the pike, and was a blade of steel fixed inside the muzzle of the gun. Some companies were armed with The Lion of Belfort see next page. Carved in the face of the rock at the foot of the fortress, standing near the Lion.

Note the two men it as early as It was issued to one full regiment in In 1 , a means was found at last to fix it alongside the barrel ; two ye ars later, Vauban issued it to all infantry troops. The " bai'onneite " is the favourite weapon of our infantry. The shape of the French bayonet is such that it can pierce easily, but cannot cut. Gauchet snme publ i fr. It was excluded from annexation on account of its splendid defence ; its commander.

Denfert-Rochereau, had held it from the early part of the war until the last day. A gigantic lion, carved in the rock of the fortress by Bartholdi, the French artist who executed the statue of " Liberty " of New York harbour, is the proud memorial of that defence see illustr. A bronze replica of that lion, on a moderate scale, can be seen in Paris, on the "Place Denfert-Rochereau ", near the entrance to the Catacombs.

To an artist, the " bourgeois " is the hateful Philis- tine. To the manual worker, he is the man who never takes off his coat at his work. To the historian, he is that middle class which patiently achieved the overthrow of the aristocracy. Indeed, it is difficult to define or explain the bourgeois of present times without some reference to his origins.

He was not a " citizen ". The citizen was a perfectly free man, belonging to the aristocracy of the great independent centres of Roman days. Burg of some knights, thus gradually forming " bourgs " boroughs. Their ranks were continually swelled by other peasants, and they gradually became strong enough for self- defence. Hence their desire to pay less and less for a protection which they less and less required.

They greatly contributed to the rise of absolute monarchy, as they so frequently appealed spe- cially from the xiith century , from their feudal lords to their common liege the King. Between an ever-oppressed peasantry, and an ever-free aristo- cracy, they were the slow-moving, rising class, consisting of offi- cials, well-to-do farmers, merchants, doctors, and lawyers. The lawyers were the most active ; they alone knew exactly how to substitute justice for caprice, and provide the Iving with legal in- struments against the unruly knights.

This complex character of a continuous rise, by work, brains, and money, within legal limits, is the essence oi "bourgeoisie". Hence the slow and sure methods, the matter-of-fact habits, ridiculed by artists, who leap at new ideas, and take risks gladly. What is exactly tbe bourgeois, status? Money is no sufficient distinction: Education of course is an import- ant factor ; yet, the young counter-jumper who knows nothing but the prices of his cloth, regards himself as socially superior to the mechanic who understands electricity and modern machi- nery.

In this case, the fact that the former always wears decent clean clothes, and never soils his hands, is predominant. On the whole, it might be said that the unconscious distinction lies be- tween those who mostly depend for their livingon physical exertion and those who do not.

But the very word "most" shows how lax the distinction must be, in individual cases. In , after the defeat of Poitiers, the indignant ' ' bourgeois ' ' asked that the nobles, having betrayed their charge, should be deprived of their power, and the country ruled by Kin hand Parliament. As the clergy and nobles successfully opposed- this proposal, a general rebellion of the cities began, led by theParis merchant and mayor, Etienne Marcel ; the peasants joined them; this first revolu- tion was cruelly repressed, but the doctrines of democracy surviv- ed.

The Etats of statee that " Kingship is an office, not an heirloom ", and that " th sovereign people, originally, had created all kings. Yet, in , the deputies of the "JioMyg'eoJsie" complained to the King that, whilst the Church and the nobles enjoyed all the privi- leges of the eldest born, their own class was treated with the utter indiiierence offered to youngest sons in those days. To this the members for the aristocracy retorted: There can we write our correspondence on the paper provided by the establishment, until such time as our wives have done their shopping, or our sweet-hearts return from their music lessons.

They provide for almost every need of man. But, being in France and in a " cafe ", ask for any drink you please except wine, or coffee. That is the fundamental paradox of French "cafes". If you ask for wine, the waiter will stare, then smile ; a " cafe " is not a " bistro " a " pub ". If you ask for coffee, he will bring you a tepid brown- ish fluid which is best left alone.

