dame Sand, but it may also be said to bear traces of Balzac and Paul Bourget. The hero is a young fellow named Frédéric de Périgny, who has been brought up by elderly matrons in the French provinces. Full of gloomy reflections, the hero joins an old Irish tutor-Francis O'Kent-who has been his mentor. Mr. O'Kent, like all the characters in the book, is studied from life, and M. Prévost evidently has intended to make something of this man, as the type of an Hibernian Revolutionist who is at the same time a worldly-wise person. With this political enthusiast, but practical reasoner where ordinary life is concerned, the hero goes off to Ireland in order to join a "movement" in Fenianism. A clever French novel on Irish life and manners is the "Terre d'Emeraude," by Madame Marie Anne de Bovet, who is well known as an able translator and writer on Ireland and the Irish question. The scene of her novel is laid entirely in England and Ireland, partly in Loudon society and partly among the Irish Nationalists and the Irish landlords. The hero of the novel is a young Nationalist M.P., and the heroine belongs to the land-owning class. As in Mrs. Barrett Browning's "Lady Geraldine," we find "the right divine of love to set its foot on the neck of pride:" O'Dowd in Thackeray's "Vanity Fair;" but in the second the "peer of Ireland," who rejoices in the title of “le Duc Moran O'Leary," is rather an extraordinary personage. The adventures of Frenchmen in the British colonies, and the explorations of Anglo-Saxons in more or less hospitable regions, abound in contemporary French fiction. It is scarcely worth while to mention the numerous novels of M. Jules Verne, which are full of perilous adventures and almost miraculous escapes, as these works are well known to British readers through the medium of admirable translations; but other French novelists have contributed some interesting books of fictitious travels which deserve to become better known on this side of the Channel. The "Histoire d'une famille d'émigrants," by M. Armand Dubarry, has been adopted by several French educational authorities for school use, and the author has been awarded medals and testimonials by many learned societies. The subject of the novel is by no means a new one, consisting, as it does, of only a slight variation upon the theme of the "Swiss Family Robinson," which in its turn was simply a fresh version of a story as old almost as Alexander Selkirk's adventures upon which Daniel Defoe founded his novel "Robinson Crusoe." The variation, She has halls and she has castles, and the however, is a very clever one. The lead resonant steam eagles Follow far on the direction of her little dove-like hand Trailing on a thundrous vapor underneath the starry vigils, So to mark upon the blasted heaven the measure of her hand. Madame Germaine d'Anjou's "La petite nièce d'O'Connell" is a novel after Archbishop Walsh's own heart. We find Ireland depicted as an intensely Catholic nation, and suffering martyrdom for her political principles. Irish characters are also found in M. Léon de Tinseau's "Sur le seuil," and in M. E. Grimbolt's "Mademoiselle Henri." In the first there is a capital Irish waiting lady, Mrs. Crowe, who almost reminds one of the kind-hearted Mrs. ing personages are an Alsatian family who have been wrecked and journey across Australia. The author has given his readers a tale full of incident, and chequered with all the moods of human passion and feeling-from the agony and pathos of despair and sorrow to cheerfulness and joy; and even, in a few instances, to the merriment of broad humor; but he is never insincere. There are some inaccuracies regarding the British colonists-for instance, the Australia of to-day and the Australia of "les convicts" days are mixed up in a way rather misleading to the average French reader, but upon the whole the "Histoire d'une famille d'émigrants" is a work of very considerable talent and interest. In M. Léon de Tinseau's novel "Faut-il aimer?" the scene is partly laid in Paris and partly in western Manitoba. The scenes near the Canadian Pacific line are cleverly described, and the Canadian characters it contains are drawn with much delicacy of coloring. "Le secret de Sir William"(?), by M. Marc Anfossi, and "Le voyage de William Willoughby," by M. G. Michaud, are also thoroughly representative French novels of exploration. The first owes much to M. Jules Verne, and the second reminds one of the late Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island." The French novelist, however, probably never read a line of the English author's work, and he is certainly to be credited with the original idea of an American doctoress promising to marry somebody if he will discover the North Pole. Tales of adventure have also been used by some French authors as a mask for political purposes. M. Edmond Thíaudière, who belongs to an old Poitevine family allied to that of Voltaire, some years ago brought out an imaginary translation from the English