Of more general interest, however, are the pages on Chateaubriand himself.  It was the fate of this writer to be flattered beyond measure in his lifetime, and now come the first judgments of posterity, which deals with him no less harshly than it has already begun to deal with another idol of the French people, Beranger.  Sainte-Beuve has constituted himself judge, reversing even his own adulatory articles, as they may be read in the earlier volumes of the “Causeries.”  It is at best an ungrateful task to dissect a reputation in the way in which we find it done in the present work.  It must seem strange to many a reader that the very man who in early life could utter such sweet flattery, who long was the foremost to bear incense, should now consider it his duty “to seek the foot of clay beneath the splendid drapery, and to replace about the statue the aromas of the sanctuary by the perfumes of the boudoir.”  In spite of this, “Chateaubriand and his Literary Group” must be ranked among the most remarkable of literary biographies.  Here the critic gives full scope to his inclination for minute analysis; the history of the author of “Rene” explains his works, and these in turn are made to tell his life,—­that life so full of love of effect, and constant painstaking to seem rather than to be.  Even in his religious sentiments the author of the “Genius of Christianity” appears lukewarm, not to say more.

In comprehensive works on literary history France is far from being as rich as Germany.  Beyond the native literature little has been accomplished; and even in this, works of importance may be counted on the fingers.  The past year saw the conclusion of Nisard’s work, the most comprehensive history of French literature.  The fourth volume[D] is devoted to the eighteenth century, and concludes with a few general chapters on the nineteenth.

[Footnote D:  Histoire de la Literature Francaise.  Par D. Nisard, de l’Academie Francaise, Inspecteur-General de l’Enseignement Superieur.  Tome Quatrieme, Paris:  Firmin Didot Freres, Fils, et Cie. 8vo. pp. 584.]

The work of M. Gerusez, “History of French Literature from its Origin to the Devolution,"[E] although it had the honor of being considered worthy of the prix Gobert by the French Academy, is far from satisfying the requirements of general literary history.  It may rather be considered a systematic series of essays, beginning with the “Chansons de Geste,” analyzing several poems of the cycle of Charlemagne, and followed by successive independent chapters on the Middle Ages, the revival of letters, and modern times down to the Revolution.  It will be remembered that in 1859 M. Gerusez published a “History of Literature during the French Revolution, 1789-1800.”  This also obtained a prize from the Academy,—­much more deservedly, we think, than the last production, when we consider the interest he cast over the literary efforts of a period much more marked by action than