However, just after meals, you may venture to ask for a " special ". If you have chosen your " cafe " wisely, the waiter will bring you a little filter all for yourself, with fresh coffee dripping from it into the glass below. The first "cafes" followed soon; literary " cafes " were in vogue as early as As to "restaurants" , they were instituted by one Boulanger in On the door of his shop was a Latin inscription: If they are too high, you will be regarded as the care- less millionaire, who might have given more. If they are too low! Books recommended- — Courteline: Gilson C , Among French Inns.

Twice as wide, twice as long, and tour times as high as the Parthenon. This facade rises feet above present Pans; as the level of old Pans was much lower, Notre- Dame used to stand at the top of a flight of 13 steps. The fagade consists of the 3 gatfs of the eastern side other gates N. Over this gallery, two wide windows each including two ogives and a rose; between them, a rose of stone and glass 40 feet high, and above them an elegant colonnade ; then the towers. The windows in those towers are higher than the seven-storied house of modern Paris in the left of the picture.

The high sharp spire at the back rises just over the inter- section of nave and transepts. Agde, Alais, Aries, Auxerre. Rodez, Cahors, Mende, Perpignan. Nimes, Valence, Viviers, Montpellier. Verdun, Belley, Saint-Die, Nancy. Soissons, Chalons-sur-Marne, Beauvais, Amiens. Bayeux, Evreux, Seez, Coutances. Le Mans, Angers, Nantes, Laval. Our cathedrals are practically all built on the same plan, which is an adaptation of the Roman basilica to the requirements and inspirations of Christian worship. When, through the conversion of the Emperor Constantine, in , the Christians were able to worship publicly, they had no churches of their own, and used the largest public building of the time: By the xth century, the basilica had assumed the shape of a cross, by the addition of two " transepts " ; a tower at the gate served as bell-house and land-mark.

How that fun- damental type, evolved from one original building and one reli- gion, came to develop into so many varieties, is explaioed under Architecture. Few of the older ones are quite finished ; they often have no spires Notre-Dame de Paris, Amiens , or only one Dol, Auxerre , when two were distinctly intended by the original architect. Further, as they were built over long periods, in no case has the original plan been adhered to: But their incompleteness and composite character heighten, rather than diminish, the beauty of Gothic churches ; they are best compared with natural growths, and nobody would expect the trees in a forest to be " all complete " and identical.

The Frenchman who first made a thorough study of Gothic art, and as a consequence was employed on the restoration of several of our cathedrals, was Viollet-le-Duc. They were still more or less picturesque, in spite of the cruel improvements of the two preceding centuries; he made them more "nice and clean" than they had ever been, did not hesitate to replace old statues by new or to carry out what the original architects " must " have intended, etc Notre-Dame and Amiens suffered a good deal at his hands.

The great difference between the Gothic church, the highest product of Western art, and its predecessors, is that while the latter were content to be as useful as possible, by accommodating a great many people, and being fortresses as well as places of worship, the Gothic church fills the two requirements and is a poem as well: Notre- Dame can accommodate 7, people, and could stand a siege ; but, at the same time,' it tries to " rise " as high as it can ; the ogive is a device for obtaining height and the impressioo of height.

Not only is the plan of the church in the shape of a cross ; in some cases, the choir slightly deviates from the axis, as the head of Our Lord must have turned aside when he was crucified. The string of little chapels all round the choir are His crown. The three gates are the symbols of the Holy Trinity, The altar is under the eastern windows, so that the people face Jerusalem when they face the altar ; they face Golgotha when the priest holds up the Host, and they bow their heads On the pavement, a maze of coloured stones allows them to pray on their knees all the way to the centre of the maze, which they call Zion Showing how the flying-buttresses complete and support the general frame-work there are no proper walls here.

Note that one series of buttresses press against the upper portion of the frame-work while other buttresses below them press oij intermediate points as well. Tha builders would give a block of stone to a shepherd, and let him carve what he liked, while he tended his sheep ; some extraordi- nary gargoyle, or cynical monk, was the outcome. A window was offered by a corporation, and the arms of the guild figured in the design. Chartres was built by the whole population of Beauce, who came and lived about the new walls ; the men would place the stones, the women drew water for the mortar made by the boys ; rich people provided food, and the priests distributed it.

As to the architects of those churches, most of them have not left even a name. The finest of our cathedrals, and the dearest to us, was Rheims, which has been shelled intermittently since the beginning of this war. Ever since , when Clovis our first King was baptized there, the church at Rheims had remained the royal sanctuary.

