Among the other poets, Casi-mir Delavigne, whose Messeniennes rivalled for a while the success of Lamartine's Meditations, Auguste Barbier, the author of the lambes, Victor de La Prade, and the brilliant and original Theophile Gautier, must not be omitted. Nor must we fail to mention Jasmin, the barber poet, whose writings in the langue d'oc have made him popular in the south of France and famous abroad. Frederic Mistral, a Provencal writer, has acquired a unique reputation by his works in the language of his native province.-History is undoubtedly the most successful branch of modern French literature. A larger number of valuable historical works have been published within the last 50 years than during any other equal period of time; and the taste for such performances is still on the increase. M. Guizot, the great philosophical expounder of social institutions and moral revolutions, and Augustin Thierry, the artistic historian of the middle ages, stand foremost among the promoters of this historical movement.

The Essais sur l'his-toire de France, by the former, the Histoire generate de la civilisation en Europe and Histoire generate de la civilisation en France, which he wrote before engaging actively in political life, and his Histoire de la revolution d'Angle-terre, which he completed after leaving the ministry in 1848, are monuments of philosophical history; while the Lettres sur l'histoire de France of Augustin Thierry, his Histoire de la conquete de l'Angleterre par les Normands, his Recits des temps merovingiens, and his Histoire de la formation du tiers-etat en France, present a happy combination of dramatic narrative and perspicuous discrimination. Amedee Thierry, Augustin's brother, presents lively pictures of Gaul and other countries before and during the fall of the West Roman empire. Three writers have devoted their efforts to a full recital of the general history of France: Sismondi, whose voluminous work is an inexhaustible mine of knowledge and thorough research; Michelet, who combines the profound learning of a Benedictine monk with the humorous fancy of a poet; and last but not least, Henri Martin, who, under the impulse of patriotic enthusiasm, has successfully embodied in his book the results of modern science, while infusing into its pages a lively and never slackening interest.

Barante, after giving (1824-'6) in his Histoire des ducs de Bourgogne an attractive specimen of purely narrative history, published histories of the French convention and of the directory, in which, though he is accurate and impartial, his monarchical predilections are strongly apparent. Capefigue, who died toward the end of 1872, wrote voluminously on the reactionary side of French history from Philip Augustus to Louis Philippe. The revolutionary period has engaged the attention of many historians, among whom the most prominent are Thiers, Mignet, Michelet, and Louis Blanc. The first, by his Histoire de la revolution, at once gained a popularity which gave him an introduction into political life. His subsequent Histoire du consulat et de l'empire has given him a still higher rank as a writer, though not as an impartial and trustworthy historian. The histories of Michelet and of Louis Blanc, who has also written a brilliant Histoire de dix ans (1830-'40), besides several other works, are marked with strong democratic opinions; while that of Mignet, a vivid yet substantial sketch, bears the impress of philosophical impartiality.

This writer has also produced several miscellaneous historical works which are highly valued: Histoire de Marie Stuart; Charles Quint, son abdication et sa mort; Philippe II. et Antonio Perez; and a large compilation, Histoire des negociations relatives a la succession d'Espagne, containing beautiful narratives, preceded by an admirable introduction. Lamartine also figures among the historians; his Histoire des Girondins, which appeared in 1847, created a deep sensation by its magnificent style and enthusiastic spirit. He subsequently published the His-toire des constituants, Histoire de la restaura-tion, Histoire de Turquie, etc., more remarkable for showy eloquence than soundness and accuracy. Napoleon III. deserves to be mentioned among the historians for his Histoire de Jules Cesar, two volumes of which were published in 1865-'6. Great historical publications have appeared under the patronage of the government or of learned societies, the Collection des historiens de France, and the Histoire litteraire de la France, among the number. Villemain ought to be reckoned among the historians, not only for his Histoire de Cromwell, but for the admirable pictures of men and society in his excellent Tableaux de la litterature, and his Souvenirs contemporains.

Vaulabelle has written an excellent Histoire de la restauration, which deserves more fame than it has gained. Lanfrey's historical works are eminently judicious; his Histoire de Napoleon has attracted much attention both at home and abroad by its new views about the great emperor. Taxile.Delord's Histoire du Second Empire is equally judicious and more impartial. Garnier-Pages completed in December, 1873, a history of the revolution of 1848.-Archaeology, to speak only of productions of this century, has not been neglected, as is evidenced by the works of Le'tronne, Raoul- Roehette, and more recently by those of Beule, Belloguet, De Riviere, Lartet, and Quatrefages. Champollion threw new light upon ancient Egypt by his system of deciphering hieroglyphics. The study of oriental languages, promoted by Sylvestre de Sacy, has been successfully continued by De Saulcy, Menant, Oppert, and Renan, in the Semitic languages. Lenor-mant, Mariette, Chabas, and De Rouge have distinguished themselves as Egyptologists. The works of Abel de Remusat, Stanislas Julien, Burnouf, De Rosny, and Hervey de St. Denys are valuable contributions to the occidental knowledge of the Chinese, Japanese, and Sanskrit.-Philosophy was brought back to spiritualist principles by the natural reaction against the materialism of the preceding age.