that is to say, it simply went back to the beliefs of its ancestors, to those beliefs that had been the foundation of their activity during fourteen centuries, and that constituted, in consequence, the foundation of the greatness of the French nation. This retour aux croyances ancestrales did not require any herculean mental efforts. On the contrary, it was the return to a natural environment in which French minds find the stores of nourishment accumulated for them during fourteen centuries. Faith comes easily to these young intellectuels. It is not their intelligence which seeks to grasp the impenetrable mystery of dogma-as is generally the case with Protestant convertsbut it is their whole being which seeks an adequate discipline and a sufficient outlet for the energy stored up within it. They do not go in for theological hair-splitting or for learned apologetical dissertations. Their belief is simple, to some it may appear almost childlike. But its very simplicity constitutes its strength, for it is not reasoning that fortifies belief. This belief has been sung by M. Charles Péguy in poems which have placed him in the front rank of contemporary French artists, in 'Le mystère de la charité de Jeanne d'Arc' and in Le mystère des saints innocents.' It has been sung likewise by other poets, by M. Paul Claudel in 'Cinq Grandes 'Odes' and in 'L'Annonce faite à Marie,' and by M. Francis Jammes in Les Géorgiques chrétiennes.' The Catholicism of this trilogy of poets has nothing sombre or forbidding about it; it is a 'sweet and reasonable' religion, that confounds itself to a large extent with patriotism. The love and mercy and Fatherhood of God is the leitmotiv of M. Péguy's poems in blank verse, that reveal in every line the personality of the author. Some devout persons-of the type of those whom the very Catholic J. K. Huysmans contemptuously called bondieusards and pieusards-may even be shocked at the exceedingly human manner in which M. Péguy causes God to speak: 'Celui qui a dit le soir son Notre Père peut dormir tranquille. Croyez-vous que je vais m'amuser à faire des misères à ces pauvres enfants? Suis-je pas leur père? Est-ce que je leur fais la guerre ? Oui je leur fais la guerre, mais on sait bien pourquoi. C'est pour les empêcher de perdre la bataille. Croyez-vous que j'aie quelque goût à les prendre en Et que ça m'amuse, de condamner ? Non, non, bonnes gens, mangez votre soupe et dormez.' Let there be no mistake about it. This sort of language is exactly adapted to the needs of the present day in France, where the tide of Catholicism is rising surely and rapidly, but where the habitual language of theologians would not be understood. Since the days of Rabelais, who emptied the vials of his irony on the religious orders-moines moinant de moinerie-there has never been any enthusiasm in France. for either monks or theologians. It is not the theological disputations of Bossuet with the Protestants or with Fénelon that appeal to the French mind, but his wonderfully persuasive eloquence, his extraordinary learning, his clearness and unrivalled power of exposition. Neither St. Thomas Aquinas nor St. Charles Borromæus, neither Chateaubriand nor Joseph de Maistre, would convert young Frenchmen of to-day; neither dogmatic expositions, nor works of art, nor treatises of moral and social philosophy, are what the latter need. Far more attractive for them is the poet speaking le langage du cœur et des sentiments, and preaching the Fatherhood of God in the simple tongue of ordinary mortals. But M. Péguy has not only aimed at kindling anew the flame of religious belief, he has also wished to rekindle the flame of patriotism, and to reawaken hope and confidence in the future of France. God is represented by M. Péguy as being in a quite special manner the protector and ally of the French. Thus do the words croyance and patrie become synonymous. Very skilfully does M. Péguy appeal to the strong patriotic feeling of the young generation-which he himself, by means of the Cahiers 'de la Quinzaine,' has been instrumental in developing-and show what indissoluble links unite the idea of God to the idea of the Fatherland. The idea is in itself anything but newevery tribe and every nation has concretised its Will of Power in the notion of a tribal or national deity-but the way in which M. Péguy presents it is original: 'C'est embêtant, dit Dieu. Quand il n'y aura plus ces Il y a des choses que je fais, il n'y aura plus personne O peuple inventeur de la cathédrale, je ne t'ai point O peuple inventeur de la croisade, je ne t'ai point trouvé Quant à l'espérance, il vaut mieux ne pas en parler, il The influence of M. Péguy on the jeunesse intellectuelle has been great. And the young man whose mind has been formed by M. Péguy will be a very different person from the Des Esseintes of J. K. Huysmans' 'A Rebours,' from the disciple of Alfred de Musset or Baudelaire, from him who has been formed under the influence of Les Confessions d'un Enfant du siècle ' or of Les Fleurs du Mal.' And