The building now destroyed had seen Joan of Arc. It contained over 2, statues, and the windows were second to none. Amiens, according to Viollet-le-Duc, is our most perfect and most homogeneous Gothic church. Ruskin paid it ample justice. But it has been touched up and scraped " like new " more than was necessary. Chartres and Bourges are probably as fine, and certainly more eloquent. Date of Height of foundation vault Albi brick. Amiens , Beauvais Bordeaux Werner Laurie, London, Just as our streets are as a rule naturally winding, and can be made straight only gradually, or at considerable cost, so are their cleanliness, sanitation, and means of communication, generally behind the times, from similar causes.

Those of our villages that possess a source of electric power, can adopt electric light far more easily than our townspeople, who are bound to old contracts with gas companies ; Marseilles and Algiers had excellent and cheap trolleys long before Paris, etc. A new order is opposed by Nature far less than by older stages of civilization. But averages may include distant extremes ; this is the case with France.

Parts of France are as warm as Spain or Italy, others are under snow nine months in the year ; some are exposed to the East wind coming straight from Russia across Germany; others to the mild influences of the Gulf-Stream. The usual division is the following: Bordeaux or Gironde climate: Much rain, and plenty of sunshine. Picardy, Artois, Flanders, are under this climate. Much snow and hard frost in winter, great heat and drought in summer. The East wind rules. Auvergne is the region of extinct volcanoes, right in the centre of France.

Owing to unknown causes deforestation is suspected to be one , France is now colder than itwas. A Nor- thern area, bor- dering on the Channel, and in- cluding the whole of Brittany, Nor- mandy, Picardy, Flanders, Artois, and part of Ar- dennes, is one where the vine Betweln thSr extreme regions Ues the Atlantic area, which includes 2 h of France; normal French agriculture, with its combination of wheat-land, vineyards, meadows, forests, is to be found in that area. Lorraine has wine, Flanders not. This means that Artois or Flanders are wet, while the East as a rule enjoys dry bracing weather, whether in summer or in winter ; 3.

On the whole, our Allies need not fear our climate; if it is slightly different from their own, they will find that it does not affect their health to any extent. But both Britishers and Americans had better beware of its sudden changes, and wear wool. Woollen socks are the only thing for marching, especially in summer. Our best-known proverb on the subject of climate and health is: In May, do as you please. En Mai, fais ce qu'il te plait. Mac Quarrie, How to live at the Front Dippincott, 6 s. A more serious mistake about us could not very well be made.

It is quite true that very often the Frenchman is deeply attach- ed to his fields and " familie ", and is fond of social life; but what better proof could be given of his ability as a colonist than the fact that in spite of this close affection for his home, he has built up no less than three successive colonial empires since the xivth century? We are so far indeed from lacking individual resource as colonists, that our colonization has been almost enti- rely, save in recent times, the work of individuals. Until about 40 years ago, colonies were hardly ever a national affair with us ; the mother-country generally neglected her adventurous sons ; their activity and obstinacy forced over-sea possessions upon her; she lost them in European wars with a fairly light heart.

In the xvith century, our Kings appreciated only the Colonies that produced gold ; in the xviith and xviiith, the spices of the West Indies ranked far ahead of the wheat lands of Canada. Voltaire called North America " a few acres of snow, " and " could have wished Canada at the bottom of the sea. We never took much interest as a nation in things Egyptian; even the Suez Canal left us indifferent, etc With this official ignorance or indifference, compare the 65, " individual " French peasants left behind in Canada - 46 - Colonies in ; they are a minion and a half to-day, and have proved excellent colonists; they have never depended on " foncHon- narisme ".

The case of England is almost the reverse ; there the nation made colonization her business as early as in the days of Eliza- beth, spent money and blood on it lavishly, made emigration easy, and at times almost compulsory. Not that the British have ever lacked energetic individuals who also had to force colonies on the Little Englanders ; but on the whole the State understood and led. Colonies are a necessity to England as a nation; to us as a nation they are merely useful; sometimes indeed they were burdensome: And so it has happened that the individual French traveller or colonist opened up Canada and India, which were secured thereafter by the national policy of England.

It has been said that the British Empire was to a great extent " a present of the French " ; the statement, far from inviting ill-feeling on either side, would be of little interest to-day, if the amount of obvious truth which it contains did not establish beyond doubt, we think, that the Frenchman is not a born " fonctionnaire ", incapable of individual enterprise.