called "Voyage en Bubaterbo au pays des jolis bœufs, traduit de l'anglais de Lord Humour," which contains some passages worthy of the old French philosopher. playful novel caused much merriment among the Parisian wits, and the successful "translator" soon brought out another work still more diverting than the first. The second was entitled "Voyage de Lord Humour dans l'île Servat-Abus, ou pays de Rétrogrades." M. Thiaudière's object was to write a thinly veiled satire against French politicians: and it must be confessed that, through the aid of the fictitious English nobleman, Lord Humour, he has not spared them. There is no political satire in M. Pierre Sales' novel, "Le puits mitoyen," but there is plenty of crime, and the criminals are of British extraction. The best part of the action passes at Calcutta, and there are two English villains who bear the extraordinary names of Climpson and Smithwork. The wife of Mr. Climpson is called Lady Climpson. The author might just as well have made the hus This band a "real live English lord" while he was about it. There are some other equally impossible English names in the novel, but the sensational scenes are not without merit. There are also some terrible Anglo-Indians in M. A. Cauvin's novel, "La mort d'Eva." The principal villain is Lord Sir Guy Richardson, who fights a duel on horseback with carbines, and shoots. his enemy with a silver bullet! A more accurate observation, however, of life in British India is M. Robert de Bonnière's in "Le baiser de Maïna." His Indian novel was, he tells us, composed in an Indian visit, in which he received much kindness from the English officials. An ardent and sincere admirer of India, he seems to have ranged mountains and deserts for images and resemblances, and to have pictured upon his mind every tree of the forest and flower of the valley. He has observed with equal care the crags. of the rocks and the pinnacles of the palaces: in short, whatever was awfully great or elegantly little, he appears to have viewed with a sympathetic mind, and has clothed it in cleverdescriptive scenes; while the beasts of the jungle, from the noblest to the humblest, have helped to fill his novel with. inexhaustible variety. Transatlantic personages are even more numerously represented in contemporary French fiction than their cousins on this side of the British Channel. Perhaps the two most sympathetic American ladies in a modern French novel are to be found in the "Abbé Constantin," which has been treated with all the elegance of M. Ludovic Halévy's pen. The novel is well known in England, and dramatic adaptations both in English and French have been frequently seen on the London stage. Another clever French novel dealing with wealthy Transatlantic people is "L'Américaine," by M.. Jules Claretie. Here the ladies are scarcely so sympathetic, but there is not a single line of impropriety in the whole novel. The "Américaine" is a Mrs. Norton, wife of a millionaire of New York. Mrs. Norton was formerly a Miss Harley, and had met and loved a young French nobleman, the Marquis de Solis. He reciprocated the affection, but had not dollars enough to marry her. The wealthy Mr. Norton then stepped in and won the lady. Mrs. Norton accepts the new condition of affairs with apathy, and is led to Europe, like all rich American brides. She becomes the rage in Paris, and is subsequently introduced to the Marquis de Solis at Trouville by her husband, who is unaware of the previous attachment. The marquis renews his declarations of love, and his opportunity arrives when the husband is suddenly summoned to the United States on important business. This causes gossip in Trouville among the French and American visitors, and Mr. Norton returns and hears "rumors" about his wife. The lovers are about to elope, and duels are threatened. The marquis is challenged by an American colonel, and afterwards Mr. Norton hints at an encounter. "All's well that ends well," however: Mrs. Norton has been cured of her lovesickness, and the Marquis de Solis marries Miss Eva Meridith, Mr. Norton's niece, who has already been offered to him by way of compensation. Objections will possibly be taken by Americans to the pictures of their compatriots in M. René de Pont-Jest's new novel, "Grand mariage." Here is an extract from the opening: The day passed away rapidly for Joe Maxime Harris, one of the wealthiest manufacturers of Chicago. ... His face was clean shaven, with the exception of a large goat-beard which covered his chin, and which at the particular time was still the ungracious fashion among the Americans. Well, in spite of his coarse appearance and rather common manners, Maxime Harris, had not an unpleasant physiognomy. On the contrary, it was easy to read on his countenance the spirit of kindness. This illiterate man, eager in business affairs, sanguine, very severe in his factories and with his employees, became, as soon as he arrived home, a head of the family as commodious as many