BOOKS.

FRANCE BEFORE THE REVOLUTION.* IN these two remarkable volumes, we have a study of public and private life in France during the reigns of Louis XIV.,

• La France sous l'Ancien Regime. Vol. I., "Le Oonvernement at les Institu. Mons." Vol. IL, "Les 13m4es at les Mcenra." Par Is Vicomte de Broo. Paris; Plon, Norm% et Cie. 18B7.89, (Onvrage couronn6 par l'Aeaddmie Ikancraise.) XV., and XVI.,—in short, of that culmination of facts and ideas which might have fallen to pieces easily and naturally in 1789,.but escaping beyond all reasonable guidance, rushed. into the moral ruin of 1793. And M. de Broc most truly says, "la veritable connaissance du passé est la meilleure explication du present et la legion de l'avenir." To under- stand the Revolution, he goes on to say, one must go to the heart of the ancien regime, must know its thoughts and analyse its institutions. As M. de Tocqueville wrote, "la. Revolution franeaise ne sera que ten.ebres pour ceux qui ne regardent qu'elle." All that went before must throw light_ upon it; we must have a clear view of the old society, "-de sea lois, de ses vices, de ses prejuges, de sea naiseres, de sa. grandeur."

In such a study, people are apt to see nothing but the black side of the picture. Not to mention the charm and fascination of that society—which has never been equalled since, and is hardly imaginable, perhaps, by modern minds— people are apt, blinded by pity for the oppressed, to forget. also the fineness of character which belonged to many of their unconscious or unwilling oppressors. An example of this is the readiness of the nobles in 1789 to give up the rights and privileges and exemptions which had come down to them in a great measure from feudal times. Liberal ideas, of course, were in the air; but ideas must become personal convictions. before they lead to practical renunciations ; and it seems worth a little effort to put ourselies in the place of a whole governing- race of men whose supposed superiority to their fellow- creatures was as natural to them as the air they breathed. But the wind of change and revolution was blowing through this same air; and truly to us, looking at the ancien regime hr all its glory and its shame, the wonder is, not that its institu- tions came to an end, but that they lasted so long. Even in 1710" Fenelon wrote that the French Government only went on living by a miracle, and that the first shock must shiver to pieces this vieille machine delabree : and such prophecies are heard all` through the eighteenth century.

In these interesting and delightful studies of the ancien regime, M de .Broc goes much more into detail than M. Taine. His book is more a series of living pictures than a historical' essay on the time. He draws largely on contemporary memoirs, and all his authorities are acknowledged to be good. He shows us the old France in all its different aspects, with so much success that we lay down the book satisfied ; we know

a great deal that we never knew before. Such a book as this- means a large amount of industry, as well as a power of vivid and minute painting. To make a really great work, perhaps, analysis needs to be followed by synthesis : the information is somewhat scattered through the chapters of these two. volumes, which were themselves published with an interval of two years. What we mean is, for instance, that the public- and the private life of a village run so closely together, that the chapter in the first volume on " L'Administration municipale des Villages" ought really to be read in connection with that part of the chapter on " Les Classes " which is called " Le Peuple," and with the chapter in the second volume called " La_ Vie Rurale." The two volumes are, in fact, a collection of. delightful and partly independent essays,—the first dealing with government and institutions, the second with manners and customs. They must be read and enjoyed for what they are, and after all, the impression of a living .whole remains. upon the mind of the reader.

The second volume, Les Usages et les _Wears, which was crowned by the French Academy, is the most curious and original of the two ; but it is not really complete, and cannot. perhaps be thoroughly enjoyed, without the foundation laid by the first. It is this, with its minute account of the luxury and etiquette of the Court, the absolutism of the King, and all the varieties of rule in the different provinces, with their civil and military Governors, and above all the terrible system of taxes that varied in every village and town, with the excep- tions which were its worst side,—it is this volume, far more- than that dealing with the private life of France, which shows the rottenness of her state. France had been destroyed by her own rulers and institutions. There was an appearance of liberty in the provinces, especially in those which had their own elected provincial States, where their own taxes were voted as a don gratuit to the King, as well as enormous sums to. Governors, intendants, and other Royal functionaries. But, in fact, the Royal authority, represented by the intendant, a. little king in his own district, ruled the affairs of these pro- vinces in their assemblies almost as absolutely as those of the pays d'election,—oddly so called, as they had no power to elect anybody. We need only allude here to the tyrannical and irregular system of taxes, which was, of course, the great secret of all the sufferings of the country. " Les formes de la society du moyen age existaient encore : " therefore it was not yet a matter of surprise, or a universal scandal, that the taxes in France were to a great extent paid by the poorest of the people, and that not only were the noblesse and the clergy exempt from many taxes—not by any means from all—but that any rich man might easily buy exemption. It all seemed natural then. The collectors were dreaded, but they were obeyed : the fermiers-generaux made enormous fortunes, and enjoyed them free of open reproach, except perhaps a sneer from men like Voltaire. People were one day telling, in his hearing, stories of thieves and robbers. " Lorsque ce fut son tour, it commenca aim:A : ' Il y avait autrefois un fermier-

general J'ai oublie le reste.'"