We occupied Guinea as early as ; the Canaries in , Brazil in , Canada in , Guiana in , Madagascar in 1 , etc. After the Seven Years' War, our defeat at Rosbach by Frederic of Prussia in , the death of Montcalm at Quebec in , and the taking of Pondicherry in , we had to give Louisiana to Spain, and all the rest of our possessions in- cluding Canada, India, Senegal except Pondicherry and Chander- nagore, to England Treaty of Paris, Thus ended our first Empire.

We gradually regained most of our old Colonies, abolished slavery in , conquered Egypt in Thus much for our second Empire. By , we possessed over seas more than one milUon square kilom. To-day, our third Empire is the second in importance in the world ; its area is over 11 million sq. Surely, those facts speak for themselves. North Africa is only miles from our coast, a 24 hours' crossing.

Its total trade has grown from million francs in to more than 1. Wine, grain, vegetables, sheep, are its main productions. Algeria has proved an invaluable school to our soldiers and administrators ; it gradually led us to become an African power. General description of the French colonial contingent which has taken part in the European war. French colonists, white natives, and coloured men. They do not include those troops — such as the " Infanterie Coloniale " or the Foreign Legion — which were garrisoned in the Colonies when the war began, but had all been recruited in Europe No official figures have been issued as regards the contingent supplied by the French colonists.

The last census, however, shows that there are , French- men in Algeria, 46, in Tunis, and 36, in Morocco, to which must be added 70, Algerian Jews who are all French citizens This makes an aggregate of over , people, all liable to conscription We are probably under the truth inputting the whole properly French contingent most of whom serve as Zouaves at about 60, Tunis alone had, by March 15, , raised a force of 41, men. On the other hand, Morocco, which is still half unconquered, has supplied a few thousand native troops. Boussenot, by the middle of This contingent to-day is at least , men.

These excellent troops have fought with distinction on the Somme and around Verdun, as well as in Gallipoli, or in Salonica The " Jour- nal officiel " of Fr. Africa states that the number of Senegalese raised for the European War reached in the respectable figure of , men. Other equally official documents show that, if one adds the various coloured contingents supplied by Indo-China, Madagascar, and the West Indies, the total figure reached in 6 was well above another , men.

It would not be surprising to hear that Greater France has supplied the mother-country with another half million men before the war is over. What about the future? The French Colonies' effort Bloud, o fi. The most famous of those national institutions is the " Comedie Frangaise " in Paris, also called "la Maison de Moliere", " le Theatre Frangais", or simply: It was founded by Louis XIV in , seven years after the death of Moliere, by the fusion of the two main theatrical com- panies existing in Paris at the time. It occupied se- veral sites , , but enjoyed an unrivalled repu- tation and a happy fruitful existence until the Revolution brought about a conflict be- tween the old conservative house and a young com- petitor which called itself " Theatre de la Republique " ; — upon which the Comedie assumed the name of " Thea- tre de la Nation ".

The Convention in disestablished all theatres ; whereupon the " Comedie " became more imprudently royalist than ever. The whole company were arrested in , some of them being released on condition they joined the rival house. When the rest were released in their turn on the 9th Thermidor the day when the rule of Robespierre came to an end , they revived the old " Comedie " which soon outshone its young opponent, because of its supe- rior technique, especially in comedy.

But, after a number of unfortunate and intricate transactions private enterprise, by favouring competition rather than co-opera- tion, dispersed the original artists, and the creation of a second inferior company, the first artists of the "Odeon". At last the Government took the matter in hand, and by regulations dated re-organized the original company and established them in the present house near the " Palais-Royal " built by Louis, in ; destroyed by fire, in ; re-built the same - 51 - Voltaire by Houdon, in the lobby of the Comed.

See Literature, and Sculpture. Napoleon, in , framed for them a more precise constitution, and then another, still in force to-day, which he signed at Moscow in The house is under the presidency and administration of a State official, the " Administrateur General " ; the artists have an important share in the artistic management, but admissions and dismissals are in the hands of the Government " Ministre de I' Instruction Publique et des Beaux-Arts ".