it is fortunate for France that it is so, that the despairing cry of Alfred de Musset : 'Les plus désespérés sont les chants les plus beaux, Et j'en sais d'immortels qui sont de purs sanglots' has been replaced by a song of joy, by a song of hope: 'Une flamme impossible à atteindre, impossible à éteindre au souffle de la mort.' The new France, strong and disciplined and yet free, full of confidence in herself, full of hope in the future, believing in life and loving life, is nowhere better revealed to us than in the poems of M. Péguy. We are compelled to pass over in ence many books that deserve to be read, and that are characteristic of the new spirit in France. M. Pierre Lasserre's admirable work on 'Le Romantisme français' must be classed among the most important studies of the Romantic movement. Readers will find here the whole Revolutionary movement, of which Romanticism was an aspect, subjected to criticism so penetrating as to be irresistible. We have already mentioned the poets of Catholic mysticism: MM. Paul Claudel and Francis Jammes. One of the very best contemporary writers of French verse is M. Charles Le Goffic, in whose 'Poésies 'complètes' we seem to be listening to the plaintive murmur of the author's much-loved Brittany. Although the title of 'Prince des Poètes' was conferred, in 1912, on M. Paul Fort, there can be no doubt as to the priority of the claims, not only of M. Charles Le Goffic, but also of M. Louis Le Cardonnel. In the domain of prose MM. Romain Rolland, Ernest Psichari, André Gide, Alphonse de Chateaubriant, André Suarès, René Boylesve, are all writers to be treated with respect and whose books are always interesting. All are, in different ways, excellent representatives of the new France. MM. Paul and Victor Margueritte assuredly deserve to rank high in the same category. But the literature of France is so abundant that the task of those who would analyse its evolution within the limits of an article is an ungrateful one. Omissions are in such a case inevitable. In 'La Peau de chagrin,' Balzac, whose scathing and merciless pen has drawn so melancholy a picture of human existence, undertook to show us the vanity of all human desires. Life is only possible on condition that we cease to have any wishes. Balzac's rich imagination transported us into a magical world, but more than one generation of Frenchmen was afflicted with the possession of a peau de chagrin that prevented all action and destroyed all joy of life. A now extinct type of Frenchman was shown us in J. K. Huysmans' 'A Rebours,' which will remain a masterpiece of realistic literature. But if this type, happily for France, be indeed extinct, this is due to the efforts of the new generation which we see at work to-day, and which has restored the old time-honoured traditions of 'merrie 'France,' of the France that M. Edmond Rostand has celebrated in Cyrano de Bergerac' and 'Chantecler,' and to whom the Deity Himself, in M. Péguy's poem, declares : 'Je salue ici ta liberté, ta grâce, Ta courtoisie. Ta gracieuseté. Ta gratitude. Ta gratuité.' GEORGES CHATTERTON-HILL. HOUSTON STEWART CHAMBERLAIN Das Drama Richard Wagners, 1892: Richard Wagner. 1895: Die Grundlagen des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. 1899. Goethe. 1912. EW men have achieved a literary success equal to that FEW menston Stewart Chamberlain, and Englishmen may well be proud of a fellow countryman who is recognised in Germany as one of the most brilliant writers and profound thinkers of the day. Chamberlain started in the race heavily handicapped. He was writing in a foreign tongue for readers of another nationality, and when he published the first edition of his first book, 'Das Drama Richard Wagners,' the German language, as he subsequently confessed, was not fully familiar to him. The book at first fell flat, but it possessed merits so great that it gradually burst the bonds of prejudice, and has now gone through several editions. Germany recognised it as a most masterly piece of criticism, throwing an altogether new light upon works which are perhaps caviare to the general.' To listen to one of the great tone-poems, after having gone through the preparation afforded by Chamberlain's book, is a revelation even to those who have listened to Wagner twenty times before. It opens up inner and mystic meanings before unsuspected; and this is all the more remarkable, for this inspired interpreter never knew Wagner or came under his direct influence. It was only after Wagner's death that Chamberlain became intimate with the family at Wahnfried, an intimacy which culminated in a marriage. Chamberlain's second book was the Life of Wagner, which has been translated into English by Mr. Hight, and in that form is well known in this country. Wagner's working life began in disillusionment and grinding poverty, rendered the more grievous to bear by the continual heartache of an illassorted marriage. Bravely he faced misfortune, and at last triumphantly won recognition, the friendship of a much |