The truth is, that the rich bourgeoisie, even more than the nobles, were possessors of power in the ancien regime, and were responsible for much of the oppression that sprang from it. Nearly all representatives of the central authority were men of the middle class. They were enormously enriched ; they were often ennobled, by their position or by purchase. For them, in great measure, the taxes were voted and collected; their little finger lay heavily on the municipal assembly of each poor village, as well as on the councils of the provinces. There were good and philanthropic men amongst them, too : the state of things, we must remember, had a different aspect to them; for them, as for most people in those days, the peasants were something that be- longed to the soil, a valuable addition to its productiveness. This idea of serfdom was only dying out in the eighteenth century, and the first decrees against it were made by Louis XVI.'s own strong wish in 1779. But in the mean- time, the collectors and farmers of taxes had gained the silent hatred of the people. In the course of years, the power and influence of the nobles had become small compared with that of the Government officials. The seigneur was only the premier habitant of the village. He had nothing left but his privileges, and they were by no means so great as in former times. The corvee, for instance, the heaviest of all the peasant's burdens, had almost entirely become Royal ; and contemporary authorities bear witness that, as a rule, the nobles and the peasants were not unfriendly to each other. Their rights were exacted—the provincial noblesse were frequently poor— but exacted without severity, and readily resigned in the name of justice when the time came; and the relations between the seigneur and his village were " souvent affectueuses et cor- diales." Of course these facts are no argument for the survival of a bad system ; but facts they are, borne out by a hundred instances. Pictures which represent the peasants dancing on the green before the chateau, the seigneur and his family dancing with them, are just as true and authentic as those which show them dying of hunger in some districts, in those famine-years which were severely felt by all classes, but which must by no means be taken as average years. Rural life in France was on the whole, and in good years, anything but dark and gloomy. France was always ready, in those days, to dance and sing, and the life of the peasants was full of simple enjoyment. It is also true that many of them were well off, in spite of their burdens. Those who did not possess land were few ; they wore good clothes ; their children were taught in good schools ; they were often described by foreigners as the happiest peasantry, except the English, in Europe, and Voltaire, in his Siecle de Louis XIV., says the same. We cannot read touching stories of the frequent friendship between them and their seigneurs without picturing a country neigh- bourhood of the present day : there, we fear that such a grand' maman as the Duchesse de Choiseul would more often find her kind instincts mistaken, and her benevolence thrown away.

Certainly such a book as M. de Broc's leaves no excuse for ignorance on the subject of French life before the Revolution. Everything that he brings forward is sup- ported by evidence. We are led through the whole life, from birth to death, of peasant, bourgeois, and noble. We know their troubles and their joys, their eduas, tion, their dress, their food, their daily occupations and amusements. We know their taxes and their privileges ;

we are taught how a very troublesome country was kept in order by laws and Magistrates often worthy of respect. We understand the curious formation and discipline of the French Army. One of the most striking chapters is that on the police, the power and omniscience of which in the eighteenth century, under such men as D'Argenson, Herault, Sartines, Lenoir, have never, we think, been equalled. It was Sartines who stopped the danger caused by women driving in Paris, by giving an order that no woman should drive who was under forty years old, "II- ne s'en trouva plus une seule." An amusing story of not quite such supernatural cleverness, which shows that even this marvellous organisation, knowing every secret in the Kingdom, could make a mistake, is told of Herault, Lieutenant of Police from 1725-to 1739 :--

" tine marchande de modes de Paris avait pris pour enseigne : A „OW Coquet. Cette enseigne representait un abbe choisissant des bonnets et faisant sa tour aux demoiselles du magasin. Herault en fut informs, et ne voulant pas tolerer- une peinture aussi offensante pour le caractere ecclesiastique, it ordonna a un exempt d'enlever 1'Abb6 Coquet et de le lui amener. II y avait alors Paris un abbe de ce nom. L'exempt ne doutant pas qu'il ffit question de cat abbe, se rend chez lui Ferrate et le conduit chez le lieutenant de la police.—'L'Abbi Coquet est ici,' dit-on Herault.—' Qu'on le mette au grenier,' repondit tranquillement Herault. L'abb6 fut conduit an grenier, et son sejour s'y prolongea assez pour qu'il commence 4, souffrir de la faim. Il se mit a crier de toutes see forces, et l'on vint dire is lendemain a Herault qu'on

ne savait plus qua faire de l'Abbe Coquet.—` dit alora le. lieutenant de in police, et qu'on ne m'en parle plus.' On lui expliqua le sujet de cette singuliere meprise qu'il s'empressa de reparer en faisant ses excuses an pauvre abbe et en l'invitant an diner."

A free system of opening letters was of course one great secret of the power of the police, but even this hardly explains some of the wonderful stories of their knowledge told by M. de Broc.

The chapters on Paris and Versailles are very entertaining, and full of curious information. Still more delightful, per- haps, as giving glimpses of the real interior life of the country, are those on such subjects as the post, the newspapers, inland travelling in private or public carriages, inns, and expenses. We have also a history of the French theatre from Louis XIV.

The chapters in which one meets the most charming society, really helping one to realise what the ancien regime was- on its enchanting and ever-to-be-regretted side, are those on

" Les Salons " and on " Les Chateaux." Here some of the best, most benevolent, most agreeable people in Europe are shown as they lived. M. de Broc has, of course, much to say on the irreligion and corruption of the time, the consequence of former centuries, to have their own terrible result so soon ;

but he makes the exceptional characters shine as they must have shone in their own day. We must say that his picture of the ancien regime is before all things fair. He does not run

into exaggeration on either side. If he defends those whom till lately it has been the fashion to abuse, he is only doing what is just. - He truly says that no faithful picture shows the dark or the bright side alone :-

" Ceux qui n'adressent au passe qua des reproches, et mix qui s'efforcent de le justifier dana ce qu'il a de regrettable, obeissent a l'esprit de parti. La verite se trouve entre ces affirmations opposees et excessives."

M. de Broc thus claims for his work the dignity and impar- tiality of history, and we think that his claim is amply justified