Promotion is given partly by vote, partly for long service. All members are entitled to a pension upon retiring from active service, like other State officials. The " Comedie Francaise " is the best theatre in the world ; its standard is very high, as it does not depend on one or two "stars", but on the taste of cultured Frenchmen past and present, and on the cumulative teachings of all our best actors since Louis XIV. No one can say that he really understands our classical drama until he has heard the artists of the " Comedie ". They teach more about Corneille and Racine than most masters or critics could do ; because the " Comedie " maintains the living atmosphere in which the plays came to life, and without which they can appeal to the emotions but indirectly and imperfectly.

Another service rendered to us by the " Comedie " is that of preserving a standard of French pronunciation ; on that point it co-operates with the " Academie " in keeping our language pure. The "Opera", as a national company, is still older than the " Comedie " ; it was founded in The " Opera-Comique " was founded about and re- organized in 1 As a result of those subsidies, the prices of the seats in all those houses are very moderate.

Full and accurate statistics are not available. Our foreign trade was steadily growing before the war. The high protective tariffs of had made it decline at first, from 9, million francs in to 8, in ; but the pro- gress of our colonies and our industries soon made it rise again; it reached 12, million francs in Coffee from Brazil and our own Colonies to millions ; grain from U. Mostly machinery from Wool from Australia, Argentina; cotton from U. Our purchases in grain vary a good deal ; they reached million francs in ; they were 4 times as high in 6.

For collectors

We pay for wool annually over million francs ; for cotton and silk, over ; for coal, over ; for wood, Silks of Lyons, " arfides de Paris " , millinery, motor-cars, etc. We sell annually over million francs of silks, cotton goods, millinery, etc. Our best customer by far is U. French Imports and Exports in million francs , in Imports Exports Totals United Kingdom. Levasseur, Histoire du commerce de la France Rous- seau, 1. The range and elaborateness of our cooking are due to several factors, natural or political.

One is the variety of climates, which originated three great schools of cooking: The second school uses olive-oil, and is partial to saffron, tomatoes, garlic, pepper and cloves, onions and vinegar ; it flourishes in the S. Thus do truffles of Perigord S. Another factor is periodic poverty, the recurrence of wars and famines, which forced the people to exert themselves to the utmost in the discovery of new cheap foods. Frogs cost nothing, and are plentiful ; they do not look particularly inviting or nutritious ; yet they could never jump if their legs were not fairly muscular ; throw away the rest of their bodies if you like, but find some use for that flesh.

Our peasantry has found at least three methods of preparing frogs; they may be stewed and served with milk sauce, or fried, or fried inside pastry. The taste is as delicate as that of flsh or chicken. In the same way he has utilized the snails that live on the vines of Burgundy.

Those big fat snails are starved for a couple of days, so as to make them internally irreproachable; they are then washed, boiled, stuffed with bread, butter, and herbs, baked in an oven, and served hot. Thus has the vine been rid of its parasites, and provided food as well as drink Lastly, the refinement of the Court contributed much to the development of cooking as a fine art. Our epicures in the xviiith century claimed that they could tell on which leg a pheas- ant had been in the habit of sleeping, merely from the greater firmness of the flesh.

One century before that, when our chefs had still a great deal to learn, food was regarded as so important that the steward of the Prince of Conde, Vatel, fell on his sword, like a true knight, because the fish "la maree " had not arrived in time for a dinner at which Louis XIV was to be present! Thus is truth stranger than fiction. The following description of a little friendly dinner, offered by Louis XIV to the Pope's Legate, will perhaps make it appear less unlikely.

The silver-chest at the end, on the King's side. The first course, of " potages " , being on the table it consisted of ten large dishes and fourteen plates the King came in, preceded by ten house-stewards and the chief house-steward ; the Legate came in on his left. When he had reached the top of the table, the Duke of Enghien, as great master of the ceremonies, offered him the napkin, while M.

The Legate having then walked to his place, the King sat down, then the Legate, each in an arm-chair. They stood in that order oppo- site the King, and set the dishes before him on the table after the chief carver had tasted them. The Legate was served by Compt- roller Parfait, who filled his glass, and presented to him the dishes passed by another Parfait and by young Chamoy. Behind the chair of the King stood M. At every course, the stewards went out for the meat, and came back preceded by the usher of the hall, the stewards two and two, staff in hand, the chief steward coming last.