others. ... his rocking-chair, while thinking of the object of his sister's visit, when the door of the smoking-room opened to make way for Mistress Palmyre Derson, née Harris. Mistress Palmyre vigorously grasped his hands, a real Yankee shake-hands, looked firmly at her brother for a minute, and, suddenly submitting to a tender impulse, threw herself into his arms. "At last, here I am, my good Joe, and I will not leave you again! The family before everything!" ... She was tall, with a flat waist, not very striking elbows, and a corset which did not fit her gracefully. She had large feet and large hands. Not very bewitching, in fact, though one could not positively say that she was ugly. Besides, she was clad in a brown dress, without elegance-a real Quakeress costume. Mme. Derson was not one of those deceitful creatures who hide their countenance under a mask, and impose on people. ... "Since the sad day when you lost your devoted companion, I have only thought of replacing her here to the best of my ability, and now a favorable occasion has been offered to me, I have seized the opportunity for abandoning Philadelphia and returning to the place under your roof which I should have never quitted." "Yes, the house is very dull since the death of my dear wife, and we often bewail her loss, Jane and myself. But your husband, my excellent brother-in-law Jonathan, what have you done with him? What reason did you give him to explain your departure?" "None!" "That was simple. He is still at Philadelphia?" "No doubt!" "He did not make the least observation to you?" "What right has he?" "What right has he? Are you divorced?" "No; but we cannot agree on the interpretation of certain verses of chapter v. of St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians." "Oh! that is very serious." "Do not laugh." "I am far from thinking of that. And what do those verses say?" "The Apostle settles the duties between Master Harris was balancing himself in husband and wife, and says, verse 24: Therefore, as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.' rich trappeurs for securing marriages of "affection" with a noble French family, an alliance with which has been "Ah! ah! in everything? That is quite offered to them by accident. Nearly right!" "You think so? Poor Joe! But it is not literally that these lines must be followed. We must judge the spirit. Now, Jonathan and myself are not of the same opinion." "Did you leave him for that?" "Was that not a sufficient reason for a Quakeress, who believes in her dignity?" "That is true, you are a Quakeress! I had forgotten it. Ah! my lady! you must pardon me; I was still under the impression that you were a Methodist!" "You are backward, my brother; it was during the time of my third husband, William Bright, whom I had the misfortune of being introduced to in this house." "Ah! yes, that is true; I recollect now. I gave you that husband. I even brought him fifty thousand dollars, if my memory is correct. He was a lawyer of great talent, an excellent man, a fervent Methodist!" The heroine of M. Henri de Chennevières' novel, “Un mari à l'essai," is a Miss Mercédès Aliator. The young American lady, who is wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice, is betrothed to a French nobleman, the Marquis de Valroze. The young gentleman has more good spirits than good principles, with very little money, and a prodigious quantity of impudence. Nevertheless, he has found a young lady of fortune and position to marry him, but the price of her hand is a long engagement, in order that she may study his character. This, however, rather diminishes than increases her attractions in the eyes of the French nobleman, and the "lovers" very soon part. The young gentleman marries a French lady of noble family with fewer "dollars," and Miss Mercédès Aliator consoles herself with a literary man, who is more reasonable than the Marquis de Valroze. Franco-American matrimonial schemes are also depicted by M. Albert Rhodes in his novel "Ruses de guerre." The author describes the devices adopted by an American family of all the American ladies and French or other noblemen in the novels issued by Parisian publishers pretend to love one another most sincerely, but the cynical authors rather mischievously point out that solid Yankee dollars and genuine European titles are "not only generally useful, but, in some particular cases, indispensably necessary" before the dates of the marriages can possibly be fixed. M. Henri Gallieur's novel, "Maud Dexter," is a clever story of these matrimonial alliances, and there are several capital pictures of American life in his other work, "Daniel Cummings." M. Gallieur has evidently mixed freely among living Yankees, but he is never spiteful and never comes treats with contempt the citizens of the His great nation across the Atlantic. heroine, Ella, is extraordinary, as bea young lady of the United States, but her successful lover, the Hungarian Attila Kiramy, is better than most of his