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Article A FRENCH NOVELIST OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. ← Page 2 of 12 →
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A French Novelist Of The Seventeenth Century.
the binding had formerly been gorgeous , but the gilding had become blackened by time , and the inside leaves were the colour of tobacco . This , at least , was promising . On the fly-leaf , a cramped ancl crabbed autograph informed me that this particular copy had once been the property of the Duke de
Mortemart , a bibliopolist , ancl no despicable one , in the reign of Louis XIII . The titlepage ran thus : "A Voyage to the Moon , by Cyrano de Bergerac , being an Episode of his Histories of the States and Empires of the Sun and Moon . " The date was 1644 . What do I remember concerning this Cyrano de Bergerac ? I asked myself , when suddenly a couplet from the Art Poetique . of Boileau rushed across my memory * . —
" J'aime mieux Bergerac et sa burlesque audace , Que ces vers ou Motin se morfond et nous glace . " This was not remarkably encouraging ; but having , as I have already stated , hurriedly run over a portion of the volume , I resolved to make myself better acquainted with my author ; and here is what I discovered ivith regard to his identity .
Cyrano de Bergerac was born in Perigord in 1620 , and died in 1655 . His great charm as a writer was his originality . Both as a man and as an author , he was remarkable . Brave even to rashness , he became early notorious for a courage which unfortunately coulcl only display itself in his bearing as a duellist , a species of aristocratical exercise greatly in vogue during his time ,
—save at the seiges of Mouzon and Arras , in 1640 , where he displayed the most extraordinary valour , and excited the admiration of all his brothers-in-arms . His intellect was as impetuous and as reckless as his physical daring . He produced a comedy , entitled , " The Pedant Outwitted , " ivhich revolutionized the theatre ; but it is principally to his Ae ' rian Voyages that he
is indebted for his fame as a writer . Far from presenting to his readers a mere futile burlesque , calculated only to amuse an idle hour , these extraordinary and fantastic " Histories " are replete with the most astonishing evidences of a profound study , both of philosophy and astronomy , and the most delicate satire ; while it is impossible to read them with any attention without
being forcibly impressed by the conviction that to Cyrano de Bergerac Voltaire was indebted for the idea of his "Mieromegas , " Fontenelle of his " Mondes , " and Swift of his " Gulliver . " Of this fact my readers will judge for themselves , hoivever , in the analysis which I now offer them of his " Voyage to the Moon . "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A French Novelist Of The Seventeenth Century.
the binding had formerly been gorgeous , but the gilding had become blackened by time , and the inside leaves were the colour of tobacco . This , at least , was promising . On the fly-leaf , a cramped ancl crabbed autograph informed me that this particular copy had once been the property of the Duke de
Mortemart , a bibliopolist , ancl no despicable one , in the reign of Louis XIII . The titlepage ran thus : "A Voyage to the Moon , by Cyrano de Bergerac , being an Episode of his Histories of the States and Empires of the Sun and Moon . " The date was 1644 . What do I remember concerning this Cyrano de Bergerac ? I asked myself , when suddenly a couplet from the Art Poetique . of Boileau rushed across my memory * . —
" J'aime mieux Bergerac et sa burlesque audace , Que ces vers ou Motin se morfond et nous glace . " This was not remarkably encouraging ; but having , as I have already stated , hurriedly run over a portion of the volume , I resolved to make myself better acquainted with my author ; and here is what I discovered ivith regard to his identity .
Cyrano de Bergerac was born in Perigord in 1620 , and died in 1655 . His great charm as a writer was his originality . Both as a man and as an author , he was remarkable . Brave even to rashness , he became early notorious for a courage which unfortunately coulcl only display itself in his bearing as a duellist , a species of aristocratical exercise greatly in vogue during his time ,
—save at the seiges of Mouzon and Arras , in 1640 , where he displayed the most extraordinary valour , and excited the admiration of all his brothers-in-arms . His intellect was as impetuous and as reckless as his physical daring . He produced a comedy , entitled , " The Pedant Outwitted , " ivhich revolutionized the theatre ; but it is principally to his Ae ' rian Voyages that he
is indebted for his fame as a writer . Far from presenting to his readers a mere futile burlesque , calculated only to amuse an idle hour , these extraordinary and fantastic " Histories " are replete with the most astonishing evidences of a profound study , both of philosophy and astronomy , and the most delicate satire ; while it is impossible to read them with any attention without
being forcibly impressed by the conviction that to Cyrano de Bergerac Voltaire was indebted for the idea of his "Mieromegas , " Fontenelle of his " Mondes , " and Swift of his " Gulliver . " Of this fact my readers will judge for themselves , hoivever , in the analysis which I now offer them of his " Voyage to the Moon . "