The dishes and plates were brought in and removed by the King's footmen. There were four courses, and then fruit, this last consisting of four pyramids of twenty-four plates of porcelain of all kinds of fruit, and fourteen plates of " citronnades" z. The King drank only twice, from the hand of his chief cup-bearer ; the Legate four times, from the hand of Comptroller Parfait. Dinner over, the King rose, and at the same time the Legate, who walked up to him ; thereupon the Duke of Enghien E resented the napkin to the King, and the chief steward to the egate.

The Queens sat in the gallery during the ceremony; the violins, trumpets and cymbals were in the hall. A traveller in India, where the cooking is very poor as a rule, was surprised at the quality of certain dishes at his hotel ; he asked what sort of man the cook might be. He was told that he was an Indian who had worked as stoker on one of the " Messageries " steamers, and must have taken a few lessons from the chef at odd moments. That was indeed -'peaceful penetration". The other read- ily assented ; and they tried the best restaurant they could find.

Fortunately, one of the servants was intelligent, and had spent some time in France ; he quickly prepared and brought some steak with a sauce that the moujicks had never tasted, and which fully confirmed them in their respect for French civilization. When they went home, and told their friends of this dish, the unfortu- nate inn-keepers of the nearest market-town, who failed to pro- vide the magic food, were severely dealt with by the irate consti- tutionalists. Some reader will think that " this may be all very fine, but he has never found a decent piece of meat in any French restau- rant.

However, if the reader will try a really good place, and ask for a " Chateau- briand ", he will be given a steak that may reconcile him to the vanity of our ways. As many as , " first quality " snails, the price ol which in normal times averages 7 s. They need be fed only once a day, preferably in the evening, and though extremely voracious, are by no means fastidious. After a fall of rain, which seems to sharpen their appetite, a bed of , snails will soon demolish a barrow load of cabbages.

They are fed not only on greenstuffs, but on wine dregs, or bran soaked in wine, a diet which is supposed to impart a special flavour. Spenser on snails — Three centuries ago, snails were more popular in England than they are now. In " The Faerie Queene " Spenser gives a recipe for their preparation: With our sharp iveapons we shal thee fray. And take the castill that thou lyest in; We shal thee flay out of thy foule skin, And in a dish, with onyons and peper, We shal thee dress with strong vynegare.

C , Allied Cooking. Long ser- vice, in the case of officers, and very long service about 30 years , in the case of N. A private or N. At the same time civilians receive it almost automatically when they fill certain posts. On the whole the Legion has become far more accessible than was meant by its founder ; partly for want of other appropriate decorations.

Napoleon did not intend the order to include more than 6, members. Napoleon's officers being always in the field, they could not vei y well look after their children ; Napoleon founded special schools for the daughters of the most distinguished of them: The sons were bursars in his " lycees " and cadet-schools.

The schools for legionnaires' daughters have survived to this day. Purely military is the " Medaille Militaire " , the ribbon of which is yellow with green edges. It was instituted by Napoleon III. It rewards bravery in the field, or long service, in the case of N. A peculiarity of its bestowal is that an officer who has reached the highest rank in the Legion may receive it on very rare occasions.

Marshal Joffre received it after the Marne. While there are grades in the Legion, all " medailles " are equals. The Legion, when given to a military man, and the " Medaille " entitle the recipient to a pension. Moderate distinction, or long service, in the cause of literature, the fine arts, or education, entitle thousands to a violet decoration; some are " officiers d'academie " this has nothing to do with the " Academie Frangaise " ; others rank higher as " officiers de I' Instrtiction publique ".

The former wear a ribbon, the latter a " rosette ". The " palms " attached to the ribbon or rosette are only worn on great occasions. No pensions are attached. Good work in the interests of agriculture is rewarded by the " Ordre du Merite agricole " , a green ribbon with red edges. This was instituted by the Third present Republic, and does not carry a pension. This is intermediate between tlie " Medaille militaire" and the comme- morative medals given to all members of an expedition.

It is given to all men mentioned in Orders ; if in Regimental or Brigade Orders: With the " Medaille " or the "Legion" given for conspicuous bravery, the " Croix de Guerre " is awarded as well. A green ribbon with black stripes is worn by those who took part in the war of The " Medaille Coloniale " blue and white ribbon and special commemorative medals, distinguish those who fought in Madagascar, Morocco, etc.