companions in fortune and fiction. The same cannot be said with regard to the "hero" of M. A. Gennevraye's "Roman d'un sous-lieutenant." Here we have a young member of the old French nobility wasting his time and fortune at gambling hells, anu finally marrying an American heiress for her money. The worst features of Parisian and American society are exposed with remarkable force in the late M. Henri de Pène's novel, "Les demi-crimes." As that distinguished critic, the late M. Armand de Pontmartin, justly observed in one of his “Semaines Littéraires:" Henri de Pène has shown himself, in his novel, as able a judge of American manners as he is of Parisian manners. It is the fusion and the antagonism of these two elements which are ingredients of his story. The bourgeois of Paris, with his easy morals, his accommodating religion, his elastic honesty, his malleability; the Yankee, with his bis audaciousness, fertility of resources, of inventions and expedients, his practical spirit, his ability as a pioneer, his love of adventure, his unscrupulousness, and his fitness in the struggle for life, and his desires for wealth and luxury. Antoine Delalonde and Mark Smallbones, two well-studied and characteristic personages, have had not any secrets for Henri Pène, and the combination produces a long string of Demicrimes. Shady Americans are also seen in M. Dubut de la Forest's "Un Américain de Paris," and in M. Hector Malot's "L'Auberge du monde," which is, of course, Paris. In Octave Feuillet's "Histoire d'une Parisienne," one of the personages, a Baron de Maurescamp, who quarrels with his wife, allows himself to be taken advantage of by a young American person rather fond of pale ale. The novel "Deux feuilles au vent," by M. J. H. Menos, describes the career of two charming girls in FrancoAmerican society. Both manage to secure husbands, but they are not equally happy. The commencement of the story is an exquisite piece of homely painting, quiet and affecting, and minute; but one of the heroines after her marriage has the misfortune to be cursed with a profligate husband. M. Marie Uchard's novel "Inès Parker" describes the life of a beautiful American girl, and, to use a sufficing phrase of Goethe's, she "bears a pledge of love beneath her bosom." Travels of Parisians to the United States in search of fortune or adventure have been the subject of many modern French novels. It cannot be said that the results have been always satisfactory, as some of the volumes exhibit a variety of characteristic sketches and detached anecdotes, which sometimes appear to be without an object, rather than a connected series of adventures involving the fortunes of any particular individuals, and exemplifying in their termination some useful and specific moral. M. Léon de Tinseau's novel, "Dette oubliée," however, is entirely free from the exaggerations common with French novelists in dealing with the subject of American adventure. It is divided in two parts, and the scene of the first half is laid in France, while the scene of the other half is laid in the Western States of the American Union. The second part is as carefully handled as the first, and the principal personages are distinguished from each other by strong traits of character. The narrative is also conducted with spirit and possesses considerable interest. The hero of M. Marius Bernard's novel, "Au pays des dollars," is not of a romantic turn of mind. He travels from France to. New York and Philadelphia in search of fortune, and is robbed by the Yankees in the most approved fashion—at least from a French point of view. The young, fellow afterwards returns to France a wiser man on learning of the death of his wealthy uncle. M. Bernard has drawn the most unfriendly picture of the Americans since Mrs. Frances Trollope. The Yankees are scarcely much better treated in Madame Henri Gréville's "Frankley." The novel is the result of a visit to the United States, and the opening scenes, in which the horrors of the American treatment of baggage are so cleverly described, excite a strong and vivid interest. M. P. Coquelle's "L'homme au diamant" revolves round a gem of that kind which its involuntary, and for a time unconscious, possessor has swallowed in the unusual envelope of an oyster. Among the interesting personages is a pretty lady cousin and a comic doctor, and the numerous accounts of American accidents and incidents are as cleverly drawn as the sensational "telegrams” from the "States" sent to the London newspapers by certain agencies. A great part of Baron de Woëlmont's novel, "Nelly MacEdwards," is devoted to a description of an Atlantic voyage. The hero is a Frenchman, and he is in love with an American girl. The novel abounds in adventures of the most marvellous and extraordinary nature, and a "terrible" railway accident brings it to a conclusion. Some capital stories of American adventure will also be found in the volume by M. de Varigny under the title of "La femme aux Etats-Unis." M. de Va |