MODESTE MIGNON.

Otago Witness, Issue 2232, 10 December 1896, Page 39

MODESTE MIGNON.

By H. De Balzac.

London: Macmillan and Co. Danedin' James Horsburgb. Macmillan and 00. are laudably Industrions in adding reprints and new editions of, famous works to their colonial library, and colonial readers are under an obligation to .that firm for the cheap, yet presentable form in which the books are got up,, while It nob infrequently happens that they are available in India and the colonies before they can be obtained at the same price at Home. " Modeste Mignon " is one of the series o£ works in which Balzac attempted to delineate; tbe whole comedy of human life {comUie fatmaine). It is translated by Qlara Belt and edited by George Sainebury. who in & Ctitioal mid not over appreciative tsrefrsa'

Resigns it a subordinate place in De Balzao's Work. Though it is connected with the rest fit the comidie'bj the repetition of oertain charactere.it stands quite by itself. It is fen exposition of the French marriage conventionality by whioh the parents of the young couple dispose of their matrimonial fate with Oriental despotism— at least so far as {the girl is concerned*. A French girl no jtQore dares to select a husband for herself than to do anything else naughty. But . Modeate it a headstrong girl who breaks through conventionalities, though with happy tresults to all. She does so by opening a 'sentimental correspondence 'with Oanalig, Jffho is Lamartine eatirised by Balzac with aU the bitterness of literary animosity. fcJanalis, however, hands over the correspondence to his secretary, De la Briere, and (the correspondents write suoh charming letters that they fall in love with eaoh other. ," Modesto MJgnon" was written In 1844, and appeared in serial form in the Journal deß Debats. Modiste is a puzzling character. Alarmingly erudite, she has all philosophy at her fingers' ends. Ravishingly beautiful, pt course, and witty also she is, but she has a capricious temper, and turns on her father several times in .quite an inexcusable way. Balzac had nob the temerity to make 'her- a French girl, so he made her mother a German to account for the strain of mldoess in her disposition, and so spare the lender amour propre of his readers. Perhaps he sacrificed too mnoh of the story in his eagerness to humiliate -Lamartine, and make him look despicable. Literature abounds with instances of such vindiotiveness; Fortunately, however, this is more than compensated for by the number of admirable men and women whom love has depicted for posterity. As te the design of the story, the editor says:— "The practice of correspondence between incognitas and men of letters, not unknown in any country, has been rather frequent and famous in France. The obief example is, of course, the interchange of communications between Meritnee and Mdlle Jenny Dacquin, which had such Important results for literature, and such not unimportant ones for the parties concerned. Salzac himself rejoiced in a Modeste oalled jLonise, whom, however, he never seems to hare seen; and there is little doubt that Lamartine the actual was attacked, as the fictitious Canalis boasts that be was, by scores of such persons. The obief instance ' 1 can think of in which such a correspondence led to matrimony was that of Southey and his second wife, Caroline Bowles." DEEDS THAT WON THE EMPIRE. By "Vedette.' 1 Melbourne: Australasian Eeview of Reviews. There Is appearing in the Melbourne Argus a series of .articles desoriptive of historic battle, scenes. They are written by " Vedette," a norn de plume understood to conceal the identity of a high Victorian per-. Sonage. The sketches are brilliantly written fend are attracting considerable attention, not only from the graphic atyle in which they describe the great battles that gave Britain ]her vast dominions and her naval supremacy, but from their avowed intention of promoting the imperialist spirit. There is unfortunately a certain class of politicians in Australia, and unfortunately there are a few px New Zealand also, who never lose an opportunity of sneering at the institutions and Government of the mother country. Ibis class has no responsive approbation for the story of St. Vincent or Trafalgar. It never thinks of the vast consequences to British commerce from the latter battle. If knembers of this class think of Nelson at all jit is to recall some scandal and gloat over its details. But even among the more intelligent and better informed there is a disposition to lorget the gallant deeds, of arms which Raised an insignificant group of islands to the front rank among nations. War is not desirable, but it is sometimes necessary. It brings inevitable miseries in its train, but it may bring the blessings of peace and prosperity. It was war that consolidated British patriotism, and the spirit of patriotism may be fanned by the narration of the great deeds by land and sea. No nation, anoient or modern, has more glorious traditions than Britain. The sketches referred to are for the avowed purpose of nourishing patriotism, and they are having the desired effect. Here if a specimen of the style :— SEA DUELS. * British naval history is rich in the records of what may be called great sea duels — combats, that is, of single .ship against tingle ship, Waged often with extraordinary fierceness and daring. They resemble the combat of knight Against knight, with the flash of cannon initead of thrust of lance, and the floor of the lonely sea for the trampled lists. He must have a very slow-beating imagination who cannot realise the pictaresqueness of these ancient eea duels. Two frigates cruising for prey catch the far-off gleam t>f each other's topsail over the rim of the horizon. They approach each other warily, two high-sniffing sea mastiffs. A glimpse of fluttering colour — the red flag and the drapeau blanc, or the Union jack and the tricolour — reveals to eaoh ship its foe. The men stand E'mly at quarters, the captain, with perhaps a itary lieutenant, and a middy as aide-de-camp, is on his quarter-deck. There is the manoeuvring for the' weather gage, the thunder pi the sudden broadside, the hurtle and crash Df the shot, the stern, quick word of command, ks the clumsy guns are run in to be reloaded knd fired again and again with furious haste. The ships drift into closer wrestle. Masts and yards come tumbling on to the blood-splaihed Becks. There is the grinding shock of the great Wooden hulls as they meet, the wild leap' of the boarders, the clash of outlass on cutlass, the jjhout of victory, the sight of the fluttering flag as it sinks relnctantly from the mizzen of the beaten ship. . Then the smoke drifts away, and, bn the tossing sea-floor, lie, little better than dismantled wrecks, victor and vanquished.