The " foiirragere " forage cord, a rope used for tieing hay was worn by soldiers as an ornament several generations ago. It is now a collective decoration ; a unit that has been cited three times in Orders receives the green and red fourragere collective "Croix de Guerre " ; 5 times, a green and yellow one collective Military Medal ; 6 times, a blood-red one collective Legion of Honour.

Every stripe on the right arm between elbow and shoulder , means a wound received. One stripe on the lejt arm means one year at the front ; the second, third, etc. For well over years, we have had " national styles ", whose influence extended from Spain to. Russia, and permeated even the tradition of our village joiners. The standard was high, and national: At the same time, we possess the most skilled workmen in Europe, and a large proportion of our people could afford to pay for good work, so that production, however extensive, seldom fell below a fairly high grade.

We can give only a few essentials on this interesting subject; a good deal might be said about our jewellers, goldsmiths, chasers, glass-founders, lace-workers, etc. In the xith century, several monasteries wove woollen hangings. Hotel of the Duke of Lauzun. The Sultan of Constantinople bought Arras tapestries representing scenes from the " Romance of the Rose " and " Arras " became a common noun, both in England and in Italy avrazo. In the xvith, Brussels took the lead ; there the Pope ordered tapestries for the churches of Rome ; the Flemings reproduced the cartoons of Raphael.

After the triumph of Beauvais under Oudry in the xviiith century, and the decline of our tapestry in the xixth, the Third Repubhc has done its best for the Gobelins, where private orders can now be carried out, whilst the State and Louis XVI style. Beauvais is still active and, like Aubusson, is State property. Silk tapestries are a speciality of Lyons. It was only in the xivth century that the men who had decorated the cathedrals applied their skill as carvers to the making of furniture. The dresser of the French home, a stout structure of plain native oak, intended for the plate s and ewers of the household, was succeeded by the inlaid cabinei , as ornate as a fagade of the Renaissance, and containing jewels and trinkets.

Boulle did not belong to the Gobelins ; he was a perfectly original, and yet national artist, whose family had lived and worked in the palace of the Louvre for three gene- rations. The Louis XIV style is severe, of large size, and fond of sober symmetrical curves. The bed-chamber of Empress Josephine at the Malmaison, near Paris. Of recent times, a number of specialists Groult, Dufrene, Mare, Jallot, Follot , have revived our decorative arts, by con- demning our previous habit of filling rooms with a number of articles which individually might be pretty, but had no relation to one another ; a " splendid " imitation Renaissance cabinet be- tween two " magnificent" imitation Louis XIV arm-chairs, etc.

Their art, of course, has bene- fited by the example of William Morris and his disciples. But those men have worked only for the very few, and their influence has not sunk deep. Some distinguished connoisseurs persist in enriching their household museums, while the vast majority, true to the modern principle of the " showy, cheap, and nasty ', are content with sham Louis XVI, and spurious " modern- style ", the only styles that suit the steam-plane. We had excellent pottery before Roman times, but the local style disappeared during Roman occupation.

In the xith century, our ceramists had begun to substitute tiled pavements for the mosaics of previous builders. From to we owed our ceramics partly to native artists, partly to Italians whom our kings established by the Loire. Those Italians understood glazing and enamelling, but kept their secrets jealously ; B. Palissy, a Huguenot who died in the Bastille in , spent all hiss means on the re-discovery of those processes.

Within his life-time, Beauvais was famous for its blue, green, and brown stone vases, and Rouen for its gourds and tiles. In the xviith century, our ceramics reached their full development, in a manner quite different from furniture and tapestry: But, as early as , Claude Reverend claimed to have discov- ered the secret of Eastern porcelain. Rouen and Orleans began to work in china almost at once, amidst general indifference. Several other firms were soon founded in the neigh- bourhood of Paris. One at Sevres, in , was patronized by Louis XV, and gradually became a National institution, which it has remained to this day.

Vart de reconnaitre les styles Gamier, 5 fr. The " chef-lieu " is not always the most important town, but the most central ; e. Rheims is only a "sous-prefecture. Algeria includes the three " deparfements "of: Alger, Or an, Constantine. The English have evolved the race-horse, the short-horn, etc. There is no better horse for light draught than the " perche- ron " West ; it has been so much appreciated in America that few of the breed are left us now. Our Horses vary with regions and climates, ranging from the huge heavy brewer's horse of Boulogne to the Corsican pony.

