A FRENCH VIEW OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVI, Issue XV, 11 April 1896, Page 403

A FRENCH VIEW OF ROBINSON CRUSOE.

That entertaining and learned literary man, Melchior de Vogue, has lately been reading ‘ Robinson Crusoe ’ ; if not for the first time—he omits to say that he ever read it before—yet we mav suppose that it was one of the books of his now distant boyhood, and that he has but recently really fathomed its true motive and spirit. The copy he read was a fine one—translated by Petrus Borel, the ‘ most truculent of the romancists,’ with vignets by the brothers Deveria, Boulanger and Celestin Nanteuil ; ‘ enriched by notices of Alexander Selkirk, and a religious dissertation by the Abbe Bouderie, VicarGeneral of Avignon ’—this priest undertaking to refute for Roman Catholics the doctrinal errors of the English dissenter, who was of the same opinions as Dr. Watts, his contemporary. The result of this perusal is to give the French critic a very' high opinion of Defoe’s novel. Like Dr. John Son. Vogue classes ‘ Don Quixote ’ and ‘ Robinson Crusoe' together, as books of which men at all apes are delighted readers ; in childhood they read for the adventures, in manhood for the profound wisdom and the knowledge of human nature the two books display. But there the resemblance ceases: ‘“Don Quixote ”is the most pessimistic of all books “ Robinson Crusoe ” the most optimistic ; in it Defoe is perpetually chanting a hymn of gratitude to the careful deity who secures to England its practical success.’ ‘Better than Shakespeare,’ says Vogue, ‘ better than Macaulay or the great new flowering of the English mind in “ Adam Bede ’’ or “ Aurora Leigh," “ Robinson Crusoe ” gives us a clear understanding of the British race, and the reason it makes its way in the world so constantly.’ Self-reliance, faith in Providence, common-sense and the other characteristic qualities of John Bull and Brother Jonathan are all found in the hero of this shipwreck. First of all is the devotion to the sea and its ventures, which the English have inherited from the Norsemen, and which appears also in the poems of Tennyson. Had a Frenchman been placed in the situation of Robinson, says Vogue, he would very likely have despaired ; at any rate, Friday, in a French version of the island life, would have been of the other sex. It is the easy mastery of this savage and the construction of a civilised little world around him, in which we recognise the English colonising and race-dominating qualities. ‘There was much of this spirit in Franklin, I am sure, and in Washington—it is the American spirit also. I’hilarete Chasles cannot- always be trusted ; but he is correct in the testimony he cites from a pioneer on the banks of the Ohio, where he spent years clearing up the forest. “ Oftentimes,” he told Mr Chasles, " after twenty mouths, during which I did not see a white face, living on bad corn, harassed by Indians and wild beasts, and forced to struggle, foot to foot, against savage nature, I would come home tired out. Then, by the light of a rush dipped in beaver grease, I used to read this blessed book,‘Robinson Crusoe,'which with my Bible, was my support and solace. I thought “ I can do what Crusoe did." and I slept in peace, my dog beside me (I had named him Friday.) The next morning, at 4 o’clock, putting away this volume, more precious to me than gold, I took up my task again, blessing God that he had given to a human being such power over others and such consoling force.” ’ True or not, this is a good story, and may fitly close this abstract of the French article.