As a rule, French horses are, like their masters, frugal, hardy, and stronger than their looks. The breeds naturally produced in Brittany, Ardennes, Lorraine, Poitou, Auvergne, are noted for their endurance. A very good cross is the " Anglo-N ormand. Our best hounds are the " chiens-courants " oi Normandy, Artois, Saintonge West , and the " braque " of Saint- Germain. The " dogue de Bordeaux " is a huge unamiable guardian. The famous French poodle we ourselves call " caniche " ; we regard it as the most intelligent of dogs. The English bull-dog has had a French offspring: Our best sheep-dogs are those of Brie and Beauce.

French Cattle belongs to nine main stocks, branching into scores of varieties. The tallest variety is the Flemish, the smallest are the Breton 3L. The best milker is ihe"Nor- mande ", at least in Normandy: Normande cows, when imported into Gascony S.

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The Donkey is a great favourite with us ; it is the horse of the poor, and does extremely well in the drier regions of France. A large variety is much appreciated by the Mule-breeders of Poitou. The ass, being very hardy and particular at the same time, is never consumptive, and the milk of the she-ass is often prescribed to consumptive patients by our doctors. The Goat is to the cow what the ass is to the horse. We have goats mostly in the South.

Every woman will have one or two ; the village shepherd collects them all in the morning, op. The sheep of Champagne, Berri, Cevennes, Gascony, are the best known. To that same district belong our finest Fowls. Our Pigeons and Rabbits call for no other remark than this: Pigeons and small green peas are a favourite dish of ours.

Rabbits, cooked with wine, are excellent. The French peasant seldom deals with a butcher, except to sell him cattle ; a little pork every day, and a rabbit now and then, are quite enough for him. A rabbit, on the market, will fetch from 3 to 6 francs. The skin is carefully turned inside out, and stuffed with straw ; one day the specialist calls and buys it for a few pence. The Turkey we call "dindon" "potilet d'Inde" , because it came to us from the "West Indies".

It prospers exceedingly in our S. The Goose of Toulouse is almost as well-known in England as our turkey. Our epicures particulary appreciate the guinea-hen, the hen of Madagascar, the barbary-duck, and the ducks from the Rouen district. We breed ostriches at Nice, and Algiers. Guided does not mean led.

It should be pointed out that we draw as a rule a fine distinc- tion between love and marriage. Love we regard more or less as a personal matter and an accident, something incalculable which happens to yourself only, of which the person loved may even know nothing ; whereas marriage is a social and calculable neces- sity.

Love your wife, or your husband, by all means, but the happiness of both, and that of your children and parents will be all the greater, in the long run, if you have conformed to certain social conventions and sensible rules of business and conduct. Do not depend on love exclusively, says French wisdom: The young people are apt to ignore those rules, but such is the creed of their elders, and French marriage concerns the elders al- most as much as the principals.

If a man is an orphan, he must get the permission of his grandparents before he can marry Say a young man has been attracted by some girl, and thinks she might make a good wife ; he tells his parents about it. The latter make full enquiry, if necessary, then call on the girl's parents, and discuss things with them. The young people as a rule merely find one another, and concern themselves only with the senti- mental aspects of the situation; the dutiful parents arrange their future life for them ; so can Romeo and Juliet be poetical to their hearts' content, — the prose passages in the play do not concern them.

This arrangement works better, for a whole nation, than sporadic Eugenic societies. Sometimes the girl's parents, or the man's, return to their offspring unsatisfactory information about the prospective parents-in-law. Conflicts may and do ensue, with solutions ranging from final compliance to elopement or suicide, accord- ing to temperaments, education, and seasons Be it borne in mind, however, that in the vast majority of cases, family discipline, like others, has declined, and the parents seldom use the power that the law still grants them.

Two other points should be remembered. Equality is a strong element in the Gallic temperament. We do not see why, if the man has an income, the wife should not have one ; a French father likes to ensure his daughter's independence to some extent, even when she leaves him. Again, French marriage being essen- tially a family affair, a French father will take care that his grand- children are provided for ; he will, in some cases, settle on his — 68 — DRINKS daughter and her children to come, a capital which the husband can under no circumstances break into.

Many husbands profit very little, if at all, by the " dot " of their wives. There must be something in that institution which already existed amongst us before Roman times, for there are practically no spinsters in France, and no suffragettes.

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